Need help with topics

I am drawing a blank this week on what to post about.  Does anyone have any ideas, questions, or suggestions for future posts?  I appreciate it.

What is the best accommodation

1. Extended time
2. Modified Assignments
3. Scribe
4. Reader

If you could leave feedback as to what accommodations you think is the best that would be fantastic.  Personally I think that modified assignments help the students the most because it eliminates some useless verb age in a test or a quiz.

Special Olympics Autism

I have been involved in the Special Olympics for several years now and it is one of the most amazing originations out there.  I work with what is called Unified Sports and it takes students without disabilities and pairs them up with students with disabilities with sports such as Bocce, Tennis and Track.  This allows the students to meet new people and interact with people they may never have met before.  These students become instant friends and recognize them in the hallways, invite them to their lunch table or become friends on facebook.  I have truly seen students come out of their shell in interact as they never have before.  This also teaches the students how to work hard and about teamwork which is huge if these students want to join the workforce eventually.  Sports teaches student with and without disabilities a whole lot and should not be passed up by anybody.

As allows leave feedback on what you would like to see in future posts?

If you like to read vampires or paranormal stories read on., if not just delete

So, my wife and I challenged each other to start something new this summer and mine was this blog and hers was to write her own book.  So, if you like vampires and have a kindle you may like this book here is the link (I know this has nothing to do with Autism, but I am just supporting my wife).

http://www.amazon.com/Protected-Ariya-Adams-trilogy-ebook/dp/B00DKCZ9S8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1372125770&sr=8-3&keywords=protected+by+anna

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.