The Unique PTLS Child

Christian Meets Dr. Jen Arnold!

Thank you to Dr. Jen Arnold (From the T.V. show "The Little Couple"), for meeting with one of your biggest fans! Christian enjoyed the talk with you and was so thrilled that he was able to give you his book "The Christianville Spirit." We are excited you have helped us in getting PTLS awareness out in the world! 7/2011

Sight Reading is the way to go!

For all the little ones who have headed back to school, I hope the year has started well. Some of our kids are learning their colors, some are learning their letters, others are learning to read and write. Whatever they are learning, I hope they are learning in the manner that works for them. Please keep in mind, many learn to read best using sight words (flash cards, pointing to words while reading, etc), instead of sounding the word out (phonics). They are also often very literal with everything. As long as instructions are clear and simple (ex. go get your book vs. go over there and get your book and bring it here, then go sit down.) This is part of why they mimic so well. When we go about our daily activity, or kids are busy playing, our kids are busy observing them do these activities as they are, without all the flowery words we tend to add when giving instructions. Even though our kids are very intelligent, their minds are very busy so keep life simple! Have a wonderful school year everyone!

From Their View...

When I am having trouble with the computer, the television, figuring out the cellphone functions, needing directions ( am so directionally challenged), understanding where a city, state or country is (terrible in geography), understanding the stock market, trying to understand all the political issues going on, or just needing a "how was your day?" I can always depend on Christian to be the go to guy. Has he always been that way? Yes, just not in a verbal way. Can he write well? No, but he types well. Can he speak clearly? Not always, but he gets his wonderful thoughts out in his writings. Is he good in math? No, but he is amazing with maps. Can he think through how to move one object out of the way to get to the one behind it? Not always, but he can tell you where you live in this world, in detail, and how to get there. So, I do not focus on his inabilities, as I have many of my own. I get by in this world by focusing on my abilities and how I learn best, and I choose to do the same with him. In the words that Christian spoke, into the microphone he was handed, to a room filled with over 200 medical doctors and medical students, "having special needs is not like living in hell or anything!" They heard that one loud and clear!