Sunday, September 30, 2012

Could a 'Free Education for All' Dream Come True?

University education had always been, by definition, elitist. Reserved for the brightest or the richest. But in recent years, initiatives from Ivy League and Oxbridge universities have used web platforms like EdX and iTunes U to bring the experience of top flight education to eager learners across the world. Now an explosion of popularity for Coursera has taken e-learning to a new level, with 1.3million students following 200 courses, from 33 top universities. For free.

Let that sink in a moment. As the cost of a traditional degree rockets towards £9K a year in the UK, and between $27-40K in the US, Coursera has enabled people across the world to access the latest knowledge, for the cost of an internet connection.

From the 11th century beginnings of Oxford University through to the 17th century launch of Harvard right through to the 1960s Polytechnics of the UK and the Community Colleges of the US, there has always been either a barrier of academic achievement or some sort of payment required. (Not to mention it taking a good few centuries for 'being a girl' to stop being an issue). While the UK had student grants until the late 1990s, students had to at least have the A Level results to get on to a course in the first place.

Even the UK's flagship distance learning college, the Open University, has had it's subsidies wrenched away, sending module costs soaring to not far off a bricks and mortar degree.

According to Techcrunch, while the Coursera team initially had to pound the pavement looking for partnerships from America's top institutions, now the situation is flipped:

'Institutions are signing up in droves and it may not be long before Coursera's acceptance rate mimics Harvard's. Seventeen new universities have joined the startup's platform, nearly doubling the number of schools that have signed on. That means Coursera's platform now hosts about 200 courses from 33 international and domestic schools and it now reaches over 1.3 million students around the world.'

So with tuition costs higher than ever, how does Coursera do it and is it scalable to the point where, hell, anyone can get a top education for free?

Well, it got some investment cash in April this year, but that $16 million was not a gift and it won't last forever. Coursera is a 'for-profit' organisation and a few money making initiatives have been mooted, including charging students for certificates, sponsorship from businesses and acting as a go-between for students and employers.

While the number of students is growing, there is an obvious ceiling. Simply, if everyone is studying online and no-one attends the real-life Unis, those schools cease to exist and so does their contribution to Coursera. And there is one other whopping element of university life missing from Coursera: the social life. Networking and collaborating are as vital as absorbing facts and producing essays. Which is where Coursera competitor, Udacity may take the biscuit.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Overwhelmed Special-Needs Parents? Here Is Relief

When you become overwhelmed, take a moment to just stop.

Yes, stop in your tracks.

Ask yourself WHO is overwhelmed? Now the quick answer is "I am overwhelmed and stressed out, of course."

However, that answer is coming instantly from your egoic-mind. The mind run by your ego.

The egoic-mind loves to keep you in chaos.

When you are overwhelmed, if you take the time to tune into what you are thinking, you'll find the stress is coming from your thoughts linked to the past, or the future thoughts of fear.

For example, here is a past thought: "I gotta get this done because I missed a deadline before and this happened ________. I don't want that to happen again."

Here is a future thought: "I gotta get this done, or something awful is probably going to happen."

These thoughts are based on conditions and perceptions. When you stop and just examine the stressful, overwhelming thoughts, you will find you are not living in the here and now moment.

In the present is where you will find inner peace. You will be able to do what you have to do, without getting overwhelmed.

In fact, you will get more done because you are not spending your precious energy with stressful, fearful thoughts draining your life energy.

Instead focus on what you are doing at this very moment. Getting your special-needs child dressed? Stay in the moment and look at the color of the clothes as you slip a shirt of her head. Or how the texture feels. Don't let your mind wander to the next thing.

Your child will most likely feel your anxiety and resist the simplest task. This can be confused with their special-needs, but the truth is any child, without special needs, could feel your tension and resist you.

When you live in the moment, even the most arduous tasks will begin to be OK with you because you are not dreading them. Dreading what you have to do is living in the future. "I hate what I have to do." This only builds up tension and makes the job harder.

So think. Is it the tasks that get you overwhelmed, or the thoughts you are thinking about the tasks?

Be honest. Question your thoughts.

When you begin to observe what you are thinking, you will not be dragged around life like a fallen horseman whose foot is still attached in the saddle of a runaway horse.

Be in the moment.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Why Do So Many Children Seek Negative Attention?

All children seek attention. If children do not receive enough positive attention on a regular basis, they will do what is necessary to get attention through negative attention seeking behaviors. In the unconscious mind of a child, attention is attention. Many children with special needs have an even higher need for attention than a child who is nuerotypical does.

One of the basic needs in life is to receive attention and affirmation from the people around you. When an infant cries and a caregiver comes to meet her basic needs then she learns that the world is a safe place. When a two year old learns to talk and gets lots of praise and attention for it he learns to do it more often because he feels the warmth of praise. When a six year old builds a tower out of blocks and asks you to look at it and an adult looks and comments, she feels the warmth of acknowledgement. When a twelve year old receives an "A" on a math test and he is complimented by a teacher and/or a parent he feels the warmth of pride. When a sixteen year old receives a glance from a peer she is interested in, she feels the warmth of attraction. This goes on and on throughout life.

However, if at any point along the road the positive feelings are not acknowledged on a regular basis, children (and adults, too) will participate in negative behaviors in order to get people to notice them. If praise, acknowledgement, and positive feelings are not regularly given out to children they quickly learn that negative behaviors often bring them a lot of attention. Unfortunately, parents and teachers tend to react stronger, and therefore give more attention to, negative behaviors than positive. Children seems to zone in on those behaviors that get a strong reaction because they know if they do a certain behavior they are going to get a big reaction because it embarrasses you, angers you or is just plain unacceptable and must be addressed. It is important to note that, in most cases; the child is not making a conscious choice to get attention through negative behaviors, but has learned through experience that those behaviors tend to get them the desired attention they seek.

Changing negative attention seeking behaviors to positive attention seeking behaviors can be challenging and time consuming, and it is worth the effort because children who learn pro-social behaviors are more successful in life. Children who learn how to get attention appropriately are much more likely to become adults who get attention appropriately. The most effective strategy for most children in most situations is to ignore inappropriate behaviors, as long as they are not harmful. This means putting on your poker face and showing no emotion, even when you are disgusted, angry, hurt, etc. Then simultaneously you must praise and acknowledge all attempts at positive attention seeking. For some people this may be quite a challenge if they are not innately positive people or believe that children should not be praised for doing what is expected. However, if you want to see behavior change you must figure out how to break the cycle.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Free Yourself: Let "Stuff" Go

W
hen we hold onto to anything in life, there is pain.

Life is about flow. Everything in our universe reminds us of that. Sun rise, sunset. Tide in, tide out. Seasonal and weather changes, including moving clouds. Relationships starting and ending.
Sometimes we get so caught up in our egoic minds, that we forget life is about flow and we relentlessly insist that things have to be a certain way. We attach ourselves to our wrong perceptions.

I found myself caught up in values which I insisted on enforcing. It was frustrating.

Nature, especially animals, brings us back to truth. Letting go actually brings to us our desires.

Sachi, my year-old Malti-poo puppy, recently gave me a tremendous lesson on this point. And, since it's national dog week, I wanted to share with you what I learned from him.

If you have been following this blog, you know how much I love animals. In my spare time (LOL)... I'm a volunteer docent for the Los Angeles zoo, and I take small animals and reptiles out to children's hospitals, schools for autistic kids, and senior homes and rehabilitation centers.

I have been trying to train Satchi to walk by the lake with me every morning. I tried to incorporate a power walk with his walk, so we both exercise.

However, he insists on pulling all directions. I have bought every type of leash and harness on the market. Multiple dog training books on my bookshelf. And, he has had two trainers. I even watched practically every episode of the Cesar Millan (the Dog Whisper) television show.

Satchi couldn't care less. He was a rescue raised with Pit Bulls, Mastiffs, and German Shepherds. He has no clue that his 12-pound little body is not as big, and will jump on any dog, regardless of their size when he meets them. However, at home, he's a gentle, obedient baby-dog, as a friend recently called him.

One day, after meditating on this frustrating doggie issue, I got the message to let go of my attachment, of how he should walk with me. Being a mother of three, this is uncomfortable territory. Parents insist children, even doggie children obey.

I had to realize the morning walk was not for me for exercise, it's for him. Allow him to read the doggie newspaper (sniffing every tree) that he likes.

Instantly, my egoic mind told me, "But Cesar Millan says that's not right." "What will other people think when they see him leading ME?" and, "I'll have to stop and let him sniff every few minutes. I don't want to slow down, let alone stop!"

I realized that I was attached to my values, and my perceptions. We get that way when we insist on what we know, is the only way. It's not. Our judgement is merely clouded.

So despite my egoic mind hounding me, I tried walking him on a retractable leash and just allowing him to dart off to my left and right. My heart pounded as I impatiently waited for him to sniff everything... and I do mean everything. He's that type of dog.

I kept telling myself to let go, relax, go with the flow.

My egoic mind told me, "But you are supposed to be the master. Get that dog disciplined!"

However, I instead turned from my mind, (not easy) and placed my attentions on my bodily sensations as I allowed Satchi to do what he pleased on the walk. I focused on my whole-body clenching. My awareness of the knots and clenching inside of my body, allowed me to relax.

I got a chance to see my control issues come up. Not only with him, but it reminded me of other things in life I tried to control. Old issues came up with my kids, my husband, my writing, my speaking, and on and on.

The more I let go, Satchi calmed down. And, when I called him back to me, Magic! He came.

Now I used the time he stops to sniff, to concentrate on my breathing, and to enjoy the trees, and the lake. I realized I was so busy trying to control him, that I lost my power.

Gradually, over the next few weeks, Satchi sniffed less, and started walking by my side.

A few times lately when he stopped to sniff, I was so much into feeling my body sensations, the wind on my skin, absorbing the beauty around me, that I looked down and noticed that he was by my side sitting and looking up at me as if to say, "How long are you going to stand there? Let's go."

So my lessons came loud and clear:

Take in advice, but do what works for you.

Never mind what others may think.

Let go of wrong perceptions.

Let go of attaching yourself to old values.

Flow with life.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Speech Delay

Speech delay or alalia is a common childhood problem consisting of a delay in the normal development of articulating verbal expression. Although known to affect 3 out of 10 children, speech delay can also indicate the presence of a neurological or physiological dysfunction that needs immediate diagnosis and treatment. Taking into account that alalia has been found to produce further emotional, social and cognitive problems, a child who cannot pronounce at least two words by the time he/she is 18 months old or does not seem to understand and respond to what parents say, will have to be taken to a physician.

Some of the reasons why your child might manifest speech delay are presented below.

· Deformed frenulum, lips or palate

Sometimes speech delay has a simple explanation and is mainly the result of a physical disruption in the mouth. For example, Ankyloglossia, also known as tongue tie, is a congenital anomaly that is caused by an unusually short lingual frenulum. In short, the tongue's mobility is dramatically diminished, so that your child may not be able to pronounce words, although he/she has already developed language.

· Oral-motor dysfunctions

A child with oral-motor dysfunction will not babble as an infant would normally do, will have problems with combining words, and most importantly, will articulate words but with sounds missing. Mainly, this category of dysfunctions is created by an incoordination between the region of the brain in charge with speech production and the muscles in the mouth and tongue. One of the most common oral-motor disorders is Developmental Apraxia of Speech (DAS). Children with dyspraxia of speech have problems with moving and coordinating different parts of their mouth for verbal expression.

· Autism spectrum disorders

There are many red flags that can indicate your child has autism or Asperger's syndrome, but one of the most noticeable symptoms is speech delay. Usually, the lack of receptivity or interest in the spoken language, doubled by the inability to reproduce syllables or words, is typical for autistic children. They may later develop the ability to articulate words and express short sentences, but only after having gone through an intensive recovery program with a speech specialist.

· Auditory processing disorder

Also known as the central auditory processing disorder, APD affects 5% of all pre-school children and it relates to how the brain processes auditory information. Specifically, the dysfunction of the central nervous system leads to a difficulty in recognizing and interpreting sounds, although the structure of the outer, middle and inner ear is integral. APD can be easily mistaken for ADHD because they share a list of common symptoms: poor listening skills, low academic performance and behaviour problems.