Volunteer work

Like all other Ontario high school students who will graduate with a diploma, Shane must complete 40 hours of approved volunteer work. So, in the summer, Grampa and Shane went to the local library (Grampa is an avid reader and active borrower), and inquired about volunteering. As of today, Shane is set to volunteer on Tuesday afternoons. Our particular library runs 5-week sessions, 2 hours per week, for a total 10 hours after he is finished. Then, he can re-apply.

The library is a good choice, because the rules are clear, the environment is quiet, and he is familiar with it.

Last year at school, Shane logged 5 hours of volunteer work for the school's plant sale. When I showed up after a couple of hours to buy some plants and check on how he was doing, I found him entertaining the teacher's 2-year-old daughter, and not really helping people carry plants to their cars. The teacher was glad for the help, so it worked out. This time with the library, he will learn to be on time for a job, and we have been impressing on him the importance of doing the job and not goofing around.

Here is the schedule that will be posted on the fridge:

2:45	Arrive home from school, let the dogs outside, put backpack on shelf downstairs
2:50	Have a glass of milk and a snack
3:03	Brush teeth
3:06	Wash armpits and apply deodorant
3:12	Put on shoes, jacket, take library card and walk to library
3:25	Arrive at library, sign your name in the volunteer binder, check the volunteer tasks, and start the first task
	Work on as many tasks as possible, checking all work, until 5:30, no breaks, no talking to others
	If a customer asks a question about books or other library resources, say “I’m a volunteer. You should ask the Resource Librarian, Catherine.” Then tell the person where Catherine is. You may tell people where the bathrooms are if they ask.
5:30	Sign out your name in the volunteer binder and walk home. If you bring your own money, you may buy a drink at Tim Hortons before coming home but after volunteer work.

Book Report template - fiction

Here's the book report format we use after each fiction book. It is fairly simple, but really helps Shane to focus on the big questions. As he starts each new book, he is reminded that he will have to write a book report after he finishes, so he should be thinking about the 5 questions on the form as he is reading.

Tips:

1. Let your child choose his own book - this gives him control and helps keep his interest.
2. Show your child the questions before he starts the book: the scariest thing for an AS child is a blank page!
3. Remind him often of the questions to be answered.
4. Try to read the book together and discuss each sentence/paragraph/chapter as you go. Most often, AS kids will focus on the details but not quite grasp the big picture. Ask "why do you think this happened?" often.
5. Do one thing at a time. I don't insist on perfect handwriting or exact grammar with a book report - the primary goal is to understand the concepts of the book and the main ideas.
6. Guide him to information he can get from the cover. Does the title describe what is going on in the book? What can he assume about the story from the picture on the cover?
7. If this is too hard, then break it down. Last year, we read together and discussed each paragraph, sometimes looking up words or talking about expressions. Then at the end of each chapter, I typed up 4 to 5 questions and Shane answered those. Each chapter was like a mini review - what happened, why it happened, his opinion, and a prediction of what might come next. This really forces more abstract thinking.
8. Be patient. This is not easy for most AS kids, but the rewards are well worth the effort. Shane's improved language skills have already helped him in other courses: math, science, history...

Read-on!

Parent Council at school

Last week we had our first Parent Council meeting of the year. I always make an effort to attend as many meetings as I can. It's a great forum for voicing opinions on what the school should be delivering, as well as a network of parents with similar needs.

I found Shane's tutor by networking with another parent at one of the council meetings. The principal of the school is at all the meetings, so of course "face time" with her never hurts. And it is important to be involved and be a part of decisions that affect your child.

Luckily, in our school, because of its vocational designation, we do not do any fundraising. The focus really is more on helping the kids, activities around the school and how the school gets involved with the community, etc.

So, join the Parent Council/PTA at your child's school. It will help in many small ways.

Lisa

Back to School: strategies for English improvement

Well, we've been back at school for a couple of weeks, and happy to be back into a regular routine (not that the summer wasn't fun - we had many excursions). Subjects Shane is taking this semester are: English, General Learning (an ASD course), Auto Service, and Phys Ed. English is a repeat of grade 10, so hopefully we will be successful this year. We will also prepare for the grade 10 Literacy Test in the Spring.

 

So, the focus now is English. This is a good thing, as I believe overall language skills will help him in everything: even in other subjects, the questions are worded such that strong English skills are required.

 

Strategies:

• Shane reads a book (any book) for 1 hour every day. This was kept up during the summer. Shane's reading level and comprehension have improved immensely since we implemented this last year. At the end of each book, Shane will write a 1-page book report. He writes the title and the author of the book, then answers: What happened in the beginning? What happened in the middle? What happened in the end? Did you like this book - why or why not? The book report at the end make him pay a little more attention to the plot, and not just focus only on details.
• Handwriting practice. Shane has a notebook in which he writes "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" 5 times. We started this only last week, but he is trying very hard now to form the letters properly. Spacing between words is still to come.
• I surfed the web for worksheets, and found a few sites where I could print off free worksheets on nouns, capitalization, punctuation, etc. When I have a bit of time, I will start to make my own worksheets and I will post the images here.
• Shane's tutor very kindly provided us with a stack of short stories for Shane to read with questions at varying challenge levels. These stories are perfect - 1 page each with about 12 questions. We go over the questions together after he reads the story. Sometimes I write the answers so he doesn't have to concentrate on 2 things at once (answering the questions plus physically writing). Sometimes we do it orally. Sometimes Shane writes the answers. His comprehension is improving.

Key Learnings:

• Consistency. Shane knows he has to read for 1 hour every day. He chose the time, and that's now the rule. Read from 4pm-5pm every day. Making it a routine means no arguments and he is in control of the time and the book he chooses to read, so it is enjoyable.
• Practice, practice, practice. Writing has always been a challenge, so to save time, in the past I have done the scribing for some things. Now, Shane must write everything himself, and he has slowly improved. To make handwriting more rote, he simply has to put in the time.
• Learning in a way that suits his style. Shane is auditory. I am visual. In the past, I have tried to teach him things in same way that I learned them, but that never seemed to work very well. Now, we do more things orally. We make up songs or rhymes to memorize things. I ask Shane what things in the story sound like.

On a side note, the Parent Council meeting is this week at the school. I am as involved as my work schedule permits me to be on the parent council. It is really important to be as involved in your child's school as possible.

I hope your kids are off to a good start this school year. Cheers,
Lisa