Book Review - Whole Body Listening Larry at School

Our cheerful socially skilled friend, Larry, is back on the scene. This time he's tutoring new students Leah and Luka (fraternal twins, no less) on the importance of Whole Body Listening. Similar to the earlier book (reviewed here) where Larry helps his sister, Lucy, learn to listen with every body part, Larry walks Leah and Luka through the whole process, too. In this case the listening lessons occur in classroom and playground settings. For example, following a buzzing fly with your eyes instead of looking at the guest speaker at an assembly means you'll miss the best part of the show. Singing a song during story time distracts everyone from hearing the climax of the book. Responding to a friend's sad story with your own happy tale makes them think you don't care, and caring is essential to listening with your heart.


The second book is also told in a straightforward rhyme which is helpful to struggling readers. The pictures, narration, and speech and thought bubbles all help convey the message of the book. Two differences I noticed, and liked, arise from the use of two characters, one male and one female, who need to learn Whole Body Listening skills. It seems that sometimes we think of only boys (or less often only girls) as having a problem with listening. Boys tend to be more active and girls can be silly with giggling and such. The truth is that both boys and girls can struggle with listening skills. I liked seeing that played out. I also liked that at times one of the twins might be depicted as having successful expected behavior while the other was struggling. This emphasizes not only that they are separate individuals (something that again is sometimes hard for us to keep in mind in our concept of twins), but also that it is possible to succeed in one area of listening, while struggling in another area. Perhaps you've mastered listening with your ears, but your eyes tend to rove the room instead of focusing on the teacher.

Last but not least I have to assure you that even though the message is the same, the story remains fresh for my child at least. A friend gave us a copy of this book some time ago, but I had hidden it away in hopes of reviewing it before releasing it to the wilds of our book pile. When the child saw it this morning she sat down right away to read it. She compared the body parts diagram in the two books, and insisted on reading it again tonight with our bedtime repertoire. So if you haven't already had the chance to check out these books, I would encourage you to do so. I think they have both greatly encouraged good listening for my little social skills scholar.

P.S. Sorry I can't seem to post an image of the book at the moment. Blogger will upload, but not embed the image. I'll try again later if I can...

Being Thankful in the Moment

About this time last year I started getting hints that things were not going well in Kindergarten for our daughter. It came through strange channels, and to be honest I still don't know the full story of what happened, but it wasn't good. Several meetings followed and after about a month we were back on track, though perhaps driving on the rumble strip rather than a true lane. We have noted for some time a pattern of "honeymoon periods" when she begins a new program...all the way back to early intervention days when they told me she was "just an angel" and did not see any of the behavior issues I had reported at home - that'll make you feel like a great mom (not!). At some point the honeymoon has ended and trouble begins and we have to remind everyone of what she needs. After a course correction of some weeks to months we get back on track. I have taken to warning everyone of this pattern. Last year the warning wasn't completely heeded, and this year (so far) I've been crying wolf.

We have worked really hard to make this year start off well for her. You can read previous posts about all the steps we've taken to give her the best start possible at her new school. And, so far it seems to have paid off. All credit where it is due, the school staff have really been stepping up for her. At home we have simply maintained our routines and not scheduled too much extra stuff.

It has left me in kind of a limbo, honestly. Usually by now in the school year I am scheduling meetings, firing off urgent e-mails, scrambling for ideas and trying to understand what is happening. This year I'm just enjoying the ride...with some apprehension. I like to tell people that I'm waiting for the shoe to drop and hoping it doesn't! Even if it does, it FEELS like it might not be so bad this time around. Still a piece of me hesitates even to put this out there into the ether because knocking on wood doesn't really work, if you know what I mean.

So the biggest lesson my daughter seems to be teaching me at the moment is just that. Seize the moment. Enjoy it. It may not last, but don't let the worry that it won't last be what defines it. Instead let the light and sunshine now help dispel the clouds that threaten the horizon. Just be. Just give thanks!

You can join in Thankful Thursday here!

Sunday Digest 22

My list of blogs that I follow has been slowly expanding and is now over 20 in number. I follow some general parenting blogs, some special needs parenting blogs, and a few blogs specific to autism. I barely can keep up with these, and most of them don't post every day. There is just an amazing amount of "stuff" out there on the internet just waiting for us to find it...amazing. This is just the cream of the crop I've sampled over the last three (or so) weeks...There is pretty much of a back to school theme here...wonder what's been on my mind!

1) This first entry is a little older than three weeks, actually. I don't think I had space to post it last time. This is a blog entry written by KatyB who blogs at Bird on the Street, and contributed this piece to 5 Minutes for Special Needs. I think as the back to school season has ramped up I've been reading a lot from special needs parents who are wondering if they've done enough over the Summer, or wondering how they will do it all in the season to come, trudging along on the treadmill and questioning their ability to keep up. Katy reminds us that It's Enough.

2) Our Journey Thru Autism is kind of a newcomer to my list. I really enjoyed this post by Chynna Laird about supporting children with sensory processing issues (which can be present in many different disorders) through transitions. Transitions are still our biggest sticking point, and most of the time I'm not even thinking of the issue as a transition when it really is. I particularly like Chynna's reference to a "plan". This is a term our daughter picked up in her Summer social skills group, and wow is it powerful...I'll probably post more on this later...

3) Hartley's Life with 3 Boys posted this prayer for back to school. Oh yeah, there really is still prayer in and for school.

4) My mom told me about an interview on NPR with a young woman who is autistic. From there I found Reports from a Resident Alien and this post, which says so much. A person's value is intrinsic, not tied to their ability to contribute blah-de-blah to society. People are important, they just are. Get over it.

5) Okay, so this one is about Sunday School, but... a lot of churches follow the school calendar in terms of moving students into different classes, reconsidering curriculum, etc. Our church has a pretty high per capita special needs contingent. I taught Sunday School this morning and two of the three kids in our class today have special needs. We currently use "homemade" curriculum, because we are small and flexible like that, but if your church is considering developing a special needs class or needs some special needs curriculum, SpecialGathering reviewed Special Buddies by LifeWay here. And yes, I have used special too many times in this paragraph...