I still have a modem & DSL at the old house. Only I don't have good internet access, as of ten days ago. Note to self: when things start acting squiffy, start taking detailed notes: date, time, behavior.
Today's diagnosis: it is my computer. Only it isn't cause the computer works fine in the new house.
So far I've invested about 3 hours of talk-time with perfectly pleasant and helpful....but ineffective AT&T folk.
I need to try an experiment, though: move the modem to the kitchen. If I have good access in the kitchen, the problem may be in the house wiring.
Initially I went along with it. I'd lope around the pen real nice like, and everyone would oooh and cooo over my "natural horse" abilities. Then, just when everyone had gathered around to watch, I would see the SCARIEST!! (tehehehe) Shadow in the history of scary shadows and switch directions and take off with my rider clinging terrified to my back. Every other horse on the place was envious of me because their owners would take them out back and beat them with that overpriced stick when no one was watching, but I knew my Phyllis would not.
Eventually Philly (as I like to call her) gave up on the whole natural horse idea when Pat tried to talk her into jumping me without a bridle over some barrels. Off we went in search of another guru. In our search we found Monty. He threw a string at a horse and talked to the horse with winks and stares. I spent some time with his clinic horses. I saw the demonstration where an unbroken 2 year old became an overnight Reiner. Later I talked to the 2 year old. He was actually 5 and had been doing this same routine for about 5 clinics now.
Reed used a vignette from a young struggling reader and an adult who is being remediated to introduce new finds in dyslexia research, interviewing not only Marcel Just, but Guinevere Eden and Nadine Gaab.
The piece highlights how Laurie Frydenlund, an educational therapists, teaches her students to read and write, and Frydenlund's outreach to local public schools.
Frydenlund is hoping to work with local instructors to raise awareness of the disorder. She offered an introduction to dyslexia at one school, Tropic Isles Elementary, and is hoping she can better educate instructors on what to watch for, how to offer accommodations, how to remediate them and when to refer children for testing. She uses a phonics-based, multisensory approach based on the work of dyslexia pioneers, Anna Gillingham and Samuel Orton.
"Teachers are making all the best efforts," she said. "It's just what they do doesn't always make sense for people with dyslexia."
Cena Holifield had a vision: a school just for young dyslexics (first through third grade) which would offer intensive remediation and return the student to the regular classroom (public or private). She had help getting the school going:
Dynamic Dyslexia Design School in Petal will receive a $156,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program.
[Petal] Mayor Carl Scott said an additional $150,000 in matching funds is being provided from the city to equal more than $306,000 in total support.
The school got another boost from a local church, when building renovations weren't finished on time for the start of school, by making its classrooms available for the short term.
Dynamic Dyslexia Design School (3d School) will use a multi-sensory approach to teaching reading and writing.
The 3-D School's curriculum is designed for the young dyslexic student and is based on current research findings. We offer intensive reading remediation using the proven Orton-Gillingham based method adopted by the Mississippi College Dyslexia Training Program which is accredited by the International Multisensory Structured Language Educational Council (IMSLEC). Dyslexia therapy is delivered by trained MC Dyslexia Therapists and conducted for one hour daily in a maximum class size of 6 students. The maximum regular classroom size of 12 students enables us to know each child's special needs and provide the individual attention they require.
Congratulations to Ms. Holifield for achieving her dream, and congratulations to the lucky children of Petal, those with learning disabilities, who now have another resource.
Wouldn't it be great if every school district in the country had a small school like this?
Xday is our street's garbage collection day. Most folks put their garbage cans and recycling boxes out the night before. Here in Deadwood, the recycling is collected every other week.
Tonight at about 11 pm, I started to go out to my car to collect a forgotten item, when I saw a furtive fellow in a hoodie, toting a sack, a few doors down. I ducked into the shadows to observe.
Yep. It was a Recycling Rustler. He was rummaging through the recycling, seeming to focus on the cans, by the sound.
With prices for aluminum, cardboard and newsprint going up and an economic slowdown putting added pressure on people's pocketbooks, curbside refuse has become a hot commodity.
Collection -- so far as I have observed -- seems to happen on our street after 9 am, so my stuff isn't going out the night before. And I'm getting a shredder.
Serjio and Oscar have moved a lot of stuff, and now are painting the garage (clean garage!) The fancy-shmancy closet folk will be installing in 3 weeks. Almost everything is out of Old House. I have pledged that the storage units will be totally empty by 4 weeks after the remodelling's done.
The stunning concrete colorist, Frank Zip, will be working maybe as soon as Friday. The floor in the sunroom will have sort of a watercolory, wet-slate look, related to this look.
Tomorrow Helena Barrios Vincent, the architect, and I are are doing field trips to select materials for the bathrooms and the kitchen. I hope we can get the plans finalized in the next 14 days.
Thursday, I'm meeting with Don Modica of Modica Landscaping. Don's crew did a really great, artistic job on the previous house, but it was much bigger in scope. I have a big list of small jobs -- we'll see what he says.
Chris Storey, my contractor, has put me back in touch with Rick White, a great cabinetmaker, for the built-in dressers in my bedroom (and possibly some bookshelves here and there).
I like my bank -- I've been with them 20+ years, and on the whole, they've been good to me.
The fraud unit called this afternoon. I thought it was because I've been spending money like a drunken sailor -- my bill typically runs about $XYZ per month, and for the last two months it's been more like $A,XYZ, but no.
I have both a Dominant Card and a SeeALongWay Card with this bank. I use the SeeALongWay Card for internet purchases and all the auto-pay bills. It turns out that the SeeALongWay Card information for card-holders in my class has been "compromised." The nice bank lady couldn't tell me how.
There's been nothing in the news.
They're shutting off the "compromised" cards and sending out new cards, with new numbers.
Sigh. More hassle.
However, since I have a pretty hefty credit limit on the SeeALongWay Card, I'm glad the bank is taking action.
Mocha Mom, who is fabulously stylish, cleverly uses a shoe theme to discuss NCLB
What does this make you think of? Right, impossible. The standards set by NCLB are impossible and it’s never been the intention that we could meet them all within the time frame we’ve been given. Except we had to have SOME SORT OF GOAL and what that did for schools is create a sense of urgency. We had to do something. It’s like wearing these shoes to your high school reunion where you want to show everyone you have good taste and as soon as you sit down you kick them off under the table where no one can see you give your feet some relief. What NCLB also did was shine a light on the fact that we’re all wearing vastly different shoes and yet we continue to use a One Size Fits All Assessment.
In Media Res is a blog new to me. She has written a series on "Disciplining Autistic Children", from her perspective of being the mother of a 18-year old with Asperger's Syndrome.
Two children, ages 6 and 9, were diagnosed with pertussis (whooping cough). The children, who are siblings, both attended a sports camp located at a large church. The older child also attended a drama camp at another church.
Neither child was vaccinated.
I sincerely hope that no infant is affected by these children's disease.
"Whooping cough is a concern because it can be passed to infants, who are at highest risk of complications and too young to be fully vaccinated with pertussis vaccine," Sidelinger said.
Sidelinger is Dr. Dean Sidelinger, San Diego County's deputy public health officer.
There is a current outbreak in Washington State, centered around areas where parents avoid vaccinating their children.
The majority of the cases reported in Tarrant County have come from children under the age of one who aren’t fully immune to the disease, said Dr. Anita Kurian, the Tarrant County Health Department's chief epidemiologist.
Health department officials said one problem they're experiencing is parents are sending their infected children back into public situations before they're completely cured.
Officials said patients require at least five days of antibiotics before they're no longer infectious.
Pertussis is almost completely preventable by vaccination. However, immunity seems to wear off, so parents and older children should also be vaccinated or have a booster shot. . PKids has a campaign for universal vaccination/booster, called "Silence the Sounds of Pertussis".
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