Handicapped- the transformation of a word

Handicapped was a derogatory word for beggar. The man on the street corner who was holding his "cap" out in his "hand" and asking for money. It was used to identify the disabled because they, too often, were the ones pan handling.
The disabled community worked to get the word changed to disabled because they were not a group of people on a street corner begging for money. The disrespectful origins of the word made it an unwanted label.
Fortunately, for the word, the golf community picked it up. A handicap is how many strokes over par you play a course.
I bring this to you as I have recently seen postings which refer to SH classrooms. SH stands for Severely Handicapped. This is a term that should have been taken out of use years ago. I am concerned that it is being used. If we, as educators, better yet, as Special educators are still using a derogatory word to label the students we have pledged to serve, how will the rest of the people ever change?
Keep it on the greens!

Turn your world around

I turned my power point assignment in for class tonight. I learned something important... my power points are always too big. This time I remembered to shrink the dpi I just forgot to re size the pictures. And I'm not really sure what that all means. I just know that every time I have an assignment to send via the net, I have to call on my good pal, Rob. And, every time it is the same issue. He shows me how to fix it and I forget the steps as soon as I press send. Maybe I should write down the steps. After all, I would do that for my students. Why do I do more for them then I do for myself? Maybe I need to start turning my world around.

Why I Gave Up My Computer

It is true, my desk is computer free. My computer is now on a student desk and has switches and adaptive mouses hooked to every port.
Perhaps I did it for selfish reasons. I don't enjoy writing reports or answering e-mails. Now, I have to do my work only when school is out. That gives me 6 hours of freedom!
Maybe I did it because my students can better utilize the computer and their time in my classroom.
Probably for freedom...

Web Sites

The last IEP I had concluded with the general education teacher and the parent both asking me for web links for the student to use. I found the answer! Glenda's Blog has the links my students need to begin to develop mouse skills. I would recommend TVOkids.com (although Letterella is "horrible" according to my 8 year old). I also liked "Pop the Bubbles". The switch and timing adaptation will be very helpful for many applications. Balloon Pop was too hard for me although my 8 year old got a perfect score of 18. BillyBear4Kids was "actually kinda fun" and papinet.net was well designed. Enjoy the games and don't tell the kids they are learning.

http://www.atclassroom.blogspot.com/

One of my Favorite Teachers

Today, I ran into one of my favorite teachers. It got me thinking, what was it about pre-school that was so amazing, that 30 odd years later, I recognized my teacher at first glance? I remember singing, dancing and finger painting with pudding. And I remember her smile. She was so happy to be teaching. I hope my students remember my smile in 30 years.

White Out meets Sharpie

The machined "a" how many kids try to write it? Ever try to teach a girl with downs syndrome not to? Not worth my lack of energy today. Solution: white it out with my favorite Liquid Paper and then write the word the way I want it done with a Sharpie.

White Out

Sometimes modifications require specialized equipment. Today, that equipment was in the form of Liquid Paper. Commonly known as white out. My student was confused when reading a clock paper. The time read 09:00. Being the professional I am, I took my Liquid Paper out of the "locked" cabinet and whited out the 0 in 09:00. Suddenly, the time was 9:00 again. Thank goodness for white out.