We just got our confirmation from Santa that our annual “Special Kids Santa Event” at 12 Oaks Mall will be taking place on December 4th this year from 9:00am to 10:45am.

During this special reserved time families of children with Autism and other special needs have the ability to take the time they need in a more relaxed environment to visit and take pictures with Santa.  Professional photographers will be available.  If visiting Santa has always been a tough thing for your child and family because of the crowds, noise, chaos, lines, etc. this event is the solution you’ve been looking for.  During this time the mall is only open to mall walkers and employees so it’s a GREAT opportunity to let your child have the same “going to the mall to get pictures with Santa” experience that their classmates get to enjoy!

If you have any questions please call Staci @ 734-612-3934!  Hope to see you there!

What: Special Kids Santa

Where: Twelve Oaks, Novi Michigan (map)

Who: MyGreatKid.com & Our Great Kids

What Day: Sunday, December 4th, 2011

What Time : 9:00-10:45am

This year’s theme will be the “Ice Palace” of Narnia.

***Download Friendly Flyer – Sensory Friendly Santa Visit

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I originally posted this in the spring of 2010 and it quickly became one of the most read posts on this site.  A  friend recently read it and suggested I repost it so that folks that might have missed it could read it, so per their request – I am.   I hope you enjoy reading and sharing it with your friends.

One small caveat though, when you write something like this you inevitably get the “that’s not my husband” or the “Mom’s feel that too” and both are fair statements.   So, for the second portion of this post especially, where it talks about fighting “They” let me clarify a bit – this is for all of us who fight (sometimes quietly and sometimes loudly) for our kids on a day by day, hour by hour basis. It’s for those of us who too frequently lose sleep (when we haven’t passed out from exhaustion) with the sometimes crushing guilt and anxiety we feel for our kids, their futures and their present.   It’s for those of us who fight and sometimes feel very, very alone in our battles as we live in a world of parents, friends, neighbors and yes … sometimes spouses …. that don’t understand and can’t relate to our fight nor the energy we dedicate to it.   It’s for those of us who fight, knowing that even if we win, even if we achieve our end goal in all likelihood the rest of the world still won’t notice, care or at the very least won’t understand why we gave so much for what to them …. seems like a minor victory.   It’s for those of us who understand at a deeper, guttier level what it means to be, and sacrifice as, a Parent than most of our SUV and minivan driving “fellow parents”.   Every person has challenges in their lives and every good parent has to sacrifice but this post is specifically for those of us out there who via choice, fate, cosmic happenstance, accident, destiny or a “higher power’s plan” were given an extra helping of challenges …. and who still rise to it.  Thanks for reading – Steve

The end of the school year is always tough.

Lots of wrapping up to do.

For us, both personally and professionally, it also means sitting in a lot of IEP’s.   To be perfectly honest it gets pretty draining after a while.   In meeting after meeting the parents have to square off against a panel of school officials whose job it is in some manner or form to convince the parents that their child is not “normal” and will likely have a “limited capacity” for the rest of their lives.   In doing this it’s their hope to construct lower standards that they feel are “appropriate” and which all too inevitably the parents will feel is selling their child, and their future, short.

I’m often asked how this stuff feels for Dads. You see lots of Mom’s at therapy sessions and school but not so many Dads.   On more than one occasion I’ve had a Mom say to me….

“My husband just doesn’t accept/see/understand what’s going on….”

Time and again I’ve felt a bit like a fraud as they’ve complemented me on being so much more hands on and accepting of my child’s challenges.  It’s funny because while I’m listening to their kind, heartfelt compliments on the inside I’m normally thinking …

“My God, you’re such a fraud.  If only they knew that you’re not anymore accepting than their husbands.   If only they knew that the fears that eat at their husbands are the same things eating at you.”

I’ve actually got a post that I wrote a good month and a half ago (maybe more) about this very thing.   I never posted it because honestly it got too dark  (not suicidal dark, just that helpless/frustrated kind of dark).   I figured I’d let it sit for a bit and then come back to it.

Father’s Day is rolling around this weekend and I’ve thought about posting it …. maybe cleaning it up a bit …. but posting it.   It was in the back of mind as I ran across a blog that I enjoy by a Dad, not too unlike me and a lot of other Dad’s out there, named Robert Rummel-Hudson.   I’m going to be honest and tell you right now that his blog is a real portrayal, of a real Dad, going through real challenges, with his real daughter.  As such, sometimes they can feel a little dark and desperate.  The guy opens up and he’s real.  I’ve attached four of his recent posts below because I think they capture the behind the scenes struggles of a lot of Dads out there,  in a pretty elegant way.

For you Mom’s out there who want an insight into what your husbands might be thinking, it might be a worthwhile read.

For those of you out there who work with our kids (teachers, therapists, special ed teachers, psychologist, administrators, etc.) it might be a worthwhile read to understand … to the exceptionally limited extent that you can …. what you do to us and why we fight you like we do.

• Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords: Truth can be a monster, too
• Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords: A question of faith
• Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords: Alamo

I love this final post so much I couldn’t even link to it for fear that some of you might not click and read it so I posted it in it’s entirety below.

They

We all know They. We live by They’s rules, or we fight They with the weapons we have, which are almost never as effective as the ones They carry and which They often use with such little regard for the consequences.

As I look through my blog and the comments left on it, I can see that while my daughter would appear to be the most frequent subject of my writing and of others’ responses, there’s also a clear antagonist.

They.

—

“They said my son would never walk.”

“They told us that our daughter would never be capable of writing her name or reading.”

“They never allowed him to sit with the other kids because They didn’t see any educational benefit to him or his classmates.”

“They never expected her to live, much less thrive.”

“They’ve denied our claim… again.”

“They objected to their kids being compelled to attend classes with mine. They don’t want resources being moved to special education.”

“They were pointing at me and making fun of how I walk. They didn’t think I noticed, but I did.”

—

They aren’t all the teachers and doctors and therapists that our kids encounter. Hopefully They don’t dominate our families or our communities. Indeed, in the best of times, They are in the minority, and their voices can sometimes be drowned out by those who do get it, who do believe.

But They are always there somewhere.

They tell us what our kids can’t do.

They attempt to predict the future, one in which disabilities call all the shots.

They look at our kids and see what can’t be done.

They withhold their resources, and their optimism.

They set expectations low, and then They work to make those expectations a reality.

Our reality.

Sometimes They are right. Perhaps They are right much of the time, at least on a technical level. And They certainly are very good at documenting their opinions and actions and creating the paper trail to protect themselves. They are smart, and They are omnipresent.

But if you, gentle reader, are a doctor or a therapist, a teacher or a family member, or even just a citizen, I have but one thing to ask of you. Just this one simple request.

Don’t be They. Just don’t.

Pretty powerful stuff, huh.

It’s not just Dads.  I know it’s Moms too.

However, sometimes we Dads get a bad break because we don’t usually show emotion the same as you ladies do.  We “Alamo” it up in a sense and take the fight to the enemy or opposition regardless of what the odds might be.  We frequently don’t show the same “flight” emotions because we’re scared if we show those emotions it will dull the “fight” emotions and God knows we need to be able to fight the “They”.

Don’t make the mistake of the thinking that those emotions aren’t there though, we just don’t necessarily process them through the same as you do.

I know, especially if you’ve read all of the posts linked above, this little conversation we’ve just had might have been a bit of a downer.  Sometimes though, if you want to see the full picture you have to look at the black parts too.

It’s a full-time job, convincing myself that everything’s going to work out somehow and that one day she’ll tell people “Why, there was a time when my teachers thought I was retarded, and look at me now! My parents believed in me, and they were right. I’d like to dedicate this Pulitzer to them.”

And so we fight on …… not because we’ve got no other choice but because we made the choice a long time ago that to not fight, was not an option.

We don’t need any special motivation

they’re our kids,

so we hold on ….

And We Fight.

***************

A Similar / Related Post - It was just a staircase and yet …

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Who you calling a bully?

Can’t figure out why there’s bullying in the schools – here’s why:

“The Lakeview Public Schools was recently notified of one parent’s allegations of bullying at Ardmore Elementary. Ardmore Elementary is an outstanding place for children to receive an education with committed staff and caring parents. We believe any allegation that suggests there is a culture of bullying at Ardmore is ludicrous,” said district representative Karl Paulson.

This quote came from a local TV news story recently where a parent made a claim that her son was being bullied pretty viciously.  The above response is from the school in response to the story.

I don’t know if this mother is telling the truth.

But it doesn’t matter because in this case the problem is the school’s arrogant, bullying, dismissive response not the bullying accusation.

We believe any allegation that suggests there is a culture of bullying at Ardmore is ludicrous

• We believe – not we’ve investigated, not we’ve determined, not we’ve discovered … we believe (or we think)
• ANY Allegation – not this allegation, not in this instance but anybody saying ANYTHING happened EVER is wrong
• That SUGGESTS – this is called CYA, not only is it not true but if you even were to imply it COULD be true … you’re wrong
• A Culture of Bullying – unless they live outside of the real world in a bubble they’re part of a culture that does bully, it doesn’t mean that they agree with it or promote it, it also doesn’t take an entire culture of bullying in any place for something to occur …. just one person
• Is Ludicrous -  def: extravagantly humorous, idiotic, unthinkable to the point of being funny, laughable

Well, after reading this statement from Ardmore if I were a student or parent that was concerned about bullying I would certainly feel comfortable talking to someone there ….. how about you?

I’m sure they would take my claim very seriously and then address it respectfully, right?

Yup, sure wouldn’t have to worry about being attacked – called names or mocked – for suggesting that any of their precious children (or staff) could POSSIBLY have done anything wrong.

Nope.

Actually, I take back my earlier statement about no bullying going on at Ardmore.  Based on this statement alone I feel pretty comfortable saying that at the very least this district spokesperson (and as such the district) are bullies, even if their children are not.  I’ll even go a step further and say that based on this statement they’ve got a pretty good culture of bullying too.

Course, they’d probably just make fun of me and call me names …

As for the bullying legislation, the ultimate reason it doesn’t work is because a law requiring bullying training isn’t going to help schools and administrators that already think they’re the picture of perfection.

Not all elementary school bullies end up in jail.  Sometimes they end up in administration …..

"Nope, no bullying here..."

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Is your family (or are your kids) Red Dye #40 free (did you know that stuff is a derivative of coal)?

Here’s an interesting recipe that allows you to make Red Velvet Cake / Cupcakes and you’ll never guess how this Mom got the red naturally …… she used beets! Beets in cake?  Hey, she claims they’re not only delicious but also beet taste free.

Red Velvet Cake / Cupcake Recipe That’s Red Dye #40 Free

What the heck is Red Dye #40 and why would you care about eating it?

• CSPI Urges FDA to Ban Artificial Food Dyes Linked to Behavior Problems ~ Center for Science in the Public Interest
• Is the Red 40 Food Dye Additive Having a Negative Impact on Your Child?
• FD&C Red Dye #40 Information, Education and Discussion
• Snopes.com: Food Color Made From Bugs
• Red Food Dye Allergy? – Mamapedia™

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No Long Term Benefit To Delaying Vaccines, Study Finds

Hmmmm, what’s this….. a study looking at the effects of vaccines?  That’s an interesting finding …..

They report in the June issue of the journal Pediatrics that children who were vaccinated following the recommended immunization schedule exhibited better verbal skills, had higher IQs and were less likely to stutter than children who received vaccines on a delayed schedule.

Wow, kids that were vaccinated according to schedule did better than the kids that weren’t vaccinated or received delayed vaccinations.  Maybe vaccines are not only not risky for kids maybe they’re HEALTHY.

Meanwhile children who did not receive vaccines on time performed no better than children who did on any of the tests which looked at speech, fine motor skills, executive-functioning and behavior, among other skills.

Well,  if they’re not healthy maybe at the very least they don’t make a difference.

“The lack of any statistically significant results that favored delayed receipt of vaccines in the first year of life sends a clear public health message that should be comforting to many parents with vaccine safety concerns: children can receive their immunizations on time and expect to have the same neurodevelopmental outcomes as children with any other pattern of vaccine receipt,” the study authors write in their findings appearing online ahead of publication in Pediatrics.

Yup, sure enough that’s what they discovered too.  Well, that certainly will be a relief to a lot of nervous parents out there …. I better head to the computer and start spreading the word:

“Not only are vaccines not dangerous they might make you smarter!”

Wait a minute ….. what’s this?

Children who were not immunized on schedule typically came from lower income households and were more likely to have mothers who did not have college degrees, the study indicates, which could be one reason for the lower performance of kids in this group.

Ooops, the kids that didn’t get vaccinated and didn’t beat the other kids in the tests (or did worse) also (coincidence I guess?) were from:

• Poorer
• Less educated families

Now, as we all know poorer children from less educated families generally have access to the same health care, prenatal care, pre-school care, educational assistance, etc. that rich educated families get right?

And as a result they do just as well in all those academic and neurological tests right?

What…..that’s wrong?

Oh yeah!

Kids from poorer, less educated families generally do WORSE on these tests and these areas.

Soooooo, if you want to say that poorer, unvaccinated kids from lesser educated families didn’t do better than richer, better educated, vaccinated children that might be just a TAD bit more accurate.

So let’s look at this and see if it makes sense:

1. You do a research study.
2. You stack the deck on one side with children that statistically are going to do worse …. regardless of any other factors.
3. Coincidentally, this stacked population also happens to be the group that is your test group which you’re hoping will perform poorly (or at least not better) than your other, non-stacked group.
4. You do your research.
5. “SURPRISE” these stacked results prove that the kids that you’d expect to not perform as well (poorer, less educated, etc.) didn’t perform as well.
6. Conclusion: Vaccines are safe.

Sound like perfectly good science to me – how about you?

So that brings up a couple of questions?

• Why stack the deck in a “research” project?
• Why not have similar populations on both sides with the difference being the item you’re testing for (in this case their vaccine status)?

Wasn’t that how you were taught to do experiments in 3rd Grade?

Another interesting point – the study was also done on children between the ages of 7-10 years of age.  That’s significant because by then children that might have had negative neurological reactions would have already been identified and received their special “classifications” and “labels”.

• I’m wondering how many children studied were children believed (or proven) to be DAMAGED by vaccines?
• I wonder how many of these children were in Special Education programs?

See those would be important things to consider if you’re going to be drawing big grand conclusions about vaccines.  If you’re going to say they’re safe and the vaccines made no difference ….. you want to make sure you’re not excluding the kids where vaccines either made – or may have made – a difference.

Wanna make a little wager there weren’t any of those kids in this study?

Which is what makes this Pseudo Pop Science so frustrating.

We trust science to help us protect, guide, educate and direct our children and our decisions.  Yet time and time again we’re led down a twisted path with marketing and propaganda in a white scientist/researcher lab coat.

(click the picture above for some great Smoking “science” ads)

We need real research.  We need real science.  We need real answers.

I’m disappointed because this kind of research is DESPERATELY needed and for some reason few people out there are willing to do real, unbiased research.  Which always makes me wonder :

• Are they not doing it because they’re afraid of what they might find in a true, unbiased, scientific, representative population study?

- or -

• Do they know what they want before they start and they just need to wait to get the “right” results that “prove” they were correct all along?

- or -

• Are they just sloppy and don’t care if it’s slanted?

I don’t know which answer is better but the simple fact that one of them is true … keeps me awake at night.

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Phoebe Prince
Jon Carmichael
Jaheem Herrera
Yeardley Love
Charles Walker-Hoover

All children bullied to death.  Phoebe Prince and Yeardley Love are probably two names that you recognize quickly and easily.  But they represent a fraction of the children that are being bullied in this country.  While politicians are hurriedly trying to get out in front of this with “anti-bullying” legislation the answers that are needed probably aren’t going to be found in any bill that gets passed …. so what are the answers?

This week was the first time we double dipped with the same expert on a topic that we’d covered before.  The reason is simple, since we first discussed bullying with Ms. Coloroso back in late 2009 it seems as if there’s been a flood of bullying stories in the news.

I’ve already posted my feelings about this pretty clearly in an earlier post (About All Of This Bullying ….) so I’m not going to rehash it here again.

I hope you enjoy this interview in which we are able to talk, in more detail than in our earlier interview, about Bullying,  Cyberbullying, “The Bullying Cycle” and the different roles we all play (and we do all – teachers, administrators, coaches, parents, students – play a role and share a responsibility).

More From Barbara

• Check out Barbara’s great books on how to fix the Bullying problem!
• Barbara’s Website – Kids Are Worth It
• The Bullying Cycle - Great! Explains the roles of the Bullies, Bullied and Bystanders

Some More Great Bullying Links

• Cyberbullying – A good handout that describes what it is and what you can do
• Another great Cyberbullying Reference
• A Model Anti-Bullying Policy – A great fill-in the blanks template to use to build and anti-bullying policy for your school or district
• The Bully Police – Find Out About Your State’s Anti-Bullying Laws
• National Youth Violence Prevention – Some great links, fact sheets, etc.
• Dealing With Bullying
• The Olweus Bully Prevention Program – The site is dedicated to pushing their program but there are some solid handouts and downloads

Two interesting (and different) approaches to addressing the bullying problem:

• School Bullying – Can It Be Solved With Student Democracy?
• Is the solution to fight back and not allow yourself to be a victim …. Bullied, Not Beaten Down ?

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How Do We Keep Our Kids Safe?

This week’s show was a doubleheader with two great interviews both dealing with that same question.

First up was the husband and wife team of Carolyn and Andrew Gammicchia founders of the organization L.E.A.N. On Us whose stated mission is to:

… provide first responders with information and resources that will allow them to better serve individuals within their communities affected by hidden disabilities and mental illness.

The simple fact of the matter is that those with mental illness and disabilities are more likely to be both the victim of crime and unfairly arrested for crimes that they were not responsible for.  Unable to adequately defend themselves or explain what happened they are often at the mercy of first responders and a justice system that simply doesn’t understand them or know how to respond properly to them.

The Gammicchia’s have the advantage of having one foot in both the law enforcement community and the “disability” community and are working hard to try to bridge the gap that occurs on both sides.

In our interview we certainly talked about those topics but we also covered what EVERY parent should be doing to keep their children safe at school, in the neighborhood and in their own homes.  We also discussed the importance of teaching your children from a young age how to act and react when encountering first responders (along with some great tips on how to do this).

Some great related links ….

• L.E.A.N On Us – First Responders Card for Autism Spectrum
  • This is a great resource that you can share with your local law enforcement and first responders when you visit them at their stations (one of the many outstanding tips from the interview)
• ICE Your Cellphone
• Domestic Violence and Disabilites
• Unarmed Man Shot And Killed By Police
• Autistic Man Jailed On Hospital Assault Charges Won’t Be Charged

The second part of the show was the conclusion of the Mary Tocco interview in which she discussed the safety and concerns surrounding the Gardasil vaccine for girls ….. and now approved for boys.

• National Vaccine Information Center : Gardasil Vaccine
• Vaccine Wary Parents Guarded Over Gardasil Pitch To Boys
• New Hope For Teen Suffering From Possible Deadly Vaccine Reaction
• NH Mom Sues Alleging HPV Vaccine Hurt Daughter
• Educated Parents Less Likely To Let Daughters Get HPV Vaccine
• FDA Meets With Mothers of Gardasil Victims
  • The Gardasil Mom’s – The Truth About Gardasil
• How A Public-Private Partnership Made The Government Merck’s Silent Partner
• British Shops Bribe Teen Girls For Cancer Jab

We hope you enjoy both interviews!

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We’re hearing lots of hype about the Apple Ipad this week and I have to admit that after checking one out myself it’s a pretty impressive little tool.  The question of course is …. what kind of tool is it really?

It’s easy to criticize it as just a blown up IPod, Ipod Touch,  Iphone, etc. and it does incorporate features from those previous Apple creations.  But does it really matter or is it just the latest piece of candy in the Apple candy store?

Here’s why it matters …. alot.

It’s going to destroy the textbook as we know it and it’s going to change school curriculum as we know it.

• Textbooks are insanely expensive.  Universities and publishers have carved out their own little niche where they can efficiently gouge their poor students because their students don’t have any choice.  As long as you have professors writing required textbooks for their own classes they’re always going to be overpriced. But the IPad is going to make them cheaper.  It’s inevitable.  Much like the record companies fought it and the movie companies are fighting it now, once it’s digital you have to make it cheaper…. or everyone will simply ignore you or steal them.  Imagine being able to buy your books a chapter or section at a time.  Instead of dropping $50 to $100 or more for a book that a professor will barely use (or use only a handful of chapters out of) you’ll be able to pay just for what you need.  Have no doubt that the schools and publishers will fight it … but the kids and technology will win and the prices will come down.

In the long run, it will be very difficult for proprietary textbook publishers to compete with freely licensed alternatives. An open project with dozens of professors adapting and refining a textbook on a particular subject will be a very difficult thing for a proprietary publisher to compete with. The point is: there are a huge number of people who are qualified to write these books, and the tools are being created to leave them to do that. – quote from Lawrence Lessig

• It’s not just textbooks at the college level though. Oh, nooo this one is going to rock the foundations right down to the elementary school kids.  If you wander into a handful of schools you’ll notice a certain …. similarity …. in the publishers of all their materials.  That’s because a small handful of publishers rule the roost and control the content being delivered.  Digital technology has a way of really screwing up scenario’s where a small handful control the access to content … ask the music publishers.

• There will be fewer excuses for outrageously outdated material.   The world changes fast and with tech on our side there will be no excuse for the materials not to change just as fast.

• Books are not interactive.  Electronic media is built to BE interactive and the IPad in the classroom pushes the bar even higher for a more interactive, shareable, linkable, networked education.  Which is GREAT because that’s what’s happening outside of the classroom in the real world.

“Much of my learning comes from a physical interaction with the text: bookmarks, highlights, page-tearing, sticky notes and other marks representing the importance of certain passages — not to mention margin notes, where most of my paper ideas come from and interaction with the material occurs,” Aaron Horvath, a senior at Princeton – IPAD Centric Education

• It’s great news for all of the kids that don’t “fit” into the central educational system’s main box.  Students with “disabilities”,  Autism, attention challenged, bored out of your minds, visual learners your education is going to open UP because we’re going to shrink text, enlarge text, read it out loud, show it as an animation, present thoughts one at a time with immediate references or explanations along side,  break a page of text into an outline version or mind mapped version.  The possibilities are endless and the best part is that it can all be done with a student having a tool that looks (from the outside) to be the same as their classmates.  Imagine the ability to be able to have a digital aide right on the screen to help a child instead of someone sitting next to them in the classroom!

• You’ll never be able to say you forgot your book, homework, notebook, pens, pencils again.  On the surface this is funny but let’s be honest the vast majority of us reading this were able to use that excuse …. some of us more than once.

The books will change from physical to electronic, okay, but how big a change will that really be?  The textbook will still be the textbook …..

But if it’s all digital will we really need the “book” concept at all.  Why not simply ditch the book (even in it’s digital format) and have the class materials as part of a blog?  The teacher can create the material …. linking to applicable pictures, references, passages from books, etc. …. and the students all simply log into the class “blog” to access it all.  Aren’t we just about there already with Wikipedia and the “wiki” idea anyway (not sure what a wiki is click here or here)?

Okay,  I know some folks are going to say we’ve got a lot of these advantages with computers already.  As a matter of fact computers have been required in colleges across the country already for years ….. but there’s still textbooks.  Besides can’t it be just as interactive with a laptop as it could be with the IPad.

The answer, simply, is …………..No.

It’s not the same thing at all.

It’s almost like comparing your pencil to your pen to your typewriter to your word processor to your first computer….granted they all allow you to do work but the WAY it’s done is DRASTICALLY different.

First of all …. the IPad will make it faster, smaller, easier and more lightweight.  It’s kind of hard for a 1st grader to lug a laptop around but at 1.5 lbs the same can’t be said for the IPad (see the video below).

Secondly, it’s Apple cool.  It’s beautiful.  It’s sleek.  It’s sexy.  I love my Droid Motorola phone and in many ways (non AT&T service for example) I could make the argument that it’s every bit as good as an IPhone if not better…. until you actually hold them each in your hand and look at them.  Laptops are great but the IPad … it’s cool and cool is important when you’re trying to get kids (and who are we kidding ADULTs) to use something.

Third, Apple has our kids and schools …. shoot they have most of us too …. in the palms of their hands already.  Apples have been the dominant tech in most of our schools since those odd little beige Apple II’s first landed in school libraries.

Even beyond the schools though we love our Iphones, Ipods and Macs.  A bunch of folks will buy the IPad just because …. well,  it’s new and from Apple.  We know the Itunes store,  we know how to get our apps,  we know that we’ll have to pay but it will probably be less than if we had to buy something in a real store.  The vast majority of us already have our electronic libraries of movies, music, games, apps all being fed by the Apple store.   So really, what’s another “ITool” in our toolbox?

The IPad's Great, Great, Great Grandpa (even though it's only 33 yrs old) the Apple II's (this one is the slightly younger IIE). Hey, check out the color monitor!

As parents (and grandparents) in our 30′s, 40′s, 50′s and 60′s you think you feel old and outdated when it comes to tech now?  Just wait and see where those little toddlers running around now with their “ITools” are going to take us….

But don’t take my word for it check out this great articles from this month’s Fast Company Magazine – “A is For App” – to see how this revolution is already rolling.

The IPad (and the next couple of generations of the IPad) will be the wave of tools that will really push this into high gear.

The biggest problem and hurdle to making this a reality?

Us. The old folks (everyone over 30 … hey, it’s old in tech terms unless you’re really working hard to stay up to date)

All of us that didn’t graduate in the past two years are going to be looking at this tech and be utterly confused as to how it should be used properly.

We’ve already got millions of teachers in this country that can’t do much more than send an email as proof of their technical prowess.

True, some teachers have class blogs, Facebook & Twitter accounts and are always looking for the latest and greatest tech tool to improve their teaching (and our kids’ learning).  However,  the overwhelming majority of the Teachers (and administrators) are outdated.  In far too many schools computers are still nice “tools” and great “extras” in the classroom …. instead of THE tool in the classroom.

If we can keep the adults out of the way and make sure that the 2.8 million new teachers that will be filling the ranks (and joining the other 3.2 million teachers already there) in the next eight to ten years are not only up for the task but up with (and stay up with) the tech we’re going to see an educational revolution like we haven’t seen since the printing press.

Think that’s an exaggeration?

Since the printing press?

Come on, I’m getting carried away ….right?

Think about this ….while you’d be hard pressed to find many offices in this country that don’t have a computer at every desk you’d be equally hard pressed to find many schools where there IS a computer at every desk (imagine that, school culture evolving slower than the rest of the world).  Some classes you’d be hard pressed to find more than one or two computers in the classroom (and likely the one or one of the two is the teacher’s computer)

Now it CAN happen.

Now we can get a computer on every little kids desk.  Actually, the computer won’t even sit on the desk because it will travel with the student which is what makes it even better and will make it a success.

Let’s face it … we need an educational revolution in this country.

We’re doing an embarrassingly bad job of educating our kids.

We spend far too much money.

We lose far too many kids along the way.

We generate results that are inadequate and graduate kids that are unprepared.

We live in a technology rich, networked, digital world but most of our kids have more contact with tech on their ride into school than they do their entire school day.

BUT ….. with the IPad (and it’s cousins) we’ve finally driven technology down to a point where it can be implemented in an easy to carry, easy to use package.

All of this at the same time that the Internet is overflowing with knowledge, networks and the tools to make it all a reality.

Man!  Do we live in exciting times or what?

• Has The IGeneration Arrived
• Apple’s IPad Will Read Books Out Loud
• Colleges Dream Of Paperless, IPad Centric Education
• How The Iphone Could Reboot Education
• Laptop Killer?

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The kids that make every meal a ……. challenging, torturous, frustrating, hair-pulling experience  (though many other adjectives would fit there too)….

THE PICKY EATER

It’s not just that if you don’t give into them they can make the whole meal a test of wills, it’s also the fact that you worry ….

• Are they really getting all the nutrition they need?
• Will they become an adult who’s whole diet consists of pop tarts, pizza, chicken nuggets and peanut butter sandwiches?
• Is there a real reason for the picky eating ….. or are they just being difficult?
• Do I give in …. or starve them out (not really of course,  Grandma says EVENTUALLY they’ll eat)?
• How do you break them of the habit?
• Will they ever eat brocolli?

This weekend on the My Great Kid Radio show we will be interviewing Jill Bloomfield from Teaching Kids To Cook and the founder of the kids cooking consulting company Picky Eaters.  She is also the author of the Jewish Holidays Cookbook (click here for a recipe from the book) and  DK Publishing‘s (the folks that do all those great colorful, high quality, picture packed, visually rich books) resident kid’s cooking expert.

Most importantly for this topic she is an expert on how to free your kids from the “Picky Eater” habit (being as she’s a reformed Picky Eater herself).

If you have any questions you’d like to have us ask comment below, email us or post them on our Facebook page!

• Jill’s Interview on Oprah
• NYT Article : When Picky Eaters Grow Up
• Jill’s Blog @ Betty Crocker
• The Educator’s Guide to Food and Cooking For Kids (great downloadable pdf)
• Author Interview from Jewish Holiday Cookbook

Don’t forget to become a fan of the show on Facebook and get your name in the drawing for the free Wrightslaw Special Education Training CD’s and the FREE Toys from Tree Town Toys.

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I ran across this anti-bullying website for kids and parents (primarily younger kids).  It’s got some good information on it and some scenarios that parents can work through with their kids.

I especially liked that it had some good resources, book recommendations, tip sheets, etc..

Best of all there are little animated scenes that you can read through (they have the script), watch online, download or print out and read comic book style.  Great resource for kids who need a more visual approach!  They also have little games kids can play and quizzes for after the videos have played

The scenarios are simple and short.  My only real complaint is that they are a bit stereotypical (jocks pick on music nerd, etc.) but other than that they are great!

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