Hi, everybody!

I hope that everybody is having a great learning experience this year. My studies this quarter are focusing on education, learning disorders, and pervasive developmental disorders (autism, aspergers, etc.). I am doing educational consulting/tutoring for a boy who has Fetal Alcohol affect and ADHD. I've been working with his family and teachers to help him pass his classes and develop an approach to schoolwork that is conducive to the way his mind works. It is very frustrating to see how public schools are designed to suit the needs of very specific learners. Some of the core literature for Reconciliation addresses that very issue! The hours I have spent with him and his family have been great, but very frustrating at times. He is adopted, and the parents have a very difficult time understanding the special needs he has. Communication with his school has continued to be a struggle, but I've gradually developed a working relationship with them. I am learning a great deal about special education, Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) in public schools, and the various types of behavioral ed programs that exist within the public school sysytem. I have even sat in on a behavioral ed program several times within the David Douglas school district.

Anyway, I won't go into all of the details, but this has been really challenging and time-consuming work for me. I was actually offered a job as a teaching assistant within the special education programs for a local school district, but I have just been too busy. I am continuing my work as a youth counselor at a facility in Portland, Oregon. I'm actually part of a collaborative treatment/assessment team and able to work with Masters-level therapists and certified drug and alcohol counselors. I'm even able to contribute to the treatment planning/objectives that we create for clients.

I will be in this program until the end of Winter quarter, at which time I will have the necessary credits to graduate. I'm planning a final presentation that will include bits and pieces of everything I have learned in this program over the past three years.

Best of luck to all of you!!

Allison Long                                                                   RETURN