Anglican Prayer Beads or Rosary Revisited

I’ve mentioned before that I love praying with beads. The Anglican rosary blends the Roman Catholic rosary and the Orthodox Jesus Prayer rope together to be used as a form of contemplative prayer.

The practice of praying with beads among Christians dates all the way back to the Desert Fathers in the third century though use faded with the Reformation and was even banned by some Reformers.

The rosary survived in the Church of England though use faded over time. In America, Roman Catholics and various Orthodox congregations kept the practice or praying the rosary alive. I grew up praying the rosary in the Roman Catholic Church and was overjoyed to find the practice alive and well in The Episcopal Church. I came to learn that Anglican prayer beads are fairly new to the church in the United States. During the 1980s, an Episcopal priest and his congregation renewed the practice using a simplified design with a cross rather than a crucifix and used prayers based heavily on scripture.

As a person called to a life of prayer, I find the rosary a very useful transition tool. It often isn’t easy for me to divorce myself form my daily busy-ness as a homeschooling mom to enter into the quiet presence of God in prayer. I write a little more about it here. I also use my beads as a vehicle to intercessory prayer.

On my busier days, I fall back to my routine memorized prayer (Celtic Prayer) using my beloved beads. On better days I’ve been trying to pray the Christian seasons using Praying With Beads, Daily Prayers for the Christian Year, by Nan L. Doerr and Virginia S. Owens.

While exploring Lent and Beyond this morning I was excited to find this new (to me) devotion to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit using Anglican prayer beads.

If interested in praying with the Anglican rosary, a wide variety of beads and prices are available on Esty. You can also easily make your own!

Photo Credit

Learning and Down Syndrome - Part Three

One of the most often missed keys to overcoming obstacles to learning in children with Down syndrome (Ds) is the use of errorless learning. There was a period in Miss R’s life when I was looking for ways to lift her out of the preschool era. I call it an era because it seemed to go on forever! This key discovery, the errorless learning technique, lifted us beyond the preschool era into the elementary phase!

I would like to talk about errorless learning and the connection to motivation issues, how they impact each other and what we can do to create a more optimal learning environment for learners with Ds.

Motivation

Miss R is, like most children with Ds, extremely sensitive to failure. She hates to fail. Period. As an adolescent, she has better tools to meet failure with and works to persevere on most tasks but it hasn’t always been this easy.

I often questioned my contribution to this problem as we moved through the early learning years. As I looked back, even to infancy, there was little I could have done to prevent this sensitivity to failure. Let’s look for a moment at our infants/toddlers with Ds.

Even very young children with Ds meet many experiences with failure. Decreased muscle tone, common in children with Ds, results in ineffectual movement. Speech and language delays, along with articulation difficulties result in ineffectual attempts at communication. Did you know that self-evaluation of competence occurs in early stages of development before the child can express themselves verbally?

So, I guess it is really no surprise when we see our children develop strategies to avoid failure. Patricia Oelwein writes in her book, Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome, (pp. 23 – 25 ) as to the lengths our children will go to avoid tasks that are too easy or too hard – from the misuse of social skills (taking advantage of the extra chromosome cuteness factor) to acting out behaviorally.

Given our children’s frequent exposure to failure they commonly have decreased motivation when learning new skills and concepts. Decreased motivation, along with inefficient learning processes (perhaps related to cognitive abilities and auditory processing difficulties) in children with Ds, contributes significantly to obstacles to learning in our children.

So what is a parent (especially a homeschooling parent) to do? In our experience, we began to look for ways to guarantee successful learning experiences which make for more efficient learning. How can we keep our children motivated? Give them positive, successful experiences! Success feeds motivation!


Errorless Learning

Errorless Learning offers our children success learning experiences without failure. It is defined as teaching new tasks by guiding the child through each step of learning a skill or concept correctly, not allowing them to fail. As the child becomes more capable, the prompt or cue can be reduced until it is not needed.

The key to errorless learning is errorless teaching. Errorless teaching uses the same language – a script - with each lesson and repeating the process several times (as long as it takes) following the same steps, in the same order, using the same words while using some sort of visual input (picture or possibly sign language) to incorporate what is most often our children with Ds learning strength.

Hopefully, this method will develop a strong base for higher levels of learning such as problem solving with a trial and error approach. One thing I have learned along this homeschooling journey is that allowing Miss R to make a mistake encouraged her to repeat the mistake and then incorporate the mistake or error into her knowledge base.

The most familiar errorless learning technique is the matching, selecting, & naming technique taught in Teaching Reading by Pat Oelwin. Children with Ds are guided throughout the process of learning new words without failure. Very successful and very exciting for the young reader!

Suggestions regarding the use of the strategy of errorless learning:

Be sure to have the child's attention...some children need training to attend.

Use language that is understood by the child. Develop a script to use when delivering lessons. Teach any unfamiliar language using errorless teaching/learning.

Target skills you want to teach. There are several developmental skills lists that will help decide what your child needs to know when. Take into consideration the child's interests.

It is important to break down even the basics into small steps. Teaching the plus sign for addition requires the teacher to name the sign and the child to match, select, then name it such. Children with short-term memory problems - where errorless learning is most needed - need practice at every step.

A key to learning for those children who have developmental delay, learning difficulties, attention problems, is to work only as long as it is fun and interesting. Once they reach a level of fatigue or boredom it is time to switch gears and move onto something else.

Always keep learning sessions positive. The parent or teacher’s attitude is extremely important. No matter how many times you have taught the lesson or what you mood is at the moment, keep the lesson positive and uplifting. Our attitudes are quite apparent to our children and impact learning....especially children with Ds. As you may know, they are very sensitive to our moods and feelings.

Sincere, appropriate praise is important to children.

Modeling is important to many skills....show the child how to complete the task. For example, hand washing has many steps and will need much practice for many of our children to complete independently. Sometimes physical support is necessary...hand over hand for skill development.

Don’t forget to fade the support, prompts and cues with success.

If you reach a point where the child is frustrated or unsuccessful, bring the lesson back to a successful place before ending the session.

Patience, patience, and more patience is needed for teaching our children with special needs. If I child does not appear to be getting it then often times it is not their fault...or the teachers! So many factors can impede the learning process...memory issues, processing issues. Sometimes their development is just not at the right place for learning a concept and can be returned to at a later date. I have been amazed when returning to a concept that I put aside for lack of progress only to find that somehow something clicked and Miss R has incorporated the concept!

Errorless learning can be used with very young learners to the more sophisticated of learners. It can be applied to most concrete learning. Some examples would be:

Learning colors
Learning letters
Learning letter sounds
Sight words
Math concepts
Learning numbers
Money Skills
Telling time
"Wh" questions

The list can go on & on....

One more thing before I end this post, I want to give you a simple example of teaching a concept using errorless learning. For example, when introducing shapes show the child a picture of a circle, use whatever script you develop to teach such as “This is a circle. A circle has no corners.” Present the same visual and script for as many times as necessary and soon the concept will be incorporated and you will hear your words repeated back to you! It is as simple as that!

Learning and Down Syndrome Part One and Part Two

Lenten Blog Carnival

Jessica, at Homemaking Through the Church Year, has graciously offered to host this year's Lenten Blog Carnival. This Carnival is not just for Anglicans. All denominations are invited to participate!

See last year's Lenten Carnival hosted by Kerry at A Ten O'Clock Scholar for some wonderful ideas on how to make your Lenten journey meaningful and ways to involve the whole family.

Learning and Down Syndrome - Part Two

As I said in Part One, children with Down syndrome (Ds) often share a set of observable behavioral traits known as a phenotype. These traits are different than seen in typically developing children and children with other causes of intellectual disabilities. I like to look at the big picture or the whole child. These traits do not occur in isolation but influence each other and can cause obstacles to learning.

Not all children with Ds will show the typical learning profile seen here but the majority will. I must say Miss R fits this picture perfectly! Targeting the strengths of children with Ds will result in a more optimal learning environment. Working to strengthen the weaknesses in the profile will give the child the tools to increase functional competence as they grow.

Typical Learning Profile

Strengths

Visual Processing Skills (relative) – the ability to make sense of information presented visually
Visual Memory Skills (relative) – visual recall abilities.
Receptive Language Skills (relative) – often understand more than they can say or sign
Strong social skills – they enjoy learning from social interaction where meaningful two-way communication and interaction takes place.
Effective use of gesture (pointing, guiding) and sign language in preverbal communication

Weaknesses

Speech/Language Delays with Articulation Difficulties
Auditory Processing Deficits – the ability to make sense of what they hear
Short-term (Working) Memory Deficits
Delays in Fine & Gross Motor Skills
Impaired Cognition
Behavioral Difficulties ranging from attention issues to acting out negatively.


What this really tells us is that children with Ds are primarily visual learners. They have great difficulty learning from listening. Therefore, all learning material must be paired with visuals and/or sign language as a visual cue. Miss R has always had good language skills and communicated her needs quite well so we had no need to learn sign language. Teaching to her visual learning style and frequent repetition while keeping learning errorless were the keys for her in consolidating concepts. Homeschooling has been such a gift to us! It has given us the ability to implement what the research tells us about learning and Ds.

Coming soon - errorless learning.

Learning and Down Syndrome - Part One and Part Three

Ash Wednesday

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return."


A repost from 2009 when I was a better blogger...



Today we begin our Lenten journey we are reminded of our mortality and humanity. Anglicans, like Roman Catholics, are required to attend Ash Wednesday services for the imposition of ashes (and the Holy Eucharist) as we begin this penitential season of fasting and prayer. Lent is not optional for us -- we are invited and called to prayer and fasting. It may be strange to some but I love Lent.

A little on the history of Ash Wednesday.

As we begin this season of fasting, we often give up certain foods but the spirit of fasting is related more to freeing ourselves from outside control, distractions and temptations which separate us from God. Can we let go of that which controls us and give ourselves over to freedom found in a closer walk with the Lord as a child of God? A freedom which allows us to serve Him - to shape God's kingdom on earth.

St. John Chrysostom on Fasting
[from Sermons on the Statutes]

Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works.
If you see a poor man, take pity on him.
If you see a friend being honored, do not envy him.
Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eye and the ear and the feet
and the hands and all the members of our bodies.
Let the hands fast, by being free of avarice.
Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sin.
Let the eyes fast, by disciplining them not to glare at that which is sinful.
Let the ear fast, by not listening to evil talk and gossip.
Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticism.
For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes, but bite and devour
our brothers?

May He who came to the world to save sinners strengthen us to complete the
fast with humility, have mercy on us and save us.

Lent Is Upon Us...

And I am not in my usual organized mode. Its Shrove Tuesday. Have you been shriven?

Most churches in our denomination have pancake suppers on Shrove Tuesday. A tradition in which the family uses up all the butter and eggs (restricted during Lent) in the house before Lent begins.We will be enjoying a Mardi Gras community event -- not quite the same as being in Cajun country but great Cajun food all the same.

Looking for resources for Lent? Lent and Beyond is my very favorite place to go for Anglican resources.

For more resources, check out last year's Anglican Carnival for Lent.

Learning and Down Syndrome - Part One

We made the decision to homeschool not long after Miss R was born. Her birth and the diagnosis of Down syndrome (Ds) cemented our decision to homeschool both girls. During that first year, I read everything I could get my hands on about homeschooling.

Early on, much of what I learned about homeschooling and Down syndrome I learned the hard way -- by working with Miss R. Initially, I had no internet access and, therefore, no access to how children with Ds learn or even others homeschooling children with Ds. Professionals were not really helpful because they had little specific knowledge about learning and children with Ds. They tended to work with her based on isolated diagnoses i.e. PT - hypotonia, ST - delayed speech vs. looking at the big picture and what Ds means to the whole child. We couldn't blame them though - it takes a LONG time for research to trickle down to those working in the field.

During those early years, I made lots of mistakes. In fact, with Miss R, I had to unlearn much of what I knew about homeschooling and learn with her, about her & her unique needs.

When I finally got internet access a whole new world was opened for me. Hubby worked long, hard hours when the girls were younger. I used the hours he was working after the girls were in bed for the night to research. Little by little, I amassed a great deal of information which made a dramatic difference in our homeschool. I now have a room (seriously) filled with research into how children with Ds learn along with my regular homeschooling stuff!

I've come to the conclusion after all these years that targeted intervention (specific to the special needs of learners with Ds) is where the future lies in education and Down syndrome and successful learning experiences for our children in our homes. Research shows it to be very promising and hopefully as awareness grows targeted intervention will increase in our early intervention programs and the public school system.

Targeted intervention is basically teaching to the child’s learning style – a hallmark of homeschooling. In the case of children with Ds, this takes on greater significance. Typically developing children most often will learn using a variety of methods. They may be primarily visual learners, primarily auditory learners or primarily kinesthetic learners but can adapt to a variety of methods. Children with Down syndrome learn differently. Methods used for typically developing children often slow progress in learning and decrease our children successful learning experiences.

A good example of targeted intervention is found in a book most parents of children with Ds have, Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome, by Patricia Oelwein. Her method of teaching children with Ds to read (matching, selecting, naming) targets their specific learning profile (visual learners) and utilizes errorless learning...and our children find success!

A learning profile is basically a list of strengths and weaknesses developed from a set of observable behavioral traits called a phenotype. Children with Ds have a specific learning profile different from typically developing children and children with other forms of intellectual disability.

The awareness of this profile and incorporating it into our daily lives drastically improved our successful learning experiences.

Coming soon, the profile, errorless learning, motivation and Ds, and some of my teaching tips! As the days go by, I will be adding some curriculum choices that tend to work for children with Ds to the sidebar on the right.

Learning and Down Syndrome Part Two and Part Three

Staring

We've had our fair share of stares. I do try to handle staring so that everyone keeps their dignity --- including me!

I found this article by Judy Winter, excerpted from her book, Breakthrough Parenting for Children with Special Needs: Raising the Bar of Expectations insightful so I thought I would share. When you have a child with a 'visible' disability staring can be disconcerting to all.

Celebrating Love...

What a beautiful day! I woke up to these:



Two dozen beautiful roses with the promise of more celebrating to come.

February 14th is also Congenital Heart Defects Awareness Day.



A lifetime of issues for us - soon we will be facing the implant of a biventricular pacemaker -- open chest but not open heart. Thanks be to God for a good repair of Miss R's AVSD!

Developmental Inventories/Scales

I’ve shared a little on this blog about our homeschooling journey with Miss R and Down syndrome (Ds) – a remarkable journey that has stretched us all in many ways. I’ve always shared what I have learned – primarily because I have been able to amass quite a large amount of information. I have also built quite a large library on education and Ds so it has been easy for me to just go to my very unorganized library and find an answer that became lost in my very unorganized mind.

When I first started this blog, one of my goals was to catalog and share what I’ve learned along the way. I haven’t been very successful reaching that goal because of our chaotic lifestyle – hubby in seminary, keeping up two homes, trying times in our denomination and church politics etc.

So, now I am I am publicly declaring my intentions and hope to follow through beginning today!

One of the first things I am asked by parents considering homeschooling their child with Ds is ‘where do I start?’.

The best answer to that question is at the level your child is functioning.

Children with Ds usually have very scattered skills – age appropriate in some domains and delayed in others They tend to learn best when we build on the skills they have and target their interests.

A developmental scale or inventory easily lets us find out where our children function and let us set goals (short-term & long-term) to aid us in their growth and development and academic skills.

I have always used the developmental inventories and curriculum available from VORT. They are most famous for their HELP (Hawaii Early Learning Profile) series. They have inventories and curriculum for all ages and stages --- even one for children with special learning needs. The BCP covers the developmental ages 1 - 14.

I have been very happy with VORT through the years. I mainly use it as a tool for setting goals but have used the curriculum to break down skills for teaching. It is a great tool if you feel the need to write your own IEP. I like to write an IEP to keep ME on track.

I know other families who use The Brigance. The Brigance is a screening tool only and doesn’t offer help for skill development. I have to admit I found the cost of The Brigance prohibitive.