Hello Summer Camp 2012

Welcome to summer camp 2012 (June 18-August 10) at the Frankie Lemmon School. We're having great fun here and learning lots of stuff. Watch this little movie and you'll see what I mean. It's got everything from classroom to playground, from rocking whales to ol' Doc Watson, the blind country guitar wizard who just died at 89. (God bless his soul.)


Also see: http://youtu.be/O6YS7diS5p8.

Summer reading fun for my older friends:
There's a really good novel out there called the curious incident of the dog in the night-time. It was written by Mark Haddon and published by Doubleday in 2003 to rave reviews. From the book description: "Despite his overwhelming fear of interacting with people, Christopher, a mathematically gifted, autistic fifteen-year-old boy, decides to investigate the murder of a neighbor's dog and uncovers secret information about his mother." Reportedly, its film rights were purchased by Brad Pitt but no production date has been set so far. Meanwhile, it has inspired many fake movie trailers. Here is one of the best:


Also see: http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/9y1ub5GFFUw&hl=fr&fs=1.

Last but definitely NOT the least:
Temple Grandin is coming to Raleigh - September 14 !!
Named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in 2010, this renowned Colorado State University animal behavior professor and author has Aspergers Autism. A movie on her life, Temple Grandin, was released in 2010 and was nominated for 15 Emmys. It received five awards, including Outstanding Made for Television Movie. (see my blog for November 26, 2010.)

See the Temple Grandin website here.

Click here for information on the North Carolina Autism & Asperger's Syndrome Conference.

Open House

June 1st was Open House Day at the Frankie Lemmon School, a day for moving in, moving up and moving out for my young friends. Congratulations to the five-year-olds: Camden, Kanaan, Kaden, Colin, Kyler, Eleanor, Shepard, Jordy, Myles and Noah, as most of you move out to other schools and bright futures. Thanks parents, staff, teachers and volunteers for helping to make it all possible. May God be with you all!


http://youtu.be/IiMZiPCcUNc

And now, a question:

Quick—Who are the world's largest minority? According to the World Report on Disability (conducted by the World Health Organization in 2011), more than 15% of the world's population – or one billion people – live with a disability. Likewise, 2.5% of children worldwide under the age of 18 have a disability. That's 150 million children!

And like the rest of us these days, these children need to keep up with our world's fast-changing technology. But how, unless they have accessibility to it? One new tool for this is the TAP∙it® (Touch Accessible Platform for Interactive Technology – http://www.teachsmart.org).
• It has a big 42" interactive LCD screen that tilts and goes up or down.
• Students can operate the screen using a finger, assistive device, or reach stick.
• It can roll from room to room.
• It uses all the latest educational assistive software.
• It knows the difference between a "lean" and an "intended touch".
• It can be used to teach the whole class or one-on-one.
• It helps children with fine motor or developmental delays, and those who are visually challenged or hearing impaired.
• And it makes learning REALLY FUN!




Thanks to little Aiden's mom, Melissa Matthews, and her $100,000 winnings from IKEA's Life Improvement Sabbatical Contest, we now have our own TAP∙it®. Thank you, Melissa!

And thanks, Ms White (photos above), for showing us how it works!