My Work

Little Collages of Work

By: Danielle Loor M.Ed., BSCS
loorducation
making. learning. fun
Early Childhood Education – Resources, activities and more.
Available for ordering. Custom Orders available.
Sensory, Hands -On…original and hand crafted.
Activity Sheets/Packets, Flash Card Sets and more…
http://www.loorducation.com
(475) 212-2679
loorducation@gmail.com

LOORDUCATION

http://www.facebook.com/loorducation

***NEW***

COME BY
LIKE
LEAVE COMMENT
SHARE
THANK YOU!!!!!!!

Namaste

My Boy: Part 85

Posted on August 31, 2014

Jorge Juan was in a great, energetic mood today. I am exhausted but he was super happy and that made me happy. His energy was non stop. He helped out cooking, putting groceries away and he even ate all of his dinner – by himself. I am so proud of that. After each and every spoon, literally, he told me that was the best food he has ever eaten. Every time I wash his hair, which, by the way he loves now; he tells me that I am the best mom ever. I love him so much and I do not know what I would do without him. He is such a blessing.

He had a good time at karate class, although he was dancing in line. He loves music just like Daddy. What matters is that he was happy. He is healthy and I am so grateful for that. Days like this, autism seems like a great blessing in disguise. It really does. I am one blessed mommy. I do not like labels but being that my son is high functioning is inspiring, to me and to many others. Like I always say, it has not always been that way. A lot of patience, love, hope, prayers and faith went into it among time but the biggest one of all is knowing that my son will succeed, with unwavering FAITH. I am here to say, do not give up. Now, I would never want a cure for my son’s autism but that is just me and our autism journey. Every journey is unique and I can understand parents who desire a cure for autism because of the severity of it. I can not relate but I can understand them wanting to have a cure for their child, I get it. Autism is a wide spectrum but we are all in this together.

Namaste,
Dany

Hi

You have GOT to See This!!!

Hello everyone, thank you for being a part of Loorducation. Lately I have been preparing for my state exams. Got one down : ). As well, I am always working on projects, activities, posts, updates and all things early childhood education. It is my passion. For a while now I have owned http://www.loorducation.com and have many ideas for the site. I just have to get it all organized. It is very exciting to think of all the wonderful possibilities. For now Loorducation is all across the web, of course in blog form. A big thing for us right now is http://www.facebook.com/loorducation. That is where I share my ideas, pics, activities and other things education related. I hope you all stop by and give my page a like and follow if you do not do so already and if you do, I ma hoping you can share with some friends. I also do a lot of autism advocacy and awareness/acceptance on my facebook page. What you see on that page is a part of what I intend Loorducation.com to be. A place where ideas can be shared. Facebook is a great tool to “get out there”. The community I have continues to grow with more support all the time. I am excited that people are excited about what I have offered this past year on Loorducation, and still there is so much more to do and learn. About this wordpress blog in which I started because of an M.Ed. program requirement has become a forefront to share my son’s autism journey and it has opened doors to help others. Yet, this is only the beginning. In order to spread awareness and enlightenment, I started http://www.loorducation.blogspot.com back in April. For the most part, I just copy and paste what is here, give it a different title or what have you. Sometimes I may add a unique touch. This was to branch out and gain a bigger audience, to spread my messages and share my passion. Loorducation is on http://www.instagram.com/loorducation where I use it as a virtual photo album to share experiences of teaching, learning and education. I like to call it education in pictures and i hope you can check it out. I take great pride and passion in creating my photos in which I take my self and edit them. They are all so special and mean a lot. They come from the heart and are captured in a natural state, no staging. Seeing my photos will give you a look into what I love to do and the outcomes of my work and journey. I have also used Flipboard to make some flip magazines for Loorducation. It was something fun and I used it as another tool on the web to get the name Loorducation out there and to learn differnt ways in which i may present my craft. Let’s not forget about http://www.twitter.com/loorducation. It is a positive community where you never know who you are going to meet and inspire or who may inspire you. I have http://www.facebook.com/loorducation posts automatically connected to it, so whatever I post on FB will go right there. A great, faster, effective way to get your message and voice out there. There are many things to learn and a good thing to be a part of too. On http://www.pinterest.com/loorducation, you can see some things that are of my interest, pics of things I love and care about, arts and crafts, etc. I use it sparingly until I have some created some more products and/or activities to share. For a project, when I was in grad school, I have created http://www.constructivekinder.weebly.com
I invite you to check it out and take a look around all of the different pages that I have put together. It will give you an idea and show you what my pedagogy is.
I appreciate you for reading and being a part of this wonderful journey. Hope you all keep in touch and spread the word. Bigger things to come in the near future. Thank you for your time and I hope you come back and check out all things that Loorducation has to offer around the web.
http://www.loorducation.wordpress.com
Yours Truly,
Dany
http://www.facebook.com/danielle.loor
Danielle Loor – BSCS M.Ed.

Where IT All Began...

My Boy: part 1

Posted on September 19, 2013 by danyloor

Standard

This was my FaceBook status a few days ago…..
2 years ago, the neurologist placed my son in the middle of the autism spectrum and yesterday, the same neurologist, said if he did not know any better he would say that my son does not have ASD as his symptoms are going away….
I received 30 likes and over 20 comments on this. I am so grateful that people took the time out to say some nice encouraging words for my son. It means a lot and is very much appreciated. For everyone that wished us well, a few seconds out of your day sending words of encouragement gives people more hope. We realize that we are all in this together.
My son was diagnosed with autism on August 9, 2011. This was a few weeks after his third birthday. He was going in for his yearly check up but this time I just knew something…..

You see, at the time I was taking my Teaching the Exceptional Child course for my B.S. and we were focusing on Autism Spectrum Disorders. As I was learning the signs and symptoms I realized that my son was a match for nearly all of them. He was not talking. He may have said a few words here and there but that was it. He would have to hold onto toys and would get anxiety if one happened to fall out of his hands. He was afraid of loud noises and would cover his ears. Actually, my husband and I used to think he was deaf because he would not respond to us calling his name. I would literally scream out his name and he would not even budge. He would line up toys and other objects…I thought this was so cute being this was our first child and we just had no idea. He would play with toys but in some sort of way that did not seem natural, but yet again I just thought that was okay. He never really waved bye bye and when he did he would have his hands towards himself, as if he was saying bye bye to himself. I loved that so much, my baby saying bye bye. I did not know but as I was studying, I gained the knowledge I needed to bring my questions and diagnosis to the doctor.
Oh yeah, this too – he would run back and forth and would not stop, at the same time he was flapping his hands. I still did not know but all of this was coming back to me when I was studying ASD and it triggered my memory. I love my son so much and everyone would ask why he did not talk and that he should be talking and I just thought it is because he is bilingual and it just takes longer for children with two languages to process the information. In the back of my mind I would ask myself why isn’t my son talking. Here I see children younger than he is talking in complete sentences. That is my baby boy and I love him, he will talk.
So my son is not talking yet and when he wants something he will just point- only sometimes. Usually, he would just grab my hand and utter some sounds as I would see what he needed. Usually it was a snack, kids love snacks and boy did I know he wanted that cookie because that smile was worth a thousand words even though he could not tell me.
He would grasp little things and hold onto them with intensity. I just looked at him in awe. I love my son and look how engrossed he is with a tiny button, pen cap, a part to a toy- whatever it was, no matter how tiny, he was focused and wanted it. He had to hold it. That thing needed to be in his hands and if he lost it, he would have anxiety that was until we could find it again..
So, he was not hitting benchmarks and he could not hold a fork or spoon properly to feed himself but that is my son and I so love him. By the way, he said birthday cake after seeing a decoration at his party, I was amazed. That cute little pause between those words..amazing. I felt so proud of my boy. He would hum really loudly for more than 30 seconds at a time sometimes and he would run and spin in circles. He was not afraid of danger or falling.
Going back to August 9, 2011, my father in law and I brought him to the doctor and that is when……
(please stay tuned for part 2)

Wood'ya Know......?

http://loorducation.wordpress.com/2014/07/17/my-boy-part-77/

Today Jorge Juan went to the trampoline park. He was anxious and getting desperate upon arrival because we had to wait. He starting acting up. He was also hitting himself. He was very impatient. It was time to go in. Again, frustrated because he had to wait on line. Frustrated because he had to wait in each additional section. We got through that. A nice guy let us jump the line in one part. I guess he saw Jorge’s behaviors and felt bad for him. Anyhow we got to the open trampolines. He loved it. That’s until someone else jumped with him. He did not like that so he would growl and hiss at them. So time went on. He was jumping and enjoying now and was happy because he ran out to tell me he loves me. He went back to jumping and playing. Then a little girl came up to me to tell me Jorge keeps following her. I just smiled and looked out for Jorge. A while later a boy came to tell me Jorge was following him and I just replied, be is a small kid and not doing anything wrong. OK eyes back on Jorge. A few minutes later the same little girl tells me again that Jorge keeps following her and her brother and they don’t like it. Well I proceeded to tell her that he’s small and not doing anything wrong. I asked if he was hitting and he was not doing anything like that. So as she was walking away, I called her back and she came. I said that Jorge doesn’t mean to be doing that and he has something called autism. She said OK and left to get her brother. She was telling her brother what I said then I heard her say let’s go somewhere else. Now I’m not sure she knew what autism is but maybe she did. Not sure. I was going to explain it to her in simple terms. But maybe I didn’t get the chance to cause maybe I just didn’t have to. It could’ve been her brother had autism too, who knows. Maybe. There were three parents there with children on the spectrum. An autism mommy can just sense these things sometimes. I just looked at one handsome boy and said to myself he has autism. I wasn’t judging but naturally observing. Anyhow come to find out I saw him walk by with an autism shirt on. Anyway it was nice to see other autism mommies even though I didn’t interact with them. After all that Jorge Juan had a decent time and actually wanted to leave early. On the way home he asked a ton of questions, non stop. Mostly about exotic animals. We got home, the questions continued. Oh, get this, he found a piece of wood in the driveway because my husband is working on something. He proceeds to examine the wood closely. It was about a little smaller than a brick. He called it a driftwood brick. He examined it more and he then told me the wood is seven years old. He counted the rings on the edge as if it was a tree trunk. Indeed, it did have seven. I was impressed. Not sure where he got that from. But I thought it was super cool.
I’d love to hear from you. Drop us a comment.

Thank you
Dany xxoo

From Loorducation

JUL10

Jorge Juan is Au-Some

Posted on July 10, 2014 by danyloor

Standard

Yes, Jorge Juan is Au-some. He is doing well n ESY. Still working on him saying good morning and thank you to the bus driver. Sometimes when he comes home, he is so stimulated and excited that he does not say hello to me or my husband. We re working very diligently with him on that one. We do not want to make him feel uncomfortable but at the same time, we want him to be polite and at very least acknowledge others with a hello when he is entering a home or room. He has been enjoying the trampoline park and being with the children at the Y also. He loves being around other children as it really makes him feel good. He loves company. It is great for his social skills. Speaking of that, he has been communicating well with the other boys at karate, engaging in back and forth dialogue. He is ausome, and autism will never stop him. It will empower him, full force. I am not sure if he knows or understands that he is different. He knows he has autism but does not exactly what it means and the effect it has etc, etc. He is a healthy child and that is what matters. He is keeping busy and active this summer. On the go, learning new things. I let him be- a “typical” child. He runs, plays and all that fun stuff. He wants to be included in all things. Any child that befriends my son will be rewarded with an honest, loving caring friendship. My son is wise beyond his years. He talks and repeats and repeats and states facts about animals and that is who he is. I never knew there were so many different types of geckos or that that octopuses have tentacle regeneration or that hawks use their talons for picking up prey – I did not even know what a talon was (lol) He is my indigo baby, my gift from God. Autism is just the icing on the cake we call Jorge Juan. It is not always easy but it IS easy to love him.

My Boy: Part 58

I always say my son or when it is "needed" I say my son has autism or is autistic. Many times I do not have to or need to and just at sometimes I feel the need to specify that my son is indeed on the spectrum. I am very thankful that he is high functioning but when I use the term autism I do not have the need or desire to specify that he is high functioning. I just thank God everyday that Jorge Juan has made so many advances as well he continues to strive and shows progress in many areas. Other than being on the spectrum, he is a "typical" five year old. He loves to play in the dirt, ride his bike, watch cartoons, go to the park and do many things as any child would do. Sometimes, he just does it in a special way, in his own way. That is OK by me. I believe in him. I believe in his abilities in which no label will ever stop him from achieving his dreams and goals. I am proud that he is on the spectrum and proud that he advanced along the spectrum considering when he was initially diagnosed - he did not speak, and was "somewhere towards the middle or beyond" on the scale. He surprised the exact neurologist that defined him at three years old. Last year, he stated Jorge Juan was not showing many symptoms at all of autism and if he did not know any better he would say no to autism. Where did it go? Where did the autism go? Does not matter because my son is happy and healthy and I thank God all the time that we never subjected to medicating him by any means (as once suggested by the neuro due to a melt down in his office). So here I am with a  5 year old Kindergarten boy who loves taking the bus to school and making new friends, a boy who loves to eat snacks and do projects, a boy who shows an appreciation and love for learning and oh yeah, he happens to have autism. No need to specify that he is HF, none at all. Parents of typical children do not state that their children are typical or low functioning typical or whatever- too many labels.