PAPAS & MAMAS
1: President's Message2: New Teacher, Sachiko Iiyama
3: A Word from Encho Sensei
4: Household Hazardous Waste and Its Proper Disposal
5: Life, Life, Life
6: Let's Go To The Library!
7: Autism Part IV
The Newsletter from Parents Association of Kodomo no Ie
No.34 Dec 2008 Editor: Yu
President's Message
My name is Chieko Mascianaro and my son attends Sakura-gumi. Having been the PTA president last school year, I decided to take this role again and will give my efforts with other PTA members to do good things for KNI. It's surprising that a year has already passed. As I had written about myself around this time last year, I reread my letter and felt disappointed that I had not accomplished what I had hoped to do. I'm still interested in getting facial laser treatment to get rid of age spots.Recently I have been feeling good about myself because I started taking gym classes…I need to keep this as my routine no matter what. I'd like to shed my excess 10 lbs, so I have been cooking healthy for my family, along with milling brown rice at home everyday, and making Nukazuke (Japanese pickles) using my rice bran. But I get lazy in the late afternoon after I pick up my son from his various afterschool activities. And I haven't felt like going on a vacation after dealing with a move to a new house.
I can't say what my hobbies are when somebody asks because I don't do anything I can call hobbies. But I would like to learn how to edit movies I shoot using my brand new Mac. I need to buy a new camcorder first though because I discovered my Sony camcorder is not compatible with Mac. Please give me tips and advice, Mac users.
I realize sometimes that my son needs me less and less as time goes by, even though I feel that I don't have enough time just for myself. He'll be going his own way in the future.
Please don't hesitate to say hello when you see me at KNI.
(by Chieko Masciandaro)
New Teacher, Sachiko Iiyama
Sachiko Iiyama, born on March 4, 1983, is from Ishikawa prefecture and now lives inPasadena. In Japan, she majored in Portuguese in an effort to understand non-Japanese speaking Brazilian children, and after teaching Japanese in Guadalajara, Mexico for 2 years came to KNI this September.
Ms. Iiyama believes Principal Umehata, is a person who really cares about children, devoting her whole life to them. As a teacher at KNI, she realized that she is not as physically
tough as she thought, because children really have a lot of energy. Having become a Christian
one year ago, she spends weekends in church, and in the future wishes to teach children about God.
A Word from Encho Sensei
In order for a child to be happy, the mother needs to be happy first. Even if a child cries for his or her mother, we will let her go if she wishes. That is because we want the mother to return to her child happily, being refreshed after a two hour period without a child. On the other hand, if a mother is feeling tired and uneasy, her child tends to misbehave. Why? The reason being is that the child comes from his or her mother's womb. We want the child to be happy, and the mother's constant happiness is an important factor to achieve that.Household Hazardous Waste and Its Proper Disposal
Many toys are operated by batteries. In retail store aisles, shelves are filled with toys with “try me” buttons. Children appear to be more attracted to toys that move and talk at the touch of a button. Those toys usually require more than one battery and before you know it, it is time to replace them. What happens to those batteries that fulfilled their use? Are these destined to your trash can? That was allowed until February 2006 and because it is not easy to recycle those batteries in an efficient and cost effective way, some had ended up in landfills. However, now in California, all u-waste (universal waste) that includes spent household batteries is banned from landfills.What is universal waste, in short, u-waste? U-waste is one of the categories of hazardous waste and generated across the board not just from a specific industry, thus called universal waste. Common items that belong to the u-waste category include household batteries (single use and rechargeable), florescent light bulbs and electronic devices (discarded computers and their peripherals are also referred to as e-waste). The chemical composition of those items is known to be harmful to the environment.
How should one throw away u-waste the right way? Each County has a program for residents to dispose of household hazardous waste properly. The Los Angeles County holds household hazardous collection events throughout the year and it has several permanent sites in the County (visit www.888cleanla.com , scroll down to House Hold Hazardous Waste information to get a schedule of the collection events and to obtain a list of permanent sites close to you).
Yes, it is somewhat bothersome to store dead batteries and florescent lights somewhere in the house or garage until you get around disposing of them. Although you are not supposed to throw batteries away in the trash, you won't get penalized unlike in traffic offences. But if you could see batteries as a pollutant, the change of perception may motivate you to do the right thing. While it is not practical to avoid using batteries altogether, you can make an effort to reduce the hazardous waste by minimizing the purchase of items with batteries, including toys. You may even consider telling your kid's birthday party invitees to avoid choosing such toys.
Expired or unused portions of both prescription and over the counter medications are also considered hazardous waste. Some discard them by flushing them down the toilet with a casual thought that the treatment plant could eliminate toxicity of the chemicals used in medications. Well this is not true. These also need to be disposed of as household hazardous waste. But again, you really don't want to “save” expired medicines for the sake of proper disposal. With small children at home, you don't want to risk exposing them to such elements. And for this, you really have to make the storage childproof.
Why bother? Why make such an effort to things you don't see once trash, hazardous or non hazardous, leaves your house? Out of sight, out of mind. Again, being an active participant in creating a better environment requires extra effort. Which is more burdensome? Throwing batteries in the trash can and flushing medications down the toilet versus storing them somewhere in the house and making it childproof? Definitely the latter for you but not for the environment. Being environmentally responsible is in part the act of self discipline.
(by Nami Hayashi)
Life, Life, Life
It happened on a fine day with clear blue skies, in the midst of enjoying the Asahi field day. I happened to look up to the sky, and there I saw letters from an airplane tailing sky smoke. Unfortunately, probably because of the condition of the sky, the letters faded away in a few seconds. I saw ‘M', ‘A', ‘R' and then a heart. Oh, it must be “MARRY ME,” someone was proposing somewhere.If a boy from a wealthy family proposed to a rich girl, I assume he would have a lavish approach to requesting marriage. However, if this skywriting were done by one poor boy who makes a living by being a busboy, and who had saved $5,000 in three years for these 10 minutes, I would applaud him.
Sadly, by the time the plane was drawing the last heart mark, the first letter, ‘M', disappeared completely. I wonder if his girlfriend was watching the sky when the skywriting began. What if she stepped out for the restroom and had to wait in a long line and came back when the streams were all gone? I don't know the result. They may get married today or the boy may still be working as a busboy. Nevertheless, one thing I know is that the time he prepared for this day must have been a lot of fun for him.
Imagining the day, he must have grinned to himself. When he thought about the surprised face of his girlfriend, he must have been able to overcome any hardship of his work. How fun it is to have a goal and a plan and to just go for it! Of course, we always have to face the result. Even if the bus boy were rejected, he should not think that his effort was wasted. He was lucky to meet a girl whom he fell in love with; and after all, he must have enjoyed the three years it took to save the money for the skywriting. He did not waste his time at all; and if he thinks so, his regret is self-imposed. When you are passionate or dedicated about something, you are happy.
In the midst of my daydreaming, the field day was finished. The principal's speech at the closing ceremony rang true, “It is not participation that is meaningful. It is meaningful when you give your best effort. We always face the result, but putting all your energy is more important.”
Actually, if you whole-heartedly wish, it will come true. If it doesn't, it is because deep inside your heart, or maybe subconsciously, you were not earnest. The lack of sincerity can hinder you from realizing your wish. Therefore, although the busboy really loves the girl, if he thinks that they may not be a good match, the boy would probably be refused.
Now, if I know that my wish can come true, what will I wish? Will I have exciting days like the busboy if I go for my wish? Being that I am unable to find my wish, I suppose that I don't have any strong desires for now, and a careless wish won't come true. So I suppose that I will just have to age daily and soon be a grandmother. It is not too exciting, but not too bad either, I guess.
(by Michiko Yu)
Let's Go To The Library!
Historically, entertainment has weathered downturns in the economy just as people during the 1930's turned to movie houses and the radio to escape certain realities of the home pocketbook. Back then, it cost a few pennies to take the family to the movies. Last summer I took my family of five to see a discount matinee of Disney's Wall- E; and after popcorn, candy and drinks it was near $75.00 total. Times have changed. Going to the movies isn't an affordable escape anymore. Even renting DVDs in times like these can be a strain on the family budget where more and more pennies are making the difference.I must credit my wife on a most affordable alternative: the local library. There they have a wide selection of DVD, VHS, audio tapes and even books that you can usually borrow for free! I finally took notice one day when I thought the kids were watching another Pokémon video from Kodomo no Ie's library, but I was shocked when she told me it was from the Valencia Library here in Santa Clarita and that it was in Japanese.
We're lucky living in the Los Angeles area as most libraries carry different language sections like Japanese. The largest collection is probably the Little Tokyo Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. The LAPL's website browser even has a Japanese language option to search in Japanese and has links to other city, college and county libraries. Even when we lived in Burbank, their library had a small Japanese section for the 3,000 Japanese that live there. On the Burbank Library's web page they boast of their growing collection of Japanese Anime. Makes sense as Burbank is the Film- Media- TV capital of Los Angeles and home to many animation studios.
The Pasadena Japanese selections do not appear to be as large as some other libraries but they have a very interesting digital library which you can download books and programs into a computer or iPod type device. Searching for Japanese material, I found several recent ‘Learn Japanese' programs and an audio book of Japanese melodies.
The Valencia Library is run by the county of Los Angeles, and of all the website searches for books and DVDs, I found their website the easiest to use. Once you've chosen a title it will tell you its exact location, like tracking a UPS package across country, even if the DVD is on the librarian's cart being returned to the bookshelf.
One extra advantage of libraries, besides being easy on the family budget, is that most libraries build their collections from donations of books, DVDs, and more from the local public. In return the donor receives an income tax deduction. So, if you'd like to clear some shelf space in your home and expand your local library's Japanese collection, think about donating. Books and DVDs are no fun if they're just collecting dust.
If you'd like to learn more about a public library near you and see about their Japanese section please check the following:
Burbank: www.burbank.lib.ca.us
Los Angeles: www.lapl.org
Pasadena: www.ci.pasadena.ca.us
Santa Clarita: www.colapublib.org
(by Robert Barr)
Autism Part IV
(a series of articles contributed by a KNI parent whose son was diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorders, or ASD)
In this segment, I will continue with more examples of the difficulties that children with ASD (autistic spectrum disorders) face when processing the various types of sensory information, beginning with auditory processing.Auditory Processing (Sense of hearing through the ears):
My son, Nathan seems to be also hypersensitive to certain pitches of sounds. In kindergarten (of Burbank USD), his teacher pointed out that he covered his ears during singing practices and didn't sing at all. On the other hand, at home I couldn't stop him singing the songs he had learned at school. So, I figured maybe the high-pitch sound of other children's voices was overwhelming for him. Also, when he is dys-regulated, he needs a longer period to process what he is asked. (My Parent Ed teacher for my 3-year-old daughter's class says that typical-developing children often require at least 10 seconds to process questions asked and to respond. For example, if a parent asks “What do you want to wear today?,” the parent has to count to 10 before bombarding the child with repeating the question, etc.) I have to keep reminding myself to give Nathan more time to respond.Tactile Processing (Sense of touch on the skin):
Nathan never had a problem with labels on the back of his shirts like some children with ASD, but loose or too tight of socks bug him so much that he has to change. When he wore a pair of tabi, kimono socks for a photo shoot, he whined the whole time (even after he changed to a bigger pair) and the photographer gave up taking his pictures only after one sitting. Well, for the photo shoot, I'm sure that having to stand in unnatural foot positions contributed to his whining. Since a baby, he also seeks out blanket-like materials to soothe him when he is tired, bored or sleepy. When he finds it, though, his thumb goes into his mouth, which has been a big challenge to stop (maybe because ASD children hate changes).Vestibular Processing (Sense of motion and equilibrium):
This is the processing to the movement to the head, to be precise, to the semicircular canal inside the ears. Even when he was 5 months old, Nathan loved jumping in a baby jumper that hangs from a doorframe. During the Floortime therapies, if his therapist felt Nathan wasn't regulated enough to participate in activities that require his focus while being seated and challenge him to climb up the aforementioned developmental stages, we put him in special swings used by occupational therapists. It often became a challenge for the therapist and me to get him off the swing because he loved swinging so much. Talking to him about getting off the swing became a practice for his negotiation skills, which was and still is one of our goals for him.Proprioceptive Processing (Sense of perception of movement and spatial orientation arising from stimuli from the body):
Another unfamiliar word, but this is the processing to the movement to the joints and muscles around them. Nathan has always liked walking on toes since he started walking at 8 months. Toe-walking falls under “Proprioceptive Processing.” By walking on toes, he is getting stimuli in the joints and muscles, which is pleasurable to him. It is his way of regulating himself against whatever sensory overload he is feeling at that time. Because of this need to get pressure on his joints, he also bounces around the couches at home when he is over-excited. Writing with a pencil is one of the challenges seen in children with ASD. Nathan has great creative ideas in his head for journal writing period at school, but putting them down on a paper is a big challenge. He needs a lot of prompts by an adult to stay on the task, without getting distracted with his inner thoughts, visual stimuli of his classmates moving around him, etc. When Nathan feels that he can't write anymore, his teachers allow him to get up and do squats or push-ups against the walls, thus he can get pressure in his joints. If he doesn't get distracted with something else in the middle of these exercises, he can go back to writing some more. (Sequencing activities and planning them like, “I'll do this first, then I'll do that next” is another challenge children with ASD face.)Olfactory Processing (Sense of smell through the nose):
Being a picky-eater falls under the aforementioned “Tactile Processing” too, but Nathan sometimes refuses to try new foods because of their smell. Others have told me that all I have to do to “fix” Nathan's picky-eating is to starve him and serve him what he doesn't like. I wish it were that easy. Even when he tries so hard to let the food touch his tongue, he sometimes ends up gagging. I am pretty sensitive to odors, so I can empathize with Nathan on this one well. Can you imagine working all day with a coworker who has a bad BO or wearing the perfume you hate? I'm sure you'd keep thinking how to get away from the coworker, instead of working.Okay, so back to Dr. Greenspan's theory. When caregivers work with their children with ASD, they need to take these individual processing differences into consideration, and then, they can help children with ASD climb up the developmental stage ladder.
Relationship-based
The last “R” in Dr. Greenspan's DIR model stands for “relationship-based.” Building relationships through affective interactions with primary caregivers is a critical element in helping children return to a healthy developmental path. There are roughly 3 layers in the brain that affect a child's development:
- The brain stem (controls our unconscious bodily functions)
- Limbic system (regulates our emotional processing)
- Neocortex (controls capability of highly abstract perception and reasoning).
For brain organization to occur throughout these three layers, the limbic system must be properly organizing and regulating incoming information: responding appropriately to cues that may cause fear or anger, as well as managing reactions to implicit memories that may be triggered by external cues. The limbic system is what allows us to experience our inner world, as well as connect to the inner world of another. It is what makes us social creatures. For limbic development to occur, affective interactions must happen between caregiver and child. This process happens mostly out of conscious awareness in a typically-developing child as parents naturally respond to the child's attempts to engage and emotionally connect, smiling at each other, handing toys back and forth, playing peek-a-boo, mirroring emotions of sadness and glee, etc. However, when genetics are not naturally guiding the process of brain development, and limbic system is failing to properly regulate brain activity, like in children with ASD, social relationships are impacted. It is then that a more intentional approach is required. This is what “Floortime” is all about. (Excerpts from parent training textbook by Holding Hands, a pediatric therapy agency.) To be continued.
(by Kumiko Anicichi)
Editor's Note
P&M is a newsletter for parents. If you have something to say, provide information or share your original recipe, please contact me at michikoyanagawa@earthlink.net. The newsletter members are all in gear to provide you with useful information this new school year. Have a great New Year!
Thank you (translators)
Ms. Hayashi
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