ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

What To Know about Autism

November 12, 2014
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A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

Ellen Notbohm posted a message, "Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew" based
on her book by the same name. Here are two things to know:
I am a child
"My autism is part of who I am, not all of who I am. Are you just one thing, or are you a person with
thoughts, feelings, preferences, ideas, talents, and dreams? Are you fat (overweight), myopic (wear
glasses), or klutzy (uncoordinated)? Those may be things that I see first when I meet you, but youre
more than just that, arent you? As an adult, you have control over how you define yourself. If you
want to single out one characteristic, you can make that known. As a child, I am still
unfolding. Neither you nor I yet know what I may be capable of. If you think of me as just one thing,
you run the danger of setting up an expectation that may be too low. And if I get a sense that you
dont think I 'can do it,' my natural response will be, why try?"
Help me with social interactions
"It may look like I dont want to play with the other kids on the playground, but it may be that I simply
do not know how to start a conversation or join their play. Teach me how to play with
others. Encourage other children to invite me to play along. I might be delighted to be included. I
do best in structured play activities that have a clear beginning and end. I dont know how to read
facial expressions, body language, or the emotions of others. Coach me. If I laugh when Emily falls
off the slide, its not that I think its funny. Its that I dont know what to say. Talk to me about Emilys
feelings and teach me to ask, 'Are you okay?'"

ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

Achievement Builds Resilience
October 24, 2014
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Cheerful company shortens the miles.

-German proverb

"While early childhood professionals are naturally a hardy group of people, we regularly draw on our
resilience and strength. If we don't replenish these, we'll burn out. To avoid this, we must continually
nurture our resilience." These are the views of Rachel Robertson and Helen Zarba in their article
"Getting and Keeping Your Groove: Building Resilience in Adults," which appeared in
the Beginnings Professional Development Workshop, Mental Health. In the article the authors
laid out a wide range of resilience-building solutions including focusing on "personal perceptions of
achievement and ensuring that each person has the opportunity to establish and achieve goals in
areas that matter to her." Here are some of their strategies for facilitating achievement:
Challenge yourself. Push yourself, step out of that box, take risks: Discover something new
about yourself by exploring a new hobby; make plans for the next step in your career; create
fitness goals for yourself. Don't let predetermined theories of success discourage you. Find a
buddy to work with in achieving your goals.

Come up with group goals and work together to achieve them. Enjoy the process of identifying
and working together toward an agreed-upon goal as much as achieving it. Reflect on what
you're gaining in the process: a deeper understanding of each other, shared experiences, new
skills, and so on. Celebrate each step along the way.

Give some attention to your strengths. Spend time identifying each team member's strengths
and create ways to encourage their contributions to the team/workplace in new ways.

ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

Promoting Thoughtfulness
November 3, 2014
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To every man alive, one must hope it has in some way happened that he has talked with his more
fascinating friends around a table on some night when all the numerous personalities unfolded
themselves like great tropical flowers.
-G. K. Chesterton

In her article, "Best Brains in Science Under Five: Helping Children Develop Intentionally," which is
included in the new Exchange CEU based on the Beginnings Workshop, The Intentional Teacher,
Judy Harris Helm suggests one of the challenges for teachers is "to engage children in the
intellectual life by supporting the development of traits such as curiosity and the disposition to be
thoughtful." She suggests a number of strategies including the following to help children learn to be
thoughtful:
Listen carefully to childrens conversations and identify topics of interest.

Choose topics for project work that have potential for hands-on learning.

Lift up childrens questions by recording on chart paper; review these and add more. Be
especially supportive and ask questions that indicate deep thought.

Add materials to the classroom related to childrens interest as they emerge. Encourage
children to contribute materials.

Dont jump in and tell children answers or go immediately to a book or the Internet. Today
answers can be found in seconds, but this creates child dependence on adults who have
mastered the skills of reading and writing and not how young children learn.

Dont be afraid to provoke childrens thinking. Challenge them to find an answer, create a
model, or do observational drawing.