What did you make today?

[monster]

Oh good grief! that's what Thor's like and he's 5th grade. And he's not alone. I read an article somewhere that postulated that the increase of IEPs/diagnoses in boys was due to society deciding that "girl" behaviour is a more acceptable norm, so we are trying to make boys behave more like girls in the classroom. I brought up all of my kids the same -they all had dolls and cars and were dressed in bright colors (same clothes handed down). I was sure the behavioural differences between the genders were all bullshit. I was so wrong! My daughter is strong, confident, and independent, and my sons are sympathetic and not sexist, but you can sure tell the difference by their behaviours which one is which gender.

[Griff]

You do not know this autistic child, bite me.

[footfootfoot]

Glatt,

I did a color correction with the white paper as reference to get a better idea of what kind of wood that may be. If you are sure that the leaves of this tree resembled walnut then I would guess this is butternut, especially if the wood is somewhat woolly when you sand it. It also looks a little like cherry depending on how I balance it. It seems like it was shot under fluorescent light which is usually lacking in some of the wavelength of light so it is difficult to fully color correct it.

Cherry tends to have small, very black pitch pockets, there appears to be a pitch pocket on the back of the top spoon.

First guess would be butternut, tannish brown.
Cherry, reddish brown, spicy smell, pitch pockets.

[glatt]

Butternut, eh? Well, it was a long time ago, but I figured it was walnut at the time, based on the leaves.

Here's butternut on the top and walnut on the bottom. Or maybe vice verse.


Could very well be butternut then.

[footfootfoot]

the latest tiny wafer, about the size of a nickel.

[Griff]

Cool!

[HungLikeJesus]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

the latest tiny wafer, about the size of a nickel.

I don't quite understand what holds the arrow on the shaft. Do you have component pictures?

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Griff

Parents (child if parents desire), teachers, therapists, and district officials will all sit down and figure out what supports the child will need to be successful. We have to meet the legal requirement of least restrictive environment in his placement.

Is this the way it really works in your school, in your honest opinion? I know you obviously have the best interests of the child at heart, as do most of the teachers in our district--except in our district, they are expected to keep their mouths shut during the meetings. It is an absolutely adversarial process with parents on one side and "the district" on the other, and all district members are expected to toe the line of 'offer the most minimal services we can possibly get away with.' I had heard stories, and I was so sure that it wouldn't be that way with us, that we were going to work positively and constructively with them... but it turns out, no.

In our district, it is a given that you bring a legal advocate with you to every IEP meeting, unless you are a brand new parent and don't know any better yet.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Is this the way it really works in your school, in your honest opinion? I know you obviously have the best interests of the child at heart, as do most of the teachers in our district--except in our district, they are expected to keep their mouths shut during the meetings. It is an absolutely adversarial process with parents on one side and "the district" on the other, and all district members are expected to toe the line of 'offer the most minimal services we can possibly get away with.' I had heard stories, and I was so sure that it wouldn't be that way with us, that we were going to work positively and constructively with them... but it turns out, no.

In our district, it is a given that you bring a legal advocate with you to every IEP meeting, unless you are a brand new parent and don't know any better yet.

If parents know what they want and are assertive, they tend to get good results. In NYS parents have veto power over any placement. If the parents don't show up, which happens, the district has free rein. We are contractors for the district, so we don't have leverage outside of the detailed reports and testing. The teachers who get the children in the next placement, actually have substantial power at these meetings and work among themselves to try to divy up slots appropriately. One weakness I see is in one to one aide assignments. They are expensive and I think the district would rather a child be placed in a 12-1-1 than in an integrated room with an aide. Money is tight so any district feels pressure to give less. In that case, a teacher won't advocate to get a difficult child placed in their room if they fear that no aide will be available. If you have a good open meeting though, all the possibilities will be discussed. Our district tries to be flexible about 1/2 integration etc... if that is attractive to parents. By law there is a parent advocate at the meeting but some parents do as you mention and get legal counsel (none of mine yet). The new chair-person in our district has begun calling parents prior to the meeting to get a sense of what they feel the child needs. That way if her teachers feel the parents' wishes may not be reasonable/workable she can go into the meeting with an acceptable compromise. That happened with one of my kids last year. I've only been to one meeting that simply blew-up and everyone was caught off guard even yours truly. The parent later relented and accepted services.

This is only my experience and it is limited to CPSE transition. I don't know how it plays out later.

[Clodfobble]

I'll assume that was directed at foot.

[footfootfoot]

Right now it is pinched in the slot of the arrow end, somewhat like an old fashioned clothes pin.

We (the inch and I) had to come up for supper before we could glue it in place with pitch. (Tree resin)

[infinite monkey]

Originally Posted by footfootfoot

Right now it is pinched in the slot of the arrow end, somewhat like an old fashioned clothes pin.

We (the inch and I) had to come up for supper before we could glue it in place with pitch. (Tree resin)

That's really cool! It's even pretty!

I'm still waiting for brother to come through. It's not like him to blow things off, but he's been busy hobnobbing and doing radio spots and such. He did a segment of 'fracking' for some radio program, in C-bus, I think.

I'll keep trying.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

That's really cool! It's even pretty!

I'm still waiting for brother to come through. It's not like him to blow things off, but he's been busy hobnobbing and doing radio spots and such. He did a segment of 'fracking' for some radio program, in C-bus, I think.

I'll keep trying.

Thanks, you are teh awesome.

[glatt]

This time, I'm certain it's black walnut, since the tree was ours, and we cut it down in the interests of neighborliness. The neighbors had been complaining (in a nice way) for a few years about how the walnuts were dropping on their cars in their driveway and staining everything. So we agreed to let them cut it down. And I asked the tree guys to cut the trunk into 6 foot lengths and leave them for me. That was 2-3 years ago, and I tired quickly of the thought of doing anything with them, so I threw the logs in the far corner of the back yard, where I piled leaves on them.

A week ago, I wondered about the logs, because I read in a book that even if a log is rotten on the outside, it can still be really good on the interior, so I went out there and used a steel brush to brush off all the mud and bugs and fungus. There were a few deep checks, and the outer inch or so was rotten, but the interior at the ends was sound.

So I cut off a two foot length, and brought it inside to rip it in half. I spent an hour and a half ripping that log, and decided it was for the birds, because I was only half way through. So I got the axe out and put it in the kerf, and used a framing hammer to pound it through and split the log.

It was really nice inside. I left the good half alone, and took the half of the log that was most rotten and had the largest checks, and I split that a few more times. This released more bugs, but I squashed them. I eventually ended up with some really nice straight grained billets. Makes me wish I owned a froe for easier splitting.

Anyway, used a drawknife, spoke shave, a gouge, and a hooked knife to make the spoon on the right. The tip is flat and sharpened so it will be a good ground meat browning tool. It will be able to break up those meat chunks very easily.

And I used a couple planes and a saw to make the toast tongs on the left. I still need to clean up the glue squeeze out.

I researched the toxicity of black walnut and saw that it's really just fine. Many horses are apparently allergic to it, so the shavings shouldn't be used for bedding, and some people are allergic to it, just as some people are allergic to actual walnuts, but for the vast majority of people, it's just wood. Lots of places offer black walnut kitchen ware.

Sorry for the crappy cell phone picture. I couldn't tell it was out of focus until I loaded it up on my work computer.

edit: I switched pictures with a sharper one.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Griff

In NYS parents have veto power over any placement.

Oh! Assuming this means New York State, then I understand now. I thought you taught in Pennsylvania. I've heard really great things about services across the board in both New York and California. Like in California, any child with an autism diagnosis automatically gets 15 hours a week of one-on-one ABA therapy completely paid for by the state. Amazing.