We have reached the two-year anniversary of our family’s COVID-19 lockdown. World events have largely overshadowed the pandemic. We’re safe at home, as we have been for 24 months. Watching events in Ukraine unfold, it would be incredibly self-centered to whine about anything we’ve experienced. Sometimes we need to step…
Category: Education
Posts on teaching, studying, educational systems, and institutions.
Podcast Episode 0081, Season 5, Episode 12; 31 January 2022 Parenting on Pandemic Time The end of 2021 proved difficult, and 2022 isn’t off to a good start. Parental responsibilities once again derailed blogging and podcasting efforts. Pandemic parenting compounds the challenges of supporting our daughters. Despite our exhaustion, we have to keep the girls on…
Podcast Episode 0080, Season 5, Episode 11; 04 January 2022 Tracee Garner, author of Disability: An Anecdotal Field Guide for the Rest of Us Tracee Garner is a case manager for a nonprofit, a prolific novelist, and a writing coach. She’s also a passionate self-advocate for the disabled. Tracee was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at…
Exhaustion is winning. I’m tired. Call it burnout or fatigue or whatever else might fit. I cannot think clearly, I’m on edge, and I’m quite short-tempered with everything and everyone. I want a break. Time alone. Quiet time with minimal interactions with anyone… maybe no interactions at all. Before moving to…
Classroom spaces, physical and virtual, present numerous barriers to academic achievement for disabled students. Compound these spaces with ableist teaching practices and it is little wonder schooling traumatizes many students. “Today’s classrooms better meet the social and academic needs of students,” I’ve heard experts proclaim. Really? Which students? Surely not…
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a data analysis on December 3, 2021, suggesting 1 in 44 children are categorized as autistic by age eight in the United States. Is the 2.3 percent rate accurate nationally, using current diagnostic instruments? These data present a curious question: Why…
Podcast Episode 0076, Season 5, Episode 7; 9 November 2021 Navigating Autism Published in September 2021, Navigating Autism: 9 Mindsets for Helping Kids on the Spectrum by Temple Grandin and Debra Moore offers a positive approach to supporting young autistics. I can see my daughters and myself in some of…
Podcast Episode 0075, Season 5, Episode 6; 2 November 2021 Literacy Problem Solver From the Press Kit: Lois Letchford’s dyslexia came to light at the age of 39, when she faced teaching her seven-year-old non-reading son, Nicholas. Examining her reading failure caused her to adapt and change lessons for her…
Podcast Episode 0074, Season 5, Episode 5; 26 October 2021 One of the ways bloggers and podcasters build their audiences is through hosting other content creators. We’re all in this together, sharing our stories and promoting a sense of community. This episode of The Autistic Me Podcast features Sam Mitchell,…
Overnight Wednesday my left eye’s cornea suffered a tear or abrasion. It was a surprise. An extremely painful surprise. Unfortunately, I am familiar with the pain. In 2008 and 2009, I suffered several corneal tears in Minnesota’s cold, dry weather. It’s a pain you do not forget. For the last…