If HEM Takes a Closer Look at Learning Disabilities has sparked an interest, you might consider exploring a few of these resources from HEM’s Guide to Homeschooling Resources:

Special Needs At Home Swap List

The group’s description states in part:

Special Needs at Home Swap is a mailing list for the buying, selling or trading of used equipment, programs, and curriculum for children who have learning disabilities or have a “special need” in some way. The list is not just for homeschooling parents of kids with unique challenges, but for any parent who needs to work with their child at home.

—

A few special needs resources from the Lilting House…

I found some useful special needs resources from homeschool Mom, Melissa Wiley at her Lilting House Blog.

Here are a few of them:

Speech Therapy At Home

Newborn Hearing Screen: A Piece of Advice

Fun With Audiology: Making Ear Molds

Be sure to visit her site to explore these and other interesting homeschool resources.

In case Melissa’s name sounds familiar, in addition to being a homeschool mother of five wonderful children, she is also the author of The Martha Years and The Charlotte Years. She also is the blog mistress for Here in the Bonny Glenn.

—

A Pocket Manual for Advocates

Recently Janie Bowman wrote to share, A Pocket Manual for Advocates: Information and Resources for Lay Advocates with us and I’m so glad she did because it is definitely one of those resources you will want to bookmark.

Part of the introduction reads:

A Pocket Manual for Advocates is written for:

* Lay advocates.

* Parents who attend meetings with other parents.

* Teachers who advocate for their students.

* Friends or family members who advocate for children and families in an educational

setting.

Each situation is different and not all experiences or resources will be pertinent to yours.

Even professionals differ among themselves, so we don’t expect you to agree with

everything we write. A good advocate will seek the most current information, and we

encourage you to research and verify all information and resources. For your convenience,

resources that may be helpful are listed after each section and at the end of the manual.

Advocacy is a process, not a destination. We can be plunged into the world of advocacy

by a slow turn of events or by a surprise diagnosis. But one thing is sure, we didn’t wake

up one morning saying, “Today I’m going to help support other parents in their quest for a

free and appropriate education for their children.” Excruciating “hands on,” ears “tuned in”

and “eyes wide open” experiences are at the core of what activates advocates.

When I was done exploring the manual, I visited the Brightworld website to discover the other

resources offered there. The Brightword family advocacy website offers homeschool, special education, wellness,

personal growth and parenting resources.

Visit www.brightworld.com .

—

Calm and Compassionate Children by Susan Usha Dermond

Ten Speed Press recently sent along a press release on Susan Usha Dermond’s Calm and Compassionate Children, A Handbook. After reading the press release, I thought others might find it interesting as well.

The summary from the Ten Speed Presss Website states:

“Building on such inherent qualities as openheartedness and trust, parents and teachers can help children develop empathy and integrity as they grow and mature. From nature activities to conscious quiet time to tips on daily routines, CALM AND COMPASSIONATE CHILDREN provides practical guidance to help grown-ups model behavior and suggests dozens of activities to foster children’s joy, wonder, kindness, and love.

* A parents’ and teachers’ guide to developing children’s concentration, self-discipline, and compassion, as well as heartfelt qualities like openness and enthusiasm.

* Includes more than 90 techniques and exercises drawn from the author’s experiences as a teacher and director of the Living Wisdom School, a nonprofit elementary school that emphasizes nonsectarian spiritual principles and practical skills for living.

* Recommends books, music, games, and other resources to help grown-ups nurture calm and compassionate kids.”

American Sign Language Resources

My younger sister is partially deaf and American Sign Language was extremely helpful way for us to communicate with one another when she was very young. As she grew older her speech improved, but we still use sign occasionally.

Our entire family took classes and I wondered what type of resources might be available online. Resources have definitely improved over the last 30 years!

The American Sign Language Browser is a website that offers the ability to look up ASL signs, but they claim it is not an instrument for learning ASL. Perhaps this is true, but it is great as it is an A-Z Resource of words that include an movie clip of the necessary actions.

Learning to sign has come along way from the 30 year old book I have sitting on my shelf! Here are a few of the resources I came across:

* The American Sign Language University offers a step-by-step pictorial, and then allows you to animate the process. Very cool! They have many resources there, including this Fingerspelling Quiz here.

* American Sign Language downloadable fonts can be accessed at the University of Oregon’s Yamada Language Center.

* Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center at Gallaudet University offers this excellent series – The Ear and Hearing Series 1 / Series 2 . If you visit their website, you will find they offer many, many more resources as well.

* An American Sign Language Crossword Puzzle

* DawnSign Press is a commercial site that offers some snippets of video clips, in addition to many resources.

* Magic Lamp productions offers an extensive library of videos for hearing impaired children and adults.

***

HEM’s Guide to Homeschooling Resources offers a growing list of learning resources which are reviewed and described, links to the companies’ websites, occasional interviews with companies or individuals about their resources and much more! HEM’s Guide to Homeschooling Resources also welcomes comments and suggestions by homeschoolers who use the resources. Every couple of days I will be adding a few new resources, so I’d love to hear about your favorites! You can reach me here.

~ Mary Nix

This entry was posted on August 6, 2007 at 3:05 am and is filed under Information, Magazines - Newsletters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.