I'll just let Samantha entertain you ... add your own narration - surely there's some creative dialog in there ... mine's fled! :)
When I started wondering if Natalie had dyslexia - I looked up some symptoms on several web sites - here is the most comprehensive list that I found. It was on WebMd. I found the adult symptoms helpful - as dyslexia is generally genetic - and yet most go "undiagnosed" - determining that dyslexia was in my daughter's "genes" was part of diagnosing her.
They said on Web MD:
If your child has one or two of the signs, it does not mean that he or she has dyslexia, but having several of the signs listed below may mean that your child should be tested.
- A preschool-age child may:
Talk later than most children.
Have more difficulty than other children pronouncing words. For example, the child may read aloud "mawn lower" instead of "lawn mower."
Be slow to add new vocabulary words and unable to recall the right word.
Have trouble learning the alphabet, numbers, days of the week, colors, shapes, how to spell and write his or her name.
Have difficulty reciting common nursery rhymes or rhyming words. For example, the child may not be able to think of words that rhyme with the word "boy," such as "joy" or "toy."
Be slow to develop fine motor skills. For example, your child may take longer than others of the same age to learn how to hold a pencil in the writing position, use buttons and zippers, and brush his or her teeth.
Have difficulty separating sounds in words and blending sounds to make words.
A child in kindergarten through fourth grade may:
Have difficulty reading single words that are not surrounded by other words.
Be slow to learn the connection between letters and sounds.
Confuse small words such as "at" and "to," or "does" and "goes."
Make consistent reading and spelling errors, including:
Letter reversals such as "d" for "b."
Word reversals such as "tip" for "pit."
Inversions such as "m" and "w" and "u" and "n."
Transpositions such as "felt" and "left."
Substitutions such as "house" and "home."
A child in fifth through eighth grade may:
Read at a lower level than expected.
Reverse letter sequence such as "soiled" for "solid," "left" for "felt."
Be slow to recognize and learn prefixes, suffixes, root words, and other reading and spelling strategies.
Have difficulty spelling, and he or she may spell the same word differently on the same page.
Avoid reading aloud.
Have trouble with word problems in math.
Write with difficulty or have illegible handwriting. His or her pencil grip may be awkward, fistlike, or tight.
Avoid writing.
Have slow or poor recall of facts.
Students in high school and college may:
Read very slowly with many inaccuracies.
Continue to spell incorrectly or frequently spell the same word differently in a single piece of writing.
Avoid tests that require reading and writing, and procrastinate on reading and writing tasks.
Have trouble preparing summaries and outlines for classes.
Work intensely on reading and writing tasks.
Have poor memory skills and complete assigned work more slowly than expected.
Have an inadequate vocabulary and be unable to store much information from reading.
Adults with dyslexia may:
Hide reading problems.
Spell poorly or rely on others to spell for them.
Avoid writing or not be able to write at all.
Be very competent in oral language.
Rely on memory rather than on reading information.
Have good "people" skills and be very good at "reading" people (intuitive).
Have spatial thinking skills. Examples of professionals who need spatial thinking abilities include engineers, architects, designers, artists and craftspeople, mathematicians, physicists, physicians (especially orthopedists, surgeons), and dentists.
Often work in a job that is well below their intellectual capacities.
Have difficulty with planning and organization.
Be entrepreneurs, although lowered reading skills may result in difficulty maintaining a successful business. Terrible spelling.
I used to have a Sunday Scrapping post regularly, but have gotten out of the habit, so I have a lot of catching up to do. My daughter, Baylee, has become a scrapper too, and that is fun to share my hobby with her! This week, I entered a challenge put forth by my scrappin sistah, (and sister-in-law) which my BFF Toni won - rightly. :-)
At our church craft night Friday, I scrapped this page of our 16th anniversary dinner last October.
This is a three-page layout of a a weekend at my parent's timeshare in French Lick, Indiana last November.
This is my fortieth birthday breakfast last October.
This is my birthday trip to downtown Indianapolis.
A homeschooling trip to the Indiana State Museum, plus some misc. stuff.
An old picture that didn't belong anywhere, so I had fun just putting one picture on this page.
Same with this one.
Christmas at my Grandma's house. Baylee was in rare form!
My computer's power cord gave up the ghost today, so if I don't have time to visit any blogs today, I promise I will when the new cord comes in! Until then, I have to finish this before the battery dies! Hope you all have a good week!
At our church craft night Friday, I scrapped this page of our 16th anniversary dinner last October.
This is a three-page layout of a a weekend at my parent's timeshare in French Lick, Indiana last November.
This is my fortieth birthday breakfast last October.
This is my birthday trip to downtown Indianapolis.
A homeschooling trip to the Indiana State Museum, plus some misc. stuff.
An old picture that didn't belong anywhere, so I had fun just putting one picture on this page.
Same with this one.
Christmas at my Grandma's house. Baylee was in rare form!My computer's power cord gave up the ghost today, so if I don't have time to visit any blogs today, I promise I will when the new cord comes in! Until then, I have to finish this before the battery dies! Hope you all have a good week!
I know all of you are on pins and needles wanting to know how our chore system is working. Well, we started out strong and our house looked better than it had in a while. I started just giving them one misc. chore each morning that consisted of anything I saw around the house that needed done...like straighten the books on the kids' bookshelf, or wash the wall where there were water-marks that had been bugging me (but that I hadn't done myself :-)) or go through the shoe basket and find any socks and put them in the dirty clothes or empty out the vacuum cleaner. Slowly but surely things were getting done and I was checking their work regularly. It's now a week into it and the kids are starting to complain. So they still do their chores, just more reluctantly. That's human nature, I guess.
And for those of you interested in the winner of the scrap challenge, my BFF Toni won! Not only was her page beautiful, but we all agreed that the title and the journaling was so creative and cool, not-withstanding that someone in her family that shall remain nameless thought the half-circles on the bottom of the page represented a certain part of the female anatomy. Save us from male scrapbookers! Although BD DID scrap a very cool page once and he loves to put little captions coming from the mouths of the people in the photos. He's cool that way.
And for those of you interested in the winner of the scrap challenge, my BFF Toni won! Not only was her page beautiful, but we all agreed that the title and the journaling was so creative and cool, not-withstanding that someone in her family that shall remain nameless thought the half-circles on the bottom of the page represented a certain part of the female anatomy. Save us from male scrapbookers! Although BD DID scrap a very cool page once and he loves to put little captions coming from the mouths of the people in the photos. He's cool that way.
Meet Alee (skinny puppy) and Bustah (older dog.) Both were turned in, according to official owner surrender paperwork, because of the "NYCHA ban." They arrived at the shelter this past weekend. This information is just some of the facts that have been coming to us here at New York Tails Magazine during the course of our extensive investigation into the NYCHA rule and the reasoning behind it. No relying on other people's reports, blogs, or twits here. Lead reporter Courtney Kistler has been in the projects, talking to the residents, getting to know the people and the animals there, and digging up the good, the bad, and the ugly truth from all sides of the debate.
If you haven't ordered your subscription to New York Tails yet, you might want to do so now so you don't miss our Summer 2009issue, where this exclusive investigative story will be featured.
A Flood or a Flicker?
Asked if there has been a notable increase in the number of dogs like Alee and Bustah arriving on the shelter steps since the NYCHA ban, AC&C spokesman Richard Gentles said no. Mr. Gentles said he'd spoken to each of the shelter supervisors recently (there are AC&C facilities in each of the five boroughs, although Queens and the Bronx only receive animals.) "For NYCHA pet owners that come to the shelter, we give them a flyer explaining the process for them to keep their pets," Mr. Gentles said. "This seems to be working because they leave the shelter with their pet."
A memo is now supposed to be posted in, and distributed from, each AC&C shelter and other places where animals are likely to be surrendered telling NYCHA residents that they may have a right to keep their pet, hopefully averting a surrender. This is the memo:
NYCHA Resident’s Rights
http://www.animalalliancenyc.org/press/memo2009-06-08.pdf
Right before (or concurrently with, it's unclear to me) this memo was issued, the ASPCA issued press release to the media titled "Revised Pet Policy Threatens Dogs Belonging to NYCHA Residents ASPCA Letter Outlines NYCHA Tenants’ Rights.". The rather strongly worded release went on to describe how the "NYCHA Dog Policy Bites" (direct quote). Both Laura Maloney, ASPCA Senior Vice President of Anti-Cruelty, and Jane Hoffman, president of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, were quoted in the release stating their strong disagreement with NYCHA's policy.
While well-intentioned, I'm not sure any of this is going to work. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am.
Here's why.
Many of the people who live in the PJ's (projects, ie, NYCHA housing) are loathe to 'rock the boat' when it comes to their apartments. Having a low-cost, relatively livable apartment anywhere in this city (I include all five boroughs in this) is as good as hitting the lottery. Couple that with the highest unemployment rates in decades and fear of losing one's job (if it hasn't been lost already) and even people who absolutely love their pets are apt to make the hard choice of giving up their pet. Many of us who are more fortunate are quick to condemn people who make this choice--an apartment over a pet--but we have options. Lots of people in NYCHA are a paycheck or disability check away from homelessness. Guess what they're going to choose.
Secondly, there are a fair number of people in the PJs for whom English is a second language, Spanish and Chinese are currently two of the most common. Once again, someone who is afraid of losing their apartment and has a shaky grasp of English is probably not going to be up for a fight if they even have a remote fear of losing their apartment.
Then again, I could be completely wrong. Part of the reason we're in this predicament is because the previous law a few years back banned dogs over 40 lbs. This provision, however, was apparently not enforced too vigorously. There may be the same lax attitude toward enforcement this time around as well toward the over-25 lbs dogs.
We shall see.
If you haven't ordered your subscription to New York Tails yet, you might want to do so now so you don't miss our Summer 2009issue, where this exclusive investigative story will be featured.
A Flood or a Flicker?
Asked if there has been a notable increase in the number of dogs like Alee and Bustah arriving on the shelter steps since the NYCHA ban, AC&C spokesman Richard Gentles said no. Mr. Gentles said he'd spoken to each of the shelter supervisors recently (there are AC&C facilities in each of the five boroughs, although Queens and the Bronx only receive animals.) "For NYCHA pet owners that come to the shelter, we give them a flyer explaining the process for them to keep their pets," Mr. Gentles said. "This seems to be working because they leave the shelter with their pet."
A memo is now supposed to be posted in, and distributed from, each AC&C shelter and other places where animals are likely to be surrendered telling NYCHA residents that they may have a right to keep their pet, hopefully averting a surrender. This is the memo:
NYCHA Resident’s Rights
http://www.animalalliancenyc.org/press/memo2009-06-08.pdf
Right before (or concurrently with, it's unclear to me) this memo was issued, the ASPCA issued press release to the media titled "Revised Pet Policy Threatens Dogs Belonging to NYCHA Residents ASPCA Letter Outlines NYCHA Tenants’ Rights.". The rather strongly worded release went on to describe how the "NYCHA Dog Policy Bites" (direct quote). Both Laura Maloney, ASPCA Senior Vice President of Anti-Cruelty, and Jane Hoffman, president of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, were quoted in the release stating their strong disagreement with NYCHA's policy.
While well-intentioned, I'm not sure any of this is going to work. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am.
Here's why.
Many of the people who live in the PJ's (projects, ie, NYCHA housing) are loathe to 'rock the boat' when it comes to their apartments. Having a low-cost, relatively livable apartment anywhere in this city (I include all five boroughs in this) is as good as hitting the lottery. Couple that with the highest unemployment rates in decades and fear of losing one's job (if it hasn't been lost already) and even people who absolutely love their pets are apt to make the hard choice of giving up their pet. Many of us who are more fortunate are quick to condemn people who make this choice--an apartment over a pet--but we have options. Lots of people in NYCHA are a paycheck or disability check away from homelessness. Guess what they're going to choose.
Secondly, there are a fair number of people in the PJs for whom English is a second language, Spanish and Chinese are currently two of the most common. Once again, someone who is afraid of losing their apartment and has a shaky grasp of English is probably not going to be up for a fight if they even have a remote fear of losing their apartment.
Then again, I could be completely wrong. Part of the reason we're in this predicament is because the previous law a few years back banned dogs over 40 lbs. This provision, however, was apparently not enforced too vigorously. There may be the same lax attitude toward enforcement this time around as well toward the over-25 lbs dogs.
We shall see.
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