Goodwill creating jobs, not the right way, but trying

I was watching 60 minutes  the other night and they were investigating Goodwill corporation.  60 minutes was ripping apart Goodwill for not paying their employees with disabilities at least minimum wage.  Now by no means do I agree that these workers should be paid below minimum wage, but what about these other businesses that are not hiring those with disabilities?  At least Goodwill is teaching them a trade and providing them some financial means at the job.  This is by no means slave labor, these workers are sorting clothes running a register with another employee close by or putting clothes on a rack.  What about the GAP or Burger King just to name a few hiring those with disabilities?  Why isnt 60 minutes investigating these companies that are not even hiring those with disabilities?  Again I do think that these employees should be paid minimum wage, but at least Goodwill provides jobs for those with disabilities.

Vocational IEP Goals, Non-contract goals for students with Autism

As many of you know there are different levels of Autism from high functioning to low functioning.  Now there are programs after high school for low functioning students that helps them work on job skills and continue their IEP's with vocational goals.  Now these goals are completely different from a math goal or English goal.  The most important objective in righting these goals is to involve the supervisor at the students work to be involved in these goals.  The main reason is because the manager has expectations for their worker.  An example of these goals would be to be able to clock in and out in 3 out of 4 scenarios on their own.  Most of these students have job coaches which will help them in the beginning, but there are simple goals and objectives in the beginning of the job for the student.  Just to provide one other example of an IEP goal would be to deposit their paycheck into their account without assistance in 3 out of 4 situations. 

Now if you have a high functioning student who might enter the work force right out of high school should make goals for themselves or with their parents that are not part of an IEP, but written very similar.  One goal could be:  On the employees quarterly evaluation the student will receive an 80% or above on all graded areas in their evaluation.  Now of course there could be objectives to be written below this, but this is just a basic idea.  Another example could be for the employee if they are looking a job to:  Successfully fill out 5 applications per week until a job is acquired.

Now these are just some simple examples, but if you would like to know more please ask.

As always leave feedback or ideas for future posts.

Autism, Girlfriends/Boyfriends, video games

I think that student that have Autism should be encouraged to have a significant other.  These students have the same needs and wants as any other student.  The dates that the students go on could all be practice and might help the student come out of their social shell.  Now some students may not want anything to do with the opposite sex, then the other options are to get them involved in another social activity.

Now some parents think that a student playing video games are wasting their time.  With video games nowadays there is communication whether orally or typing.  Why not use this communication as a learning skill?  This way the teenager is playing something they like, while working on social skills.  I think this is really the wave of the future.

Whether it is boyfriend, girlfriend, social clubs it is important for your children to get involved.

Transition for a student with Autism

I personally think that we begin the transition process way to early.  As Special Education Teachers we need to conduct a transition interview by the time student turns 14 and half the time they do not know what they want to be or they want to be an actress or rock star.  I personally feel the transition should begin when the student is a sophomore in high school.  This allows the students to mature and have a better idea of what they would like to be.  I think that transition is important and must be done at a calculated age.

How do I help my child with Autism during the summer?

Some students with Autism have a great memory and can pick up in the fall were they left off in the spring.  Then there are students that need to continue to be educated in order to have a leg up.  Some options are the following:

1. ESY (Extended School Year) it is like summer school, but it is for student that need that continued learning environment.
2. General summer school, I personally have many students that attend sumer school just to get ahead in the next school year. 
3. Parents need to know their childs IEP goals, so that the parents can work on them during the summer.
4. Private tutor just a couple hours of the week to work on math and reading.
5. Summer camp for your child who might be shy to work on their social skills.

Now these are just a few options, but it is something to help you get started.

Autism Summer Camps

http://www.autismspeaks.org/family-services/community-connections/have-some-fun-summer-camp

Social Media and Autism

We all know the negative effects of social media, where our kids are exposed to things we do not want them exposed to.  The kids might establish relationships we do not want them to establish.  We could keep going about the negatives with social media, but what are the positives?  Can social media help teenage boys with Autism work on their social skills?  The simple answer is yes.

Teenage boys are going through so many things socially and physically, and when you put Autism on top of that there is a lot to handle.  Each teenage boy is different, just like each student with Autism is different, you may have a child who is mute and you may have a child that loves to talk.  Social media can help in both cases.

If you have a teenage boy who is mute with Autism it makes it very difficult to make friends at school.  If this student is able to have a Facebook he may realize he is not the only one like himself out there.  The student will be able to express their thoughts and feelings without having to speak.  This will hopefully lead to confidence, thus making them more sociable in the classroom, especially if they can establish a relationship online with a classmate.   Not only will they establish relationships, but Facebook has support groups for the students to try new strategies if they are uncomfortable with speaking in front of someone.  This is just the tip of how social media might help this particular student.

Now you have a teenage boy who has Autism that speaks, but has poor social skills.  With Face time, and Facebook these students will post what is on their mind and may realize they cannot just say whatever is on their mind.  There are boundaries when you speak in public, which relate to manners.  With Face time the student will be able to interact with someone that may have gone through the same situation and how they worked on their manners when speaking in public. 

These are one extreme to the other when it comes to Autism, but even if you have a student that has some signs of both, social media can really build confidence, which will let their personality shine!  It is important that other people know their personality because this may establish lifelong friendships.