Special Hearts

Ready for a “Meat and Potatoes” book on raising an Aspergers Child?  No fluff here – just the stuff you really need.

Written by a Christian mom of two Aspergers Children, Phyllis Wheeler really knows – first hand – what works, and what doesn’t work for our kids.  She’s been where we are now – from the discovery that our child is different to raising and teaching them through adult hood.
This author isn’t a Dr telling us what “we should be doing”.  Nor is she just beginning out on the journey with an Aspergers Child.  She’s been there and done that!  She’s got Experience and experience is the BEST teacher.  She shares real examples with real solutions – what a breath of fresh air!

This book gives you the nuts and bolts of HOW to work with your child.  From using a Rubber Chicken (communication skills) to implementing a truly workable point system that will create structure and actually mean something to your Aspie – this book is one of those irreplaceable books.

I first bought this book years and years ago, read through it and then let my hubby read it.  This book made the difference.  It gave my husband insight to what it meant to be an Aspie, how Aspie’s react to their environment and gave us both hope that we could do this: we could parent a very special child called an Aspergers Child.

Just last month, someone asked me something about an Aspie child, and I dug out my book, once again, and found the answer.  It’s not just a good read, it’s a great resource book.  You’ll want this book on the “easy access” book shelf, cause you’ll be going back to it often.

You can visit my home on the web for more info on getting your hands on this book – it’s a must have for any Aspie Parent!

Teaching Science to Special Needs Kids can be difficult, however, if you have lots of options, you will succeed!  Considering God’s Creation comes in a Workbook format – but don’t let that fool you!  This is no “normal” workbook.  This workbook is full of information and hands on activities that will keep any kid actively learning everything from how God created the heavens and the earth to how the Human Body was created and how it works.  It also covers everything God made in-between the first and sixth days of Creation, including the Universe, the Earth, Rocks and Minerals, Weather and the Plant and Animal Kingdoms.

There are 36 Lessons, but some of the Lessons have multiple ‘sub’ lessons under the main Lesson.  Because the Lessons include lots of options in the forms of Vocabulary, Introduction (the research/reading part of the lesson), Song/Poem, Activity, Bible Reading, Notebook work, Evolution Stumpers and Reviews, you the teacher can use what is easy for your child when they are having a bad day or choose to dig in a little deeper when you are having a good day!  The choice is yours. 

Because my kids love Science so much, we did this everyday!  We started this curriculum when my kids were in Kindergarten and 1st Grades.  While we completed at least one lesson per week, we completed the whole workbook in one year!  We LOVED all the activities and turned most of them into parts of our Lapbooks that we created.  This workbook is great for Unit Study folks looking for a “Curriculum” to follow.  We also loved how it followed the days of Creation, going into detail with each creation. 

I think this would work well with the Classical schoolers as it has a Lesson Plan that you can follow, however, this same feature makes it a little too rigid for most unschoolers that I know.  The only thing I can see that would make this “curriculum” more appealing to me is if it were offered as an eBook (a downloadable PDF).  This would eliminate shipping costs and bring the cost of the product down even further (no printing costs equals less cost of product). 

We loved this “curriculum”.  It was a great foundation on which to grow from.  I even find myself coming back to it as a reference with our Upper Elementary / Jr High Science!  My kids learned that Science is fun and Science is from God.  Two important points that I’m glad my kids learned early. 
You can look at this “curriculum” <a href=”http://home.maggiemccormick.com/Books.html”>here.</a>

Special Needs Kids often need teaching supplements in order to learn/understand what we are teaching them.  As homeschooling parents, these are often hard to find and what we do find is full of busy, babyish art work that only distracts our highly distractible kids! 

Snap Away Cards© have been designed specifically for the Special Needs Child.  The first batch of cards are the Dolch Words that many educators insist are very helpful for our kids to learn.  Snap Away Cards© are downloadable eBooks that you print out on your own printer using Business Cards – the kind that come 10 up on an 8 ½ x 11 inch page.  You can get a box of these (1000 cards) at Sam’s Club for $5.42! 

There are lots of different ways to use the Dolch Words Snap Away Cards©:
• Use as teaching cards: hold your thumb over all but the first letter and let your child pronounce each letter as you move your thumb to show the remaining letters of the word
• Let your child look through all the cards and pick out the ones they know.  Start a pile of words they know (Success Words) and another pile of words they still need to work on (Learning Words)
• See web site for further sorting activities
• Use as flash cards for review
• Show your child how to use these words to create a sentence
• Let your child use these words to create a sentence

A very important part of teaching High Functioning Special Needs kids is having options.  Options that include different ways of teaching the same thing.  That’s one great part of the Snap Away Cards©, the options are endless!  Still not sure?   Email Maggie@MaggieMcCormick.com for a Free Sample of Level 1 Dolch Snap Away Cards(c).