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Nov. 29th, 2006 08:30 amThe fire up the street at the mosque was caused by something stored too near an electrical space heater. Glad it wasn't anything deliberate. I expect the insurance will cover the damage. Sounds like it was caught pretty quickly. Paper said it caught fire about 6:45 and a full contingent of flashing lights and nee-naws of all sorts (fire, police and an ambulance) were there when i went for the bus at 7.
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aditi_ is going to be in the area for December. It looks like Sunday the 17th of December will be our get together. wyndancyr suggested the Long Dragon Buffet in Bayer's Lake. How does that sound for you all? I'll get hold of psychfringe if i have her phone number and get some final numbers to make reservations if necessary.
Interesting articles in today's Daily News about whether it's good to integrate special needs kids into the classrooms with everyone else or have their own classroom. I think it very much depends on the individual child's needs and each one needs to be assessed individually. It's the general principal here in Nova Scotia that they are integrated with the help of teaching assistants where needed. My best friend's son has autism and seems to get on very well but he's not a severe case. He does need that assistant to keep him focussed though. Assessments for kids here sometimes takes way too long and the children can suffer for it. There was a story about one young boy who his mother believes has Aspergers Syndrome and she said he's on a list for assessment but it could take until 2008(!!!) to get to see someone. That's just wrong! She's taken him out of school and teaching him at home and he's caught up in the curriculum to where the rest of the class would be. If he was assessed and diagnosed, she could apply to have him get a teaching assistant which gives him some individual attention.
Another good friend of mine teaches special needs kids in Ontario. She has a class of kids, they are not integrated into the mainstream. Her kids are all ages with various disabilities and challenges. Hers is an elementary/middle school and she teaches them until they go to high school which, in Ontario, starts at grade 9 where the kids are about 14 or so. She has at least one teaching assistant, not sure if there are two or not and the classroom has about 10 kids. When i visited her school in March with two other friends, the kids serenaded us and one young lad drew me a few pictures and he definitely had artistic talent.
The gist of the feature was that the whole policy needed to be examined to see what works and what doesn't. I think we probably need some schools that have the separate classrooms for the kids with challenges who would be better served by that set up but integrate the kids who would beneft better in that way. It's gonna cost money but the kids are worth it.
Local LJ'rs,
aditi_ is going to be in the area for December. It looks like Sunday the 17th of December will be our get together. wyndancyr suggested the Long Dragon Buffet in Bayer's Lake. How does that sound for you all? I'll get hold of psychfringe if i have her phone number and get some final numbers to make reservations if necessary. Interesting articles in today's Daily News about whether it's good to integrate special needs kids into the classrooms with everyone else or have their own classroom. I think it very much depends on the individual child's needs and each one needs to be assessed individually. It's the general principal here in Nova Scotia that they are integrated with the help of teaching assistants where needed. My best friend's son has autism and seems to get on very well but he's not a severe case. He does need that assistant to keep him focussed though. Assessments for kids here sometimes takes way too long and the children can suffer for it. There was a story about one young boy who his mother believes has Aspergers Syndrome and she said he's on a list for assessment but it could take until 2008(!!!) to get to see someone. That's just wrong! She's taken him out of school and teaching him at home and he's caught up in the curriculum to where the rest of the class would be. If he was assessed and diagnosed, she could apply to have him get a teaching assistant which gives him some individual attention.
Another good friend of mine teaches special needs kids in Ontario. She has a class of kids, they are not integrated into the mainstream. Her kids are all ages with various disabilities and challenges. Hers is an elementary/middle school and she teaches them until they go to high school which, in Ontario, starts at grade 9 where the kids are about 14 or so. She has at least one teaching assistant, not sure if there are two or not and the classroom has about 10 kids. When i visited her school in March with two other friends, the kids serenaded us and one young lad drew me a few pictures and he definitely had artistic talent.
The gist of the feature was that the whole policy needed to be examined to see what works and what doesn't. I think we probably need some schools that have the separate classrooms for the kids with challenges who would be better served by that set up but integrate the kids who would beneft better in that way. It's gonna cost money but the kids are worth it.
