Playing Near Children

Having social deficits and not knowing how to interact with other kids, shown here is a picture of Miggy with Blessie (not real name). Miggy on the autism spectrum disorder, and the girl with ADHD. Notice how Miggy plays near and not with the other kid. This is one of the hallmarks of autism.

Batang Paslit Photo Exhibit

Dear readers,
This is Miggy's entry to the Batang Paslit Christmas Photo Exhibit, SM Baguio, SM Art Gallery, Lower Basement. The exhibit runs from December 16, 2014  to January 16, 2015. Miggy is the youngest participating photographer and the only "SPECIAL" invited to this photography activity.

Seminar on Inclusive Education and SPED Program

Grade 7 Teachers, Pines City National High School, December 6, 2014

It was an honour for me to be invited to share my firsthand experiences on the management of autism. The school has 2 diagnosed cases of autism and some students showing manifestations of the disorder. I suggested some strategies that work for Miggy and other special students mainstreamed in Pines Montessori School. In acknowledgment, Pines City National High School vowed to implement them.

Doing Assignment in Microsoft Office Word

Another Mom Session, doing his assignment in Word.

I taught him basic operations in Microsoft Office - when to use the SHIFT, CAPS LOCK, TAB keys; how to add COLUMNS; choosing FONTS and adjusting FONT SIZES; BOLDING, HIGHLIGHTING, ALIGNMENT, and SAVING.

Shown above is his project in English - Stories with moral lesson, scarpbook style which I will show here after it is completed.

Christmas is just around the corner.

A little late for Christmas decorations.
Normally, we decorate the Christmas tree in October (long before Halloween) but we had been too busy lately with Miggy's projects and homework, and my (Mommy's) schooling. I'm into my Professional Teaching Certification Program at the University of the Philippines Open University, by the way.

And besides, we had to wait for Miggy's sister, Ate Clarisse, to come home from Manila where she's studying and taking up Speech and Language Pathology.

Decorating for the yuletide season has been a teamwork tradition for my two kids since a decade ago and it was never broken since then.

Pictures taken at Robinsons Magnolia and at Le Monet, Camp John Hay:

Pines Montessori Field Trip 2014

This school year's educational trip of Pines Montessori School: Trip to Pagasa Weather Station Baguio City, Philippine Military Academy (PMA) and Camp John Hay. 

Mosaic Art

This is the making of Miggy's combined project in Arts and Science using bird feed, rice grains, black beans, and crayon shavings.

Where's Waldo

Miggy just keeps going back to this favorite activity, the look-and-find Where's Waldo. Notice at how naturally he pointed at Waldo. We all know that majority of children with autism are inherently incapable of pointing and sharing objects of interest. Already outgrown, yes! An added X on the autism checklist.

Changing Fractions

This collage shows Miggy changing mixed fraction to improper fraction and improper to mixed but of course with the use of a calculator because it would take him ages without it. This is another accommodation by the school for special children's difficulties which all schools should consider and implement too.

How to draw Baymax

This is how to draw Baymax, the robot character in the movie Big Hero 6 which we are about to watch today. Just the two of us... mother and son bonding.

Cereal Box Activity

Not a time and chance for learning wasted. That's my Miggy, always busy.

Greetings to my online classmates in EDUC 101 and EDUC 106 subjects! Welcome to my blog. Meet Miggy, my twelve-year-old SPECIAL BOY.

Top 7 in Class

This exceeded our expectations.

Everyday I teach Miggy lessons he did not do well in their class seatwork. And on weekends, we take home all his books and study in advance. My only intention is that he never repeats a grade (retention) or that he does not have to be on remedials. Wow! but this?! Miggy being TOP 7 in his grade 5 class sends us on cloud nine.

My deepest gratitude to all his teachers. They are the best - the real heroes here. I am only supplemental to Miggy's achievements.

Sticks for Points

Nothing heavy today because they just had their 2nd periodical test last week. For today, we're just having a little fun. Easy exercises before he plays games on his tab.




He gets a stick for every correct answer; for incorrect I get one of his sticks.

*Tab games strictly on Saturdays and Sundays only; and strictly an hour or two.

NLEX

Miggy: "Mommy, there's an accident in the NLEX!"

Auditory Discrimination and a lot more

Speech therapy, Oct. 8, 2014. Teacher Justine (his longtime speech pathologist) wrote in Miggy's progress notebook: Miggy was generally cooperative today with minimal instances of distractibility. Good job!

Lessons covered: auditory discrimination, accuracy of interrogatives, correcting mistakes in sentences, understanding negatives, synonyms with stimulus words, using word pairs in sentences, following conditional verbal instructions, word riddles, and predicting outcomes.

His scores:

Auditory discrimination (rhyming) - 12/14
Accuracy of interrogatives (yes/no) - 9/15
Correcting mistakes in sentences - 12/14
Understanding negatives - 14/16
Synonyms of stimulus words - 9/12
Word pairs in sentences - 5/10
Following conditional verbal instructions - 80%
Word riddles - 90%
Predicting outcomes (familiar situations) - 90%

His Rainbow and My Pot of Gold

I was in the other room reading my notes, he called on me, and led me to the window.

"Hey, mommy, look! There's a rainbow!" he pointed to the sky and stared me in the eye awaiting my reaction. And then he added, "I found it!" 

He found his rainbow, I found my pot of gold. 

One of autism's hallmarks:
A lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with the people around him. The child does not show, bring or point to object of interest.

Obviously, he has overcome that impairment.

Science Project - Medicinal Plants

Grade 5 Science project: They were asked to make a scrapbook on medicinal plants.

And this was how Miggy did it (with my guidance, of course). I (mother) even included the first two collages at the back part of the book just so teacher will know he was really the one who made it.

During the process, I kept on reminding him: "It's alright to make mistakes. It's art. There are no mistakes in art. You can cut it any shape you want" and "You can paste it anywhere you want."

I modeled the first page, laid out the cut shapes and pictures, then asked him, "Can you do this, Miggy?" to which he replied, "Yes!"

And from there, he was able to design the other pages without my directions.

For the book, we used an old 2013 calendar.

Golf Cart

We took advantage of this golf cart we saw this morning parked in our garage. 
Miguel, come here. Ride this and I'll take your picture. 
"No! I don't want to be late for school."
Okay, I will not buy you the Planes, Fire and Rescue dvd.

Buwan ng Wika

Buwan ng Wika celebration at Pines Montessori School honors our Filipino language, culture and traditions.

To highlight the event, the teachers and students prepared different depictions of Filipino theme.

All class sections are now raising funds for the Christmas party. Pancit, turon-saging, banana cue, puto, biko, dinuguan, ginatan, chicharon-baboy and other pinoy foods lined on tables filled hungry stomachs and emptied pockets and purses of teachers, students and parents. The funny thing was just a few minutes after the food fair started, prices went down to half the price. Some were even on buy-two-take-one promos. So wise buyers (like me, of course) took advantage and happily came home with loads of "kakanin" at only a few pesos spent.   

Miggy, along with other kids won Best In Filipino Costume. 

Is it Buwan ng Wika (National Language Month), or Linggo ng Wika (National Language Week)?

The latest ruling in terms of assigning a National Language celebration in the country, Proclamation 1041, says we should have a month-long celebration.

Signed by President Fidel Ramos in 1997, the proclamation sets a Buwan ng Wikacelebration every August. This celebration is to coincide with the birth anniversary of former President Manuel Quezon, known as Ama ng Wikang Pambansa, who was born on August 19, 1878.

Before the 1997 proclamation, however, the celebration was limited to a week. For the longest time, the country celebrated Linggo ng Wika, which started August 13 and ended on August 19, Quezon's birthday.

In 1955, President Ramon Magsaysay signed Proclamation 186, which set Linggo ng Wika every August 13 to 19. He moved the celebration from the March-April schedule originally set by President Sergio Osmeña in 1946 and 1954.

Magsaysay moved the dates since the original celebration is a period "outside of the school year, thereby precluding the participation of schools in its celebration."

In 1988, President Corazon Aquino signed Proclamation 19, which ratified the celebration of the Linggo ng Wika every August 13 to 19. The week-long celebration was observed until Ramos extended it to a month starting 1997. 

– Rappler.com

http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/66090-buwan-ng-wika-linggo-ng-wika-celebration

Miggy with classmates

The fifth graders of Pines Montessori: 

Erin, Jersey, Lawrence, Shaun, Oden, Jerico, Lex, Danielle, 

George, MJ, Ronan, Amiel, Xylee and Miggy.

This is upon the request of these wonderful kids, "Tita, post this on Walls of Miggy!"

Sorry, a little late 'though.

My Parasol Boy

Photos taken when we visited Miggy's grandfather and aunt at the Eternal Gardens. 

Watching Miggy marching and fooling around, waving, flipping, turning, and flying this umbrella was just priceless.  Of course, the umbrella did not withstand the ordeal - one rib broken. I stood there watching, meters away from him, just clicking my cam and enjoying this wonderful display of innocence and carefree liberty and independence. 

I waved at him and he came running back to me. 

Today, I feel relaxed knowing I could now let go of his hand. I now know he'll come back to me. For a very long time, I dreaded his possible escapes. 

Many autistic children have a tendency to wander off. Elopement, at one time or another, have been experienced by parents of children with autism. This makes for the parents' sleepless nights and stress. However, this elopement problem may not be permanent. Some children may outgrow it. An escaping child as he grows older may simply lose interest or his level of understanding of danger may increase. 

Mobile Planetarium

The Andromeda Mobile Planetarium circulates in different schools all over the Cordillera Administrative Region. The planetarium intends to promote awareness and interest in astronomical science.

Today, the mobile planetarium sits on the grounds of Pines Montessori School. A display of heavenly bodies wowed the students. The universe that they merely see in books, on the net, and up in the sky millions of miles away is now within reach.

To all readers:

Please click on "OLDER POSTS" after the last post to see more. For specific posts, click on the list of TOPICS on the left side bar.
Enjoy a tour of MIGGY'S WORLD and see what's beyond his WALLS.
Thank you.

Sincerely,
Miggy's Mom, Yolette

Pronouns Tutorial and Spelling Practice

I made Miggy a PRONOUN GUIDE - singular and plural, first, second and third persons - because he scored only 12/30 in the pronoun exercises done in school, clearly meaning an SOS.
We studied the guide I made, with me all throughout giving names of familiar people for every pronoun. Then, I covered the previous answers and made him redo it. Again, a success!

The 3 pics on the right show how we practice spelling. He reads every word carefully, syllabicating very slowly, then rewriting the words 2-3 times. Next, I cover the list of words and dictate each word he will spell.

Multiplication Table

Here's Miggy memorizing the multiplication table and understanding the basics of the operation.

(I made him a handy multiplication table out of a ten-peso poster I cut and pasted on a cardboard, that folds like an accordion. He used this in grade 3.)

Fishing Game

Miggy's first fishing game, a gift from Teacher Justine.

To put the batteries by himself, I taught him how to use a screw driver. 

Hello to Miggy's Jollibee Family! Looking forward to another workshop! Soon? YES, please.

Please click on "Jollibee Workshop" at the left side bar for more pictures of his unforgettable Jollibee experience.

Pines Homework

Lucky me. I don't even have to coax him to do his homework.  He always has the initiative in every assigned school task. 

For me, it's like going back to elementary school. I have to study his lessons too. On weekends, we take home all his books and he completes unfinished workbook exercises and corrects incorrectly answered seatwork. Of course, there's time for play. Miggy gets to play his android tab (after our study time) and watch a movie or two on his dvd in the afternoon. However, both come-ons or rewards are only for Saturdays and Sundays.

How about TV time? He can watch TV everyday, that is, after doing his homework and reviews, provided he doesn't watch any of our "5 forbidden shows": Spongebob Squarepants, Ogie and the Cockroaches, Tom and Gerry, Adventure Time and Regular Show. The violent content in these programs may pollute his very innocent mind and pure heart.

He watches only 3 channels: Cartoon Network, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.
Definitely no adult, romantic and violent contents for him!
Yesterday, I saw him sneak at the National Geographic Channel. Well, that's good!  

Happy 12th birthday, Miggy

Spelling Review

Prepping up for Pines Montessori's three-day first periodical test this week.

Subject: ENGLISH
Spelling practice: 5 mistakes out of 60 items. Not bad!

Pines Montessori, Nutrition Month Program

School ID

Nine years ago, that was May 13, 2005, when Miggy was only 2years/9months and diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder by one of the top developmental pediatricians in the Philippines, I wasn't sure if he could at least learn ABC. 

For years I have doubted the comforting but unrealistic assurances of his doctor that:

1. Miggy can study in a regular school.

2. Miggy can find a job.

3. Miggy can have his own family.

Goal 1 is gradually materializing though. Goals 2 and 3 are still too distant and uncertain. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping and praying for a dream-come-true. Hanging on and believing in the old cliche that at the end of the rainbow is a pot of gold.

Fruit Platter Design

In celebration of the Nutrition Month, the grade 5 class designed individual fruit platters which were graded by the class adviser, Teacher Reggie, according to organization, creativity and presentation. Ten points for each criteria. Three students, one of them was Miggy, got the highest score of 27 points.

The next collage shows how I (Miggy's Mom) taught him the how-tos of fruit platter design. First, I showed him images of fruit  platters on the web. Then I made dummy fruit slices in half-circle colored papers that would serve as practice fruits. Next, I made him identify those slices, showing him the real fruits for actual demo later in  the class. Lastly, on his own, he layered the fake slices onto his oval platter. And voila! Another masterpiece! Miggy's and mine too!

Not a day wasted

How was Eid'l Fitr spent? For Miggy, no time wasted. 

He colored, loomed a bracelet and practiced his new spelling words.