Thursday, April 22, 2010

Time and SPED Continuum


My son recently completed a vocational assessment that includes (among a myriad of metrics and clusters) a series of IEP ("individualized learning plan") templates for transitioning to adulthood.

The templates form the basis of goals, outcomes, and the actors and actions that bridge them together. The "actor" factoring is a goal in itself -- an elusive one at that. Why is this?

Other than the as-needed conferral no formal roles or responsibilities have been tasked to his high school. As a result my son is as far along in his transition plan as the school is in figuring out how to offer one.

The biggest obstacle to his ultimate goal -- living independently -- is not that he's incapable of achieving it, he can't learn how, or refuses any help. It's that his brain is a sieve. His powers of retention on matters of real world practicality are a great challenge to him. He operates under the use-it (or lose-it) dictum. A week of driver's ed could be undone by the following week of not driving.

The other (and more daunting) challenge is that he can't generalize what he learns, a.k.a. sensory integration. This is the whatever-happens-in-Vegas rule of learning disabilities. What he learns in one place remains tethered to the place in which he learns it. For example, he's a gifted writer. He's in touch with his feelings and his writing ability gives him an extraordinary command of expression.

So what would I or any proud parent wish from this -- that he brings home a Pulitzer? No, it's much simpler than that. I just want to see a sample or two of the writing from his Journalism Two class. However, it would never occur to him to use his Yahoo account to email me the files from the school computer. Absolutely no pathways between these two black holes in space.

The other roadblock around sensory integration is that the repetition becomes its own reward. For example, he attended Tae Kwon Do classes twice a week for over three years and advanced one belt. He tried out for the high school play in ninth grade. The cycle has repeated without any new skills or challenges to augment his experience or test his potential for drama, music, dance, etc. He is justifiably proud of his work with the school but is either too afraid or oblivious to take the next steps.

He tried a week of musical theater summer camp and loved it. Then he insisted on going to the same camp, attending the same program, and the same weekly session the following summer. Any guesses what he's decided the highlight of this year's summer will be? Ironically, he was given the chance to go for two weeks. That offer was not greeted with double the pleasure but triple the trauma. The formula had been messed with. There were no lines to remember. We had gone off script. It was worse than not going at all.

When someone instinctively sees two possibilities and creates two separate piles, how do you teach them to put two and two together? It's counter-intuitive (and frankly, infuriating) that this vocational assessment recommended picking between academics and vocations. This fork in the road wasn't determined by scope of need but by scarcity of time.

I reject this. He doesn't have all the time in the world. But he shall have all the time he needs -- and that vacuum will be filled by projects that address the three major pathways where all transition plans converge:

- academics
- social skills
- vocational plans

In each of the three templates we will begin in one and bridge over to the others -- not because he needs support in all three (he does) but because the crossing over these arbitrary boundaries is the key. That's how we push beyond brute force repetition so that he can rely on more than memorization for leaving his comfort zone -- his ticket to independence.

#1 Developing his story: Origination -- Academics

My son will take a high school English class. The literature will include stories where the main characters struggle with transitions to adulthood. He will be challenged to debate and discuss the motivations and frameworks referenced by each character in their relationships with adults and their peers. In terms of social skills he will use his PDA to schedule non-class time to discuss these works (or other coming-of-age concerns) with his peers. Vocationally he will script and tell "his" story to potential employers through the counseling he receives from Mass Rehab and the Franklin Hampshire Career Center.

#2 Producing his story: Origination -- Vocational Plans

My son will volunteer to do storytelling and character readings at local libraries, nursing homes, and other community gatherings. In terms of life skills he will plan his route to these venues via mass transit, car, or both. He will buy appropriate dress for these appearances. Academically he will work on augmenting his theatricality with dance or video production courses at school. He will use these new skills to showcase his talents through choreography and/or shooting/editing a production of his performance.

#3 Working in a group: Origination -- Life Skill

The life skill here is practical number-crunching or what the IEP calls "consumer math." This is not about the hypothetical word problems that seem to end in the number of miles a car travels based on the size of its gas tank. This is about "his" money and where it travels in transactions and how to plan these travels, a.k.a. budgeting. Fundraising is where my son meets the financial road. It's not only problem-solving. It's social. It's academic -- certainly in terms of keeping school programs afloat. It's something he cares about.

Once he's introduced to fiscal spreadsheet logic he will need to plan an event around raising money for a school-related cause; let's say a dance to raise money for the theater program. The vocational piece is to create a web page on Face Book that drums up awareness of the $ need and creates buzz around the dance: who's going, what the deejay will be spinning, dancing-with-the-stars prizes, etc.

The academic part of this comparing the initial fundraising goal with how well the event plays out. What adjustments will he make for next time? How does this help him to plan his own financial goals or career assets -- especially if he decides to work in social services where funding and fundraising go hand in hand.

* * *

The IEP meeting is next week. Let's hope that a little cross-over thinking will help learners like my son to learn both on the job and integrate the learning that lies ahead.

I know it sounds like I'm pushing my son and pushy parents are reprehensible. But I don't wish him to become anything other than a soul who finds his own way while he's here. Perhaps I'm trying to pull him. That may well be true. Either way I'm certainly not the only one pulling for my son.

Time and SPED Continuum


My son recently completed a vocational assessment that includes (among a myriad of metrics and clusters) a series of IEP ("individualized learning plan") templates for transitioning to adulthood.

The templates form the basis of goals, outcomes, and the actors and actions that bridge them together. The "actor" factoring is a goal in itself -- an elusive one at that. Why is this?

Other than the as-needed conferral no formal roles or responsibilities have been tasked to his high school. As a result my son is as far along in his transition plan as the school is in figuring out how to offer one.

The biggest obstacle to his ultimate goal -- living independently -- is not that he's incapable of achieving it, he can't learn how, or refuses any help. It's that his brain is a sieve. His powers of retention on matters of real world practicality are a great challenge to him. He operates under the use-it (or lose-it) dictum. A week of driver's ed could be undone by the following week of not driving.

The other (and more daunting) challenge is that he can't generalize what he learns, a.k.a. sensory integration. This is the whatever-happens-in-Vegas rule of learning disabilities. What he learns in one place remains tethered to the place in which he learns it. For example, he's a gifted writer. He's in touch with his feelings and his writing ability gives him an extraordinary command of expression.

So what would I or any proud parent wish from this -- that he brings home a Pulitzer? No, it's much simpler than that. I just want to see a sample or two of the writing from his Journalism Two class. However, it would never occur to him to use his Yahoo account to email me the files from the school computer. Absolutely no pathways between these two black holes in space.

The other roadblock around sensory integration is that the repetition becomes its own reward. For example, he attended Tae Kwon Do classes twice a week for over three years and advanced one belt. He tried out for the high school play in ninth grade. The cycle has repeated without any new skills or challenges to augment his experience or test his potential for drama, music, dance, etc. He is justifiably proud of his work with the school but is either too afraid or oblivious to take the next steps.

He tried a week of musical theater summer camp and loved it. Then he insisted on going to the same camp, attending the same program, and the same weekly session the following summer. Any guesses what he's decided the highlight of this year's summer will be? Ironically, he was given the chance to go for two weeks. That offer was not greeted with double the pleasure but triple the trauma. The formula had been messed with. There were no lines to remember. We had gone off script. It was worse than not going at all.

When someone instinctively sees two possibilities and creates two separate piles, how do you teach them to put two and two together? It's counter-intuitive (and frankly, infuriating) that this vocational assessment recommended picking between academics and vocations. This fork in the road wasn't determined by scope of need but by scarcity of time.

I reject this. He doesn't have all the time in the world. But he shall have all the time he needs -- and that vacuum will be filled by projects that address the three major pathways where all transition plans converge:

- academics
- social skills
- vocational plans

In each of the three templates we will begin in one and bridge over to the others -- not because he needs support in all three (he does) but because the crossing over these arbitrary boundaries is the key. That's how we push beyond brute force repetition so that he can rely on more than memorization for leaving his comfort zone -- his ticket to independence.

#1 Developing his story: Origination -- Academics

My son will take a high school English class. The literature will include stories where the main characters struggle with transitions to adulthood. He will be challenged to debate and discuss the motivations and frameworks referenced by each character in their relationships with adults and their peers. In terms of social skills he will use his PDA to schedule non-class time to discuss these works (or other coming-of-age concerns) with his peers. Vocationally he will script and tell "his" story to potential employers through the counseling he receives from Mass Rehab and the Franklin Hampshire Career Center.

#2 Producing his story: Origination -- Vocational Plans

My son will volunteer to do storytelling and character readings at local libraries, nursing homes, and other community gatherings. In terms of life skills he will plan his route to these venues via mass transit, car, or both. He will buy appropriate dress for these appearances. Academically he will work on augmenting his theatricality with dance or video production courses at school. He will use these new skills to showcase his talents through choreography and/or shooting/editing a production of his performance.

#3 Working in a group: Origination -- Life Skill

The life skill here is practical number-crunching or what the IEP calls "consumer math." This is not about the hypothetical word problems that seem to end in the number of miles a car travels based on the size of its gas tank. This is about "his" money and where it travels in transactions and how to plan these travels, a.k.a. budgeting. Fundraising is where my son meets the financial road. It's not only problem-solving. It's social. It's academic -- certainly in terms of keeping school programs afloat. It's something he cares about.

Once he's introduced to fiscal spreadsheet logic he will need to plan an event around raising money for a school-related cause; let's say a dance to raise money for the theater program. The vocational piece is to create a web page on Face Book that drums up awareness of the $ need and creates buzz around the dance: who's going, what the deejay will be spinning, dancing-with-the-stars prizes, etc.

The academic part of this comparing the initial fundraising goal with how well the event plays out. What adjustments will he make for next time? How does this help him to plan his own financial goals or career assets -- especially if he decides to work in social services where funding and fundraising go hand in hand.

* * *

The IEP meeting is next week. Let's hope that a little cross-over thinking will help learners like my son to learn both on the job and integrate the learning that lies ahead.

I know it sounds like I'm pushing my son and pushy parents are reprehensible. But I don't wish him to become anything other than a soul who finds his own way while he's here. Perhaps I'm trying to pull him. That may well be true. Either way I'm certainly not the only one pulling for my son.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Theory of Mind: It's not all in our Heads


A recent article called Next Big Thing in English: Knowing They Know That You Know was the top download on NYT.com over several post publication news cycles. The piece is framed as a new justification for literature as a scorecard-like tool for sharpening one's theory of mind -- the ability to see competing versions of reality from anothers' point of view.

The writer, Patricia Cohen, seems more intent on stroking the bruised egos of arts and humanities majors than on any serious exploration of perspective-taking or its many tangible benefits. Maybe that's to be expected from right brains tired of accommodating a left brain world. But that's more of an indulgence than a meaningful exercise of right brain power in its contemplative and exacting glory.

Nor does the piece focus on any likely corollaries: does an intellect wired for math and science find it more challenging to process the shades and complexities that perspective-taking poses? Centuries full of socially clueless science majors could argue that case rather well. While I'm no more dismissive of liberal arts than the next New York Times-colored word person, that's not the lead story that been buried here.

The ability to view the world through others is a kind of lens crafting that focuses us on details we would overlook in our own petitions, priorities we only notice in the obsessions of others, and most importantly, motivations that would otherwise confuse or surprise us if we couldn't well piece them together.

Lens crafting is our best defense against blind spots, blindfolds really. It enables us to see differing perceptions and to understand how others we conflict with would process or filter the same circumstances or events we're interpreting so differently. Talk about your intractable negotiations -- how can we even approach that bargaining table without lens crafting?

Other than coercion and intimidation there really is no way to win over adversaries or influence the outcomes more oriented to our own goals and motives. As Joe the Biden says, we're now in BFD territory that eclipses even the future of English programs in higher education.






Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz
The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realising your right brain/left brain tendancy will help you interact with and to understand others.
Left Brain Dominance: 16(16)
Right Brain Dominance: 16(16)
Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz

Theory of Mind: It's not all in our Heads


A recent article called Next Big Thing in English: Knowing They Know That You Know was the top download on NYT.com over several post publication news cycles. The piece is framed as a new justification for literature as a scorecard-like tool for sharpening one's theory of mind -- the ability to see competing versions of reality from anothers' point of view.

The writer, Patricia Cohen, seems more intent on stroking the bruised egos of arts and humanities majors than on any serious exploration of perspective-taking or its many tangible benefits. Maybe that's to be expected from right brains tired of accommodating a left brain world. But that's more of an indulgence than a meaningful exercise of right brain power in its contemplative and exacting glory.

Nor does the piece focus on any likely corollaries: does an intellect wired for math and science find it more challenging to process the shades and complexities that perspective-taking poses? Centuries full of socially clueless science majors could argue that case rather well. While I'm no more dismissive of liberal arts than the next New York Times-colored word person, that's not the lead story that been buried here.

The ability to view the world through others is a kind of lens crafting that focuses us on details we would overlook in our own petitions, priorities we only notice in the obsessions of others, and most importantly, motivations that would otherwise confuse or surprise us if we couldn't well piece them together.

Lens crafting is our best defense against blind spots, blindfolds really. It enables us to see differing perceptions and to understand how others we conflict with would process or filter the same circumstances or events we're interpreting so differently. Talk about your intractable negotiations -- how can we even approach that bargaining table without lens crafting?

Other than coercion and intimidation there really is no way to win over adversaries or influence the outcomes more oriented to our own goals and motives. As Joe the Biden says, we're now in BFD territory that eclipses even the future of English programs in higher education.






Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz
The higher of these two numbers below indicates which side of your brain has dominance in your life. Realising your right brain/left brain tendancy will help you interact with and to understand others.
Left Brain Dominance: 16(16)
Right Brain Dominance: 16(16)
Right Brain/ Left Brain Quiz

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attentionSpin is a consulting practice formed in 1990 to create, automate and apply a universal scoring system (“The Biggest Picture”) to brands, celebrities, events and policy issues in the public eye. In the Biggest Picture, attentionSpin applies the principles of market research to the process of media analytics to score the volume and nature of media coverage. The explanatory power of this research model: 1. Allows practitioners to understand the requirements for managing the quality of attention they receive 2. Shows influencers the level of authority they hold in forums where companies, office-seekers, celebrities and experts sell their visions, opinions and skills 3. Creates meaningful standards for measuring the success and failure of campaigns and their connection to marketable assets.