With more than five years experience teaching in the NYC Public School system, I began tutoring homebound students with special needs. Student C, a Chinese-American boy who'd not attended school even one day of his sixth grade year, needed over the summer to pass the test to advance to the seventh.
C at first refused to leave his room. He'd been traumatized by the "tough" school in his new neighborhood. I'd been at the school to pick up text books, so I knew what he meant. Outside his door I...
Subjects
ACT English
ACT Reading
Aspergers
Twice during my teaching experience I've had students diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. My research on the subject revealed Asperger's as a mild form of Asperger's that is often mistakenly seen as a personality disorder. Asperger's does however share with the many manifestations of autism a difficulty in communicating, especially in matters of emotion. Physically, Aspergers people, (generally male) may flap their hands when excited and tend to walk on tip toe. It is not yet known why this is so.
Both of my students were male and in their early teen years. Both liked to play video games and spent inordinate amounts of time doing this. I've read that certain companies, especially software companies, like to recruit Aspergers people because of their ability to concentrate intensely at computer tasks.
My strategies for working with these boys involved patience and a methodical approach. In other words, a step by step approach in reading and writing. For instance, first identifying theme and than brain storming all possible connections for writing essays.
ASVAB
ballet
dyslexia
elementary (k-6th)
elementary science
English
ESL/ESOL
GED
grammar
literature
phonics
prealgebra
proofreading
reading
SAT reading
SAT writing
special needs
spelling
study skills
theatre
I was a professional dancer/singer before returning to college for my teaching degree. I performed Off-Broadway, in summer stock, and dinner theaters. Last summer I taught dance for the Methodist Theater Camp in Stonybrook, NY and choreographed THE LION KING and THE LITTLE MERMAID. I studied acting with the Hollywood Actors' Repertory Theater in Los Angeles, choreographing David Rabe's IN THE BOOM BOOM ROOM starring Julie Newmar and also appeared in the production.
