Slope-Intercept, Face, Freddy Fish and Phone Numbers

Math Stuff

So I got an email from David. "im having problems with SOLVING A SYSTEM OF LINEAR EQUATIONS. the explanation didn't make sense, as of now. :-)"

We covered this for the first time last weekend, and I knew it would take more than once. I told him to do other review exercises in his assignment, and he did. So we lined up the equations, reminded him of LCDs and discussed the signs - after all the goal is to get to zero - and off we went. I expect it won't be the last time ...

We are concurrently (ALEKS is like this) working on graphing equations, x- and y-intercepts; and of course, using the SLOPE-INTERCEPT standard linear equation form: y = mx + b. It took quite a while for David to parse this out so that he understands that "m" is the slope - not "mx + b" or "mx." So I finally gave him what seems to be working as an audio-visual memory tool.

If you are familiar with Children's TV, you may be aware of a character called, "Face." Face morphs shape and color to teach elementary concepts of shape and color. He often starts, "Hi There; Face Here." Many phrases are alliterative and exaggerated, with his voice going up/down and phrases semi-sung.

"R-r-r-ise!" I said, pointing my arm up and using a high sing-song voice and holding the vowel a couple of seconds; then thrusting the arm out in front, lowering the tone, and saying, "R-r-r-un." (This was later followed by "B-z-z-z-z-z." (for "b") It seemed to r-r-r-esonate with him. :-)

Freddy Fish and Phone Numbers

Mikey loves a children's computer game called "Freddy Fish." There are several iterations of the game; Freddy Fish IV lives at our house. In the game, there is a part where Freddy advises the game player to memorize a 3-digit number, which becomes the "combination" to unlock a safe later in the game. So on the way home Mikey started reciting his phone number and declared it was the combination! One never knows where his mind will go, but go it certainly does.

Ordinary Days

Yesterday was a "math day" for David, and I was at his house.

One of the types of problems that David forgot how to do is to find the nth value in a set if the average value of the set is some number. [For example, if a student scored 85, 95, 93, 82 on four tests, and had one more test to take, what would his score need to be for his average score to be 90?] I tried a couple of approaches that did not resonate with him.

Finally, I said, "David - look at me. If I gave you $.96 Monday, $1.04 Tuesday, and kept doing that; and if I gave you an average of $1.00 per day, how much money would you have by Friday?"

"$5!" was the almost immediate reply ...

Anyhow, that seemed to clear up the concept for him.

Oh, and I neglected to mention that David's mom interrupted his lesson, so David could show HER how to do something with iTunes on the computer!

I also waited for Mikey to come home. It was swimming day for him, so while he was chowing down on the M&M cookie grandma brought, I asked him what he'd learned in school. He responded, "Swim."

"Mikey, what ELSE did you learn today?" I asked.

"Australia!" was the response.

Wasn't able to get any more out of him. BUT - a friend of mine who lives in Australia did bring us a wonderful picture / coffee table book about it, so it will definitely be featured on the coffee table today. (It's usually there, except when the Christmas decorations come out.)

Looking ahead to the holidays

It's often a challenge to find a "good" present for the boys, let along one they'll like. David is a little easier these days - he's happy with a slew of iTunes cards. The Mikey Mystery-Wrapped-in-an-Enigma kid is a much harder challenge. His interests vary, wax and wane like the stock market these days.

However, that said, we are in discussions on two things: an annual passport to Disneyland for Mikey and the used Macintosh computer I bought to be given to David.

Mikey and Disneyland

Mikey loves Disneyland (as you can read in earlier posts) and Disneyland is VERY supportive of special needs kids. There are "special" passes for Southern Californians. They are cheaper than regular passes, and have more date restrictions. However, that's almost a plus for a pass for Mikey.

Think of it this way - How do you find the "best" days to take him? You look for the less-crowded days. How do you know what those days are? You can guess, but DISNEY knows. And BTW, that knowledge transfers into - passes with blockout days on the really busy days ...

And I think I can handle him alone for a few hours at Disneyland or California Adventure. He is very familiar with the parks now and he continues to improve by small amounts. He listens better. We still use "set the rules" documents (one pagers with pictures and words that set expectations).

David and the Mac

For a long time, we've had a PC that is referred to as "Mikey's computer." David uses it part of the time, but we got this used PC so Mikey could have a reasonable but not too expensive machine to access the Internet.

David has gotten totally into music recently. Mactintoshes have software called, "Garage Band" that is pretty sophisticated, and David's friend Bonnie and he spend time at her house making and recording music. She uses Garage Band.

SO I got this Mac as an experiment. The first time David tried it, he did not know what to do. (Neither do I but I understand Apple has a first-rate tutorial.) But I think David ascribes to The Music Man theory of learning - The Think System! Experimentation!

The next time we had the Mac out, David discovered "Magic Garage Band" which has a bunch of instruments and pre-recorded stuff you can use as background; he spend the next several HOURS recording what, to my obviously unsophisticated ear, was a bunch of noise - but it was a bunch of noise with multiple tracks. Go David!

There are several reasons to give it to him and several not to ... we'll see ...

Reality

In the autism community, we refer to non-autistic kids as, "neuro-typical," or "NT" for short. As I write this blog, I realized that a lot of what I write talks about the boys in many was as if they were NT. A lot of what all of us do is based on our knowledge of the boys, of autism, of personality, of what works and what doesn't. So we often don't think of the boys as anything "special," per se, just as themselves.

Sometimes something - a look or the realization of what someone else is thinking - call me back to the reality of their situation. Sometimes, it's just something that happens.

Today I was helping out with Mikey. David is back "in" school. He is home-schooled. Mikey is not back in school until next week. David cannot concentrate on work when Mikey is around; and, with the elopement issues, Mikey cannot be let alone outside. Mom got some respite help for two days this week; grandma is filling in some of the remaining time.

So today, I brought Mikey over to our house. (Grandpa went to work of course.) He asked for nachos for lunch, and I didn't have chips or cheese - kinda important for nachos ;-) - so I asked Mikey, "Do you want to go to Von's?"

"Yes," he replied. So we stopped and picked up the required elements and came to the house.

As lunch time approached, I thought it would be a good teaching opportunity to have Mikey help with making the nachos - it's pretty simple: warm beans; grate cheese; layer chips-beans-cheese twice and pop in the oven. So here is where the reality sets in.

First, Mikey agreed to participate. I opened the can and realized - I have only a manual can opener. There is no way Mikey could open the can - he does not have the strength or dexterity in his hands to do so. I did get him to take most of the beans out of the can and put it in the skillet.

I tried to show him how to turn on the burner. I have a gas stove with an electric ignition. I showed him how to push down the knob, but he was not able to do it - same issue. He was able to adjust the flame.

Then I opened the cheese and cut of some chunks - he was able to handle the electric grater with no problem; he missed the bowl a little but not much.

I then directed him to put the layers on. He didn't put quite enough, and he didn't spread the cheese around - but he was able to complete the task.

I put the tray in the over-stove convection oven, and then had him turn it on. We had to do it 3-4 times before he got the steps in order - it involves the following:

Push the knob

Turn the knob to the right temperature

Push the knob

Turn the knob to the correct time (15 minutes)

Push the knob 2x

(BTW, it took me a while to learn the sequence; I wasn't trying to have him learn the sequence, just go through the steps under my direction.)

I think any "independent" living for Mikey will include helpers of one sort or another. One of my dearest friends reminds me that it's just a matter of an appropriate definition of "independent" that is at issue. It's not that I haven't thought about it before. It's just my "reality" check for today.

Birthday(s)

Thirteen!

It hardly seems possible that the boys are thirteen, but the years don't lie. The first Saturday in August, we hosted their 13th birthday party.

Mikey doesn't really have friends but David does. He invited 3 kids plus one of the women who does respite. My husband's parents (Great Grandma and Great Grandpa) and my daughter and son-in-law also came.

The kids who were invited are from "park day," which is something that evolved out of the home-school parents. Some of the kids are "on the spectrum." It's important to understand that, when you invited a kid on the spectrum, you've invited the whole family. So we had over 20 people.

Our tradition is to set up the bounce house - we bought one on closeout from Costco several years ago, and it's more than paid for itself - and not have organized games. Kids on the spectrum don't take well to most organized birthday games. They do bounce, sometimes even inside the bounce house!

This year, inspired by an idea in "Family Fun," I also set up our blue E-Z-Twist screen house - it's about 8'X8'X8' - and filled it with blue helium-filled balloons - thereby creating an "ocean" to swim in. All of the kids, at one time or another, got in the "ocean" and did whatever imaginary play made sense to them.

We set out all the "leftover" party toys - plastic flutes, yo-yo's and those things you blow in and the curled paper extends out and they squeal, and some punching bags.

Given that many of the kids are teens or close to it, I wasn't sure how they would take to these things, and it turned out they were all a hit. The punching bags (the blow-up-like-a-balloon kind), ignored in prior years, turned out to be a Big Deal this year.

For food, we went "easy" - Baja Fresh takeout, some watermelon and grapes, and some home-made nachos (they're easy). A tray of shrimp and my "big" effort: deviled eggs, completed the food bill. Iced tea, lemonade, assorted waters, juices and sodas. All outside; paper and plastic that will make it to the landfill.

In years past, we've invited everyone into the house for cake, ice cream and presents. This year, the weather was just perfect - not too hot, not too windy; just sunny and warm - so we held those festivities outside. The usual chaos, with one Brilliant Preparation on my part - I took the ice cream containers, put them into freezer bags, set the bags in a plastic tub (the kind you might put in the sink to do dishes), and put that in the freezer. I then poured water around the containers.This was done 2 days in advance, of course. Then right before we started cake and presents, I got it out and set it on the outside patio. The ice cream did not melt!

So, how did the boys do? Mikey actually played in the bounce house with the kids, for a while. He foot wrestled with David. He then ran around the yard a bit, and then wanted presents before it was time (late arrivers were still eating). We set a schedule with him - play until this time; then presents, then cake and ice cream. With a little persuasion, he did pretty well. He did, however, take his own time out to play away from the chaos on the computer.

Mikey did pretty well with presents, although saying, "Thank you," is not something we've been able to get him to do on his own. A couple of the presents were hits and he ran off with them to play a bit before coming back to continue opening.

David got lots of cash and iTunes cards - he uses them up almost as quickly as he gets them. He is learning about money and had a significant amount - almost $80 - saved here. Mom took that and contributed the rest to get him Guitar Hero for the Wii.

It's really funny, when the boys were little, I could sing to them. For a while, they wanted NO music. Then Mikey started listening to symphony and opera, and would even ask for them. David then started to get into modern music - more on that in another blog.

At any rate, the party was successful and we ended it with party favors that honored the Space Program - Astronaut Ice Cream.

Happy Birthday, David and Michael!

More Math Techniques: PEMA pants

Well, Order of Operations is important in math. There is the default order and then there is the order cast by using symbols, such as parentheses. David is a visual learner, and pneumonics are helpful to him as well.

So on this particular Saturday we were working on this. It finally went well with this:

Parentheses
Exponents
Multiplication (he knows division is inverse multiplication)
Addition (ditto for subtraction)

which we remember by using the phrase "PEMA pants." [He is in Junior High, after all!!]

I owe it all to ...

David frequently asks how a particular math lesson will help him be a video game designer (this is his ambition). Often it's not too hard to let him know how, since game design is so math-intense.

Of course, sometimes the math lessons are challenging. Recently, after David finally mastered a difficult concept, he turned to me and said, "When I'm a game designer, I'll owe it all to YOU." (You can probably see the smile on my face from wherevever you are reading this.)

Math Techniques

So since we're talking about math (again), I thought I'd share some of the things I've come up with to help David with his math. We have been solving linear equations with 2 values, identifying slope-intercepts, etc. To solve a linear equation involves finding a single variable and equating it to something solvable.

So, in order to get David's attention, I tell him we have to find the "naked" y (or x). In order to do that, we "MARCH to the Other Side and Change The Sign." [I literally march around for this one.] Then we "Divide and Conquer." [We do this with waving of arms and pointing.] Just thought I'd share ..

The other day, David, who is almost 13, started watching several "Little Bear" episodes on tape. Little Bear is age-appropriate for 3-5 year olds. He also pulled out a Wiggles video! We asked him why, and he declared that he "must be reverting to my childhood."

Mikey has fixated on a feature on the Sleeping Beauty video disk #2. It is a walkthrough of the Sleeping Beauty castle. He watches it over and over, and looks up similar videos on You Tube. This has supplanted the more recent fixations with "The Lion King on Broadway" You Tubes and the "Journey through the Grand Canyon and Medieval World" from the Disney train ride. I wonder what will be next.

Speaking of Mikey, he has learned it is appropriate to greet someone when you see them for the first time in a day. "Good Morning, Mother." "Hello, Grandma."

He does this rather quickly then goes off, again rather quickly, to pursue his own interests. His Mom said that, one day when - hm, I'm not sure if it was on the bus ride home from school or a day when Mom went to the classroom - at any rate, someone in authority reminded Mikey to "say hello to your parent."

"Hello, Parent!" he said.

Mikey does continue to make improvements. However there are some core issues. One is that, when things don't go his way, he sometimes throws a tantrum. He'll flop on the floor and scream and do the hit-his-head-with-one-hand and bite-the-fleshy-skin-over-his-thumb with the other. AND he kicks. It takes 2 of us now to control it.

The one thing that is more scary is that he cannot tolerate a person crying, including babies. If David cries, Mikey will cry and hit him. You have to watch him very carefully at a park; where normally he ignores other kids, this is the one time he'll attempt to connect with them.

David is doing very well in math. The past several concepts, save one, have come to him rather easily. He will probably finish the pre-algebra course a couple of weeks from now. We'll be able to start the following year's math before this year is out. Heaven knows what Grandma will have to brush up on to keep helping him.

Also, how creative I'll need to be. This past year we have "MARCH to the Other Side and Change The Sign" and "Group the Troups Together." It's tough to "literalize" abstract concepts and I expect it will get tougher. It is very rewarding and not terribly infrequent for David to turn to me and say, "Thank you, Grandma, for explaining that to me."