Studio3Music Blog

Apr
4

The Tree Sweaters of Anderson Park

Posted in Bits and Pieces, Family, Things to do, Things We Love

If you take classes at the historical Fullard House in Anderson Park, these images are familiar to you. If not, you should take a picnic – the park has great play structures, and tons of grass. (Note for August – lots of shade and cool green grass to run around in.)

For 10 hours a day, Suzanne Tidwell of Sammamish knits. Sweater for trees. It’s otherwise known a “Guerilla Crochet”. Whatever you call it, the yarn stripes add much-welcomed color to our Pacific Northwest grey spring days.

Here’s the story that Evening Magazine did about Ms. Tidwell, her knitting machine, and penchant for this beautiful art form. And thanks to Werona A., Studio3 mommy, for sending us the pictures!

Tags: art, fun, Things to do

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Mar
31

Bad handwriting – just laziness?

Posted in Child Development, Education

Dysgraphia is a form of learning disorder which affects how kids write—more accurately, don’t write. These kids avoid writing like the plague. When forced, it’s a struggle. Often gifted students, they are labeled lazy or messy because of the extreme amount of time it takes them to produce next to nothing—and that’s not even talking about legibility. When reasonable kids are given reasonable training and still don’t want to write, dysgraphia may be the reason!

For a long time, dysgraphia wasn’t a recognized learning issue. Just read a few of the comments on any of the websites listed at the bottom and you’ll quickly see what I mean. You’ll hear from adults who struggled through school and only later in life discovered they weren’t stupid or lazy. Good-hearted parents who have tried to decode the mystery of their smart non-writer lament and rejoice in the helpful diagnosis. Guilt-smothered parents who berated their kids for not doing what they couldn’t are out there too, guaranteed. It’s time for dysgraphia to come into the light.

The diagnosis for dysgraphia is, as with many learning disabilities, somewhat inexact. A “cluster of symptoms” identifies it. Here is a sampling of the list from Wikipedia: Dysgraphia: Signs and Symptoms:

Cramping of fingers while writing short entries
Odd wrist, arm, body, or paper orientations such as creating an L shape with your arm
Excessive erasures
Mixed upper case and lower case letters
Inconsistent form and size of letters, or unfinished letters
Misuse of lines and margins
Inefficient speed of copying
Inattentiveness over details when writing
Frequent need of verbal cues
Referring heavily on vision to write
Poor legibility
Handwriting abilities that may interfere with spelling and written composition
Having a hard time translating ideas to writing, sometimes using the wrong words altogether
May feel pain while writing

Writing is a complex set of motor and information processing skills. Breakdowns can occur on several levels. Three identified subtypes are: Dyslexic & Spatial which are brain-based issues. Motor which is caused by fine motor problems.

Dyslexic: Children’s spontaneous writing is illegible. Copy work is fairly good, but spelling is bad. Not thought to be fine motor based problem.

Spatial: Illegible spontaneous writing and copy work, but normal spelling. Not thought to be fine motor based.

Motor: Fine motor skills are deficient. They have poor dexterity, weak muscle tone or clumsiness. Writing requires extreme effort and an unreasonable amount of time to accomplish. Writing is poor, often illegible. They have difficulty drawing. Their oral spelling is normal. Often they hold their pencil in an awkward manner.

The bright side of a diagnosis of dysgraphia may well be the emotional relief and redirection of correction in a positive direction. Stress was listed as a main negative side effect of the disorder. Can you imagine the frustration of not being able move a thought from head to hand to paper? Assigning correct meaning helps the patient and parent know how to proceed.

Intervention for dysgraphia is better when started younger. Dianne Craft, an expert in treating “learning glitches” as she calls them, has a website and treatment program for a variety of learning disabilities affecting children, including dysgraphia. Exercises include retraining the brain through copy work and gross motor activities. She identifies dysgraphia as the most common learning block of gifted children and offers many resources for helping children move beyond the disability.

When therapy is given the college try and is clearly not helping, “accommodation” is recommended. Helping children live with dysgraphia often includes teaching cursive as it can be easier letter formation than printing. Early keyboard training can help diminish frustration, however giving up on handwriting is not recommended. Public schools are able or sometime required to offer diagnosed children therapy or appropriate classroom help, such as a keyboard, or note-taker or alternate testing methods.

Check out these websites for more information:

ncld.org: National Center for Learning Disabilities

Nototherwisespecified.typepad.com: Sara Gardner’s blog (mother of a child with dysgraphia)

Diannecraft.org: Expert in treating childhood learning “glitches.”

-posted by Donna Detweiler, who hopes that this blog will get some frustrated children the help they need to succeed.

Tags: Donna Detweiler, learning, physical development

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Mar
29

Rituals and Routines and Morning Tea

Posted in Child Development, Family

A couple of days ago, I woke up late and had to rush out the door. My husband kindly offered to make me my usual cup of tea. (He’s the coffee drinker, me – Stash Double Bergamot Earl Grey with stevia and half and half, thank you very much.) I was horrified at the thought of having to chug my tea down before I left, so I declined.

You see, my morning tea is supposed to be sipped slowly while sitting at the dining room table reading the celebrity gossip, err… news on my iPad. No rushing allowed. Without my tea, I was seriously out of sorts all morning long. (And it wasn’t the lack of caffeine; I only have one cup.)

If you’re not a morning beverage have-to drinker, perhaps you’ve sat down to watch your favorite TV show, and discovered it was on hiatus? Bet you turned into cranky pants. We grown-ups grow accustomed to our routines and rituals, and it can be aggravating and unsettling to be jolted out of them!

We’re born with a need for routine and ritual. Predictability is important to an infant, a toddler, a pre-schooler, a jr. higher, and adults. We like to know what comes next. It brings us comfort and security and makes us feel like we are in control of our circumstances.

Routines are the tasks or chores we regularly do. They are the typical or everyday activities that have little afterthought. Your workplace has a typical routine. (Think about what you do in your job, or what are the normal procedures you follow without really thinking about them.) I do laundry on Fridays, always lock the door when I leave the house, and start with long tones when I practice my Euphonium.

Your children need routines, too. In Kindermusik, we always start with the hello song and end with the goodbye song. Routines in the classroom allow children to feel safe and secure, and then learning can happen naturally.
Routines help babies solidify their eating and sleeping patters; routine transitions and rituals help preschoolers feel in control, and knowing what to expect enables them to act independently.

There is an interesting difference between routines and rituals. According to Stedman’s Medical Dictionary, a ritual is a detailed act or series of acts carried out by an individual to relieve anxiety or to forestall the development of anxiety.

That makes perfect sense. My morning tea ritual gives me a moment of peace before I enter the hectic pace of my day. It grounds me. The routine of the hello and goodbye song in a Kindermusik class becomes a ritual when we sing the same song each week. The familiarity and consistency of these songs lets the children know what’s coming, and so they eagerly ready themselves for fun and learning.

Rituals and routines shape a child’s behavior and development in a stable, secure and loving manner. Think bath time, cleanup time, bed time, family nights, Sunday morning waffles, summer vacations to the lake. There is no shortage of research to suggest that routines and rituals are vitally important to the well-being and positive mental health of any child.

We can never underestimate the affect of the emotional imprint of loving routines and rituals in a child’s life, and the positive feelings they evoke in years to come. There is no shortage of research to suggest that routines and rituals are vitally important to the well-being and positive mental health of any child. What are some of your favorite memories of childhood? They likely involve a ritual or routine, which you may have repeated with your own family.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who now knows that her morning cup of tea is not really about the caffeine; it emotionally prepares her to face the day. So, drink up!

Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tags: babies, kindermusik, learning, Miss Analiisa, parenting, preschoolers, toddlers

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Mar
27

Episode 2: “Revenge of the Geeks”

Posted in Family, Product reviews, Things to do, Things We Love

In a neighborhood far far away, on the planet Google Earth, lived a family of Geeks (see Episode 1) belonging to the Nerd Class (we’ll get to that in a minute). It was a time of rebellion where the Geeks waged war on all that the Nerds had presented as entertainment declaring an upgrade of family values. Their anti-app battle cries filled Google Sky, catching the attention of the Toy and Game industry. Plastic toys with batteries were soon replaced by wooden toys that required imagination and fine/gross motor manipulation. An appreciation for the arts emerged inspiring a bard rising from the days of old, creating true artists, musicians, and writers.

Clusters of Geeks began meeting in homes to celebrate an age-old practice that humans for thousands of years have enjoyed – games. The type any techie neophyte or old school Nerd would applaud.

If you feel your inner-Geek resonating with the power of the not-so-dark side, here are a few recommendations from the Austrian game industry, a must for any who pride themselves in Geekdom. To be acknowledged by any in the Gamer Brotherhood (where you get a +5 speech craft for bragging rights), your game closet should include a game with an Austrian Game of the Year Award noted from the official Wiener Spiele Akademie (Austrian Game Academy), which is similar to our Academy Awards (no joke).

Here are a few academy winners from Wiener Spiele Akademie (you might be surprised by a few that are familiar):

Spiele des Jahres (“Game of the Year”)

1995 – Settlers of Catan

2001 – Carcassonne

2004 – Ticket to Ride

2009 – Dominion

The Academy also has winners for family games, children’s games, multi-player games, two-player games…games for wizards, games for elves, games for space cowboys, games for those who like to wear capes simply because capes are cool (hey, don’t knock LARPers, where would Renaissance Fairs and Highland Games be without them!…Nerds, you’ll have to use your apps to find out what a LARPer is, teehee!). There are also games awarded by the Golden Geek Award and other various academy spin-offs which you can search and review at Board Game Geeks.

Most “Game of the Year” award winners are great for elementary age children as well. The family of Geeks who live in a neighborhood far far away, have 7 and 9 year old boys who are Padawan gamers one day hoping to belong to the Jedi Knights of the Gamer Brotherhood, like their mommy and daddy. Their favorite right now is Carcassonne followed closely by Dominion.

Other note worthy games celebrated in the Gamer Brotherhood include:

“Munchkin”, a fabulous game poking fun at Dungeon and Dragon based RPG’s (and the only way you’ll get to wear Boots of Kick-Ass and get away with it); “Forbidden Island”, where players work together to retrieve artifacts before an island sinks into the abyss (go Indiana Jones style Team Spirit!); “Citidels” a layered game where each round players are secretively a thief, assassin, the king, architect and other characters all using their skills to build the biggest city (get the expansion and play the king and your friends will have to say “Your Excellency” when addressing you or forfeit their turn); and “Pandemic”, another cooperative style game where players try to eradicate disease from claiming all of mankind (hmmm….was this inspired by Stephen King’s “The Stand”?).

-posted by Miss Jesikah, who would like to thank The Academy for bringing the Glory Days of Geek Gaming back to her home. Do you have Spiele des Jahres games in your closet?

Tags: Miss Jesikah, Things to do

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Mar
21

Understanding Your Child (Boring title, important idea.)

Posted in Child Development, Education, Family, parenting

I’ll be right up front and tell you that tell you that I don’t pretend to understand your children. Seriously, I have three of my own. All complete opposites. I have enough to do, thank you very much, without worrying about your kids.

Don’t believe that? Okay. Truth be told – I’m a teacher through and through. I strive to appreciate every child I work with, and if you ask me about your child, (as some of you have), I’m happy to give you my observations. I really do want you help you be successful in the art of parenting.

I can also share what I’ve learned about how to really get to know them. And why would you want to get to know them? Besides the obvious fact that you like your children, of course! Your children are born with unique personalities, skills, gifts, talents, learning styles, and characteristics. It’s our job as parents to support our children as they mature.

Understanding your child will assist you to guiding them as they grow. For instance, knowing your child’s learning style (In order to understand concepts, do they need to see it, hear it, or do it?) will tell you how to help them with learning to read, tell time, or grasp their addition facts.

Children arrive with some prewiring. I don’t mean that they can’t change and grow, but they aren’t blank slates, either. How my 3 children behaved in utero was how they acted after they arrived on the outside. One was a poker – he’s 13 and he still “pokes” at me verbally if he wants my attention. One was a roller – I looked like a pregnant Sigourney Weaver from the movie Alien. He still is a whole body mover. He needs to move to learn. He moves when things get emotionally difficult to deal with. He rolls on the floor a few times in the middle of a particularly intense violin lesson, and then gets up and is ready to work again. My two boys will always be pokers and rollers.

The best way to understand your children is to simply observe them. Playing, working, sleeping, eating. What are the character traits that continually show themselves? Are they introverted or extroverted? What are their favorite activities? Those things are your child’s “normal”. Most of the time, your child’s “normal” is perfectly okay. And you need to be okay with it, too.

You don’t like going to the zoo every weekend, but your daughter begs, rain or shine? Think about what clues that gives you. Nurture that love of nature. If you don’t want to go to the zoo again, find new museums, take a field trip to the vet’s office, check out library books about reptiles for your visual learner. Get a pet for your “doer” to take care of.

Want to get to know someone? Ask a lot of questions! So, ask your child open-ended questions. (Those questions that require more than a yes or no answer.) Instead of asking your child who they played with in school, ask them what they played.

Miss Allison (a great observer of children) gave me some more ideas to pass along to you:

When you read a book to them ask them what their favorite part was… who their favorite character was…

Have a verbal child tell you a story. You’ll discover a lot about what they think about, and feel, are scared of… wishing for…

Watch how they play with small pretend play manipulatives: people toys (like action figures and Polly Pocket type things) and anthropomorphized animal toys, too, plastic animals or dinosaurs, small stuffed animals. Large motor pretend play is usually done with other children, but small motor pretend play is often done alone, so you only see what your child is interested in rather than what they are willing to compromise on.

Pay attention to the skill sets that confuse them or make them frustrated. Those activities are pointing you toward the areas the child isn’t as comfortable with, may be stuck with, or toward personality traits such as perfectionist, or short tempered.

Make a point of playing with your child in different areas of development. Do a puzzle one day, take a nature hike the next. Ride bikes, or work on pedaling, build with blocks, color and do a craft, sing a song, tell a story so that you can see where your child is gifted, where they struggle and most importantly, where they are growing and where they are not growing.

With lots of observation and interaction, you’ll have the knowledge of what tools and toys to provide, to assist them in reaching their next level of maturity.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who sees so many of her sister’s and mother’s traits in her daughter that it’s more than a bit freaky.

Image: Naypong / FreeDigitalPhotos.net