HonoringWorld Autism Month
IN THIS ISSUE
FOUNDER’S NOTE
WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING?
THIS WEEK’S SPOTLIGHT
COMING UP
WEEKLY BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
APRIL 22, 2024 ISSUE #13
FOUNDER’S NOTE
Hey Tribe!
“SO YOU MUST GO OUT AND BUY NEW GUIDE BOOKS AND YOU MUST LEARN A WHOLE NEW LANGUAGE. AND YOU WILL MEET A WHOLE NEW GROUP OF PEOPLE YOU WOULD NEVER HAVE MET.” -EPK
As the school year winds down, I know many families are beginning to take time to reflect.
Many of you have discovered new diagnoses and are at the point of taking steps towards intervention.
To the parents in our Tribe that are navigating uncharted waters, I would like to share a poem that was read to me by my child’s interventionist about 10 years ago.
My hope is that you too will begin to embrace the beauty in the unexpected
Welcome to Holland!
XOXO,AmberO.
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“WELCOME TO HOLLAND”BY EMILY PERL KINGSLEY
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel It's like this
When you ' re going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The flight attendant comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan They've landed in Holland and there you must stay
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you ' ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills and Holland has tulips Holland even has Rembrandts
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go That's what I had planned"
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.
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WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING?
April is World Autism Awareness Month
Those who are part of our Tribe, know that LLA is a big supporter of neurodiversity and students of all abilities This April, on World Autism Month, we would like to emphasize to all our readers, that LLA advocates for autistic learners and their families We plan all our classes and activities to include all our learners
Last week, we wrapped up our dinosaur unit with a bang! Sci Tech Discovery Center paid us a visit during our field trip day and brought along an awesome
interactive activity on dinosaurs: predator vs prey Our learners had a blast checking out animal skulls and learning all about animal adaptations Then, we dove into dissecting owl pellets to get a closer look at the digestive process of predators
In this week’s issue, we would love to share a little about LLA Microschool LLA Microschool is a great option for those who are looking for alternative education Microschool learners meet Tuesdays and Thursdays and are engaged in core subjects, such as Math and Language Arts Next semester, we will add Mondays and Wednesdays to our Microschool sessions
This week, Microschoolers have tested the pH levels of apple cider vinegar and baking soda, both separate and together. The learners also got to test their own breath! Math class was spent master coding, working on processes and team work. Our coding activity was finalized with following the recipe for scrambled eggs and naan.
MS TASHA INVITED ALL THE LEARNERS TO COME TASTE THEIR CLASS S DELICIOUS CODING RECIPE! TURNED OUT AMAZING
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T H E L L A N E W S L E T T E R I S S U E # 1 3 A P R ‘ 2 4 SOCIAL MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS MARKETING COORDINATOR:
ZEIN-OSAZEE
NADYA
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THIS WEEK’S SPOTLIGHT
“MS. ABBEY IS OUR MADAME GAZELLE”
- ONE PEPPA PIG LOVING LLA LEARNER
This week we would love to shine a spotlight on our very own Ms Abbey! There isn't enough you can say about the way Ms. Abbey takes on her role as an educator. Ms. Abbey teaches at Microschool and Tutorial and she is magical with the kids!
Ms. Abbey has a perfect balance of being firm and gentle with the learners, and she takes the time to understand each child's strengths Ms Abbey always encourages the kids to be themselves in class and gives them opportunities to showcase their talents.
You may have not known that Ms. Abbey was formerly a public school teacher, but she didn't agree with how the students were not getting the help they needed and thus, found her home at LLA!
Thank you so much for everything you do for LLA, Ms. Abbey! You are such a great influence on our big and little learners!
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COMINGUP
APRIL 25
5:30-6:30PM
MAY 4
10AM-2PM
MAY 17
11AM-2PM
DANCE-ABILITY
All-abilities dance at the Main Grand Prairie library.
AUTISM RESOURCE FAIR
Meet and get connected with local providers
LLA FIELD DAY
Homeschool field day: join us for a day of classic games you remember from your childhood!
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Outdoor games, such as tug-of-war, obstacles, races, relays, and more! Crafts
Neurodiverse-friendly Fun for the whole family!
FRIDAYMAY17TH FRIDAYMAY17TH 11:00AM-2:00PM 11:00AM-2:00PM LLOCATION OCATION 4401 State Hwy 161, Irving, TX
presents LEADING LITTLE ARROWS LEADING LITTLE ARROWS LLAFIELDDAY LLAFIELDDAY $$7 7 PPER ER PPERSON ERSON T H E L L A N E W S L E T T E R I S S U E # 1 3 A P R ‘ 2 4
SSENSORY ENSORY FFRIENDLY RIENDLY
LLA WEEKLY BOOK RECOMMENDATION
In this week’s book recommendations, we wanted to books that feature autistic characters. It is extremely important to us that representation is as authentic as possible, which is why we also look for book that are written by autistic authors.
AGES 3-7
A DAY WITH NO WORDS BY TIFFANY HAMMOND
This book is written by an autistic mom of two autistic sons. Hammond writes about a boy going about his day with his mom, and communicating with their AAC devices They share joys and hardships throughout their journey
AGES 8-11
GET A GRIP, VIVY COHEN BY SARAH KAPIT
Vivy loves baseball and when she learned how to pitch a ball at a family fun day for kids with autism, she starts believing she can become a baseball player too Her mom is hesitant, but then Vivy gets invited to join the Little League team Both the author and the character of this story are autistic
AGES 12+
THE REASON I JUMP BY NAOKI HIGASHIDA
This book is a beautiful memoir, written by a non-speaking, autistic 13-year old boy, who uses an alphabet grid to construct words. The book is in a question and answer format, where the author shares his view on life
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