January 23 celebrates National Handwriting Day. I admit my own handwriting has become worse as I have become more comfortable with a keyboard and screen than a pen and paper. But what about our kids? My own children prefer to type up their homework than write it. Is the art of handwriting to become a lost skill?
“Though computers and e-mail play an important role in our lives, nothing will ever replace the sincerity and individualism expressed through the handwritten word,” David H. Baker, WIMA’s Executive Director, is quoted as saying on the WIMA Web site.
We all know our kids text, but 80% of us do too, according to The Nielsen Company. Nielsen doesn’t say why, but most parents know…. our kids “hear” us better when we text them! Here’s some more interesting cellphone data from Nielsen:
To adults, cell phones are a communications device. To children, they are a lifeline. Consider that the average 13-17 year old sends more than 2,000 text messages per month. Compared with the total mobile Internet population, teens are much bigger consumers of social media, music, games, videos/movies and technology/science.
Phone owners are getting younger: Last year kids typically got their first phone at age 10.1; by the beginning of this year 2009, the phone ownership age “was down to 9.7.” Same for borrowing: In 2008, the average age when kids started to borrow a cell phone was 8.6 years”; now it’s 8.
How they use phones: 66% of tween phone owners took photos with their phones in the past year; half played pre-installed games; 40% activated the speakerphone feature; 28% filmed a video clip; 24% listened to tunes. We’ve already seen this reported, but “the average 13-17 year old sends more than 2,000 text messages per month.”
Younger phone owners: more than half of 8-year-old owners “used their cell to send text messages in the last 12 months. “That figure soared to 81% for 12-year-old mobile users,” with “the vast majority” (90%) of those texts going to friends and family.”
Parental controls: More than half of cellphone users’ parents don’t use parental controls. Among the minority who do, “20% limit the number of calls, texts or instant messages, followed by download limits (17%), talk time or voice minute allocations (16%), mobile website access limits (15%), locator services and restricted in/outgoing number access (13% each), time of day restrictions (11%), and alerts to unauthorized texts, IMs or callers (6% each); 60% of parents “forbid downloads onto their children’s phone for financial and security reasons.”
Kids use technology to communicate in many areas of their lives. By allowing safe access to mobiles and other forms of communication we are preparing them for lives where technology is inherent.
Autism seems like such a taboo word, something that gets tucked away or covered with a diagnosis that makes sense, when Autism rarely if ever makes sense. The good news is that the medical community is making progress in connecting the puzzle pieces that make up the way in which to better communicate with children who have different needs.
I asked some friends of mine to chime in here and share what they know and have learned with their children.
all kids are the same no matter if they have extra challenges or not.
autism is a label, one that tell others what to expect and how to change their form of communicating so that my child can hear/see/engage in what they are saying.
everyday is different
the best times are the time in which I can learn about my son when he is struggling. I know how to never let that happen again.
autism is the core of how he is but not who or what he is. he is a living breathing learning and growing human who has feelings that get hurt too.
outbursts will always seem foreign to those around him. but to him he is just doing what we all do, expressing emotion and sharing something we want others to know.
he will always be smarter than me. but will never say so.
there is beauty in autism, a beauty that can only be seen from the eyes of someone willing to never place it in a box.
teachers are scared at first but once they realize that it is really a simple thing - love . It will always smooth out the wrinkles.
Some days i will and have cried until i am red and until sleep comes wanting it to be easier and different for him and sometimes different for me.
it is hard, it s frustrating, it is more than a daily thing, it is a with every breath thing but he is my thing.
Those thoughts were from a couple moms I know who write about their kids on their blogs which I will share tomorrow. But here are some thoughts on what eases the struggles from myself as a mom with a son with Asperger’s and my other moms with their autistic kids.
finger reading… not saying the words but enjoying the feeling of the book and the way the words seem to be accepted without thought or phrase.
crafts - anything that is creative. I have a whole craft cabinet that Chandler can go to when he is stressed and get pipe cleaners, string, glue, foam and markers and just create. It calms him right down.
music - my kids love Phillip Glass. somewhat classical somewhat trance like
ebooks without the sound just them movement
audio books with the sound on low
water running
water painting - then he wont get upset buy the colors mixing or getting on him
my daughter loves silly putty, I always carry it. she squeezes and molds it when she is stressed.
Autism is more than just a label, it is way of opening the mind to what these kids already know. They are special, they have different challenges but they are smart and they just need some extra thought and experience to calm them and allow them to be free from the blockages places in front of them.
What are your thoughts, challenges and uses that help create harmony in your house??
