Lost Parent Diary

02 Jun

Pregnant Men? Just plain weird…

Jun 02, 2008 @ 9:59 pm - Written by Andre
Pregnancy | permalink | trackback url

OK, this I just can’t understand. Apparently… men can think that they are pregnant.

It’s called Sympathy Pregnancy or Couvade syndrome and apparently, men may go through all the pregnant feelings… like cravings, mood swings, and even the weight gains!

To avoid reiterating the article, which is very well written and cited, I’ll just give me interpretation.

Isn’t this a bit… sick (for lack of a better word)? I can understand psychological diseases and conditions from autism to ADHD to even schizophrenia (well… who really understands that?), but thinking that you’re pregnant?

(note: I’m usually a more sensitive guy, but this really just came out of left field for me.)

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31 May

Soapbox: Autism in the Classroom

May 31, 2008 @ 10:51 pm - Written by Andre
Education : Soap Box | permalink | trackback url

I’m not a person with any kind of professional authority in the area of special ed. I’m an educator, but not a traditional one; I teach foreigners English abroad, so I have little contact with special education students. Most of my knowledge I have about this I got from a course on special education taken while earning my Masters in Education.

Recently, I read a post about how an autistic child was voted out of class Survivor-style by other students in the class, all under the guidance of the teacher! Looking at the blog comments, this has not only caused outrage in me.

In short, Wendy Portillo’s kindergarten class had a little meeting where in 14-2 decision, they voted Alex Barton, a child with Asperger’s, out of the class! Perhaps Portillo thought it was a creative way of resolving conflicts Alex was involved in, but now she may have some problems of her own.

I had to chime in on this, so I made a comment. I wanted to elaborate on it a bit here. If you make it to the end of the text, please leave a comment and let me know if you agree or not.

My Thoughts:

Democracy of the Mob - Did you ever read that book Lord of the Flies? It was kinda scary to see how proper kids quickly disintegrated into chaos. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a strong supporter of democracy, but it’s a delicate institute and can quickly succumb to the mob; minority rights must be preserved! Wendy Portillo perhaps forgot this element in her classroom activity. Had she let the activity continue, perhaps the students would have voted out of class the smelly kid, the one that eats his boogies, the wheelchair girl and, even her!

What is fair? - This is the greatest barrier to special ed kids: societies’ definition of the word “fair”. Traditional knowledge says that fair is when people with equal abilities compete with each other under the same rules. Right?

So… what if some people are disadvantaged? Would “fair” be when “people of similar abilities and people with lesser abilities compete together under the same rules”? Not to me, if some people have lesser abilities, the rules should be changed for them to make it fair. “Fair” is not what’s fair to everyone, but what’s fair to the individual child.

Real Life - Many people may read the statement above and say, “that’s not what real life’s like” and I would agree that it does not reflect the norms of adult life. But, 1) children aren’t adults, and 2) real life is not fair. Interestingly enough, “No Child Left Behind” is many ways is an attempt to bring “real world” ideas into education. Rule of thumb: Kids are not adults; making their worlds an adult world may destroy their childhood.

Mainstreaming - What happens when normal children and special needs children are put in a classroom? This is called “mainstreaming”. If done well, the advantages are great for both the normal and special needs kids. If done poorly, situations like that in Portillo’s classroom arise. Mainstreaming is required by law in the US and rightfully so; the only opportunity for special needs children to feel normal is by being with normal children. The alternative to mainstreaming is isolation and it’s hard to find anyone arguing this is the best solution.

Ultimately, special needs children will never feel equal to normal children. However, being with normal children will give them a sense of normality and how to behave in society. It’s no secret that people with disabilities have achieved a lot, including people from Helen Keller to FDR to Bill Gates to show.

Let me know what you think. This is an issue I feel passionately about so I would really love to hear your feedback!

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29 May

Piggy Bank Time, part 3

May 29, 2008 @ 5:24 pm - Written by Andre
Productive Parent : Resources | permalink | trackback url

Ways of Utilizing Piggy Bank Time

Once piggy bank time has been defined and located, it’s time to smash that piggy open! These are the main ways I take advantage of my piggy bank time:

MP3 player and podcasts - This is the silver bullet of piggy bank time. I have an iPod shuffle and it is absolutely fantastic! I strongly recommend this model because of the clip, which lets me attach it to my belt, shirt, or inside pocket of my jacket… this makes it virtually ubiquitous (still trying to figure out how to make it work in the shower, but I’ve got some ideas). It’s far more convenient than most other models which have a leash or you just put in your pocket.
Plus, the headphone you get with them are very comfortable, too (I had a Samsung MP3 player and the headphones were not nearly as nice). Invest in a good one because you’ll end up listening to it all the time!I subscribe to tons of podcasts (check out my blogroll) and a few times a week I dump the old and load the new. If I’m listening to something interesting, I’ll even keep in on while I’m driving.
Car radio and audiobooks - I have a car radio that plays MP3 CDs, which fit far more onto a single disc than an audio CD. I prefer to listen to audiobooks and lectures in my car because they are usually a longer investment than podcasts and need to be listened to in a specific order. It can take me a month of listening to one CD in the car this way and it’s time really well spent. I’m not the first to suggest using driving time to listen to things other than music.
A great way of combining your MP3 player with your car radio is via an FM transmitter. All in all, I use the iPod and car radio in tandem: iPod for podcasts, car radio for audiobooks and lectures.
“Reading Materials” folder - When I see a very challenging or long blog post, I prefer to read it on paper. I print it out and stick it in a special folder I keep with me in case I have an unexpected free moment of time. I may not be able to read it in one sitting, but slow and steady wins the race, after all.
“Do anywhere” folder - If you practice GTD, you know about the “anywhere” context. This is a list of action items that can be done just about anywhere (hence the name), all I need is a piece of paper and a pen, for example (again, the shower poses a problem). These may be brainstorming activities like, “how to I foil Brain’s plot to take over the world”, or writing an outline of a blog post or an important email about my rocket car. It’s good to have this kind of folder because I know I spend TONS of time on the computer, so if I can do anything beyond it, that’s always a plus!

WRAP UP

I really enjoyed writing this series. I’m still a relatively new blogger and it’s encouraging to see that my readership is slowly but steadily getting bigger… I must be doing something write!

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think about piggy bank time and other productivity topics. I hope to write more articles on parent productivity in the future, and I hope other people are interested in it to.

Piggy bank time is something that has really changed my life. The amount of information I take in is huge, and on one side it’s overwhelming, on the other side it just whets my appetite for more! Using other methods Dr. Birkenbihl suggests really helps maximize brain power. In the future, I hope to talk more about her and the work of others who explore the potential of the human brain.

OPEN THE DISCUSSION

Do you have any other ideas about how to use piggy bank time?
Would you like to learn more about topics like this?