Do not buy anything from The Buying Company on Amazon.com. I paid for a 4g phone and they sent me a 3g phone, and their response was basically, “Screw you.”
Tips to keep children with autism and other disabilities safe from sexual abuse
July 8, 2012Keeping children and adults with autism and other disabilities safe from sexual abuse is a critical topic that people don’t like to talk about, but warrants more attention than it often receives. Several studies have indicated that children with disabilities face a higher risk of sexual abuse than those without disabilities. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, women with disabilities are sexually abused at a rate at least twice that of the general population.
Children with autism and other disabilities can be especially vulnerable because of communication problems or a lack of fear. Incidents may go unreported because children with disabilities may not be able to convey what happened, may not fully understand what is inappropriate, or may not be seen as credible because of communication problems.
To see the rest of my article on Examiner.com, click here.
Maryland basketball star Len Bias: remembering ACC great who died 26 years ago
July 8, 2012The poster is old and wrinkled, gathering dust. Len Bias is slamming home one of his ferocious dunks. The caption reads, “I’m Bias. Maryland is number one.”
It has been 26 years since Maryland basketball superstar Len Bias died of a cocaine overdose in a dorm room. Bias’ sudden death became the biggest story in the history of Washington, D.C. area sports, and one of the biggest news stories in the city’s history. How could such a seemingly invincible player be gone all of a sudden, just two days after being drafted second overall in the 1986 draft by the Boston Celtics?
To read the rest of my article on Examiner.com, click here.
D.C. United at Maryland SoccerPlex
July 8, 2012D.C. United plays its home games at old RFK Stadium in Washington, which shakes and teems with character and memories. But United plays a couple of games each season at the Maryland SoccerPlex in Germantown, which seats just a few thousand, but is an excellent venue for soccer. I went to a game about a month ago against the Philadelphia Union.
Here’s the article on Examiner.com.
Use flashcards to prompt reading and speech for children on autism spectrum
July 8, 2012One of the most frustrating and heartbreaking problems for children with autism and their families is when kids have poor verbal communication skills, or even an outright inability to speak. Despite trying every therapy under the sun, some children may never communicate verbally. However, for those who do learn to communicate out loud, identifying the words that go with particular items can give them a jump-start to understanding the concept of communication.
One simple intervention that can be accomplished in the home, even without a professional therapist, involves labeling household items. This may make the home look tacky, but the potential gains trump those concerns a thousandfold.
If children see the words that are associated with objects day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year, they should eventually learn them. If done in conjunction with a reading program, kids can learn words in a concrete way in a natural environment.
To read my entire article on Examiner.com, click here.
Washington Capitals: The most futile playoff team in the history of American sports?
May 9, 2012
The Washington Capitals have made the playoffs 23 times in 29 seasons. That’s the good news. Now here’s the bad news:
The Caps are the most underachieving, unlucky team in the history of North American sports. Name a team that has failed to live up to its seeding in the playoffs more often than the Caps. You can’t.
The Caps are like Sisyphus, who in Greek mythology, according to Wikipedia, was a “king punished by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this action forever.”
Caps fans are like Charlie Brown, about to kick the football, when Lucy pulls it away — time and time again. (Will Charlie Brown ever get the little red haired girl)?
If you arrived in town yesterday, you can say that the Caps aren’t the Chicago Cubs (no titles in more than 100 years) or the New York Rangers (no championships for the half century before 1994), but that misses the point. First, the Rangers did win a Stanley Cup before their drought. Second, no sports franchise has failed more often in relation to how long the team has been around. No team has more often lost as the higher seed (at least 10 times), lost more two-game series leads (seven), lost more three or four overtime playoff games (four) or lost more Game 7s (seven) than the Caps.
Now Washington is finding new ways to lose. With 6.6 seconds left in Monday’s Game 5 against the New York Rangers in the second round of the NHL playoffs, the Caps allowed the Rangers to tie the game and send it into overtime. Then just a minute-and-a-half into the extra period, Marc Staal got one past the Caps’ Braden Holtby.
The steady Joel Ward for some reason decided to hit a home run with Carl Hagelin’s head with 21.3 seconds left, earning a high-sticking penalty. Then the normally reliable Holtby did an “I’m rubber, you’re glue, everything bounces off of me, and then you score” routine.
Two games earlier, Washington fell in triple overtime to the Rangers, the fourth time in their history that the Caps have lost a three or four-overtime game.
Looking back at their history, the Caps have won a lot of regular season games, but only twice in 37 seasons have they clearly overachieved during the playoffs, in 1990 when they made it to the conference finals, and in 1998, advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals.
To read the rest of my article on Examiner.com, click here.
Use Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences for special needs play date activities
May 5, 2012Learning involves more than just numbers and words, especially for children on the autism spectrum. Harvard researcher Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory states that eight distinct types of intelligences can be developed to help students reach their potential. This is in contrast to traditional approaches that focus solely on logical-mathematical and linguistic/verbal intelligences, which may underestimate the intelligence of students with special needs.
For a well-rounded approach to learning through play dates that may incorporate hidden strengths of students, click here to read an article on Examiner.com.
For students with autism and other disabilities, continuity enhances learning
May 5, 2012Have you ever seen a sports team flounder because it had so many different coaches and systems? The same can apply to special needs students – continuity can improve learning. To read the rest of my article on Examiner.com, click here.
Play Beatles songs for autism music therapy
May 5, 2012Beatles songs such as “Here Comes the Sun,” “Yellow Submarine,” and Octopus’s Garden are perfect candidates for music therapy for kids with special needs. These songs are fun, simple, and easy to visualize. To find out more, please see my article in Examiner.com.
25 Greatest Washington Capitals, from Langway and Bondra to Ovechkin and Backstrom
May 5, 2012Who is the greatest Washington Capital of all-time, Rod Langway or Alex Ovechkin? Where did the young guns of Ovie, Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green, and Alexander Semin come in on the top 25 list, if at all? If the Caps continue their playoff run in 2012, it will enhance Ovie’s legacy. The two-time MVP’s play has slipped the past two years, but he’s still one of the NHL’s most dangerous goal scorers. Without further ado, here are the links to the Top 25 Caps of all-time, based on one writer’s opinion: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1140809-washington-capitals-25-best-players-in-team-history-from-langway-to-ovechkin and http://www.examiner.com/article/25-best-washington-capitals-from-langway-and-bondra-to-ovechkin-and-backstrom.
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