So, we're having a philosophy change.
I've been working on the lesson plan idea of (for example):
We need to persuasive writing
therefore
I'll teach what it is
then
I'll get Nicky to write a persuasive text (on whatever relevant subject, or even a subject out of the blue).
This type of plan isn't working. Our collective disabilities are getting in the way of this type of structure, and quite frankly, it's boring as batshit.
Thus, I'm going to try this approach:
Me: What subject do you want to learn about today?
Nicky: Space
therefore
We learn about space - iPad games, internet, books, telescope, etc. As we're learning, I'll be talking about what type of text we're reading - is it trying to persuade us? (etc).
then
I'll get Nicky to write a persuasive text in relation to space.
The main philosophy will be "Learning to love learning".
I will keep looking at the Australian Curriculum throughout the year in order to know which direction to nudge our learning. At the end of the year, I'll sit down with our records of what we have done, and tick off the AC as appropriate, and use the next couple of months to go over anything that we may have missed.
Basically, I am going to relax about the whole thing. For his sake, and for mine. This is the best way too, I think, of catering for his giftedness. Already, I have noticed that once I stopped him because "we were done for the day for that subject, and we had other subjects yet to cover". That is not a habit I want to get into. That is actually one of the reasons we left the school environment. We will never know how far he can go if we stop him according to some regimented timetable, that quite frankly, I have set up only to appease others concerns that I cannot educate my child.
I should have given myself time at the beginning, to wrap my head around how best to approach homeschooling. Instead, I feared judgement, and wanted to "prove" from the start that I was capable. The thing is - keeping to the same education "formula" as formal schooling defeats the purpose. And the people around me who are going to judge, will judge anyway. So I'm going to let them, if it pleases them to do so. In the meantime, I am going to teach my son - I am going to teach him how to have fun learning for the sake of learning.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Myths about Giftedness
Most of the time, when I talk about my son being gifted, and the challenges it presents, I get a little attitude. People don't mean to :), but it's there. Here are some myths about being gifted, and then I've included the truth.
#1 Gifted kids do great in school.
Not usually. Gifted kids quite often have poor grades, because quite early on, they become bored, and then they become disinterested. Their grades slip, and they are believed to be of average, or low intelligence. They start to believe that themselves, and so they never really try again.
#2 Schools differentiate their programs to cater for gifted kids.
No, schools are supposed to differentiate their program to cater for gifted kids. However, classes usually include the full spectrum of intelligence, and teachers can only do so much with the resources and time they are allocated. Triage in such situations is essential, and remedial differentiation is placed as a higher priority.
#3 Kids with special needs can not be gifted.
Kids with special needs who are also gifted are quite often known as Twice Exceptional, or 2e kids. Kids can have a learning disability (such as dyslexia), and also be gifted. Kids can have a neurological disability (such as Aspergers) and also be gifted.
#4 If a child is gifted, then they also have a good memory.
Intelligence and memory are two different things. You can be gifted and have a bad memory. You can have an excellent memory and not be gifted.
#5 Gifted kids need no additional support.
Gifted kids quite often need additional support. Having the "gifted" label does not define an entire person - there are often other areas in which these kids need help, especially if their giftedness is causing them trouble, such as socially, or behaviourally.
#6 Gifted kids will be socially harmed if they are accelerated at school.
Gifted kids are all different. Some may be harmed socially, however some will not. Anecdotally speaking, it seems to me that most do quite fine socially when accelerated.
#7 Gifted kids need to be at the same behavioural level as their new peers if they are accelerated.
This certainly would make things easier for the teacher. It makes no difference to the child. Attempting to force the child to mature before they are ready can harm them. Not accelerating them when required can harm them. Teachers need to get over it.
#8 Catering for gifted students requires more time and resources than for other students.
So this one may actually be true, in some, and I stress "some", cases. However, are gifted students not as equally entitled to a suitable education as any other child?
More myths from "C"
#1 Gifted kids do great in school.
Not usually. Gifted kids quite often have poor grades, because quite early on, they become bored, and then they become disinterested. Their grades slip, and they are believed to be of average, or low intelligence. They start to believe that themselves, and so they never really try again.
#2 Schools differentiate their programs to cater for gifted kids.
No, schools are supposed to differentiate their program to cater for gifted kids. However, classes usually include the full spectrum of intelligence, and teachers can only do so much with the resources and time they are allocated. Triage in such situations is essential, and remedial differentiation is placed as a higher priority.
#3 Kids with special needs can not be gifted.
Kids with special needs who are also gifted are quite often known as Twice Exceptional, or 2e kids. Kids can have a learning disability (such as dyslexia), and also be gifted. Kids can have a neurological disability (such as Aspergers) and also be gifted.
#4 If a child is gifted, then they also have a good memory.
Intelligence and memory are two different things. You can be gifted and have a bad memory. You can have an excellent memory and not be gifted.
#5 Gifted kids need no additional support.
Gifted kids quite often need additional support. Having the "gifted" label does not define an entire person - there are often other areas in which these kids need help, especially if their giftedness is causing them trouble, such as socially, or behaviourally.
#6 Gifted kids will be socially harmed if they are accelerated at school.
Gifted kids are all different. Some may be harmed socially, however some will not. Anecdotally speaking, it seems to me that most do quite fine socially when accelerated.
#7 Gifted kids need to be at the same behavioural level as their new peers if they are accelerated.
This certainly would make things easier for the teacher. It makes no difference to the child. Attempting to force the child to mature before they are ready can harm them. Not accelerating them when required can harm them. Teachers need to get over it.
#8 Catering for gifted students requires more time and resources than for other students.
So this one may actually be true, in some, and I stress "some", cases. However, are gifted students not as equally entitled to a suitable education as any other child?
More myths from "C"
1. That gifted children are emotionally immature - in
actual fact, unless there is a reason for immaturity (such as a delay or
disability), their emotional age and social age is supposed to be
closer to their cognitive age than their actual age. Therefore, if this
is the reason for holding back or not accelerating, it is BS. Gifted
children are sometimes seen to be emotionally immature (especially boys)
if they cry, but in actual fact, they cry because they understand far
more than the avg child.
2. That everything should come easily to gifted children - not true. Like everyone else gifted children have areas of strength and weaknesses. Their weaknesses may still be stronger than the average child, but it is a relative weakness and those things are relatively harder for these children. They need to be supported in learning to deal with their relative weaknesses.
3. Gifted children are not born, they are created (by tiger parents) - Where do I even begin with this one?!
4. Gifted and talented are the same so we can look for the gifted by identifying high performers - again, not true. So many gifted children under-achieve and are not identified. Not identifying them leads to them growing up as under-achieving, disconnected adults, probably with low self-esteem.
5. G&T is an elitist term, what makes you think your child is cleverer than mine? - G&T is no more elitist than any program or activity identifying the best runners, swimmers, footballers, pianists, singers or violinists. It is identifying an ability - in this case, cognitive or academic - and supporting the development of that ability.
2. That everything should come easily to gifted children - not true. Like everyone else gifted children have areas of strength and weaknesses. Their weaknesses may still be stronger than the average child, but it is a relative weakness and those things are relatively harder for these children. They need to be supported in learning to deal with their relative weaknesses.
3. Gifted children are not born, they are created (by tiger parents) - Where do I even begin with this one?!
4. Gifted and talented are the same so we can look for the gifted by identifying high performers - again, not true. So many gifted children under-achieve and are not identified. Not identifying them leads to them growing up as under-achieving, disconnected adults, probably with low self-esteem.
5. G&T is an elitist term, what makes you think your child is cleverer than mine? - G&T is no more elitist than any program or activity identifying the best runners, swimmers, footballers, pianists, singers or violinists. It is identifying an ability - in this case, cognitive or academic - and supporting the development of that ability.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
So now I have half a system set up...
I need to change everything I think.
Let me explain.
Nicky is good at maths. Really good at maths. He should have been in year one at the end of the last year, however he was in year two. They were doing a maths test at the national level, which is one year up from QLD's normal level - so really the test was for the end of year three. Nicky had only been in class for a few weeks, and he scored 85% on stuff he'd never seen before, and 98% on more basic concepts (numbers, patterns and algebra).
Last week, we were working on iMaths, and he did basic time. I'm thinking this book is going to be too easy in some aspects. And yet, he has trouble measuring (the physical measuring with a ruler - he can do the math in his head, no worries, and has fantastic problem solving abilities).
So I guess I should buy the next few years books, and see how he goes with the harder stuff. Because part of the idea of homeschooling was to keep the education at his level, not the level of his peers.
It's easier to physically *do* homeschooling than I imagined, however it is rather complicated when it comes to appropriate curriculum. I'm not going to be able to keep with the Australian Curriculum as much as I thought - we are going to have to skip ahead in some areas.
Back to the books for me :) Just when I thought I had figured it out lol... :)
Let me explain.
Nicky is good at maths. Really good at maths. He should have been in year one at the end of the last year, however he was in year two. They were doing a maths test at the national level, which is one year up from QLD's normal level - so really the test was for the end of year three. Nicky had only been in class for a few weeks, and he scored 85% on stuff he'd never seen before, and 98% on more basic concepts (numbers, patterns and algebra).
Last week, we were working on iMaths, and he did basic time. I'm thinking this book is going to be too easy in some aspects. And yet, he has trouble measuring (the physical measuring with a ruler - he can do the math in his head, no worries, and has fantastic problem solving abilities).
So I guess I should buy the next few years books, and see how he goes with the harder stuff. Because part of the idea of homeschooling was to keep the education at his level, not the level of his peers.
It's easier to physically *do* homeschooling than I imagined, however it is rather complicated when it comes to appropriate curriculum. I'm not going to be able to keep with the Australian Curriculum as much as I thought - we are going to have to skip ahead in some areas.
Back to the books for me :) Just when I thought I had figured it out lol... :)
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Homeschooling Planning - The Lesson Documentation
As an early childhood educator, I was taught how to portfolio a child's development and learning. As an education student, I was taught how to do lesson plans for a class. As a homeschooling mumma, I am mixing the two theories to create "The Lesson Documentation".
The Lesson Documentation has four sections - a handwritten weekly planner, a computer record of tasks done, a folder containing documentation of work done, and a folder containing actual work done.
Weekly Planner
This idea is simple. Work out which subjects you want to do on each day, then have one piece of paper for each day, put headings for each subject, and as you decide what to do on each day, write it in. Sometimes I plan a week ahead, and sometimes I write it in as we are doing it. I do believe that planning too far ahead with a special needs child (and a special needs parent) is asking for time wastage, as things change so rapidly.
I highlight items orange when they are done, and yellow if they are not. Things highlighted in yellow are written in the planner for a later date if appropriate. I also make notes as I need to for various things - whether extension or revision is needed, or the reason for having a day off.
Computer Record
I have a spreadsheet set up to document actual work done. As we work through the day, I enter this in on my netbook (which I also use for scaffolding - YouTube videos and the like). The spreadsheet includes the following information:
Date
Subject
Lesson details
Time spent
Australian Curriculum (or QLD, or my own goals) reference number
I include the appropriate reference number so that at the end of term, I can input these into another database, and see which topics we have covered in full, which topics we still need to assess, and which topics we still need to complete.
Documentation of Work Done
This display folder includes one pocket for each week. At the end of each week, I staple together the Weekly Planner pages, and the Computer Record pages together and add them in.
Documentation of Actual Work Done (Portfolio)
I also have a display folder that acts as a portfolio of Nicky's progress through the year. At the moment, it is rather sparse, containing only a book we made of our trip to the Science Centre and Museum in Brisbane. However as the year progresses, I will add further milestones in his learning, and examples of his work. It is this portfolio which will act as his assessment should we decide that he is to go back to formal schooling.
Another folder - my "Homeschool Folder"
I have another folder - a ring binder which holds the following:
The Weekly Planner
Sticker sheets and stickers (reward system)
Copy of Australian Curriculum (Year 3)
Copy of QLD Essential Learnings
Copy of Nicky's Personal Goals
Spare paper for Weekly Planner
Spare paper - plain (for use during school, though am planning to buy a small whiteboard instead)
Holds any projects that are half finished
I have "scrapbooked" the front and spine of this folder, so that it is "pretty" and therefore, fun to use :). It's the smallest size possible, so not burdensome. All other homeschooling information, forms etc are held in yet another (large) folder, which is rarely referred to (QLD education department information and the like).
I have seen planners online, both free and for sale, both digital and hardcopy, however I find that setting up your own system is the only true way to find something that works entirely for you. Coming up with this plan was simple - at first I knew I wanted to keep certain information, such as learning milestones, and curriculum reference numbers, and after that, I started homeschooling. As I grow, so shall my system. In this way, it will always be relevant to my needs at the time. Keeping it simple and flexible means that changing it will also be as simple as adding in a column here, or putting in some plastic sleeves there.
The biggest bonus is that I am not documenting things that I don't need to be documenting. Some homeschoolers like to include their household planners into their homeschooling planners - however I don't have a recipe or meal planner, and I like having home and school separated. Do what works for you.
The Lesson Documentation has four sections - a handwritten weekly planner, a computer record of tasks done, a folder containing documentation of work done, and a folder containing actual work done.
Weekly Planner
This idea is simple. Work out which subjects you want to do on each day, then have one piece of paper for each day, put headings for each subject, and as you decide what to do on each day, write it in. Sometimes I plan a week ahead, and sometimes I write it in as we are doing it. I do believe that planning too far ahead with a special needs child (and a special needs parent) is asking for time wastage, as things change so rapidly.
I highlight items orange when they are done, and yellow if they are not. Things highlighted in yellow are written in the planner for a later date if appropriate. I also make notes as I need to for various things - whether extension or revision is needed, or the reason for having a day off.
Computer Record
I have a spreadsheet set up to document actual work done. As we work through the day, I enter this in on my netbook (which I also use for scaffolding - YouTube videos and the like). The spreadsheet includes the following information:
Date
Subject
Lesson details
Time spent
Australian Curriculum (or QLD, or my own goals) reference number
I include the appropriate reference number so that at the end of term, I can input these into another database, and see which topics we have covered in full, which topics we still need to assess, and which topics we still need to complete.
Documentation of Work Done
This display folder includes one pocket for each week. At the end of each week, I staple together the Weekly Planner pages, and the Computer Record pages together and add them in.
Documentation of Actual Work Done (Portfolio)
I also have a display folder that acts as a portfolio of Nicky's progress through the year. At the moment, it is rather sparse, containing only a book we made of our trip to the Science Centre and Museum in Brisbane. However as the year progresses, I will add further milestones in his learning, and examples of his work. It is this portfolio which will act as his assessment should we decide that he is to go back to formal schooling.
Another folder - my "Homeschool Folder"
I have another folder - a ring binder which holds the following:
The Weekly Planner
Sticker sheets and stickers (reward system)
Copy of Australian Curriculum (Year 3)
Copy of QLD Essential Learnings
Copy of Nicky's Personal Goals
Spare paper for Weekly Planner
Spare paper - plain (for use during school, though am planning to buy a small whiteboard instead)
Holds any projects that are half finished
I have "scrapbooked" the front and spine of this folder, so that it is "pretty" and therefore, fun to use :). It's the smallest size possible, so not burdensome. All other homeschooling information, forms etc are held in yet another (large) folder, which is rarely referred to (QLD education department information and the like).
I have seen planners online, both free and for sale, both digital and hardcopy, however I find that setting up your own system is the only true way to find something that works entirely for you. Coming up with this plan was simple - at first I knew I wanted to keep certain information, such as learning milestones, and curriculum reference numbers, and after that, I started homeschooling. As I grow, so shall my system. In this way, it will always be relevant to my needs at the time. Keeping it simple and flexible means that changing it will also be as simple as adding in a column here, or putting in some plastic sleeves there.
The biggest bonus is that I am not documenting things that I don't need to be documenting. Some homeschoolers like to include their household planners into their homeschooling planners - however I don't have a recipe or meal planner, and I like having home and school separated. Do what works for you.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
The Australian Curriculum
The Australian Curriculum
The Australian curriculum began its public life on the 14th April, 2008, when then Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, announced that the federal government had a plan to develop and implement a national curriculum.
In a country where national curriculum ideas have been floated before and failed, and the states and territories have thus far been responsible for their own curriculums, it was and is a lofty goal to achieve. So far, the development of the Australian curriculum has been fast, but focused and detailed.
The Australian curriculum in its first phase is structured by separating into each learning area. For the first phase of implementation, these learning areas, or core subjects, are English, Mathematics, Science and History. The second phase will contain the subjects of geography, arts and languages, and the third phase will contain “the rest of the curriculum” (ACARA, n.d.a).
Each learning area contains content descriptions and achievement standards with work samples to show what the achievement standard should be for each year level (ACARA, n.d.a). There will also be “annotated student work samples and advice on reporting frameworks” (ACARA, 2009b), which will give teachers a clear understanding of the levels of learning that each student must complete in order to achieve each grade (A-E).
The curriculum sets out the content and achievement standards along with other information which is intended to set the background in which subjects are to be taught. This information is presented under the following headings: “Rationale, Aims of the learning area, Organisation of the <learning area> curriculum, General capabilities and Cross curriculum dimensions” (ACARA, 2009, p 5).
In an effort to add more to the curriculum than the core subjects alone provide, the Australian curriculum acknowledges 10 general capabilities and three cross curriculum dimensions that “contribute to, and can be developed through, teaching in each learning area” (ACARA, n.d.b). These general capabilities and cross curriculum dimensions are intertwined throughout the curriculum in an effort to fully immerse each subject with them.
The general capabilities throughout the curriculum are literacy, numeracy, information communication technology, thinking skills, ethical behaviour, creativity, self-management, teamwork, inter-cultural understanding and social competence. Each of these capabilities is represented throughout the curriculum in a manner that is unequivocal as to how it should be addressed within that learning area and whether there are any links to other learning areas, leading to clarity for teachers.
The three cross curriculum dimensions are Indigenous history and culture, Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia, and Sustainability (ACARA, n.d.b). Again, each of these perspectives has been written into the curriculum in an unequivocal manner as to where they should be addressed and whether there are any links to other learning areas.
Curriculum can be viewed in a variety of ways, and thus in order to fully appreciate how ACARA views the concept of curriculum (given that it has not given a clear definition of its own), it is important to understand the varying ways in which curriculum can be defined.
Marsh (2010, p. 98) views curriculum as being “WHAT is taught in schools” and believes that most would ultimately view curriculum in this way. The Australian curriculum certainly fits this definition. ACARA consistently says that the Australian curriculum sets expectations for what students should be taught. This fulfils Marsh’s view that curriculum is what is being taught, or to put it another way, the subject matter to be taught.
He goes on to say that various curriculum will vary according to “different value orientations and perspectives” (Marsh, 2010, p.98). By setting the three Cross curriculum perspectives (Indigenous perspectives, sustainability and Australia’s relationship with Asia), the Australian curriculum has certainly put forth what it sees as being the three most important values of the Australian education system.
The Australian curriculum also seems to lend itself to another definition. Goodson (1995, p. 17) says of curriculum that it is “in a real sense irrelevant to practice: that the dichotomy between espoused curriculum as written and the active curriculum as lived and experienced is complete and inevitable.” In other words, curriculum is two separate entities – the written and the lived. The framers of the Australian curriculum seemed to have this in mind.
ACARA (2009a, p. 7) acknowledges that the curriculum should not dictate to teachers how to teach and that general consensus indicates that teachers should be allowed flexibility in lesson planning so that they can decide how best to teach their students, thus allowing for individual student needs. They have recognized that curriculum is both written and lived. Whether the lived curriculum will live up to these ideals will be discussed later.
Peter Hill, the first chief executive officer at ACARA, states that he would divide curriculum into four separate entities.
The core curriculum, comprising those general capabilities that all people need, use and develop throughout their life and the big issues of the day that all need to know about,
The formal curriculum, based on disciplinary rules, understandings and methods,
The chosen curriculum, that individual students and teachers create through the choices they make,
The meta curriculum, comprising those activities, events and traditions that all good schools arrange to promote personal development, character and a community of learners (Hill, 2010)
By Hill’s definitions the Australian curriculum comprises the core curriculum and the formal curriculum, but leaves to teachers, schools, parents and students to formulate their own chosen and meta curriculum.
After deciding what curriculum means, one must think of how a curriculum is written. There are quite a few models for curriculum writing, and the oldest and most commonly used types are the prescription models. Ralph Tyler is the writer of one of the most referred to prescription models known as Tyler’s Objectives Model.
Brady and Kennedy (2010) write that Tyler’s Objectives Model of Curriculum starts with the framers identifying the objectives they want students to accomplish. The second step is to select learning experiences and the third is to organise learning experiences. These two later steps involve deciding “how” to guide and teach students so that they accomplish the objectives. The fourth and last step is evaluation – determining whether the objectives have been achieved.
It is interesting to note that Brady and Kennedy (2010, p.122) write that Tyler does not “explicitly specify” what philosophy should be used when formulating objectives, nor when selecting the learning experiences or organizing the learning experiences. Indeed, they describe this as a weakness in Tyler’s Model (Brady and Kennedy, 2010, p. 124).
An alternate view considers that Tyler wanted to allow for flexibility and for the framers of a curriculum to decide for themselves where to draw their inspiration from and for teachers to decide how best to teach the curriculum. If this is in fact the case, then Tyler’s model could well have been one basis for the Australian curriculum.
Another model that needs to be mentioned is Walker’s Naturalistic Model. Walker stated that “a model of curriculum development frankly based on practice should illuminate novel facets of the curriculum development process, correct misconceptions about that process, and enable us to understand both the failures and the successes of the classical model” (Walker, 1971, p. 52).
Walker believed that there are three elements to curriculum: the platform, the deliberation associated with the whole, and the design of the curriculum itself.
The curriculum developer does not begin with a blank slate. He could not begin without some notion of what is possible and desirable educationally. The system of beliefs and values that the curriculum developer brings to his task and that guides the development of the curriculum is what I call the curriculum’s platform. The word “platform” is meant to suggest both a political platform and something to stand on. The platform includes an idea of what is and a vision of what ought to be, and these guide the curriculum developer in determining what he should do to realize his vision (Walker, 1971, p. 52).
The Australian curriculum began with the framers deciding what platform the curriculum should be launched from as per this first element that Walker speaks of. The first phase of the Australian curriculum development involved the curriculum shaping phase, which was broken down into three steps: the identification of key issues and development of position paper, the preparation of initial shape paper and the preparation and publication of Shape Paper (ACARA, 2009b, pp. 4-5).
These steps involved discussing key issues, debating issues, reviewing existing policy and practice, discussing ‘big ideas’ and deciding what it is that Australia wants its children to learn.
The second element that Walker speaks of is that of deliberation. ACARA has certainly allowed for plenty of that, from consultations with a full range of professionals, to allowing the general public to have their say via their website.
The last element is that of designing the final curriculum, a process that ACARA is still undertaking.
The final product that is the Australian curriculum may display all the attributes of Tyler’s Objectives Model, however the process of designing the curriculum is certainly more akin to Walker’s Naturalistic Model.
Being true to the platform of which Walker speaks, ACARA mentions many visions or goals throughout its Curriculum Design and The Shape of the Australian Curriculum publications. Many of these goals have been taken directly from, or inspired by, the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians, written by the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA).
The first main educational goal as defined by MCEETYA is that “Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence” (MCEETYA, 2008, p. 7). ACARA borrows from this by talking about creating a world class curriculum for Australian students.
The second main educational goal as defined by both MCEETYA and ACARA is that the “curriculum will be designed to develop successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens” (ACARA, 2009a, p. 4).
Another goal that ACARA sets forth is that of inclusion. They do not accept that a different curriculum for disadvantaged students is beneficial to those students, but rather that there should be one curriculum for all and that with different levels of support, all students can achieve the high level of expectations as set out by the Australian curriculum (ACARA, 2009b, pp. 6-8).
Once goals had been formulated and ACARA had a vision of where they wanted the curriculum to go, they had to organise the curriculum. When deciding on how best to organise the curriculum, ACARA has looked to the developmental stages of children and written the curriculum to focus on four overlapping age bands. These are 5 – 8 years of age (Years K – 2), 8 – 12 years of age (Years 3 – 6/7), 12 – 15 years of age (Years 7/8 – 10), and 16 – 18 years of age (Years 11 and 12). This is indicative that when framing the curriculum they have allowed for the theory of Cognitive Development.
Cognitive Development is based on the idea that learning develops in stages. Curriculum documents have used this theory by allowing for students to gain certain basic knowledge before then expanding on that into more complex knowledge at a later date. Most curriculums tend to bow to this theory and base their curriculums on the ages of students, rather than other methods, such as basing curriculums around the intelligence type of the student (Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences).
The curriculum also takes into account Taxonomies of Objectives, which states that each person goes through a series of steps as they acquire new information, or learn new skills, or are aware of new ideas and philosophies etc. “These taxonomies help curriculum planners “target” the meaning of experiences and the measuring of educational outcomes” (Wiles, 2005, p44).
The Australian curriculum may value many process of teaching, learning and assessment. ACARA (2009a) states that one of the main ways in which it values teaching and learning processes is that it allows for teachers to determine their own approach to the curriculum and allows them flexibility to accommodate students who may have different learning needs or who are at a different level of development to that of their peers. Despite this declaration by ACARA, the NSW Board of Studies (2010, p. 24) disagrees, stating that “the mandating of content focusing on Asia restricts the capacity for teacher to reflect the needs and interests evident in local contexts”.
The Queensland Studies Authority (QSA) (2010, p. 4) also feels that there is a discrepancy between the ideals of the Australian curriculum and the actual curriculum. In particular they are concerned about time constraints given the “crowding of the curriculum” not allowing the flexibility that teachers require. They have also stated that they feel there is a lack of acknowledgment for English as a Second Language (ESL) students, students with disabilities, students with learning difficulties and students with special needs.
While ACARA may have the best of ideals, it is clearly yet to be seen whether these, combined with the actual Australian curriculum, can be achieved once the curriculum has been fully implemented.
Another ideal that the Australian curriculum speaks to is that of being a 21st Century curriculum for 21st Century learners. Hill (2010) describes the Australian curriculum as being relevant to 21st Century learners in four areas. The first of these four areas speaks to the development process of the curriculum.
The Australian Government has, on many occasions, attempted to nationalize the curriculum (Brady and Kennedy, 2010). The Australian curriculum is the latest attempt and according to Hill (2010) has been given the structures and resources in order to succeed. Professionals from all areas of education have been consulted, and there has also been an online consultation process so that teachers, parents, students and the community can provide their own input.
The second area that Hill (2010) mentions is the “way in which the Australian curriculum is being conceptualized and structured”. It is detailed in the knowledge that it expects students to attain, and has included general capabilities and cross-curriculum dimensions that are relevant to today’s world.
The third area is the way in which teachers and others are able to access the Australian curriculum. Being an online curriculum, it will be easily updated and accessed, giving teachers up-to-date information at their fingertips.
The fourth and last area is the way that schools and teachers will be supported as they implement the curriculum. A new organisation, the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) will foster professional development for teachers and schools as well as set out the National Professional Standards for Teachers which will place teachers into one of four categories depending on skills and experience. This will help guide teachers in their professional development.
Australia faces some interesting challenges in the 21st Century. Global climate change and energy concerns, natural disasters, changing attitudes towards Indigenous Australians, a changing relationship within the Asia region, changing health care, increasing mental illness and increasing poverty as the world population soars are but a few of the things that we need to prepare our children for as they become our future. The Australian curriculum seeks to address some of these directly within its cross curriculum dimensions (Indigenous history and culture, Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia, and Sustainability), and others indirectly throughout the curriculum general capabilities (thinking skills, ethical behaviour, creativity, self-management, teamwork, inter-cultural understanding and social competence) by teaching children how to think independently, and equip them with “the knowledge, understanding and skills that will help them in their futures” (ACARA, 2009c).
Of course, as the curriculum has not yet been finalised, let alone implemented, there is still a long way to go before it is truly known whether the ideals of the written Australian curriculum can be achieved through the lived Australian curriculum. Certainly, it will take a combined effort from the framers, through to the teachers and students in order for it to accomplish that which it sets out to do. As a country, we can only hope that this certainly is the best way forward, and that our children flourish in our schools under its implementation.
References:
ACARA: Australian Curriculum
Assessment and Reporting Authority.
(2009a). Curriculum design. Retrieved
September 1, 2010, from http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/Curriculum_Design_Paper_.pdf
ACARA: Australian Curriculum
Assessment and Reporting Authority.
(2009b). Curriculum development process.
Retrieved September 1, 2010, from
http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/ACARA_Curriculum_Development_process_v3.0.pdf
ACARA: Australian Curriculum
Assessment and Reporting Authority.
(2010a). Frequently Asked Questions.
Retrieved September 25, 2010, from
http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/General_Capabilities_and_Cross_Curriculum.pdf
ACARA: Australian Curriculum
Assessment and Reporting Authority.
(2010b). Frequently Asked Questions.
Retrieved September 1, 2010, from
http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/AC_FAQs_Senior_Sec_v1_20100513_Implementation_FINAL.pdf
ACARA: Australian Curriculum
Assessment and Reporting Authority.
(2009c). The shape of the Australian Curriculum. Retrieved September 1, 2010, from
http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/Shape_of_the_Australian_Curriculum.pdf
ACARA: Australian Curriculum
Assessment and Reporting Authority.
(n.d.a). What Does the Draft K-10 Australian Curriculum Look Like? Retrieved September 2, 2010, from
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/home/question/2
ACARA: Australian Curriculum
Assessment and Reporting Authority.
(n.d.b). What makes the Australian Curriculum a world-class curriculum? Retrieved September 2, 2010, from
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/home/question/3
ACARA: Australian Curriculum
Assessment and Reporting Authority.
(n.d.c). Why have an Australian Curriculum?
Retrieved September 2, 2010, from
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/home/question/1
Board of Studies NSW. (2010).
New South Wales response to the
draft K-10 Australian curriculum for English, history, mathematics and science. Retrieved September 25, 2010, from
http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/australian-curriculum/pdf_doc/nsw-response-to-draft-k-10-aus-curr-eng-hist-math-sci.pdf
Brady, L. & Kennedy,
K. (2010). Curriculum
Construction. French’s Forest, New
South Wales: Pearson Australia.
Golby, M. (1977). Curriculum studies and education for
teaching. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 1(1), 68 – 77. Retrieved
September 3, 2010, from Curtin University of Technology Library E-Reserve.
Goodson, I. (1995).
The making of curriculum:
Collected essays (2nd ed.).
Great Britain: Burgess Science Press.
Hill, P. (2010).
An Australian curriculum to
promote 21st century learning.
Retrieved September 19, 2010, from
http://www.eqa.edu.au/site/anaustraliancurriculumtopromote21stcentury.html
Ministerial Council on
Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. (2008).
Melbourne Declaration on
Educational Goals for Young Australians.
Retrieved September 14, 2010, from
http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/Draft_National_Declaration_on_Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf
Queensland Studies
Authority. (2010). Queensland response to draft K(P) – 10
Australian curriculum. Retrieved
September 24, 2010, from http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/downloads/approach/aus_curriculum_qld_response.pdf
Walker, D. (1971).
A Naturalistic model for
curriculum development. The School
Review, 80(1), 51 – 65. Retrieved
September 21, 2010, from Curtin University of Technology Library E-Reserve.
Preparing Our Homeschooling Curriculum
When we decided to start homeschooling, I read - a LOT!!! There are all manner of homeschooling resources out there, and it is quite daunting to be honest, to try sifting through them all. I want to follow the Australian National Curriculum as much as possible, so that if/when Nicky goes back to school, he won't be "behind" or have "gaps" in his knowledge base. I also want to incorporate therapies to help his ASD - speech and social, and occupational therapy.
So our subject list is as follows:
English
Maths
Science
History
Art
Speech and Social
Occupational Therapy
Other (either catch up time, or alternate interests, or "whatever")
I considered including Physical Education, however there's not much point in teaching him to play sports before his body has the required muscle tone to play without injury. I also thought about including Information Technology, however he is on the computer and iPad so much now, that he doesn't need extra time, and he is naturally interested, so picks things up along the way naturally. When he is older, we will look at teaching him programming languages etc, but for now, I think he covers it enough himself.
I'd like to add another language, however am not sure of how to approach this yet, so for now, it's still a thought in progress.
English Curriculum
At the moment, we are doing one unit (two pages) of Spelling Works per week. Every day we try to read a chapter of a book (Magic School Bus at the moment, as well as Zac Power), although as his reading level is adequate, and he hates reading, if he's having a bad day we will skip it. I also get him to read aloud at every other opportunity (for instance, when working on his maths text). We have a handwriting practice book, and once a week, he completes a journal in a scrapbook of the weeks events (which he also draws a picture in).
Two books we haven't started yet, however will once we get better at scheduling, are No Boring Practice Please! Funny Fairy Tale Grammar, and Boost English.
Australian Primary Dictionary
First Dictionary
Maths Curriculum
We are working from iMaths - both the text and the student tracker book. We also supplement this with the Junior Illustrated Maths Dictionary.
Science
Thus far, we haven't done much, however I have a few books that we'll be working with. I am currently looking at the Australian Curriculum to see which topics to cover, and will devise activities from there.
Blake's Science Guide
The Little Brainwaves investigate... Human Body
History
In much the same way as will happen with Science, I am following the Australian Curriculum. At the moment, we are working on Timelines (Australian Curriculum - ACHHS065 and ACHHS066). I also have My Place with which to discover history in Australia.
Art
We will be doing the usual "arty" things. Before each session, I will look at the QLD Ways of Working to see if there are any points I should be covering - for example, when painting, we will be talking about colour mixing, and experimenting with making our own colours.
Speech and Social
For these lessons, once a week we revise the previous weeks Secret Agent Society workbook section. Nicky has just completed this course, so we are doing it again at home. We also work on the "Home Missions" every day. While he is attending speech therapy, we also revise his work with his speech therapist for the week.
Occupational Therapy
We do Occupational Therapy nearly every day - 20 mins of Gross Motor and 20 minutes of Fine Motor. Gross Motor includes things like jumping on the trampoline, Yoga, and Wii Fit. Fine Motor includes things like handwriting, Playdoh, and Lego.
Other
To supplement Nicky's education to provide an encompassing view of the world, I am also using the following texts. As time goes on, I'll make our own resources, and come up with alternate plans, but for now, this is what we have.
Sport
Australian Special Days
Developing Your Thinking Skills
School World Atlas
I also bought Hai! 1 Nice To Meet You, however as I lived in Japan for a while, when they spell Romaji - Roomaji - I'm not filled with confidence... But hey, perhaps it's a start, and I can get a tutor for him later to clarify such things.
Note - the links shown here are not necessarily where I purchased these books, and are included to illustrate only, not endorse.
So our subject list is as follows:
English
Maths
Science
History
Art
Speech and Social
Occupational Therapy
Other (either catch up time, or alternate interests, or "whatever")
I considered including Physical Education, however there's not much point in teaching him to play sports before his body has the required muscle tone to play without injury. I also thought about including Information Technology, however he is on the computer and iPad so much now, that he doesn't need extra time, and he is naturally interested, so picks things up along the way naturally. When he is older, we will look at teaching him programming languages etc, but for now, I think he covers it enough himself.
I'd like to add another language, however am not sure of how to approach this yet, so for now, it's still a thought in progress.
English Curriculum
At the moment, we are doing one unit (two pages) of Spelling Works per week. Every day we try to read a chapter of a book (Magic School Bus at the moment, as well as Zac Power), although as his reading level is adequate, and he hates reading, if he's having a bad day we will skip it. I also get him to read aloud at every other opportunity (for instance, when working on his maths text). We have a handwriting practice book, and once a week, he completes a journal in a scrapbook of the weeks events (which he also draws a picture in).
Two books we haven't started yet, however will once we get better at scheduling, are No Boring Practice Please! Funny Fairy Tale Grammar, and Boost English.
Australian Primary Dictionary
First Dictionary
Maths Curriculum
We are working from iMaths - both the text and the student tracker book. We also supplement this with the Junior Illustrated Maths Dictionary.
Science
Thus far, we haven't done much, however I have a few books that we'll be working with. I am currently looking at the Australian Curriculum to see which topics to cover, and will devise activities from there.
Blake's Science Guide
The Little Brainwaves investigate... Human Body
History
In much the same way as will happen with Science, I am following the Australian Curriculum. At the moment, we are working on Timelines (Australian Curriculum - ACHHS065 and ACHHS066). I also have My Place with which to discover history in Australia.
Art
We will be doing the usual "arty" things. Before each session, I will look at the QLD Ways of Working to see if there are any points I should be covering - for example, when painting, we will be talking about colour mixing, and experimenting with making our own colours.
Speech and Social
For these lessons, once a week we revise the previous weeks Secret Agent Society workbook section. Nicky has just completed this course, so we are doing it again at home. We also work on the "Home Missions" every day. While he is attending speech therapy, we also revise his work with his speech therapist for the week.
Occupational Therapy
We do Occupational Therapy nearly every day - 20 mins of Gross Motor and 20 minutes of Fine Motor. Gross Motor includes things like jumping on the trampoline, Yoga, and Wii Fit. Fine Motor includes things like handwriting, Playdoh, and Lego.
Other
To supplement Nicky's education to provide an encompassing view of the world, I am also using the following texts. As time goes on, I'll make our own resources, and come up with alternate plans, but for now, this is what we have.
Sport
Australian Special Days
Developing Your Thinking Skills
School World Atlas
I also bought Hai! 1 Nice To Meet You, however as I lived in Japan for a while, when they spell Romaji - Roomaji - I'm not filled with confidence... But hey, perhaps it's a start, and I can get a tutor for him later to clarify such things.
Note - the links shown here are not necessarily where I purchased these books, and are included to illustrate only, not endorse.
April 2012 Update
Hi all :) All three of you, I'm sure lol... Ah, I'm going to look back on this blog as a quarterly journal of life *giggle*.
Nicky started the year in grade three, after doing VERY well at the end of last year. It took a while for him to find his feet, but find them he did.
Sadly, this year, he lost them again. His teacher has a heart of gold, but sadly, no innate understanding of ASD, and so we have pulled Nicky out of school and I am now homeschooling him. I don't want to go into details of what happened, however I will say this - I have full respect for the teachers and principal at his school. We had a meeting with his teacher, the principal and his case manager at the Special Education Unit... they spent an hour trying to talk me out of it, and telling me how well he was doing at school. I spent five minutes explaining to them that kids with ASD often "suck it up" at school and then melt down at home, and that Nicky was doing this (as well as some other things). They then spent the next hour talking to me about how to make homeschooling work. Shh... teachers aren't supposed to support parents in homeschooling *wink*.
It's been taking us a couple of weeks to find our feet, however we are starting to get into the rhythm of it all.
As well as all this drama, I have found that I also have Aspergers. Now it really is a "family thing".
Nicky started the year in grade three, after doing VERY well at the end of last year. It took a while for him to find his feet, but find them he did.
Sadly, this year, he lost them again. His teacher has a heart of gold, but sadly, no innate understanding of ASD, and so we have pulled Nicky out of school and I am now homeschooling him. I don't want to go into details of what happened, however I will say this - I have full respect for the teachers and principal at his school. We had a meeting with his teacher, the principal and his case manager at the Special Education Unit... they spent an hour trying to talk me out of it, and telling me how well he was doing at school. I spent five minutes explaining to them that kids with ASD often "suck it up" at school and then melt down at home, and that Nicky was doing this (as well as some other things). They then spent the next hour talking to me about how to make homeschooling work. Shh... teachers aren't supposed to support parents in homeschooling *wink*.
It's been taking us a couple of weeks to find our feet, however we are starting to get into the rhythm of it all.
As well as all this drama, I have found that I also have Aspergers. Now it really is a "family thing".
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
End of 2011 update
I've just realised how long it's been since I've posted here. Time for an update!!!
First of all - we now have our "official" paediatrician diagnosis for Nicky - Aspergers.
Half way through term three, it was brought up that Nicky may be bored at school. Thankfully, his year one teacher is AWESOME and helped us navigate things with the school. It was (eventually) planned for Nicky to go up to year two in term four, to see how it goes on two fronts - whether he could handle the work, and whether he could handle the social and maturity aspects. The latter was especially worrisome, because as he is born in June, he was already the fourth youngest in year one. Which means he would be WAY behind in age with the year two's.
He was put into the year two class where he was already doing math - Mr T's class. In the second week, Mr T exhibited concern that Nicky just wasn't coping - he wasn't keeping up in the social and maturity aspects. I had had a meltdown of my own the week before, so I pulled Mr T aside and was straight up about what was going on with me, and that this meant that at home, Nicky had no support in his schooling at all. That is - I wasn't researching, I wasn't working on ways to help him, and I wasn't even making sure he was doing his homework. All of which is MY fault, not his. Mr T seemed to take it on board (another AWESOME teacher).
Last week, the second last week for the year, my husband had a chat with Mr T. Nicky will be having him as a teacher next year - in year three!!! He's been doing really well, and while not always working hard, it has been noted I think, that it is his Aspie that is at fault there - i.e. he's fine with math, but hates writing lol...
He has also done some testing (as have all the year two's). In four areas of mathematics that he has only just seen in the last few weeks - that is, they didn't cover at all in year one - he scored 98%. Not bad, especially considering the test is designed for year three. His reading levels have come up too - officially he's at level 20 (the minimum for putting him up into year three was level 19). He was at 17. Realistically, he's at least five to ten levels higher - but he only "shows" us that when he thinks we're not looking, and he is reading something mathematics related - i.e. interesting to him.
Writing on the other hand - I guess we'll find out when his report card comes home. Ah well, we can't be all perfect :)
It would seem too, that his paperwork was all put in on time etc, and he should receive teacher aide time next year. I'm still not sure how that will play out (I hit a major low myself week before last, so again, other stuff has had to take precedence for now), but I'll make sure to get into it in the new year.
Behaviour-wise - it's the same old. He is rarely interested in anything that doesn't involve a screen, and bosses his brother around (though mind you - from time to time, his brother could do with some bossing around lol). Generally though, the two of them get along really well and there is a lot of love there. Nicky tries really hard - but gets caught up in logic and literalism a little too often.
As a family, we are still struggling, though that is more to do with me than him at the moment. It would be nice to know for sure if there's anything else we should be doing for him, but I'm trying not to feel too guilty while everything seems to be travelling ok with him.
First of all - we now have our "official" paediatrician diagnosis for Nicky - Aspergers.
Half way through term three, it was brought up that Nicky may be bored at school. Thankfully, his year one teacher is AWESOME and helped us navigate things with the school. It was (eventually) planned for Nicky to go up to year two in term four, to see how it goes on two fronts - whether he could handle the work, and whether he could handle the social and maturity aspects. The latter was especially worrisome, because as he is born in June, he was already the fourth youngest in year one. Which means he would be WAY behind in age with the year two's.
He was put into the year two class where he was already doing math - Mr T's class. In the second week, Mr T exhibited concern that Nicky just wasn't coping - he wasn't keeping up in the social and maturity aspects. I had had a meltdown of my own the week before, so I pulled Mr T aside and was straight up about what was going on with me, and that this meant that at home, Nicky had no support in his schooling at all. That is - I wasn't researching, I wasn't working on ways to help him, and I wasn't even making sure he was doing his homework. All of which is MY fault, not his. Mr T seemed to take it on board (another AWESOME teacher).
Last week, the second last week for the year, my husband had a chat with Mr T. Nicky will be having him as a teacher next year - in year three!!! He's been doing really well, and while not always working hard, it has been noted I think, that it is his Aspie that is at fault there - i.e. he's fine with math, but hates writing lol...
He has also done some testing (as have all the year two's). In four areas of mathematics that he has only just seen in the last few weeks - that is, they didn't cover at all in year one - he scored 98%. Not bad, especially considering the test is designed for year three. His reading levels have come up too - officially he's at level 20 (the minimum for putting him up into year three was level 19). He was at 17. Realistically, he's at least five to ten levels higher - but he only "shows" us that when he thinks we're not looking, and he is reading something mathematics related - i.e. interesting to him.
Writing on the other hand - I guess we'll find out when his report card comes home. Ah well, we can't be all perfect :)
It would seem too, that his paperwork was all put in on time etc, and he should receive teacher aide time next year. I'm still not sure how that will play out (I hit a major low myself week before last, so again, other stuff has had to take precedence for now), but I'll make sure to get into it in the new year.
Behaviour-wise - it's the same old. He is rarely interested in anything that doesn't involve a screen, and bosses his brother around (though mind you - from time to time, his brother could do with some bossing around lol). Generally though, the two of them get along really well and there is a lot of love there. Nicky tries really hard - but gets caught up in logic and literalism a little too often.
As a family, we are still struggling, though that is more to do with me than him at the moment. It would be nice to know for sure if there's anything else we should be doing for him, but I'm trying not to feel too guilty while everything seems to be travelling ok with him.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
My story
Our son had just turned three when we moved towns, back to our hometown in Queensland. As we struggled to find a daycare centre that was appropriate, we noticed his behaviour starting to change. He wasn't as outgoing as he had seemed to be. His little quirks were becoming bigger quirks. He wasn't the same. I was pregnant at the time and fast losing mobility due to a physical disability, and we decided that the changes were due to stress, understandably. His home had changed, his friends were gone, his mother wasn't as available as she used to be.
We gave it time, and nurtured him as best we could. After eighteen months though, we started to realise that there was more to it than life stress. Something deeper. We discussed it with daycare while he was still there and they hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. We discussed it with his new school after he had been there a while, and were given the "new anxious parents" treatment.
At the same time that we were noticing his 'quirkiness', we were also noticing that he was pretty darn good at math. My husband and I debate on whether he taught himself to add up at two or three years, but it was around there somewhere, and it was out of the blue. I'm an early childhood educator and I'd never heard of it before. So while things weren't so great in the sensory department, and we were dealing with constant meltdowns, at least we knew that academically he would probably be ok.
Just after Prep year started, I had the chance to watch Nicky interact with other children. At daycare, he had always done his own thing, aside from one friendship that looked like it would last through to adulthood (sadly, she moved away). Looking at him interact with his prep 'friends' however, it became apparent that all was not right. I had previously worked with children with Autism, and noticed that some of the traits he had been displaying were familiar. Finally, the puzzle started to fit together. His quirks were no longer little personality traits (though I guess they still are), they were symptoms. Part of something bigger, rather than little things on their own. My knowledge in this area was ten years old, so I started doing some research, and came to the conclusion that my son more than likely had Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified. Sometimes known as Autism "lite".
We asked around for advice on where to go from here, and ended up seeing a neuro-psychologist in Brisbane. Lovely lady, and rumoured to be the BEST. After testing, she decided that PDD-NOS was a possibility, but that there was a statistical difference between two areas - one language/speech and the other spatial reasoning. She recommended Speech Therapy to figure out the language/speech side of things and Math Tutoring to keep him interested, as he would be bored at school.
Math Tutoring was a total bomb. We found only one tutor in town, and she seemed to grapple with the idea of "extension" as opposed to "remedial". She dumbed him down so much, it took all of three weeks before the novelty wore him and he was begging not to go back. She did tell me that he would have trouble with the lower half of Yahtzee, so not to bother until he's older. I immediately took him home, and after explaining it once, he got it. No problem. Needless to say, he didn't have to go back.
Likewise, the speech therapist we first saw played games with him. She did no testing, no assessment of any kind. Another total waste of time. We put his name on the waiting list for a private speech therapist. A few months later, I rang them back and asked when it would be likely to happen - I didn't want to 'push in', but his sixth birthday was fast approaching, and he was starting to have trouble at school. I was told that the wait list for our town was still a year or two off, but we could get straight in if we were willing to travel an hour. No problem.
Our first session with speech therapist K, she assessed him. Our second session, she told us that while she was unable to diagnose him per se, she felt he was gifted and had Asperger's. I cried all the way home. Full blown Asperger's. I wasn't expecting that. Gifted too - across the board. K thought that the day we had the test with the neuro-psych, he must have been having an off day, because his scores with her were very high.
We found a psychologist that specialises in gifted children, and still see her now. She did an IQ test with Nicky, and he is gifted. Officially. She also thinks he has Asperger's. Now we're waiting to get in to see a Paediatrician to confirm, and make it official for school etc.
His school has put him into year two for mathematics, but not for anything else. His psychologist thinks that he should go into year three next year. I'm still thinking about it and doing my research. Which is how I came to start this blog. I'm a first year university student, and as such, have access to all manner of professional publications etc - yet I still can't find much in the way of information on children who have Asperger's and are gifted. Having two diagnoses means that each one plays off the other - thus what may be normal for a child with "straight" Asperger's does not necessarily apply to our son, because his giftedness affects him at the same time. It's confusing and frustrating trying to wade through information and find what is applicable to our situation. Of course, even without a "diagnosis", each child is different anyway... So any information that you find, you need to be aware that it might not "fit".
That's my story for now. Please feel free to share your own.
We gave it time, and nurtured him as best we could. After eighteen months though, we started to realise that there was more to it than life stress. Something deeper. We discussed it with daycare while he was still there and they hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. We discussed it with his new school after he had been there a while, and were given the "new anxious parents" treatment.
At the same time that we were noticing his 'quirkiness', we were also noticing that he was pretty darn good at math. My husband and I debate on whether he taught himself to add up at two or three years, but it was around there somewhere, and it was out of the blue. I'm an early childhood educator and I'd never heard of it before. So while things weren't so great in the sensory department, and we were dealing with constant meltdowns, at least we knew that academically he would probably be ok.
Just after Prep year started, I had the chance to watch Nicky interact with other children. At daycare, he had always done his own thing, aside from one friendship that looked like it would last through to adulthood (sadly, she moved away). Looking at him interact with his prep 'friends' however, it became apparent that all was not right. I had previously worked with children with Autism, and noticed that some of the traits he had been displaying were familiar. Finally, the puzzle started to fit together. His quirks were no longer little personality traits (though I guess they still are), they were symptoms. Part of something bigger, rather than little things on their own. My knowledge in this area was ten years old, so I started doing some research, and came to the conclusion that my son more than likely had Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified. Sometimes known as Autism "lite".
We asked around for advice on where to go from here, and ended up seeing a neuro-psychologist in Brisbane. Lovely lady, and rumoured to be the BEST. After testing, she decided that PDD-NOS was a possibility, but that there was a statistical difference between two areas - one language/speech and the other spatial reasoning. She recommended Speech Therapy to figure out the language/speech side of things and Math Tutoring to keep him interested, as he would be bored at school.
Math Tutoring was a total bomb. We found only one tutor in town, and she seemed to grapple with the idea of "extension" as opposed to "remedial". She dumbed him down so much, it took all of three weeks before the novelty wore him and he was begging not to go back. She did tell me that he would have trouble with the lower half of Yahtzee, so not to bother until he's older. I immediately took him home, and after explaining it once, he got it. No problem. Needless to say, he didn't have to go back.
Likewise, the speech therapist we first saw played games with him. She did no testing, no assessment of any kind. Another total waste of time. We put his name on the waiting list for a private speech therapist. A few months later, I rang them back and asked when it would be likely to happen - I didn't want to 'push in', but his sixth birthday was fast approaching, and he was starting to have trouble at school. I was told that the wait list for our town was still a year or two off, but we could get straight in if we were willing to travel an hour. No problem.
Our first session with speech therapist K, she assessed him. Our second session, she told us that while she was unable to diagnose him per se, she felt he was gifted and had Asperger's. I cried all the way home. Full blown Asperger's. I wasn't expecting that. Gifted too - across the board. K thought that the day we had the test with the neuro-psych, he must have been having an off day, because his scores with her were very high.
We found a psychologist that specialises in gifted children, and still see her now. She did an IQ test with Nicky, and he is gifted. Officially. She also thinks he has Asperger's. Now we're waiting to get in to see a Paediatrician to confirm, and make it official for school etc.
His school has put him into year two for mathematics, but not for anything else. His psychologist thinks that he should go into year three next year. I'm still thinking about it and doing my research. Which is how I came to start this blog. I'm a first year university student, and as such, have access to all manner of professional publications etc - yet I still can't find much in the way of information on children who have Asperger's and are gifted. Having two diagnoses means that each one plays off the other - thus what may be normal for a child with "straight" Asperger's does not necessarily apply to our son, because his giftedness affects him at the same time. It's confusing and frustrating trying to wade through information and find what is applicable to our situation. Of course, even without a "diagnosis", each child is different anyway... So any information that you find, you need to be aware that it might not "fit".
That's my story for now. Please feel free to share your own.
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