Search Results for: blog technology and children

Where Companies Stand on Parental Leave

Mark Zuckerberg took some time off work when his daughter was born. Every time a CEO from a well known company takes parental leave, it brings that topic back into the news cycle. There is a growing interest in allowing parents to spend time with their newborns. Where do different companies stand on that topic? Mark Zuckerberg, as you probably are aware, is the CEO of Facebook. He announced on his Facebook page that he would be taking 2 months of paternity leave when his daughter arrives. Part of his post included the following: Studies show that when working parents … Continue reading →

Technology is a Poor Substitute for Social Interaction

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Are your kids addicted to the internet? How much time do your kids spend looking at a screen instead of interacting with family? Parents might want to consider taking steps to limit the amount of “screen time” that their kids are getting. The New York Times has an article by Jane Brody in which she discusses the negative affects that countless hours of playing video games can have on children. It’s not just teenagers, either. Younger kids can also behave as if they are addicted to “the internet”. How does this happen? There is a Kaiser Family Foundation study that … Continue reading →

Peer Pressure and Debt

Whew, is it getting hot in here? For some reason, the past two days was a huge day for financial peer pressure. It just seemed like everywhere I went, there was some example about how our family isn’t/wouldn’t/won’t fit in because of some of the financial choices that we are making. Our biggest long-term goal is to completely get out of debt, including our house and to start to build wealth so we can give generously. At the moment, we are far from this goal, but making progress. We have no debt, other than our house, although that debt is … Continue reading →

Protecting Your Children from Online Scammers

We live in an age driven by technology. Children are more technologically advanced than ever before. My four year old is no exception. He can work an Ipad much better than I can. He knows how to get into all his favorite games, how to get to the Dinsey Channel, and just about anything else he sets his mind to. I think kids these days are just born that way. While technology can be an amazing educational tool for our children, it can also be a very dangerous place, as we all know. More and more predators are out there … Continue reading →

The Technology Band Uses iPads

High school students in Queens, New York, are using the iPad as a musical instrument. The students have been described as having “severe learning disabilities”, and many have an autism spectrum disorder. Their teacher, Adam Goldberg, found a way to use the iPad to enable the students to make music. This is amazing! It has been known, for quite some time, that the iPad is incredibly useful for students with a variety of learning disabilities and special needs. One example of this is how the Milford school district, in Connecticut, uses the iPad with students who have autism. The school … Continue reading →

Helping Kids Balance Electronics and Life

With Christmas around the corner electronics are in high demand. But, how do we as parents teach our children to find a balance between technology and their other everyday activities? Our kids are living in a digital world. They instinctively know how to work just about every electronic device out there. I have been amazed at the things my 4 year old can do on Grandma’s Ipad. He knows how to work it better than I do. He can navigate and find his favorite shows in a matter of seconds. He knows right where his games are and can go … Continue reading →

Delaware has a Healthy Children Program

There is a Medicaid program in every state. The portion that covers children from low income families is often called CHIP. Some states will give it a friendlier name. In Delaware, CHIP is called Healthy Children. Medicaid is a public, or government run, form of health insurance. It is designed to provide health insurance coverage for individuals and families who are low income and who cannot afford to purchase a health insurance plan from a private company. Medicaid is funded, in part, by the federal government. It is also funded by the government of an individual state. The Delaware Medicaid … Continue reading →

Assistive Technology Now Includes Children’s Voices

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Children who have certain types of learning disabilities may be non-verbal. This can happen with kids who have an autism spectrum disorder. Recently, schools have started using iPads to help students with autism communicate. Now, Proloquo2Go will let them “talk” in a child’s voice. The iPad is an amazing piece of technology. The versatility of it allows it to be used as anything from a way for a person to check his email, to a tool that can assist children who have special needs to cope, communicate, and practice social skills. Schools have started using iPads with the students who … Continue reading →

Special Needs Blog Week in Review – Week of July 8 -14, 2012

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Every week, the Special Needs Blog Week in Review brings you a brief summary of each of the blogs that have appeared here in the past seven days. This is a quick and easy way to find out about the blogs that you might have missed when they were first posted. The Special Needs Podcast Roundup went up on July 9, 2012. This week, I’d like to point out an episode of The Coffee Klatch. The episode is called “DSM, Examining a Flawed System That Traps Our Children”. If I understand correctly, this is an episode of the “Bright Not … Continue reading →

New FastPass Technology Tested at Disney World

Disney World’s always trying to improve, and one of the big complaints many guests have, at least at certain times of year, is the long lines for rides. That’s why the FastPass system exists: it allows Disney World to offer interested guests shorter wait times while making money off the idea. As part of their constant quest for improvement Disney World is trying to upgrade their FastPass system, according to The Disney Blog. They’re currently testing the next generation of the queue-jumping arrangement in the Magic Kingdom, and it involves RFID. RFID stands for radio-frequency identification, the process of using … Continue reading →