A resource for anyone with the gift of a learning disability, ADHD, TBI or ASD.
I am Neal. 26 year old Dyslexic with ADHD. I am an assistant in disability services for a local university. Feel free to "ask" anything or leave a comment!
Many may look at that shiny new smartphone out there and think, “Could I use this glorious technology to enhance my life?” Okay, maybe most of us go straight for Angry Birds, Facebook, or of course Tumblr. I am here to tell you that there are SO many apps you can use to help your organization, reading, and even studying. Here are some of my favorite for my Android phone.
1. Evernote:
This incredibly versatile app will help you create notes, lists, audio notes, and pictures which you can store on the Evernote server and access anywhere. I use this for to-do lists, shopping lists, remembering where I parked, on the fly audio recordings, and sometimes I take a photo of the whiteboard in class to save for my notes. This has versions for Android, iPhone, PC, Mac, and Web!
2. TalkADroid
This handy little app costs you a few bucks, and will read text you type, or anything text from browsers, documents, and more. It even has a button feature which allows users to press a button to say a basic conversational words. In one review I read, a user said he used it when non-verbal after a seizure. Seems like it could be a useful tool for the deaf/HoH community too.
3. Vlingo
Think ‘Siri’ for droid. It is a voice command application with the ability to make calls, send messages, check weather, find businesses, do navigation, etc. It really does a huge amount of useful things. There is a free version with ads, the pro version is a few dollars. This can be useful for dyslexics who may have a rough time composing text messages. In Vlingo you simply say, “Text Joey. I will see you at the theater.” Then say “Send.” Also has a car mode which can read texts and e-mails aloud to you as they arrive. This technology has SO much potential in Assistive Technology.
4. White Noise
Yes, that’s right. White noise. This is more useful that you can possibly imagine. Is there noise outside your door, but you need a distraction free space? Set up the sound of rain drops and let it wash the noise away. Trouble sleeping at night? Let ocean waves carry you to the land of nod. Really, I’m serious, this app is great. The paid version is worth it, you get a ton of sounds and can set your favorites. Free version works great too!
I thought I’d give a quick update about what I’m up to. This blog has been rather silent lately, largely due to finals and moving around the country. In the spring I was hired to be a counselor for a summer day camp for kids with ADHD, ODD, AS, and other disorders and learning disabilities. It is a program set up by NYU Child Study Center. The last three weeks have been filled with some intensive training on what we will be seeing, behavior modification techniques, and other camp related info.
It has been amazing, I feel like a junior psychologist here. On monday I will start working with the kids! I am a counselor in the youngest group, so I get to hang out with 6 and 7 year olds all day! We have only met them once for an hour, so it will be interesting to see how a whole day shapes up!
Anywho, I have been learning a LOT lately about child psychology. Hopefully it will give me some inspiration for writing some more on this blog.
Everyday Superhero of the Day: Jess Thom is one of the 10 percent of people with Tourette’s syndrome who also have coprolalia — the tendency to involuntarily blurt out curse words. Her most frequent tic words include “f**k” and “biscuit,” but her tics also cause her to utter brilliant, hilarious and obscene phrases, which she’s started collecting on her website, Tourettes Hero.
The site includes a searchable index of Thom’s best tics, including fan-submitted illustrations of some of the more colorful phrases.
Tourettes Hero is also Thom’s superhero alter ego — costume and all — which she adopted for speaking engagements and classroom visits to help educate people about an often-misunderstood condition shared by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide and “change the world one tic at a time.”
DON’T JUDGE ME! Already my son has been penalised by many! Since this filming he has calmed down a great deal! Many people believe that he is not Autistic, WHAT DO THEY KNOW? If he remained non-verbal and a quiet little child maybe the stereotypes of a typical little black boy!
I AM NOT A BAD MOTHER, I want the best for my children! IT’S ONLY UNTIL YOU TAKE THE TIME TO DO THE RESEARCH YOURSELF, you will find how much work needs to be done for many families from across the world! God truly answered my prayers, I battled with the LEA and all Four Tribunal Appeals were in my favour (WASTED TAX PAYERS MONEY). He was diagnosed by a specialist paediatric and still I have had to prove by the negligence of many of looking at my parenting skills.
Since his admission into a Specialist School of my choice (GREAT SCHOOL) he has surely improved drastically (IS THIS WHY PEOPLE THINK HE IS NOT AUTISTIC), we have relocated (still some problems, but thanking God still) and now get additional support from the right people who care! MY ADVICE DON’T LET ANYONE TELL YOU THAT YOUR SON WILL GROW OUT OF IT AND THAT IT IS YOUR FAULT!
Seek legal advice OR even better get specialist advice, if you still finding it hard to get the right support inbox me and I will direct you to someone who will be able to assist! I clearly know now, who really cares. Denial is a dangerous thing, it deprives and delays the child from getting the right support! Who is benefit when the child/teenager or adult is having to cope! Because of someone elses ignorance!
Nathaniel still stays up late at night, but at least he has his own room now and his behaviour is decreasing. What has made it easier is keeping to routines, structure and planing when things have to change. He is a more happy child and my daughters are doing better at school!
I am so happy to hear that Nathaniel is getting an education from a school suited for his needs. Schools like that are often rare here in the States. Your family seems so sweet, its wonderful you are all working through this together.
Everyone should take some time to watch this video. Nathaniel is not the only child out there who is slipping through the cracks. We need to recognize what autism is so we can give those who suffer from it a fighting chance, and also learn to work with the strengths it comes with not just the struggles.
Accidentally saved as a .docx you can’t open it at school? Did you get a .PDF of your reading assignment but need it in .RTF for your screen reader? This is just what you need! RoboBraille.org to the rescue!
I was referred to this online converter by my boss. It is an exceptionally useful converter which converts just about everything! It does pictures, it does documents, and it even makes e-books for Kindle (.mobi) and all other ebook readers (.epub). Not convinced yet? Its free and online. Access it any time, anywhere.
Its pretty easy to use too. Just click language and upload a file. It will ask what you want it to become, and then it will ask your e-mail so it can send the completed file to you! It usually takes a minute, but it is worth the wait!
Touch: Why Are We Obsessed With Autistic Kids Having Superpowers?
Kiefer Sutherland’s new show Touch premieres this week, and the plot hinges on the “superpowers” of a non-neurotypical child Jake. Jake can predict the future, which is of course not only impossible, but dangerously stereotypical of autism spectrum disorders. Actually, “stereotypical” is the wrong word. “Bullshit” or “insulting” are closer to the word I am looking for.
I am sure there will be plenty of the terrorist ass-kicking and 1,000-yard stare neo-MacGuyverism that Kiefer Sutherland has come to be known for, but is this really how we should portray autism on television, or anywhere? From io9:
The danger here is that the autistic character could be akin to the “magical negro” or the “noble savage” in popular culture, says Steve Silberman, a frequent contributor to Wired who’s writing a book about autism to be published in 2013. Silberman explains that these are
“… characters that were significantly disabled in a social sense, but who had a kind of innocence and purity that enabled them to play their central role in the narrative: that of redeeming the hero, who wasn’t disabled and was only temporarily an outcast. Those characters usually faded offscreen when the hero attained his rightfully high status in society; they were only valuable for what they could render unto the mainstream characters — very much like the gay “best friend” in a million TV shows who coaches the female lead on her romantic problems but never has a sex life of his own (“gross!”), or the fat girl who’s “like a sister” to the geeky-but-hot male lead.”
