Liz Ditz

Recent Activity

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  Liz commented on the article | about 3 years ago

  Top 10 Books and Websites

  I would like to recommend Bev's Asperger Square 8 blog.
  
  http://aspergersquare8.blogspot.com/
  
  (she is part of the autism hub)
  
   I love her cartoons--so powerful.
  
  This post corrects misinterpretations of neurodiversity
  
  http://aspergersquare8.blogspot.com/2009/01/cages.html
  
  

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  Liz commented on the article | about 3 years ago

  Why IDEA Matters

  Please go look at John Wills Lloyd's post on Beyond Access: Improving Success
  
  http://teacheffectively.com/2008/12/29/beyond-access-improving-success/
  
  and
  
  Special Education Done the Right Way
  
  http://teacheffectively.com/2009/01/04/special-ed-done-the-right-way/
  
  He's discussing effective placement for the student, rather than the ideology of inclusion.
  
  ---------
  The need for additional teacher training:
  
  A quote from today's article "To help improve the situation, the Marin County Office of Education hired Kelsey Norton, its first autism specialist, in 2007. "One of the big areas we're looking at is providing training opportunities for our staff," Norton said. "We have many veteran teachers who have no training in working with these students."------------
  
  You started off by referring to "Marin schools".  This is where you have to get down into the details.  Education in county of Marin consists of 15 elementary districts, 2 high school districts, and two unified (k-12) districts, with a total enrollment of about 29,100     students.
  
  Marin county ranges from densely populated and poor (Marin City) densely populated and well-to-do (Sausalito) to rural and rather poor (Lagunitas).
  
  From the article:
  "While Marin has one of the lowest autism prevalence rates in the Bay Area - its rate of 4.9 percent is slightly higher than Sonoma County's 4.3 percent and far below San Mateo's 6.7 percent, according to the Marin County Office of Education - "
  
  From today's article:
  
  http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_11365484
  
  "Working with school systems and the regional center can be very overwhelming, and people can be very frustrated - for good reason," said Rebecca Breen, parent education coordinator for Jewish Family & Children's Services in San Rafael. "There's a lot to try to understand."
  
  As the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder has doubled in the past decade - and grown by an even higher percentage in other parts of the Bay Area and statewide - parents like Lawson and Chris
  
  Allen are pushing for greater cooperation among the various agencies that provide services for children with autism, as well as help for parents trying to navigate the system.
  
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  Liz commented on the article | about 3 years ago

  10 Autism Controversies

  I want to point out that this list of ten isn't THE list, but a start.
  
  "Dora and Kristina have identified ten topics that have sparked intense and fervent exchanges. We will be addressing additional controversies regularly in the Autism blog."
  
  The concept of spectrum is worthy of a ten-list all of its own.  And then the concept of individuals moving both directions on the spectrum is another.
  
  Kristina and Dora, this is a great start.
  

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  Liz commented on the article | about 3 years ago

  Autism Issues Outside the U.S.

  Because we are USians, we swim in the sea of IDEA & child find.  It is hard to perceive that things are different elsewhere.
  
  Some of the things I'm curious about: comparing & contrasting autism education/intervention in the various countries of Europe over the last 5 years.
  
  And what about Latin America?

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  Liz commented on the article | about 3 years ago

  (Still) Under Some Construction

  Dora, I count Kristina as a friend and I am looking forward to counting you as one, too.
  
  Congratulations to you both on your new posts.