Montessori and More

I really never met Maria Montessori until I stumbled into her one day while absorbing massive amounts of information relating to the education of Wade.

I only wish I had met her years ago.

Science is just now beginning to document and verify what Maria learned 100 years ago from simply observing the way children learn best.  She had no brain imaging, no way of seeing inside those little heads and yet she taught the children who were considered to be the unteachable and then applied her learning to all children everywhere.  Brilliant.

I don't believe in rigid adherence to her pedagogy, but her methods can be applied anywhere there are children, parents, and teachers.

Practical life learning

Movement and balance awareness

Can you carry the bell without ringing it?

Can you balance the marble on the tee?

Hands-on learning and creating order by categorizing

Finding order through sequencing

Simplifying  the variables

Early implementation of fine motor activities 

(This picture, Wade says, is a robot holding his ears.)

Visuals, lots of visuals

This is a terrific way to teach odd and even numbers.  Line up your counters (pennies, buttons, or whatever) two by two.  For the odd ones, put the leftover counter at the bottom center.  Then run your finger down the center column while saying odd or even for each number.  On the odd numbers your finger has to stop before hitting the number because it runs into the penny.  On the even numbers, your finger can continue down the path to the number.  What a great illustration for visual learners!

Okay, okay, this is not Montessori!

But it could fall under the category of "prepared environment".

*Links to further reading concerning Montessori learning

Top 10 Montessori Principles for Natural Learning

Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius

Mommy Teach Me: Preparing Your Preschool Child for a Lifetime of Learning

Mommy Teach Me to Read: A Complete and Easy-to-Use Home Reading Program

Schuyler and Isabel: Message without Words

"...She was broken somehow, we knew that.  But she wore her brokenness like a veil of stars."

                                                                                                            --Robert Rummel-Hudson

Every journey is different.  Every person is unique.  Every disability is its own story.

Within the general categories of Down syndrome, autism, or cerebral palsy, live the individuals who in spite of some similarities of symptoms are still as varied as the hues of a summer day.

I often consider, therefore, when I write of our experiences with Wade, that our travels do not define either Down syndrome or disability for all others.  We can only describe what we know, what we are learning on our own personal road of discovery.

And, yet, it is through the open doors of other parents that we are also allowed to partake of many different journeys which awaken in us the seeds of affinity and compassion for a broader scope of humanity than we could have imagined.  It is a world of unusual richness and vitality, of brokenness and heartache, of truth and paradox.

Out of this tangled world of ambiguity, Schuyler's Monster comes to us--the memoir of a dad and his beloved daughter.

"It does not do to leave a dragon out of your calculations if you live near him," Tolkein has said.

But what about the monsters you can't see?  You know they exist because you can see what they have done, but you don't know what they look like or who they are.

A known monster is still a monster, but you can at least plan your attack, assess his weak points, and rally your own strengths.

But how do you fight the Unknown?

This is Schuyler's story of the Monster who stole her voice, the Monster who is so rare that few have ever met him.

And as we read her story, our hearts ache with the raw voice of her father who feels that they are fighting the Monster with swords made of rubber.  It is a story of sadness and joy, of anger and honesty, of doubt and of hope.

On any given day, I felt like Schuyler was visiting the rest of us here, a tiny being not of this world but trying as hard as she could to fit in.  But it was different on Halloween night, watching Schuyler with her gauzy butterfly wings and her crazy pink hair and that braying, unashamed laugh, dancing to some wild and perfect music that the rest of us weren't allowed to hear.  On a night like that, it was even easier for me to imagine Schuyler taking flight, her pink Converse hi-tops leaving the surface of this grand rough world for the last time.

I could imagine, with heartbreaking clarity and hand outstretched, watching Schuyler fluttering happily back to wherever she came from, whatever place in the universe exists where bug fairies speak in laughter and where sad, broken fathers aren't welcome.

Rummel-Hudson speaks openly of his spiritual quest, calling himself an agnostic, but sharing his bitter angst with God after the diagnosis as well as his tender longing for a life with greater purpose, with something more.

"She is the source of my joy and my sorrow, and for all my resentment at him for giving her this burden, it is nevertheless when I am with Schuyler that I feel closest to God."

And that says it all so well.  For in the enigma called Life, the journeys which bring us the closest to God are not necessarily those which are easy nor those which are easily understood.

Roy Richard Grinker, another father on a different journey, came to a similar conclusion as he wrote about his daughter Isabel in his book Unstrange Minds:  "...there is something profoundly meaningful, if not spiritual, about being the father of a child with autism that has pushed me to consider lofty, abstract principles of life like truth, beauty, and goodness."

And I wonder as I read these fathers' accounts, separate and yet entwined, could it be possible that those who have no words sometimes speak with the greatest eloquence of all?

The Book Nook

"Any way, because we are readers, we don't have to wait for some communications executive to decide what we should think about next--and how we should think about it.  We can fill our heads with anything from aardvarks to zucchinis--at any time of night or day."--Kurt Vonnegut

We all confess to being book addicts at our house.  The one rule that applies is No Reading at the Table When Everyone Is Present.  But reading at all other times is fair game.

We read together.

We read apart.

We read until we fall asleep.

A few of us have even been known to snatch a few words at stoplights (shhhhh, don't tell).  

And part of the fun of reading is discussing and sharing a book with someone else.

So here are a few Good Reads.

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

We love all books by Eleanor Estes, because she happens to have remembered perfectly what it is to be a child with the delightful innocence of fresh perspectives.  But The Hundred Dresses also captures the potential of children to be cruel to those who are different.  Estes draws a thoughtful picture through the conscience of one little girl who can imagine what it must feel like to be alone and ridiculed.  

And in the end we learned the beauty of a mind that speaks a different language.  This is a wonderful story to read aloud and discuss with your children.

My Brother's Keeper by Michelle Beachy

Along the same theme is the touching true story of a boy's love for his little brother who was born with a disability.  Told from the viewpoint of Andrew, the older brother, we learn much of how a family works together in times of need and how love is big enough to stretch to fit any situation.  It's hard to read this tender story with dry eyes.

Healing the Hardware of the Soul by Daniel Amen

In the past few years, I've particularly enjoyed reading books on the brain and how it works...or doesn't.  Dr. Amen is a Christian psychiatrist and brain imaging specialist.  His staunch belief in God makes his approach to brain function very refreshing to me.  Dr. Amen uses a brain imaging technique called SPECT to picture brain function and then to tailor individual programs to fit particular needs.  

Did you know that over time our brains change by what we feed into them?  This is both a frightening and an encouraging thought.

"When the brain is healthy, we are compassionate, thoughtful, loving, relaxed, and goal directed, and when the brain is sick or damaged we are unfeeling, impulsive, angry, tense, and unfocused, and it is very hard for our soul and our relationship with God to be at peace."

Dr. Amen tells about a group of scientists who, in 1997, seemed to have discovered a "God module" in the brain.  "The scientists located a circuit of nerves in the temporal lobes that became electrically active when the patients thought about God.  The scientists said that initial results suggested that the phenomenon of religious belief could be 'hard-wired' into the brain."

Doesn't it make sense, said Dr. Amen, that the God Who made us would have created inside us a place especially designed for communicating with Him?

In all of my reading about the brain, I find that thought the most lovely of all.

The brain is the violin and the soul is the violinist.  They both need to work together to make beautiful music. --Father Charles Ava

Do, Re, Mi

He makes music an adventure.

He makes Wade sound good on a guitar.

He knows all about Tiggers being wonderful things.

He makes us laugh.

When has work ever been so much fun?

Like many other children with Down syndrome, Wade has always loved music. Because he loves music, it proves to be one of the best pathways for learning that we have found.

(It also has been a good way to make the vegetables go down--a healthy modern option that Mary Poppins didn't know about.)

When Wade was still quite little, I found the Sign, Sing, and Play Kit by Monta Z. Briant which included flashcards with pictures and words on the front and illustrations of how to make the signs on the back. It was a terrific prop for my brain to have those illustrations handy for those days when Wade could pick up the signing much faster than my mind could go.

Along with the flashcards, this kit included a songbook and CD with songs which used many of the words which were being taught. That was a wonderful way to teach sign language and it became Wade's favorite CD until we met Kindermusik and Earthshine Pediatric Therapy.

Wade has been getting music therapy now for about nine months and I am so pleased with the great strides in his language skills since then. David works with rhythm, sound discrimination, cognitive and listening skills, etc. Spoken language has a rhythm, and he and our speech therapist have both told us that soon after a child acquires rhythm, he often will have a speech explosion.

(Do you think Christopher acquired too much rhythm? Because so far his speech has never stopped exploding. I'm blaming it on all the time he spent in that baby swing.)

For more on the subject of music therapy and Down syndrome, here's a link from the National Down Syndrome Congress--Music Therapy Encourages Development.

And for other reading on music and the brain, do check out this utterly fascinating book by Oliver Sacks.

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain tells stories of some of Dr. Sacks' case studies, including the occurrence of a man who became passionate about music after being struck with lightning. I don't think that is the recommended way to become a concert pianist.

Knowledge is Power

Never in history has there been a better time to have a child with Down syndrome. Medical advances have increased life expectancies; support groups and online communities provide helpful information in a private and non-threatening manner; libraries and book stores carry up-to-date resources developed from research on the best ways to teach children with Down syndrome. It's all there at our fingertips.

Today I'll share a list of some of my favorite books of the last four years. Woodbine House is a publisher specializing in books about children with special needs. They carry all of the following books, but I have linked the titles to Amazon because there you can read reviews and also click on each book to take a peek inside.

These first books have info on the best ways to help your child learn based on current research. I especially liked them because they were broken down into easy steps with photographs that I could refer to again and again. (Yes, these were the books I hyperventilated over at first. But you know better than to do that.)

Fine Motor Skills for Children with Down Syndrome

Gross Motor Skills in Children with Down Syndrome

Teaching Math to People with Down Syndrome, Book 1

Teaching Math to People with Down Syndrome, Book 2

Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome

Helping Children with Down Syndrome Communicate Better

Early Communication Skills for Children with Down Syndrome

And when you've read all that and are geared up to be Therapy Parents of the Year, go and read this one for another side to consider. Taken together with the rest, it helps to balance out the need to go put your head in a paper bag and breathe slowly.

Disability Is Natural: Revolutionary Common Sense for Raising Successful Children with Disabilities

And to help spread out the worrying to make sure it gets shared equally, here's one by Dr. Brian Skotko concerning your other children without the lucky 47th chromosome.

Fasten Your Seatbelt: A Crash Course on Down Syndrome for Brothers and Sisters

After all that, you need some downtime to relax with the stories of some very beautiful families. Here are two resources I wish we had been given when Wade was born. The first is a book, the second a DVD along with a link to the YouTube trailer.

These resources highlight the gentle magic of that extra chromosome that so happily bewitches us all.

Gifts: Mothers Reflect on How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives

Deedah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vooCiGPr6O4