Emma's Hope Book » presume competence

     What would you do if the whimper in your heart could not find the right words to speak? What if you couldn’t control the things you felt compelled to say, even if you knew those who h...

https://emmashopebook.com/2016/02/09/can-speech-challenged-students-get-an-appropriate-education/

“What is your name?” someone might ask.  It’s a simple question, but when I try to make the sounds that form my name, other words push and shove their way forward.  Instead, “you may no...

https://emmashopebook.com/2015/12/02/i-am-emma/

(A note on Emma’s post.  Because this is a fictitious dialogue that Emma wrote, for clarity’s sake, I asked her if it was okay to put the Autistic person’s words and thoughts in italics an...

https://emmashopebook.com/2015/02/24/lets-pretend-you-are-the-autistic-one/

Ariane:  What should we start our day with?  German, a blog post, general writing, fiction, poetry or something else? Emma:  Just start with blog post. A:  What would you like to post about t...

https://emmashopebook.com/2015/02/03/the-impact-of-believing-in-incapability/

There were few things that led us more astray than the idea of autism being a developmental delay.  Last week Emma wrote, “Autism is not a developmental delay, rather it is a different road e...

https://emmashopebook.com/2014/11/21/autism-%E2%89%A0-developmental-delay/

When I first heard the words “presume competence” I had no idea what that meant.  I cobbled together some ideas of what I’d read and thought it meant and did my best to put them into actio...

https://emmashopebook.com/2014/10/06/the-assumptions-we-make/

Typically in school life there is a certain amount of busy work that one is expected to do, forms that need to be filled out (repeatedly), words that you are expected to say whether you mean the...

https://emmashopebook.com/2014/09/11/typing-to-communicate-and-busy-work/

"My mind is expanding as big as a watermelon that feeds an entire school," Emma typed." Continue reading →

https://emmashopebook.com/2014/09/10/a-day-of-learning/

Fear.  I have grappled with fear my entire life.  I’m 54 years old.   You’d think I’d have figured out a magic formula to ward off fear by now…  but I have not.  However I have figu...

https://emmashopebook.com/2014/08/26/statistics-and-parenting/

I speak with a researcher who says, “we need to hear the pain and needs of the parents of individuals affected by the disorder.”  She goes on to say, “Nobody else can know better what the ...

https://emmashopebook.com/2014/07/22/a-researcher-asks/