#also EVERY time i take the tram someone asks if it goes to a specific place like. girly idk please there's like 20 other people here

[veilblight]

i possess the face of a guy who knows street names & public transport

[eclectia]

Dead Space: Horror Through Design

Dead Space is a game that needs little introduction. A claustrophobic sci-fi horror set in space that manages to rise above its action horror roots to become something truly chilling at times. One of the main ways in which it achieves this is through the visual and environmental design of its levels; or rather level, because the game takes place all in one contained space – the USG Ishimura. 

In this post we're going to be looking at how the game creates tension, how this permeates the entire game and how this game-feel effects the player. The main sources of horror in Dead Space is of course the Necromorphs, the flagship enemy of the franchise which can only be killed by what the designers termed “tactical dismemberment”; but these monsters quickly become a stale exercise in jump scares and enemy gauntlets. Well designed body horror will only get your horror design so far if you're only willing to engage with players through predictable gameplay beats and genre convention. 

 In my opinion the more tense sections of the game are the first few sections, where Necromorphs are few and far between and the suggestion of the monster is more than enough to send shivers down your spine. The game suggests monsters more than throws them at you and asks who are you and how are you, a mere engineer, to defeat these monstrosities? That question, that “what if?” is a prime source of tension through suggestion and demonstration. The game shows you how powerful these enemies are in an opening sequence that proffers you no option but run -and run fast- and then spends the next half an hour both teaching you how to defeat them in one-on-one encounters, and creating a distinct fear of “they could jump out at any time”. This is clever, allowing the player to face off against enemies in singulars, to practice the games dismemberment system before it really starts to throw hoards at you, but it also compounds upon the horror. 

It achieves this in two ways. The first is of course through the narrative story bit of “here's the monster killing a bunch of people who surely [according to existing game convention] are more than well equipped enough to deal with it”; that initial splash of subversive jump-scare is a shock so early – not even 3 minutes – into the game and during a completely innocuous section to boot. It is a very good example of “show, don't tell”. Instead of having someone tell you something is aboard the ship, the main enemy bursts into play and makes its presence and danger to you, the player, known. And then of course, a fast fumble into gameplay where you could be assailed at any moment and which sets up a clear predator-prey dynamic for the rest of the game – you are being chased, you are not the chaser. It does all of this without telling you, without audio logs or “I'm being followed”, which would perhaps be ham-fisted. This of course erodes as the story goes on and you equip bigger and better weapons, begin to predict the jump-scares and find exactly those sorts of logs, but that first slice of horror is delicious.   

The second way in which the game introduces tension to the player is by showing, repeatedly, Necromorphs climbing back into the walls and vents, ready to emerge again at any point, from anywhere, or so it seems – and to the player, feels- for one very important reason; the very vents, shafts and walls from which they jump out and retreat back into are littered all over the environment, all around you. In several scripted sections Necromorphs specifically watch you from them, making them feel omnipresent and constant but aside from these visual cues, you can hear their thunks and clicks as they climb about, unseen but very much felt. This reinforces the predator-prey dynamic and oppressive atmosphere. You are firmly within the spider's' web, a fly. They are all around you, sometimes making themselves known, sometimes not, but always there – audible, and palpable. 

This horror is only as effective as its opening sections. In my opinion as the game goes on and you get stronger and more desensitised to the jump scares of the game, the shock of seeing an enemy climb out of an open vent or back into one, accompanied by a scare chord, is lessened slightly. After all, when they climb out, you'll be able to deal with it in all likelihood. To a lesser degree another way in which the game uses environmental design is less to do with the actual design of the ship so much as placement of objects throughout the game; the presence of bodies. The first time you pass one, it might lay prostrate and in your mind dead. But when you return, inevitably after having picked up an essential item, they may spring back to life with shocking certainty. The first few times this happens it is undoubtedly scary but when every [monster] body in the game bar one does this, it quickly loses its shock value and in my mind, is a good example of why jump scares stale so fast – through predictability and player anticipation. The best jump scare is sporadically used, not the very crux of the horror itself. 

 That constant, oppressive feeling of “they're everywhere, all around me” is compounded by the very nature of the USG Ishimura. It is a ship, drifting in the dark annals of space, that final frontier. You cannot leave because you have no escape option. The corridors are winding, gaping maws filled with environmental storytelling in the form of scrawled messages, crazed passengers and an intense feeling of claustrophobia. It is easy to get lost and disoriented on the ship, especially when many corridors lead to dead ends and you are constantly backtracking and crisscrossing over your previous paths, opening new ones and returning to prior areas through previously inaccessible doors. It can be very disorienting after 2 hours of exploring one section, to suddenly find yourself back in an area from 4 hours ago, emerging from a door you probably forgot existed until this moment. Clever changing of previous environments as things happen in game – bits of ship getting blasted off or reconnected to energy grids allowing for more exploration, the meaty growths spreading across the ship and new enemies appearing and bodies disappearing all help older areas to feel fresh, rather than stale retreads. All of this, also, done without words, without telling the player. It all contributes to a feeling of confusion and being truly lost in what is actually, a rather small gameplay area and this in itself is a really clever use of space and navigation to make a game feel larger than it is. 

But this clever design is slightly watered down somewhat by one of the navigation mechanics in the game. You can press a button and a visual guide will pop up showing you the path to the next objective. Honestly, this feature feels entirely ancillary to me; there are signposts clearly telegraphing areas you need to go; there's a map on the tram that pops up at the beginning and end of every chapter-so why not incorporate that somehow-; and the rest of the game prides itself on having no user interface so why have something as clunky and immersion-breaking as this tool? It undermines the very horror of feeling lost, of encroaching deeper and deeper into the abyss, and it also undermines the clever design beats that include signposts and symbols that show you where to go. Your companion, Kendra, also gives you directions so your knowledge of the games' space and how it all connects together, is actually unnecessary and at no point is the player required to demonstrate their knowledge of the layout, or even allowed to get lost which could really have added to the fear and feeling of being trapped. That feeling is entirely undermined for the sake of convenience.

However, one way in which the claustrophobia of the level design is compounded is in the cameras, and tightness of the corridors. Taking cues from Resident Evil 4, Dead Space features an over-the-shoulder camera of almost cinematic proportions. We are following Isaac through the game, watching everything almost -almost- from his perspective, and we see exactly what he sees. Necromorph bodies and open vents, and text scrawled on walls, and all. This camera, twinned with the tight, narrow corridors, contributes also to a feeling of closeness, of the walls and very cameras closing in on you, everything so close together. You are being watched, by the camera and the Necromorphs both.     

Another design choice, namely the light being twinned with the weapon you are using, adds to this. All outside of your narrow target is often too dark to see in certain areas where the game ups the tension using darkness. You could be focused entirely upon an enemy, torchlight glaring furiously in its face, but that will be all you can see; which forces you to confront the horror in front of you, and leaves you with a question. What if there's another outside of the light, outside of your view? This is another way in which the design of the game uses suggestion and “what ifs” to scare the player. Not only this but that most primal of fears, nyctophobia, is incurred. That light in darkness is a pinprick, barely allowing for you to see ahead of yourself, and making you feel, again, like everything is closing in on you. Darkness all around, the ships walls all around, Necromorphs all around. 

Other areas of the game use the very colour of lighting – harsh oranges, reds and yellows – to signify danger, fear and that an area isn't yet safe. In enemy gauntlets, you will find an alarm blaring and an orange beam flickering, to show you that there are yet still enemies around that you must kill before you can progress. This is one thing that, I think, enemy gauntlets do well – you are trapped in a confined space [within an already confined space] and must get rid of all the enemies before you become their next victim and all aspects of design in this case are telling you “danger, get out” as well as allowing you breathing room once the danger is alleviated. 

 All of these design choices – the enemies established in the walls, limited lighting, winding corridors, the tight camera, the maze-like structure of levels and the disorienting feel of repeating back on yourself all contribute to a very precise feeling within the player. You are trapped, you are tracked, and this all creates tension, unease, and fear. Of course, this is just one of the ways in which Dead Space creates fear. 

[bysuckmeho-blog]

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[janiedean]

Hi Lavi :) I need your help! cause I'm moving to Roma soon for 2 months and I don't really know anything about the city :/// First, I would need advice for the place I'll stay in, I have 3 options basically : Trastevere, Aventino, or near the basilica santa maria maggiore. Knowing that I would need to be in the city center (next to the palazzo colonna) every day?? And general advices about living in Roma would be awesome too! Grazie

hey!

okay so first thing I REALLY HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD TIME HERE rn the administration is... terrible but hopefully it won’t deter you from enjoying it. in order:

palazzo colonna is right in the city center but in theory all three options are good because aventino is behind the coliseum which is within walking distance, santa maria maggiore is near the main station but it’s also within walking distance and trastevere is a bit farther but you can get to piazza venezia quickly with the tram which is like the one public transport that works. in theory aventino is more quiet and has a lot of green and it’s not that filled with tourists but it should be less cheap (if you’re renting) but like if you can afford it maybe it’s the best choice, but it also has the least choice of like, shops and restaurants and so on. trastevere has all the typical restaurants and is a lot more lively and is full of nice shops, but it’s also stock-full of tourists and unless you find a secluded place good luck sleeping during the weekends. santa maria maggiore depends on where you are because in between the church and the station it’s cheaper but it’s basically the multicultural area which is not as well kept as the others - sadly - and on the other side instead there’s monti which is a very nice and actually not too touristy neighborhood which has also good public transportation so it depends on what are your specific needs, but all three are good picks also because you can get to piazza venezia by foot anyway if everything else fails. I’d say weigh your specific needs (if you want to party in your free time trastevere or s. maria maggiore is better, if you want quiet and calm aventino would be better) and see but all those choices are good;

as far as general advice goes, in order, PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND SHIT and then WHAT YOU CAN DO:

know it from the get-go - public transport is shitty. if you can walk, WALK. if you can’t, get an app on your phone - the best are probus, citymapper and muoviroma - which tells you when the bus is coming if it’s coming - sometimes they fuck up but it’s better that you do. really, GET AN APP, because otherwise waiting for the bus will be hell. the metro is more reliable but taken in the morning or at 5-7 PM it’s hell - you’ll get people in your face and pressed up to you like sardines most of the time. the only good public transport is the tram and it’s not everywhere. do not expect it to work properly. there’s a strike about every other friday (I KNOW) so be prepared to walk. if you’re here for two months you can get the monthly card - at least it’s cheap, even if the service is shitty. 80% of the time the bus driver won’t speak very good english. anyway, do not expect good public transport. ever;

don't use taxis or try not to. the prices are some of the highest in the country and they'll rob you in any case. clearly if you need to get someplace at 3 AM then you don't have much choice, but the number for calling one is just in Italian I think, so you'd have to stop one unless you learn enough italian or you know it well enough to navigate it. especially, try don't take one from the airport because it'll cost you around 70 euros tops unless you want to spend them, of course. or you can try the private taxi companies - the one everyone recommends me is samarcanda, they also accept credit cards while regular taxis might not; (in case, go on ONLY THE WHITE ONES)

if you need directions, beware that a good 50% of the people here either speak English pretty badly. So in case you do need to ask, I'd suggest asking at a newsstand or bar or shop - at the center there's probably more of a chance that they actually do speak English. If you learn the basic Italian for directions it might help a lot, but if you ask random people they might be crap at communication;

if you need to buy food, we have a few supermarket chains. todis has the best price/quality ratio, conad is okay, carrefour is good but pricey, coop is good if you find one, the rest can be good or not but those are the most popular supermarket chains;

alf of the people who drive around here should have their license removed. (personal experience.) pay extra attention while crossing any road and try to mind noisy traffic. that might seem kind of stupid, but there's a bunch of people passing with red lights or starting the car as soon as it's green and stuff like that which never happens when I go outside Italy (most times). oh, and pay attention to motorcycles because 75% of people driving one should have their license removed instead of just half and they tend to break rules more than car drivers do;

if you want to rent a car or try to get one while you’re here you can but I would advise strongly against it because parking is a bitch and *I* hate driving in this city I can’t imagine someone not adjusted to it;

now, since it’s long, under the cut you get food/tourism advice/tourist traps and stuff. :)

Tourist traps and stuff that is advisable to avoid

There aren't many tourist traps in the strict sense since pretty much everything is worth visiting, but here are the ones I'm aware of, plus a few tips.

- Don't get on the top of St. Peter's. I don't know why it's apparently a great thing to do but it's totally not worth it. They charge you, there's always a line that can go from mid-long to long as fuck and the view isn't anything that special either. You can get a better one for free if you take a walk up the Gianicolo hill or the Pincio gardens just to say two. Or you can take the elevator on the Altare della patria.

When you go to the Coliseum/Roman forum, avoid fake gladiators before they throw an arm around your shoulder and take a picture with you because then they'll want to get paid for it even if you didn't ask. Unless you want one but it’s like ROBBERY. XD

When eating, avoid restaurants in the center offering you tourist menus or pasta/pizza menus. They'll tell you that you can have any pasta or pizza you want and stuff to drink for seven euros, but then looking at the menu since most pastas cost more than that, they'll mostly give you just one or two choices for either. Also 99% of the times it's frozen and re-heated, and at that point you can spend ten euros and go to a proper cheap pizza place. Also beware generally of places that offer pasta and pizza at the same time anyway - most proper pizza restaurants have a pasta/meat/vegetables/etc. choice anyway even if they don't advertise it, and whatever offers stuff like pasta/pizza/Italian typical food at once is usually not a good choice. If they sport an Italian flag or the Coliseum or St. Peter's on the menu outside then it's probably not a good place. XD

Generally eating cheap

Since I scared you off the cheap kind of restaurant, some eating cheaply advice. Now, unless you go to very fancy places and/or renomated restaurants and/or smack in the center, it's easy-ish enough to eat with no more than 12 euros per person in regular restaurants/pizza places. Also most Chinese restaurants are pretty cheap. But if you just want something quick for lunch or anything, there are a lot of places that sell pizza by the weight. You can just go in and say that you want three euros of that kind of pizza and that's all you'll pay, and they also sell appetizers to go with it (like, idk, arancini or supplìs, google them XD) and you'll get out of there having spent five euros at most. Most ice cream places are good by default so that's a good option as well. Or most bars have a kitchen and offer pasta/meat/vegetables at lunch and you pay less than what you'd get in a restaurant. Also if you want to try typical local stuff (though if you're vegetarian Roman food might not be your cup of tea) you can just go to Trastevere and there virtually each restaurant is good. Actually if you want to try pizza there, this is my favorite place; the pizza is excellent, everything else is, prices are reasonable and you don't pay for the service, just for the food. (Anyway, check for pizzas. There's Neapolitan and Roman - most places do it the Roman way but if you check they might do it the Roman way as well. The difference is that the former is the real pizza, the second is very thin rather than tall. They usually specify it, if it's Neapolitan. /end rant)

If you're into Jewish food then you could go to the ghetto, which is the second-oldest ghetto in the world (nothing to be proud but it's info) and where they have a bunch of great places to eat typical Jewish/Roman stuff, but I can't guarantee about the cheapness. TRY THE ARTICHOKES FOR THE LOVE OF GOD;

Other random tips before the to-see list

From what I gathered, if you need euros it's better to get them at a bank/ATM rather than at any change shop or at airports. They don't rob you that much on it, but it's still more convenient not to get money in there.

Use tap water. Rome is full of fountains and all the water is good to drink. It's actually very good water objectively XD and rather than getting charged two euros for half a liter you can just buy a bottle once and fill it in at your hotel or at the first random fountain you see in the street. It's all safe.

Any place that charges you more than one euro for one coffee that isn't strictly in the center or in Via Veneto (except for my favorite place in the center - Sant’Eustachio - which is totally worth every penny) is best left alone. Today a lot of places offer American coffee too but I’d advise trying the espresso ;)

- Don't try to rent a bicycle. High chance is that someone will hit you.

Or: come with jackets or a huge scarf with you even if it's nice hot weather because otherwise they won't let you inside churches. especially at St. Peter's they're strict like hell -- they won't let you in with one-quarter sleeves, you need to have at least half of your arms covered. And once I brought a friend to a crypt which I'll list in the to-see things which isn't inside the church, it's under it, and the guardian was looking in obvious disapproval at a bunch of Germans going inside in shorts and tank tops, so anyway if you want to get inside churches don't do it with your shoulders uncovered.

The shiny list of things you absolutely need to see, or try to if you don't have time

1. Coliseum + Roman Forum. Or, well, come on, we were awesome before popes re-built this city. Okay, with all seriousness, I'm not going to play tourist guide here because that'd be redundant, but you really should go see them.

Aaand advice in order to go quicker: usually lines at the Coliseum are huge. Depends on day/time, but unless you're going very early or very late it'll take you a while. So, either you can book your ticket (with at least one day of advance, they won't let you otherwise) or you go the sneaky way. Which is: you can get a ticket for Coliseum & Roman forum together as well, at both Coliseum and the forum. Since the forum usually has like 1/10 of the line, you go to the forum first, visit there and then go to the Coliseum, be like 'I HAVE MY TICKET ALREADY' and skip the line.

2. The center! Which means like twenty things together, but they're all close-ish to each other so in theory if you spend one day walking (or two half days walking) you can totes manage it. What you should go see in the center, not including the churches because I'll make a list out of those in another point:

a) The Pantheon;

b) Piazza di Spagna (where, if you're English lit nerds, you can go visit Keats' house - they say it's the Keats/Shelley museum but just Keats lived in there. Anyway, it's at the right of the stairs and apparently 90% of the visiting people are English and the people there go like 'OMGWHUT' when Italians go in, but however, it's a little cool museum and if you have some time it could be worth a visit);

c) Fontana di Trevi;

d) Via del Corso (where you go buy stuff if you're cool and have a lot of money);

e) Piazza Venezia ---> the Campidoglio hill (where there's a square and a palace by Michelangelo and the Capitolini museums - more on those later) --> the Trajan column;

f) Piazza Barberini (Bernini fountains!);

g) Piazza Navona (Bernini fountain + Borromini church + the square was actually a stadium in Roman times);

h) Campo dei fiori aka my favorite place and one of the best places to eat so YOU NEED TO GO SEE IT AND THAT'S THE END OF IT;

i) Piazza del popolo;

l) Porta Pia + imperial walls surrounding it;

m) all the roads in between that + the churches that I'll list in a short while.

n) ETA BECAUSE FOR SOME REASON I FORGOT: Piazza Argentina, where there's a colony of 300 cats in the Roman ruins there and you can pet them for free. Well obv not 300 at a time but yeah they totally want to be petted and there's a volunteer association taking care of them so they're clean and everything and so basically it's just a huge free petting zoo.

3. The churches!

Okay, telling you to go to all the churches in Rome would be insane as there's one every three buildings, so I'll give you a run down of the places that are worth checking out because of a) the architects, b) the paintings inside, c) other stuff of importance.

a) Basilicas first, obviously:

a1 -> St. Paul's. (No, I didn't list St. Peter's first. *cough*) it’s my favorite of the basilicas, especially because it's way older than St. Peter's and still has some Byzantine mosaics as well. Disadvantage: since it was built outside the Roman walls back then (VERY MUCH outside) it's smack down in the middle of suburbs, so you need to go there with the subway and there's nothing else around to see UNLESS YOU GO TO THE NOT-CATHOLIC CEMETERY to visit keats and shelley, it’s the previous metro stop;

a2 -> St. Peter's obviously. If only because Michelangelo's Pietà is in there and you -have- to see that, no discussions. XD No well obviously you have to go. I'm probably just sick of it because I've been there so many times that I barely notice anything else anymore

a3 -> St. John's, which is also quite worth visiting, and it's next to San Giovanni which is a pretty lively zone where you can totally go to have a drink or something to eat

a4 -> santa maria maggiore ;) 

There are three others as well but those four are the most important ones. Now, other churches:

b) San Luigi dei Francesi, Sant'Agostino and Santa Maria del popolo

have a considerable advantage that makes them VERY much worthy to be visited: all of them have Caravaggio paintings inside. Actually, the first has three, the second one, the third two, and they're all masterpieces, so those are totally worth visiting.

c) Sant'Andrea al Quirinale and San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane

are two churches near the Quirinale (where the President of the Republic lives -- NOT the PM, thanks XD), the first was designed by Bernini and the second by Borromini, which are both pretty much encompassing what you want to see about Baroque in Rome. They're both absolutely wonderful though I like Borromini's better. Regarding Borromini, it's his also the one in Piazza Navona.

d) Bernini speaking, in Santa Maria della Vittoria you will find the Ecstasy of St. Theresa sculpture - it's kind of fun that when I bring people there without telling them what's inside everyone is like 'OMG IS THAT IN HERE' because it's not the kind of church you notice.

e) Chiesa di Santa Maria Immacolata a Via Veneto  or where the crypt I was talking to you before is. Major point of interest: said crypt is made of human bones. Warning: since human bones/skeletons creep me out like nothing else I've never set foot inside or I'd have ended up with a major case of WANTING TO GET THE SHIT OUT OF THERE, but people with less problems with it assure me that it's amazing. Your pick. xD

f) San Clemente aka a minor basilica which is also one of our oldest churches and is definitely worth a visit, if only because you can sort of see how it's two churches one built over the other. It also has some catacombs (thankfully skeletons-free) which are pretty much worth a visit as I think they're the only ones that remained here in pretty good condition.

Obviously there's a bunch of other churches but those are the ones I wouldn't miss.

4. Museums:

4a: Vatican museums. Or, if you need to pick ONE then I'd go here even if clearly it's the most pricey and it'll take you half a day to see it. BUT, it has the Sistine Chapel and Raphael's chambers and pretty much some of the best things you can see here so yeah, totally recommending it. Other recommendation: either book tickets online (you'll pay like 3 euros more) or go there at lunch time around 12.30/1 PM because otherwise high chances are that you'll queue for hours. Also if you're a student and have a card or a document from your school bring it along because you can pay 8 euros instead of 14 to get in.

4b: Galleria Barberini: they have a lot of Reinassance/Baroque paintings, Caravaggio included, and they're much cheaper.

4c: Galleria Borghese: probably the besty out of said public museums. It has sculptures/paintings/everything from a lot of artists and also contains famous things as well but a) you have to book, b) they'll kick you out after two hours regardless of the point you reached, so while being there try to go as quick as possible. If you finish you can always go back.

4d: Musei Capitolini: or, the oldest public museums in the world! (Really.) They have a lot of ancient Roman statues/ruins/etc along with the Marcus Aurelius statue which is the only original Roman bronze around, so it's totally worth a visit. Their paintings are great as well.

4e: if you're into it, next to Galleria Borghese there's a pretty good modern art gallery, but I haven't been there in ages and I'm not that much into very modern art anyway so you should probably check before listening to me.

5. I’d also go to Trastevere/the isola tiberina if you don’t go LIVE there of course XD

6. Also if you have time take a train at ostiense and go to the ruins at Ostia Antica. then take a train from any regular station and go see Villa Adriana in Tivoli ;)

feel free to ask for any other advice!

[fille-lioncelle]

So there’s a thing that happens in every fandom and bothers me in every fandom, and in SKAM I feel like I can go “this specifically is why it bothers me” so I’m going to talk about it for a bit.

That thing is that once an m/m pairing gets to a certain level of popularity, at some point it apparently becomes more or less “widely accepted fanon” that one of them is the more or less (recently more more than less) subby bottom and the other one is the confident top who takes the lead in most/all matters. I don’t know why, but this seems to happen every single time. Apart from how I don’t think that’s representative of most actual m/m relationships, I personally think there’s hardly ever any reason to assign such roles to fictional characters because we hardly ever know anything about their actual sex lives. Often it’s ships who aren’t even canon! There is literally nothing to know! And even when it’s canon ships like Isak and Even, we don’t actually know anything about their sex life! And there’s no necessary correlation between someone’s behaviour outside the bedroom and in it!

So.

Basically, I’m a little bothered by this “Isak is a shy cupcake who never takes the lead and also definitely bottoms” thing that’s been growing so much recently. (Not to say there’s anything wrong with enjoying your smut however you want! If a boy wants to be fucked, he should go get himself fucked and have a great time! My point is just that that should go for all boys and that liking things up your butt isn’t a character trait, it’s a sexual preference.)

Even disregarding that Isak is a seventeen year old boy who is still in the closet when he meets Even and struggles with acting on his true desires because of how he fears it'll make others perceive him, and has thus never been in a romantic relationship where he felt comfortable and got to explore the physical side in a way that was true to himself (if he did at all) (that is to say, it's not unlikely he's a virgin when he meets Even, and even if he isn't he's quite obviously way less experienced than Even, who also generally doesn't seem to give a fuck about what people think about his sexuality), I think there are many instances in the show that establish Isak as a forward, not-at-all-timid person!

Annnnd I’m gonna put this behind a read more because this got seriously long oops

In episode one (of season three, which I’ll focus on), while it is Even who approaches Isak with the infamous paper towels stunt (seriously, that boy is a mess, it's amazing) and asks him to follow him outside, it's Isak who starts up the conversation and tries to find out more about Even. Sure, it's only polite to make conversation with someone who shares their drugs with you, but he seems curious and comfortable here.

In episode two, when they bump into each other on the tram, it's Isak who asks Even for a favour, which is quite forward of him to do considering they've had only the smallest of conversations before. Despite being in the closet (I know I said I'd disregard it, but bear with me!), he approaches this boy he clearly thinks is hot again, and then cancels his plans to spend more time with him and get to know him better. He offers Even advice about how the school works and even tries to "show off" a little with his "rapping skills". Despite this likely being one of the first times he's ever found himself in a situation like this with a boy, he goes with it, lets himself enjoy it, and flirts back!

In episode three, after the Sonja reveal, Isak understandably pulls back from Even, probably convincing himself he was imagining the flirting and tries for that Straight Life TM again (poor boy). When Even shows up at the pregame WITH Sonja, he's clearly angry, and gives Even the cold shoulder, but then when it's just the two of them, despite trying to do the right thing, he goes to kiss Even when he leans in, opening himself up to possibly being a straight boy's experiment. (In the aftermath of this it's also Isak who texts Even about hanging out more, initiating contact.)

In episode four Isak, perhaps accidentally, makes it clear that he's eager to spend more time with Even with his "no. maybe. are you going?" thing when Even asks about the Halloween party, and then, at the pregame from awkward hell, the only time we see him speak up is when he asks Even to clarify something he let Isak believe about him. He then goes with Even when he asks him to leave with him, making an executive decision to abandon that Straight Life. In the pool, when Even gives Isak an out of the kiss situation, Isak instead asks for a "rematch" and kisses Even himself, because this is what he wants! He wants to kiss this boy! So he's gonna!

In the opening of episode five (which is one of my fave scenes ever), Isak initiates a fair few of their kisses and seems perfectly comfortable with the physical contact. What's more is that even though that scene has Even say "jeez, I forgot how young you are", Isak laughs it off and clearly doesn't feel intimidated by Even being older/wiser/more experienced at all (if he even buys the latter two of those lol). When Even says that thing about directing your life he disagrees, and when Even asks him to elaborate he does. When Even in turn says something he doesn't get, he asks for clarification and tells Even straight up that he thinks that's a bit dark. Then when Even doesn't show up to school he goes looking for him, and the first thing he asks Even when he shows up in the locker room scene is "where have you been?" cause it ain't cool to disappear on someone like that and Isak isn't down.

In episode six, Isak is just about Done with Even; hurt from thinking he was being jerked around and seemingly being a straight boy’s experiment after all. He doesn’t give Even the chance to really say anything of substance when they run into each other in school, seemingly deciding that it’s not worth it if Even’s going to be so flaky. This is also the episode where he decides to Do Something about his life and goes to see the school doctor and then comes out to Jonas! Which, honestly, are both really hard things to do. Pulling yourself up from the ground when you’re as emotionally exhausted as Isak probably is at that point is no small feat. He’s done with his own shit and doing something about it! Reaching out to people! Honestly I love this boy omg.

In episode seven, after he’s come out to Mahdi and Magnus rather than let rumours do it for him (or let them deny the rumours!) even though it still makes him nervous, when they’re all pre-gaming at his, he sends Even that text about making up his mind. Sure, Jonas prompted him, but this is more Isak’s inexperience with romantic relationships speaking than his unwillingness to confront Even. He’s already done that several times, it just hasn’t worked out so well for him. Every time he’s put himself out there so far, Even has ended up pulling back again, so it’s no wonder he demands Even make the next move. And when Even makes The Mostest Move by showing up at Isak’s, Isak kisses him and pulls him inside into his room and undresses him, letting this boy who’s hurt him quite a bit at this point touch him how he’s possibly not let anyone else touch him (at least not in a while).

In episode eight, in another one of my favourite moments, Isak actually brings up not one, but two things about his “relationship” with Even that bother him - the fact that Even has bailed on him without saying goodbye in the morning before, and the fact that he doesn’t know whether Sonja’s still in the picture and that even if Even says she isn’t, he’s heard that one before. He isn’t letting Even get away with “screw her, who cares”, because Isak cares. He’s heard Even say that before and he wants to make sure he means it this time. And then he posts that picture of Even to his instagram! Announcing to the world that, yep, that boy y’all think I’m fucking is here and wearing my clothes! Later, when Even tries to tell him not to talk to Sonja, he doesn’t accept his “reasoning” either, and if it weren’t for timing, he definitely would have answered Sonja when she texted, I think. He’s not about to let Even tell him what to do (which, btw, nice irony given Even’s “she’s controlling” thing). He doesn’t let Even kiss him in public either, because he’s not comfortable with it, but initiates a kiss in the elevator when they’re in private. And then! The infamous hotel scene lol. There’s really only one glimpse of what’s going on below-waist that we get, and that’s when we see what seems to be Even’s leg by Isak’s hip like he’s sitting on him. Frankly, I think that’d make sense. Even is the more experienced one between the two of them, both with his own sexuality/desires (given how openly he pursues Isak) and with sex acts in general, and it’s quite daunting to put something up your butt, to put it crudely. That’s my take on that scene, at least. Also, I think Isak’s calling Sonja is a smart and brave thing to do, because he IS sort of “the other woman” and he can’t expect Sonja to like him very much or be at all inclined to help him.

In episode nine, even in the midst of heartbreak, Isak is doing His Best to understand. It takes him a few hours and reassurances from his friends, but he reaches out to Even despite everything and makes himself emotionally available AGAIN (which is a thing he’s been doing the entire season, opening himself up to Even to hold or hurt, and it takes guts to do that so repeatedly when you’ve been knocked down by this person so many times; but Isak likes this boy so much and he’s not giving up!) and then when Even reaches back, he literally runs to him to take care of him.

Which is of course pretty much what episode ten is about - Isak taking the lead emotionally. He talks to Sonja again and prolongs the awkward conversation twice to ask her for help with her ex-boyfriend who left her to be with him. Isak’s definitely no wimp when it comes to awkward conversations lol. He makes up that game about only caring about one minute at a time, asks to kiss Even instead, and physically turns himself into a shield between Even and the rest of the world. Of course Even’s depressed here, but even then Isak doesn’t defer to him at all, but fights him on the “it won’t work out” thing and keeps doing His Best to take care of Even. Again, I think he’s at his strongest when he tells Even to just take it a day at a time, makes himself available as an option but allows Even to come to terms with it in his own time, and by the time the kitchen scene in the last clip happens, they’re clearly on equal footing (again). I think the way they kiss hello and tease each other in that clip mirrors the opening of episode five really well, in tone. Only instead of the safety of Isak’s bedroom, they’re now in the kitchen where Sana can walk in on them and Isak doesn’t move away from Even, where Isak can joke about how hot he thinks Even is and that he decided to have him when he saw him/the “help wanted” poster lol.

And, a quick excursion into season four, Isak clearly has absolutely no problem teasing Even - be it about beer vs sparkling wine or the fact that Isak’s apparently going to be the breadwinner of the relationship haha - or initiating physical affection anymore, as evidenced quite openly by that window makeout session.

That’s all I can think of off the top of my head right now, so don’t hold me to it. I may have missed some things.

IN CONCLUSION I think it’s always been clear that while Isak follows Even’s lead on a few things, that’s more to do with their situation (Isak being closeted, Even being technically unavailable, and more experienced) than their characters. Isak has always challenged Even and has always been very comfortable around him. There’s no indication at all that I see in their canon interaction that leads me to think he would in any way be (necessarily) submissive to Even sexually, or in a service relationship kind of way. I want to reiterate that I don’t think there’s anything wrong at all with writing/enjoying them in whatever top/bottom combination one prefers! But even IF Isak were deferential to Even outside of sex (which, as you can see lol, I don’t think), there’s no reason to think that that carries over into their sex life, because that’s not how sexual preferences work. You’re not submissive because you enjoy being kissed anymore than you’re gay because you hold your wrist a certain way or anything. Stereotypes are stupid etc haha; you know this. And given that we have very little to no information about their actual sex life (and rightly so, tbh, it’s not like that’s what’s important about their story), I don’t think either depiction of them as top/bottoms makes them more or less “in character”.

If you’ve actually read all this thanks for indulging me in this ramble??? Feel free to come talk to me about it, if you feel like it.

[jollyviscreal666]

Vermin

New York City, underground subway, 1989.

The underground subway was lit up with dead green lights which gave the whole scenery a gloomy dull, eerie appearance. This used to be a frequently used subway terminal. Until everything changed.

The subway, stretching a good 2 miles started out as a busy structure. Once in the train, you could get off anywhere between Manhattan and the Bronx. It was the largest subway ever constructed in New York. The train trams were well connected and the tracks were reinforced with powerful steel. Such an expensive addition to the community by the government to such an infamously corrupted city. God knows what was on the Federal governed public systems mind. New York has a history of murders, mugs, mobs, and mayhem. It didn’t seem like a good idea to construct such an establishment during the year. Crime rates were high, they just caught Rosetti, the pimp\mob gangster. They were looking for him for years. And as any boneheaded fool would know, so many criminals and thugs would use such an establishment to their benefits. The sky’s the limit.

But the establishment didn’t last long. Aside from countless criminally induced acts and, you name it, apparently something stranger and more sinister seemed to be going on. Sure there were gang fights that broke out every now and then. A murder or a mugging here and there, but when authorities started taking note that more disappearances were taking place than usual, they knew something was out of sorts. They were used to finding dead bodies every now and then. Until they came upon one that shocked and puzzled them. It was a 35 year old man by the name of Bill Price. Forensics confirmed it. The body was missing its flesh almost entirely and the organs of the corpse were pulled out of the body and have been mildly shredded. When they examined the corpse, they could see whatever removed his skin and pulled his organs out did it slowly. Like some small critter ate into him. One investigator suggested rats. Quite frequent in the subways for the year. Especially the new one. More space o my means more rats. No one knows where the hell they came from. They’re just a bunch of pesty vermin waiting to get pulverized by some gangs AK-47s. According to census records; the most rats seen in one place was seen by Sara Mosley. 12 scattering about. A record for New York subway systems. But god knows if they have a taste for human flesh. Maybe Bill Price was murdered in cold blood and the pesty vermin devoured him cause they couldn’t find anything else to eat. However, according to the forensic investigators, the way his body was desiccated meant someone or something brutally savaged him from the start. Plus they have chemically measured time estimations from the corpses time frame of death and what not.

The subway is pretty deep underground. Another inconvenient factor. It makes it so when fucked up shit goes down, no essentially relevant authority individuals can conjure up more personnel for safety. So if something goes down, everybody’s fucked.

It’s October 13th on a Wednesday. Two days ago another body was found. The condition of the skinless corpse was similar to Bill Price. A body was also found on the 8th. Needless to say, it was found the same. Not only were the 3 corpses similarly mutilated, but they were all found near a specific location. Near gateway 4, terminal 40. It’s no coincidence that terminal has been known for sink holes, disturbingly foul oders, and plumbing leakage. The worst part was that beneath the train tracks were deep crevasses in the earth drilled deep by the Government transportation system construction department. They extended throughout the whole damn length of the train. But at terminal 40, there’s a crevasse so deep, there have been rumors of it reaching the underworld and what not. All this paranormal superstition bullshit. All of these reasons were probably why construction around the mysterious crevasse, or whatever the fuck it was(some deep ass hold in the earth), was permanently ceased.

It was Friday, October 15th. The subway was unusually occupied. The economy was booming; reaching a new level of achievement. A suspiciously coated figure walked forward. He wore a classically stereotypical detective investigator type uniform. Or the black leather coat with the collar straight up. He wore an al Capone styled hat and carried a briefcase. Everything black. As he walked forward people wondered how he could see where he was going with the hat in the way of his peripheral vision. He had skills.

Gate 3, Terminal 30. The man was one whole stop away from the next section. If he took the train, he’d reach it in 20 minutes. He waited for the next stop. Once it arrived, he stepped in. All eyes landed on him. He reached in one of his smaller pockets on his leather coat near his thorax and retrieved a notepad. The other he pulled out a pen. He flipped through his notes.

The tram he was in consisted of about 20 individuals. But the most of which were drawn to him by appearance were a short business man, a fat black woman with curly black hair, a Hispanic street thug, a white mother with her young 12 year old daughter, and a pesty looking white male with no sleeves on a white t-shirt.

The white guy with no sleeves trying to show his cleavage came over. He had gum in his mouth.

“Sup”, he blurted. The outstandingly fitted man with the detective figure and notepad looked up.

“Hi”, he replied mildly and without much emotion. The man just stood there. He hung on a rail up top with one arm. He held his other one out to the mysterious man.

“I’m Mitchel, but you can call me Mitch the hitch”. The business man grinned.

“I haven’t seen you around. Must be new. Deep filing organizer in the mayors palace by the looks of ya!”, white tee said obnoxiously. There was some mild smirking. The train rocked. He was still standing in the same spot. The mysterious man was trying his best to ignore him. White tee began to peek over to the other mans notepad.

“Do you mind!”, exclaimed the mysterious man, annoyed. White tee through his hands up in gesture. Still not moving, he flipped out a knife from his pocket. A flip knife blade. It flipped open as he pulled it out.

“You ever seen one of these?”, White tee asked obnoxiously. The mysterious man gazed at him with an abhorrent facade. The man flipped the knife in the air mildly and caught it by the handle every time. Still chewing his gum.

“Pretty neat huh?”, he implied.

“Yeah, hold on I think I got something”, began the mysterious man. He reached toward his back and slid his hand into the secret compartment on the back of the coat. He pulled out a cigar. Before anyone could react, the coated man pulled the dissolvable fake material off the cigar in a flash and launched a knife at the man. But it knocked the knife out of the white tees hand. He stumbled back, heart pounding. He mumbled a curse word. The mysterious man gestured his eyebrows to him. Suddenly an angry look overtook white tees facade. Everyone who was drawn by the mysterious mans appearance was looking at one another in awe. Next time the train shook, white tee took out a lighter and purposefully knocked the notepad out of his hand and set it on fire. He forced a grin he knew he was going to regret.

“Oops”, he muttered. The darkly coated man zoomed to him and slammed the mans face onto the tram window without much effort. White tees nose broke immediately. Blood gushed out. He continued to slam his head and face into the hard glass until a little crack was visible. By the 8th slam, he glanced at the passengers. Their eyes lit up in fear. Soon it will be panic. He finally stopped slamming the corpses head onto the tram window and let his body drop with its dripping disfigured face. He knew someone was going to make a move. 3 out of the 4 who we’re paying attention to him were crying and freaking out. Even the Hispanic thug felt uneasy.

The mysterious man undid the Velcro in the middle of his black leather coat and suddenly he got a whole lot skinnier. He pulled out two mini 8mm Colt revolvers. 4 people tried to escape from the tram. He shot them all down.

“I’ve got a whole case of slugs and more pieces, we could do this all day, so shut the fuck up and do what I say!!!!”, he demanded forcefully. The white 12 year old girl with her mom screamed. Before he could point his gun at her, a 12 inch rat zoomed by and pierced its teeth into his black denim shoe and into his toe. It only went into his toe about 14 centimeters. It then scurried away before he could kick it. Unfortunately, the tram stopped right at the exit or entrance to the 4th gate. Which means he’s going to have to wrap this up quickly.

He then heard people in the front tram, screaming. They were blood curdling screams. He got out to see who caused that commotion.

“What the hell ?”, he muttered. What looks to be packs of rats are schooling up together moving towards his tram. A body stumbled back all chewed up and bloody. Holes in their clothing. She fell back dead. The rats seemed to have got the message and picked up speed towards his tram. He zoomed to the tram door to try to shut it. He knew this was going to be a hell show no matter what. Especially with this Trippy fuck shit.

Then they all started piling in. First by the ones then by three or four at a time. About 10 of them were already in the tram by the time the black dresses man retrieved his briefcase and fended off the rats that hissed at him and attempted to pounce on him. 5 or 6 went automatically to the corpse of the disfiguring face of the sleeveless man. They nibbled on his skin and did their best to dig into him. They created mini craters and spread them throughout his body. They created them pretty quickly. The more time that passed the deeper they got. The blonde white mother was fending off every razor sharped claws and teeth rodent that came their way while protecting her daughter by covering her with her body.

When 8 more came in, most of them joined the feast on the now faceless corpses body. Or the desecrated body of the long dead sleeveless male. They massacred the hell out of his dead disfigured face. Soon all you could see was layers torn open simply and the last layer before the bone of the skull with blue veins aligned. The rats going after the mom and her child finally figured out how to penetrate their defenses. A rat made it on top of the daughters head. It massacred her head and face with its claws. She screamed as mildly deep marks appeared all over her head and face. The mom zoomed to the knives on the floor from earlier. It was nearly next to white tees corpse whose head was now a skull and his entire body was covered in a frenzy of rats. The rats apparently took it as an offensive threat for her to invade their territorial space like that. A huge line of them formed and massacred her foot. They were so fast. So vicious. So angry. She felt bad for her daughter but she knew they were both going to die. Soon the back cartilage of her foot was cleanly torn open. She fell back on a seat, hopeless as they devoured her foot. Her daughter now had a deep piece of flesh missing from the back of her head. More than one were on her now trying to get to her eyes. The more they bled, the harder the rats tried to take them apart to feast on them. Most of the rats attacking the mom were devouring her feet up to her legs. About two minutes later, all layers of her flesh were gone. The lesser rats that scurried over her body were biting her lips off and digging into her nose cavity. The daughter was just crying as more craters of missing skin appeared all over her body. The deeper they got the more quicker she bled out. It took awhile for the rats to remove everything from the mother’s body. The child was covered up in rats a lot quicker. The fat black lady was surprisingly still alive with only a lot of craters around her body getting deeper by the minute. She screamed. She knew if she attempted any escape it would only get worse.

The business man successfully encased his head into his suit case and held onto his brief case for dear life, covering the front of his body. It was a leather briefcase. A hole was in it with blood.

The fat black lady soon caught sight of the deaf 12 year old girl. Her hair was still intact. But a rat waddled our of an unsuspected hole in the middle of her dead. The black lady, still being nibbled on , puked loads. This caused the rats to brutally massacre her face. They absolutely hated it. Soon she had a facade of a frenzy of rats on her face. More than there needed to be. It took 18 seconds before they parted, revealing her skull with tiny strings of meat hanging off.

The Hispanic thugs heart was brought out. His face was slowly devoured. What killed him was the deep Engraving of his abdomen by the rats.

The only one lucky enough to get away was the mysterious man. He ran to the best exit he believed would suit him. Unfortunately, the authorities were on their way down it. So he was blocked out after checking the other exit with the same conditions. He knew a sewer route system leading to the city. But was it safe? Those vermin could be waiting for him. He risked it. So far so good. He reached an intersection which he wasn’t sure about. He decided. He stepped in a room with thousands of rats. He shuttered in fear. A school of rats from the other side of the way in, blocked the exit. A menacing growl filled the air. Fear grew in him like none other. “Here comes Karma”, he thought. The rats drew a little closer to him.

A 4ft long mutant like rat zoomed down from the ceiling upside down to the wall. Then to the floor. It pounced at him. It sunk its teeth into his forearm near his hand. It chewed it slowly. It made the skin loose before it pulled it off slowly like a glove. The rest of the rats massacred him. They did the same. The mutant rat has the upper body, the others, the bottom. He screamed until he couldn’t hear himself scream anymore.

[djseaward]

traveling with your dog: what to know

we got our ferdinand mostly because of his breed and size (but chose him specifically for his extremely calm temperament). with an on-the-go lifestyle, we needed a dog we could take everywhere... and we do! he only weighs four kilos (about 9 lbs) so he’s easy to travel with.

one of the first things we did when we got him was obtain his doggie passport. many people who saw this photo were baffled: “dogs have passports?” the answer, as far as living in the EU is, yes, but it doesn’t seem absolutely required. they are available, but i’ve noticed the information is exactly the same as in his medical booklet the breeder gave us. if you’re going to fly with your dog, the most important thing is making sure he is not behind on any annual vaccinations, especially for rabies. it is required that the dog get that six weeks before the date of travel.

we opted to get a passport to be on the safe side and also because one day ferdinand will probably move to the united states and we wanted everything to be as official and in order as possible early on.

we also started taking him on buses and trains almost immediately -- in fact, the day after we brought him home. it takes a bit of time and patience, but within a few times, he began to get excited when the bus would pull up and even hops on himself! the main thing to do when you get a travel dog is immediately take him everywhere with you. take him on the bus, on the train, up and down busy streets, around crowd noise and tram bells. it’s the dog that stays home and is not exposed to any new stimuli that will be the most freaked out from traveling.

another thing we invested in early on is his travel carrier (below). because of his size, he is well-suited to fit in one! if your dog is too big to fit inside a standard airline carry-on sized carrier, it may still be prudent to invest in a “travel bed” -- it seems to be a bed looking carrier with handles that the dog can sit inside and feel safe anywhere. this can be great for dogs that need more comfort when in a new place, although do keep in mind, a travel carrier fit for train or in-cabin airplane travel must zip up all the way as well as having a hard, impenetrable and waterproof bottom.

when on the road with your dog, don’t forget....

food and water dishes. instead of the fancy, expensive travel dishes you see at every pet store, we use empty food containers. we keep one with a serving of dog food in it, and another dish (without a lid) which can fit on the outside of the food dish for water. we pour some water from our own bottle in there, and just dump it anywhere when he’s finished. it’s great to place under our table when we go out to eat at casual restaurants, especially outdoor cafes.

to let your buddy have water often! while traveling in the summer, your dog will often be walking outside and will be as thirsty as you will be! as a rule, whenever we stopped for a drink of water, we gave him the opportunity to drink as well. as always, be mindful of a dry nose if he is active -- it could be an indication that your dog isn’t getting enough to drink.

bring a towel! a towel serves as a covering for car seats (protecting from hair and fluids) as well as an impromptu dog bed at an accommodation. we would have been lost without a towel for our ferdie while renting a car this summer.

bring packs of travel tissues or wet wipes. for any kind of mess or a car-sick dog, you have no idea how much these were needed! i would place a layer of a few tissues on the towel with ferdie just in case car-sickness struck and it was a seat-saver.

to keep his routine as normal as possible. dogs thrive on routine, making them feel more comfortable like at home, and travel can shake this up a lot. if possible, try to keep feeding and ‘going outside’ times the same as you would at home, as well as any nighttime routine. 

to have a plan for what you would do in a pet emergency. fortunately when emergency struck for us, i asked our cottage host immediately where to find the nearest vet. however i can easily imagine a scenario where we might not have had internet or anyone to ask. it’s good to be prepared.

what to expect for train travel

on most european trains in central europe, dogs in a travel carrier are considered “luggage” and essentially free to take, as long as they stay inside the whole time. for an extra fee (varies by country, usually minimal), considered a “dog ticket”, you are allowed to have your dog on-leash without a carrier, but you must have a muzzle with you. typically, the conductors don’t make us put it on our little guy but some of the stricter ones do. without one, it is a breach of the rules, so i wouldn’t risk it!

on a long train journey with multiple connections, we try to get a toilet stop in before transferring to the next train. remember -- dogs are not allowed on the seats.

what to expect for bus travel

in the czech republic, dogs are allowed on city (MHD) buses at no additional cost and regional buses at a small additional cost (but about half of the time, the driver doesn’t charge this). however, dogs are not allowed on international lines which is why we always take the train these days.

what to expect at the airport

when flying with your dog in a carry-on travel carrier, remember that you will probably have to buy a supplement at the time you purchase your plane ticket. the price varies by airline but i’ve seen anywhere from $30 - $100 charges per flight. it’s a good idea to buy your ticket in as much advance as you can when traveling with your pet because many airlines have policies of no more than two carry-on pets allowed per flight, so of course, you’re going to want to be one of the first two. also be aware that some airlines do not permit online check-in when traveling with your pet. these days, it can even cost an extra fee to check-in at the airport so be mindful about that when choosing whether to fly with your dog or not.

do mention your dog is with you when you check into your flight. the check-in agent may want to check his passport/papers and see your travel carrier. while going through security control, your dog should be in his carrier while in the queue and the gate agent will want you to remove him at that point so you can put his carrier through the security screening on the conveyor belt, and you will be instructed to carry your dog through the screening with you.

lastly, i would add that in central europe, dogs seem to be allowed in most restaurants, cafes and bars -- a “no dogs” sticker on the door is the en vogue way these days to let customers know what the deal is. for mini-markets, shopping centers and supermarkets, dogs are almost always a no-go. in germany, i’ve noticed that any park that is also a playground is not dog-friendly, and all over europe we’ve noticed that many lake and beach areas are verboten for furry friends. fortunately for us, this is not the case at home in our laid-back south bohemia!

with more unconventional museums (read: not art galleries), it pays to ask. we were able to bring ferdie on a tour of one of the world’s largest underground wine cellars in retz, austria because i asked first.

one last note on traveling with your dog: do it. bring him or her on your next trip and see how it goes! it usually isn’t hard to find a dog-friendly property to stay in and it’s so lovely to have the whole “family” together instead of feeling like someone important is missing the whole time. at first it can seem limiting, but after awhile, i feel like there are few places we can’t go together.

is there anything else you would like to know or add? do you / would you travel with your pet?

[orchidnightshadow-blog]

Preparation for Germany

Hi! I'm a college student studying English and German. I just completed my junior year and am in Germany right now to study.  I'm going to blog my experiences in Germany, starting with this entry being the prep that went into the trip. This is my first time attempting any sort of blog and I was told Tumblr was a good platform to use. I’m still getting used to it, so bear with me please!

My German professor encourages all of his students to try to make it to Germany at some point, specifically Heidelberg. He studied there and absolutely loves the city. So, when a student goes to study abroad, they go to Heidelberg. I was a little nervous at the idea of studying in a different country, but I still wanted to do it. My school is partnered with a specific program (Junior Year Program) and students typically only have that one choice because it’s the only way to get credits to transfer. The program didn’t appeal to me for multiple reasons. The main one was the price. It was six weeks for $6.5K. Everyone I tell say that it's ridiculous. Which I agree with. It does come with a trip to Berlin and you get a weekly allowance, a bus ticket for the whole time, and some other stuff. But I still felt like it was too much. What I just described was the summer program. Because of the way my English major worked out, I wouldn't be able to take a whole semester off to study in Germany, so I would have to go with the summer program if I wanted to study abroad. But I didn’t want to do this program and didn’t know what other options I had.

The college I go to have language houses. This is where each language gets a suite on campus with the goal of speaking in the target language as much as possible. To help with that, they bring in someone from each country who speaks the language. I lived in the German house for the past two years, and the last house director agreed that it was ridiculous, and that if I wanted to study in Germany, she could help me out.

So, we met in February to talk about the different language schools in Heidelberg. We emailed each of the schools she showed me (so we emailed two schools), and I gathered information. I wouldn't be able to get credits for my time studying in Germany, but I mainly cared about the experience of living in Germany and studying the language in the country. I knew I wanted to stay for a considering part of the summer, and I decided eight weeks would be a good amount of time to be in the country but also not be too expensive. I eventually picked one of the schools after emailing the man there for a few months. Sounds like a lot, but my family needs as much information as possible about anything. There were questions about price, where accommodation would be, where I could be picked up, and more. To be honest, I was emailing him questions the day before I got on the plane.

When I decided which school, I was told there was a waiting list for accommodation, and that I would have to wait to find out if I could attend the school for June. There was no problem for July. Because I didn’t know if I could stay for June or not, we couldn’t book my plane ticket. We found out I could attend June the first week of May, less than a month before I would leave to attend the school.

Because it took a while to figure out when I was attending, it was difficult finding plane tickets that matched the day I had to show up. The school could pick me up from the train station on Sunday, but every flight that wasn't over $1,000 came in on Saturday. We ended up getting tickets from Condor Airlines that arrived on Saturday and thought I could stay in a hotel for the first night. But a friend suggested getting an Airbnb for the first night. I looked for one, found one, and booked that night. I sent yet another email to the school asking if they could pick me up from the Airbnb, and they could!

As someone who doesn't live in the city, when my friend from Germany said I could easily use the trains to get from the airport in Frankfurt to Heidelberg, I was a little scared. She helped me get the ticket I would need and look at the connecting trains I would need to take to get there. She told me I could buy a one-way tram ticket from the train station to a stop close to the Airbnb, but the walk was about half a mile. She told me if I was too tired after traveling that I could take a taxi. We had all transportation planned out and tickets ready.

Packing was interesting because I apparently own a million shirts and two pairs of pants. But we got everything I would need for the eight weeks packed up in two suitcases. I didn’t want to completely pack my two suitcases, in case I bought some stuff and needed room to pack it in when I returned. I knew I wasn’t going to pack eight weeks’ worth of clothes, but I packed enough to where I wasn’t doing laundry every three days. I packed a plug converter, any electronic cables I would need, toiletries, and stuff for my period.

I packed everything I needed that I wouldn’t be able to easily buy over there. Like, I could buy detergent to wash my clothes with, so I didn’t pack it. But I packed my heating pad because it is necessary and had no idea where I would even get one.

That’s all the preparation for my trip! My next post will be flying and my first day in Germany.

[succeedly]

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books

Brett Bigham on episode 208 [A special encore episode] of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Autistic children can struggle with unfamiliar places. However, one teacher of the year has found a way to help improve traveling experiences for autistic children and their families. Brett Bigham has created a way to use books to help special needs and young children prepare to go to new places. Learn about this technique and how to help children travel who may have fears. You can even make books for kids (or some older students might be able to as well.) What a life-changing concept! Ability books for those with special needs.

Check out my Do What Matters DIY Productivity System with 108 Excel templates and PDF’s that I use to make my own planner – https://gum.co/bZbtZ.

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books

Vicki: Today we’re talking with Brett Bigham @2014ortoy, AKA “Mr. B” who was Oregon Teacher of the Year 2014.

Brett, your love and passion has been kids with special needs, for quite some time. And you work with older kids who have special needs, so we’re going to talk a little bit about a way that you helped kids with special needs kind of transition to other places. So, give me an example of something you’ve done.

How Brett helped his autistic and special needs kids take field trips each week

Brett: I worked with students who were ages 18-21, for quite a while, and a lot of my students had pretty severe autism. My classroom’s a county level classroom. So I was only getting students if the local district couldn’t handle their health or their behavior. I had two full-time nurses in my room and a very busy class.

So, what I started to discover was that when I took some of those kids with severe autism out on a field trip, they were melting down. They really couldn’t stand not knowing what was coming up.

So I kind of realized, “Well, I need to fix that,” instead of deciding they should go on field trips. I decided I have to modify what I’m doing. So I started going the week before to the event or the field trip we were going on. And we went out every Friday. It was part of our program, to get our students more used to being out in the community.

So if we were going to ride on the Portland Tram, I would go the weekend before and take pictures of every step. “These are the stairs you go in, this is the door you open, this is the ticket machine,” — every step they need to do the field trip.

I’d make a book. I’d print the pictures into the book, and then write all the steps. Then we would spend the week going over what was coming up.

They’re similar to a “social story,” which a lot of people who work with autism will see, like, “I’m Going to the Doctor” or a trip, or how to go. And they’re step-by-step, but they’re very generic. And I needed specifics.

I had to show the staircase they were going to walk up. I had to show them the signs they needed to look at to find the arrows of where to go. So, I just started doing them in my own room.

How one family was finally able to go on vacation

And after a while, one of my students that really needed these had what’s called Severe Self-Injurious Behavior. She would hit herself when she became upset. It was so terrible to see. It was the worst day of my career the first time she had one of these episodes. The year before I got her, she was sent home 34 times for that. The first year I had her, we had three incidents. Two of them were right at the beginning, and I started using the books. The next year she had zero. And the next year she had zero.

And her family started going on vacations. They had never gone on a trip in their entire life with her, and they were able to go to Hawaii. I made a book, “I’m Going to Hawaii,” and was able to go online and find vacation pictures from people.

And people took pictures of everything, so I got the inside of the plane so I could show her, “This is the inside of the plane you’re going to go on.” And they were actually the Aloha Airlines logos, but a plane stuffed with people. A lot of times, you know, you can get a picture of the airplane, but it’s empty. And this was crammed full, so she knew exactly what to expect.

And when her parents got back from the trip, their life was changed. Absolutely changed. They didn’t have a single incident the whole time.

And now that student has graduated. And when I met her, she was someone – they were trying to figure out how they could make a life for this young lady – one that meant she never had to leave her house. And when she left me, she got a job, and she goes to work five days a week. Her whole family’s life is changed from it.

How Brett puts pictures together

Vicki: So, you take the pictures. Do you have a technology you use to put these books together?

Brett: I do it in two different ways. I make a printout version that you can just look at on your computer and print out. And then I use Microsoft Sway because they have a feature where I can record the book. And that can also be used on the phone. So someone could take the phone, and push a button, and it will read it to them.

I’ve just started recording them. I only have one of them done. I have 45 books at this point.

Editor’s Note: Today’s Sponsor Book Creator has all of these features as well. You can start now with 40 free books to create for your kids. Go to: http://ift.tt/2y2OTLZ

How to Find the books

Vicki: Wow. Can people get them online? Can you give a link?

Brett: They are. They are all online, but sadly, most of them are only in places where I’ve been. So, I have quite a few books for Washington D.C., because I’m there for conferences. I have Portland, Oregon, where I’m from. Last year I was at the NNSTOY Conference in Chicago, and we took in the Chicago Art Institute, so they have a book. So, it kind of depends where I go. But I go a lot of places these days.

Vicki: And so they can tweet you to ask you to – if they have a special request?

Brett: Absolutely. You know, I would love to do that. Or I would help somebody in another state. If they said, “I really… I need to make this for my student.” I would walk them through every step, and then I would hope that they’d let me put them on my blog. It’s MrBsClassroom.com, and they’re all on there.

What happened, though, since I have had this opportunity to go out and speak, I’ve made books now for eleven countries. So, I’m starting to collect people who can translate. I have an Italian mom who has a son with autism, and she’s translating all the books I wrote for Italy into Italian.

So my outreach is – I’ll do the best I can, which is an English book on how to go to visit the Coliseum, when I went. But it’s in English, so it helps somebody who speaks English who can go to the Coliseum, but this housewife is making it a tool for every person with autism in Italy. And that’s my dream.

How do you use the books with children?

Vicki: So you have the book. You show it to the child. You talk it through. So, describe what you do, once you have the book in hand, when you’re sitting down. You’re sitting down one-on-one with the child for this?

Brett: I’ve done both. You know, with the whole classroom, showing them. And then I’ll sit with a student, and we’ll just go page by page, and like this is… You know, I read the book to them and point at the picture and say, “We’re going to go here, and these are the stairs that we’re going to go up. You don’t need to be worried about that.” In the books, I always focus on “This is a safe place. Stay with your group.”

But I always show pictures – at least one in every book, I think, of someone sitting down on a chair somewhere – where I say, “If it gets to be too much, you can just sit down and rest for a minute. You don’t need to get upset. Just have a minute. Take a moment. Have a seat.”

Vicki: And you show them a place where they can sit…

Brett: Exactly.

Vicki: Ohhhh, so you’re giving them an out. You’re saying, “OK.” In some ways it’s metacognition. “OK, I realize I’m getting tired. So I’m going to ask to sit over here.”

Brett: Absolutely. And that way, they don’t have to stress out because someone doesn’t understand what they want. They can show me in the book. “I’m ready to sit down.” It gives them a way to communicate back, or maybe even to ask a simple type of question about the outing.

Vicki: This is genius. I mean, it’s just beautiful.

Helping kids and people with the fear of the unknown

Brett: But it’s not genius. It’s so… You know, once I realized that these people who have such a… That autism comes in so many different shades and varieties and… But the people who have that fear of the unknown, and the transition problems… Once I just took a moment to sit down and say, “Well, how do I fix that?” And it was a simple fix. They just need to know. But I had to figure out a way to get them to know.

And I feel sorry for my friends. I’m always – my poor partner – I’m always tricking them. “Hey, let’s go to breakfast downtown.” Then while we’re down there, I’m like, “Well, while we’re here, let’s go down by the Tram. I need to take some pictures. So you know, all my friends have been in books, and course they always say OK. How do you say no to that?

Vicki: Yeah, because I want to help a child who really needs the help.

Brett: Absolutely.

Vicki: So… we’re going to put the link to the blog in the Shownotes.

Brett: Thank you.

Vicki: And do you have on your blog instructions for teachers who want to create books like you’ve done?

Brett: I haven’t done that, because nobody’s asked for it yet.

Vicki: I’m asking! (laughs)

Brett: You know what?

Vicki: I think people are going to want to know how to do that!

We need more travel books for children who struggle with fears of the unknown

Brett: If there’s a teacher who thinks that this is the answer to helping one of their students, I will do everything they need to help. If they can take the pictures for me, I can write the book for them. I haven’t done that yet, but I keep hoping I will have to. I’m trying to be the guy who takes the snowball at the top of the hill and pushes it. Because I can. It’s taken me twelve years to do 45 books. And that’s… that’s not enough. You know, I want… I want every Smithsonian Museum on the mall to have a book. And every important place, and every city… I want them to have a book, because, without them, people who have these issues with the transition will never get to go. Or if they go, it won’t be successful.

Vicki: So it just opens up a great opportunity for those with autism to be able to go places. It’s a great strategy.

Brett: Right. And if you have a listener who decided, you know, this is what my daughter needs. And they want to make a book, what I will do then is I’ll take that book and put that on my blog, and maybe help them find somewhere locally where they can do it so that the people in their community can share the book. And if ten people just do one book, then your community has the support it needs. I’ve done twelve for Portland, and it makes it one of the most accessible cities in the United States for people with this autism

Vicki: So what do you call these books?

Brett: I call them Ability Guidebooks.

Vicki: Ability Guidebooks… So, teachers, this is a remarkable idea. Ability Guidebooks for those with autism, or transition issues. And you know there are lots of kids who could benefit from this. I’ll include the blog, so you can go there.

Did you want to add something, Brett?

Brett: You were saying other students… I had never thought about that. I was thinking of my own kids at first, and what I started to get were messages from kindergarten and first grade teachers saying, “We were going on a field trip to the art museum, and I used your book to show my eight-year-olds exactly how to behave in the museum.” And it makes a world of difference because they see what’s expected beforehand.

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford

  Bio as submitted

Brett Bigham is the only Oregon special education teacher to be named Teacher of the Year or to be awarded the NEA National Award for Excellence in Education. He was named a NEA Foundation Global Fellow in 2015 and is one of only a handful of teachers to be given that honor again for 2018 where he will travel to South Africa as a representative of U.S. teachers.

Blog:http://ift.tt/2xbNK7o

Twitter:@2014ortoy

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books published first on http://ift.tt/2jn9f0m

[growthvue]

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books

Brett Bigham on episode 208 [A special encore episode] of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Autistic children can struggle with unfamiliar places. However, one teacher of the year has found a way to help improve traveling experiences for autistic children and their families. Brett Bigham has created a way to use books to help special needs and young children prepare to go to new places. Learn about this technique and how to help children travel who may have fears. You can even make books for kids (or some older students might be able to as well.) What a life-changing concept! Ability books for those with special needs.

Check out my Do What Matters DIY Productivity System with 108 Excel templates and PDF’s that I use to make my own planner – https://gum.co/bZbtZ.

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books

Vicki: Today we’re talking with Brett Bigham @2014ortoy, AKA “Mr. B” who was Oregon Teacher of the Year 2014.

Brett, your love and passion has been kids with special needs, for quite some time. And you work with older kids who have special needs, so we’re going to talk a little bit about a way that you helped kids with special needs kind of transition to other places. So, give me an example of something you’ve done.

How Brett helped his autistic and special needs kids take field trips each week

Brett: I worked with students who were ages 18-21, for quite a while, and a lot of my students had pretty severe autism. My classroom’s a county level classroom. So I was only getting students if the local district couldn’t handle their health or their behavior. I had two full-time nurses in my room and a very busy class.

So, what I started to discover was that when I took some of those kids with severe autism out on a field trip, they were melting down. They really couldn’t stand not knowing what was coming up.

So I kind of realized, “Well, I need to fix that,” instead of deciding they should go on field trips. I decided I have to modify what I’m doing. So I started going the week before to the event or the field trip we were going on. And we went out every Friday. It was part of our program, to get our students more used to being out in the community.

So if we were going to ride on the Portland Tram, I would go the weekend before and take pictures of every step. “These are the stairs you go in, this is the door you open, this is the ticket machine,” — every step they need to do the field trip.

I’d make a book. I’d print the pictures into the book, and then write all the steps. Then we would spend the week going over what was coming up.

They’re similar to a “social story,” which a lot of people who work with autism will see, like, “I’m Going to the Doctor” or a trip, or how to go. And they’re step-by-step, but they’re very generic. And I needed specifics.

I had to show the staircase they were going to walk up. I had to show them the signs they needed to look at to find the arrows of where to go. So, I just started doing them in my own room.

How one family was finally able to go on vacation

And after a while, one of my students that really needed these had what’s called Severe Self-Injurious Behavior. She would hit herself when she became upset. It was so terrible to see. It was the worst day of my career the first time she had one of these episodes. The year before I got her, she was sent home 34 times for that. The first year I had her, we had three incidents. Two of them were right at the beginning, and I started using the books. The next year she had zero. And the next year she had zero.

And her family started going on vacations. They had never gone on a trip in their entire life with her, and they were able to go to Hawaii. I made a book, “I’m Going to Hawaii,” and was able to go online and find vacation pictures from people.

And people took pictures of everything, so I got the inside of the plane so I could show her, “This is the inside of the plane you’re going to go on.” And they were actually the Aloha Airlines logos, but a plane stuffed with people. A lot of times, you know, you can get a picture of the airplane, but it’s empty. And this was crammed full, so she knew exactly what to expect.

And when her parents got back from the trip, their life was changed. Absolutely changed. They didn’t have a single incident the whole time.

And now that student has graduated. And when I met her, she was someone – they were trying to figure out how they could make a life for this young lady – one that meant she never had to leave her house. And when she left me, she got a job, and she goes to work five days a week. Her whole family’s life is changed from it.

How Brett puts pictures together

Vicki: So, you take the pictures. Do you have a technology you use to put these books together?

Brett: I do it in two different ways. I make a printout version that you can just look at on your computer and print out. And then I use Microsoft Sway because they have a feature where I can record the book. And that can also be used on the phone. So someone could take the phone, and push a button, and it will read it to them.

I’ve just started recording them. I only have one of them done. I have 45 books at this point.

Editor’s Note: Today’s Sponsor Book Creator has all of these features as well. You can start now with 40 free books to create for your kids. Go to: http://ift.tt/2y2OTLZ

How to Find the books

Vicki: Wow. Can people get them online? Can you give a link?

Brett: They are. They are all online, but sadly, most of them are only in places where I’ve been. So, I have quite a few books for Washington D.C., because I’m there for conferences. I have Portland, Oregon, where I’m from. Last year I was at the NNSTOY Conference in Chicago, and we took in the Chicago Art Institute, so they have a book. So, it kind of depends where I go. But I go a lot of places these days.

Vicki: And so they can tweet you to ask you to – if they have a special request?

Brett: Absolutely. You know, I would love to do that. Or I would help somebody in another state. If they said, “I really… I need to make this for my student.” I would walk them through every step, and then I would hope that they’d let me put them on my blog. It’s MrBsClassroom.com, and they’re all on there.

What happened, though, since I have had this opportunity to go out and speak, I’ve made books now for eleven countries. So, I’m starting to collect people who can translate. I have an Italian mom who has a son with autism, and she’s translating all the books I wrote for Italy into Italian.

So my outreach is – I’ll do the best I can, which is an English book on how to go to visit the Coliseum, when I went. But it’s in English, so it helps somebody who speaks English who can go to the Coliseum, but this housewife is making it a tool for every person with autism in Italy. And that’s my dream.

How do you use the books with children?

Vicki: So you have the book. You show it to the child. You talk it through. So, describe what you do, once you have the book in hand, when you’re sitting down. You’re sitting down one-on-one with the child for this?

Brett: I’ve done both. You know, with the whole classroom, showing them. And then I’ll sit with a student, and we’ll just go page by page, and like this is… You know, I read the book to them and point at the picture and say, “We’re going to go here, and these are the stairs that we’re going to go up. You don’t need to be worried about that.” In the books, I always focus on “This is a safe place. Stay with your group.”

But I always show pictures – at least one in every book, I think, of someone sitting down on a chair somewhere – where I say, “If it gets to be too much, you can just sit down and rest for a minute. You don’t need to get upset. Just have a minute. Take a moment. Have a seat.”

Vicki: And you show them a place where they can sit…

Brett: Exactly.

Vicki: Ohhhh, so you’re giving them an out. You’re saying, “OK.” In some ways it’s metacognition. “OK, I realize I’m getting tired. So I’m going to ask to sit over here.”

Brett: Absolutely. And that way, they don’t have to stress out because someone doesn’t understand what they want. They can show me in the book. “I’m ready to sit down.” It gives them a way to communicate back, or maybe even to ask a simple type of question about the outing.

Vicki: This is genius. I mean, it’s just beautiful.

Helping kids and people with the fear of the unknown

Brett: But it’s not genius. It’s so… You know, once I realized that these people who have such a… That autism comes in so many different shades and varieties and… But the people who have that fear of the unknown, and the transition problems… Once I just took a moment to sit down and say, “Well, how do I fix that?” And it was a simple fix. They just need to know. But I had to figure out a way to get them to know.

And I feel sorry for my friends. I’m always – my poor partner – I’m always tricking them. “Hey, let’s go to breakfast downtown.” Then while we’re down there, I’m like, “Well, while we’re here, let’s go down by the Tram. I need to take some pictures. So you know, all my friends have been in books, and course they always say OK. How do you say no to that?

Vicki: Yeah, because I want to help a child who really needs the help.

Brett: Absolutely.

Vicki: So… we’re going to put the link to the blog in the Shownotes.

Brett: Thank you.

Vicki: And do you have on your blog instructions for teachers who want to create books like you’ve done?

Brett: I haven’t done that, because nobody’s asked for it yet.

Vicki: I’m asking! (laughs)

Brett: You know what?

Vicki: I think people are going to want to know how to do that!

We need more travel books for children who struggle with fears of the unknown

Brett: If there’s a teacher who thinks that this is the answer to helping one of their students, I will do everything they need to help. If they can take the pictures for me, I can write the book for them. I haven’t done that yet, but I keep hoping I will have to. I’m trying to be the guy who takes the snowball at the top of the hill and pushes it. Because I can. It’s taken me twelve years to do 45 books. And that’s… that’s not enough. You know, I want… I want every Smithsonian Museum on the mall to have a book. And every important place, and every city… I want them to have a book, because, without them, people who have these issues with the transition will never get to go. Or if they go, it won’t be successful.

Vicki: So it just opens up a great opportunity for those with autism to be able to go places. It’s a great strategy.

Brett: Right. And if you have a listener who decided, you know, this is what my daughter needs. And they want to make a book, what I will do then is I’ll take that book and put that on my blog, and maybe help them find somewhere locally where they can do it so that the people in their community can share the book. And if ten people just do one book, then your community has the support it needs. I’ve done twelve for Portland, and it makes it one of the most accessible cities in the United States for people with this autism

Vicki: So what do you call these books?

Brett: I call them Ability Guidebooks.

Vicki: Ability Guidebooks… So, teachers, this is a remarkable idea. Ability Guidebooks for those with autism, or transition issues. And you know there are lots of kids who could benefit from this. I’ll include the blog, so you can go there.

Did you want to add something, Brett?

Brett: You were saying other students… I had never thought about that. I was thinking of my own kids at first, and what I started to get were messages from kindergarten and first grade teachers saying, “We were going on a field trip to the art museum, and I used your book to show my eight-year-olds exactly how to behave in the museum.” And it makes a world of difference because they see what’s expected beforehand.

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford

  Bio as submitted

Brett Bigham is the only Oregon special education teacher to be named Teacher of the Year or to be awarded the NEA National Award for Excellence in Education. He was named a NEA Foundation Global Fellow in 2015 and is one of only a handful of teachers to be given that honor again for 2018 where he will travel to South Africa as a representative of U.S. teachers.

Blog:http://ift.tt/2xbNK7o

Twitter:@2014ortoy

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books published first on http://ift.tt/2xx6Oyq

[strivesy]

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books

Brett Bigham on episode 208 [A special encore episode] of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Autistic children can struggle with unfamiliar places. However, one teacher of the year has found a way to help improve traveling experiences for autistic children and their families. Brett Bigham has created a way to use books to help special needs and young children prepare to go to new places. Learn about this technique and how to help children travel who may have fears. You can even make books for kids (or some older students might be able to as well.) What a life-changing concept! Ability books for those with special needs.

Check out my Do What Matters DIY Productivity System with 108 Excel templates and PDF’s that I use to make my own planner – https://gum.co/bZbtZ.

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books

Vicki: Today we’re talking with Brett Bigham @2014ortoy, AKA “Mr. B” who was Oregon Teacher of the Year 2014.

Brett, your love and passion has been kids with special needs, for quite some time. And you work with older kids who have special needs, so we’re going to talk a little bit about a way that you helped kids with special needs kind of transition to other places. So, give me an example of something you’ve done.

How Brett helped his autistic and special needs kids take field trips each week

Brett: I worked with students who were ages 18-21, for quite a while, and a lot of my students had pretty severe autism. My classroom’s a county level classroom. So I was only getting students if the local district couldn’t handle their health or their behavior. I had two full-time nurses in my room and a very busy class.

So, what I started to discover was that when I took some of those kids with severe autism out on a field trip, they were melting down. They really couldn’t stand not knowing what was coming up.

So I kind of realized, “Well, I need to fix that,” instead of deciding they should go on field trips. I decided I have to modify what I’m doing. So I started going the week before to the event or the field trip we were going on. And we went out every Friday. It was part of our program, to get our students more used to being out in the community.

So if we were going to ride on the Portland Tram, I would go the weekend before and take pictures of every step. “These are the stairs you go in, this is the door you open, this is the ticket machine,” — every step they need to do the field trip.

I’d make a book. I’d print the pictures into the book, and then write all the steps. Then we would spend the week going over what was coming up.

They’re similar to a “social story,” which a lot of people who work with autism will see, like, “I’m Going to the Doctor” or a trip, or how to go. And they’re step-by-step, but they’re very generic. And I needed specifics.

I had to show the staircase they were going to walk up. I had to show them the signs they needed to look at to find the arrows of where to go. So, I just started doing them in my own room.

How one family was finally able to go on vacation

And after a while, one of my students that really needed these had what’s called Severe Self-Injurious Behavior. She would hit herself when she became upset. It was so terrible to see. It was the worst day of my career the first time she had one of these episodes. The year before I got her, she was sent home 34 times for that. The first year I had her, we had three incidents. Two of them were right at the beginning, and I started using the books. The next year she had zero. And the next year she had zero.

And her family started going on vacations. They had never gone on a trip in their entire life with her, and they were able to go to Hawaii. I made a book, “I’m Going to Hawaii,” and was able to go online and find vacation pictures from people.

And people took pictures of everything, so I got the inside of the plane so I could show her, “This is the inside of the plane you’re going to go on.” And they were actually the Aloha Airlines logos, but a plane stuffed with people. A lot of times, you know, you can get a picture of the airplane, but it’s empty. And this was crammed full, so she knew exactly what to expect.

And when her parents got back from the trip, their life was changed. Absolutely changed. They didn’t have a single incident the whole time.

And now that student has graduated. And when I met her, she was someone – they were trying to figure out how they could make a life for this young lady – one that meant she never had to leave her house. And when she left me, she got a job, and she goes to work five days a week. Her whole family’s life is changed from it.

How Brett puts pictures together

Vicki: So, you take the pictures. Do you have a technology you use to put these books together?

Brett: I do it in two different ways. I make a printout version that you can just look at on your computer and print out. And then I use Microsoft Sway because they have a feature where I can record the book. And that can also be used on the phone. So someone could take the phone, and push a button, and it will read it to them.

I’ve just started recording them. I only have one of them done. I have 45 books at this point.

Editor’s Note: Today’s Sponsor Book Creator has all of these features as well. You can start now with 40 free books to create for your kids. Go to: http://ift.tt/2y2OTLZ

How to Find the books

Vicki: Wow. Can people get them online? Can you give a link?

Brett: They are. They are all online, but sadly, most of them are only in places where I’ve been. So, I have quite a few books for Washington D.C., because I’m there for conferences. I have Portland, Oregon, where I’m from. Last year I was at the NNSTOY Conference in Chicago, and we took in the Chicago Art Institute, so they have a book. So, it kind of depends where I go. But I go a lot of places these days.

Vicki: And so they can tweet you to ask you to – if they have a special request?

Brett: Absolutely. You know, I would love to do that. Or I would help somebody in another state. If they said, “I really… I need to make this for my student.” I would walk them through every step, and then I would hope that they’d let me put them on my blog. It’s MrBsClassroom.com, and they’re all on there.

What happened, though, since I have had this opportunity to go out and speak, I’ve made books now for eleven countries. So, I’m starting to collect people who can translate. I have an Italian mom who has a son with autism, and she’s translating all the books I wrote for Italy into Italian.

So my outreach is – I’ll do the best I can, which is an English book on how to go to visit the Coliseum, when I went. But it’s in English, so it helps somebody who speaks English who can go to the Coliseum, but this housewife is making it a tool for every person with autism in Italy. And that’s my dream.

How do you use the books with children?

Vicki: So you have the book. You show it to the child. You talk it through. So, describe what you do, once you have the book in hand, when you’re sitting down. You’re sitting down one-on-one with the child for this?

Brett: I’ve done both. You know, with the whole classroom, showing them. And then I’ll sit with a student, and we’ll just go page by page, and like this is… You know, I read the book to them and point at the picture and say, “We’re going to go here, and these are the stairs that we’re going to go up. You don’t need to be worried about that.” In the books, I always focus on “This is a safe place. Stay with your group.”

But I always show pictures – at least one in every book, I think, of someone sitting down on a chair somewhere – where I say, “If it gets to be too much, you can just sit down and rest for a minute. You don’t need to get upset. Just have a minute. Take a moment. Have a seat.”

Vicki: And you show them a place where they can sit…

Brett: Exactly.

Vicki: Ohhhh, so you’re giving them an out. You’re saying, “OK.” In some ways it’s metacognition. “OK, I realize I’m getting tired. So I’m going to ask to sit over here.”

Brett: Absolutely. And that way, they don’t have to stress out because someone doesn’t understand what they want. They can show me in the book. “I’m ready to sit down.” It gives them a way to communicate back, or maybe even to ask a simple type of question about the outing.

Vicki: This is genius. I mean, it’s just beautiful.

Helping kids and people with the fear of the unknown

Brett: But it’s not genius. It’s so… You know, once I realized that these people who have such a… That autism comes in so many different shades and varieties and… But the people who have that fear of the unknown, and the transition problems… Once I just took a moment to sit down and say, “Well, how do I fix that?” And it was a simple fix. They just need to know. But I had to figure out a way to get them to know.

And I feel sorry for my friends. I’m always – my poor partner – I’m always tricking them. “Hey, let’s go to breakfast downtown.” Then while we’re down there, I’m like, “Well, while we’re here, let’s go down by the Tram. I need to take some pictures. So you know, all my friends have been in books, and course they always say OK. How do you say no to that?

Vicki: Yeah, because I want to help a child who really needs the help.

Brett: Absolutely.

Vicki: So… we’re going to put the link to the blog in the Shownotes.

Brett: Thank you.

Vicki: And do you have on your blog instructions for teachers who want to create books like you’ve done?

Brett: I haven’t done that, because nobody’s asked for it yet.

Vicki: I’m asking! (laughs)

Brett: You know what?

Vicki: I think people are going to want to know how to do that!

We need more travel books for children who struggle with fears of the unknown

Brett: If there’s a teacher who thinks that this is the answer to helping one of their students, I will do everything they need to help. If they can take the pictures for me, I can write the book for them. I haven’t done that yet, but I keep hoping I will have to. I’m trying to be the guy who takes the snowball at the top of the hill and pushes it. Because I can. It’s taken me twelve years to do 45 books. And that’s… that’s not enough. You know, I want… I want every Smithsonian Museum on the mall to have a book. And every important place, and every city… I want them to have a book, because, without them, people who have these issues with the transition will never get to go. Or if they go, it won’t be successful.

Vicki: So it just opens up a great opportunity for those with autism to be able to go places. It’s a great strategy.

Brett: Right. And if you have a listener who decided, you know, this is what my daughter needs. And they want to make a book, what I will do then is I’ll take that book and put that on my blog, and maybe help them find somewhere locally where they can do it so that the people in their community can share the book. And if ten people just do one book, then your community has the support it needs. I’ve done twelve for Portland, and it makes it one of the most accessible cities in the United States for people with this autism

Vicki: So what do you call these books?

Brett: I call them Ability Guidebooks.

Vicki: Ability Guidebooks… So, teachers, this is a remarkable idea. Ability Guidebooks for those with autism, or transition issues. And you know there are lots of kids who could benefit from this. I’ll include the blog, so you can go there.

Did you want to add something, Brett?

Brett: You were saying other students… I had never thought about that. I was thinking of my own kids at first, and what I started to get were messages from kindergarten and first grade teachers saying, “We were going on a field trip to the art museum, and I used your book to show my eight-year-olds exactly how to behave in the museum.” And it makes a world of difference because they see what’s expected beforehand.

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford

  Bio as submitted

Brett Bigham is the only Oregon special education teacher to be named Teacher of the Year or to be awarded the NEA National Award for Excellence in Education. He was named a NEA Foundation Global Fellow in 2015 and is one of only a handful of teachers to be given that honor again for 2018 where he will travel to South Africa as a representative of U.S. teachers.

Blog:http://ift.tt/2xbNK7o

Twitter:@2014ortoy

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books published first on http://ift.tt/2yTzsdq

[patriciaanderson357-blog]

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books

Brett Bigham on episode 208 [A special encore episode] of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Autistic children can struggle with unfamiliar places. However, one teacher of the year has found a way to help improve traveling experiences for autistic children and their families. Brett Bigham has created a way to use books to help special needs and young children prepare to go to new places. Learn about this technique and how to help children travel who may have fears. You can even make books for kids (or some older students might be able to as well.) What a life-changing concept! Ability books for those with special needs.

Check out my Do What Matters DIY Productivity System with 108 Excel templates and PDF’s that I use to make my own planner – https://gum.co/bZbtZ.

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books

Vicki: Today we’re talking with Brett Bigham @2014ortoy, AKA “Mr. B” who was Oregon Teacher of the Year 2014.

Brett, your love and passion has been kids with special needs, for quite some time. And you work with older kids who have special needs, so we’re going to talk a little bit about a way that you helped kids with special needs kind of transition to other places. So, give me an example of something you’ve done.

How Brett helped his autistic and special needs kids take field trips each week

Brett: I worked with students who were ages 18-21, for quite a while, and a lot of my students had pretty severe autism. My classroom’s a county level classroom. So I was only getting students if the local district couldn’t handle their health or their behavior. I had two full-time nurses in my room and a very busy class.

So, what I started to discover was that when I took some of those kids with severe autism out on a field trip, they were melting down. They really couldn’t stand not knowing what was coming up.

So I kind of realized, “Well, I need to fix that,” instead of deciding they should go on field trips. I decided I have to modify what I’m doing. So I started going the week before to the event or the field trip we were going on. And we went out every Friday. It was part of our program, to get our students more used to being out in the community.

So if we were going to ride on the Portland Tram, I would go the weekend before and take pictures of every step. “These are the stairs you go in, this is the door you open, this is the ticket machine,” — every step they need to do the field trip.

I’d make a book. I’d print the pictures into the book, and then write all the steps. Then we would spend the week going over what was coming up.

They’re similar to a “social story,” which a lot of people who work with autism will see, like, “I’m Going to the Doctor” or a trip, or how to go. And they’re step-by-step, but they’re very generic. And I needed specifics.

I had to show the staircase they were going to walk up. I had to show them the signs they needed to look at to find the arrows of where to go. So, I just started doing them in my own room.

How one family was finally able to go on vacation

And after a while, one of my students that really needed these had what’s called Severe Self-Injurious Behavior. She would hit herself when she became upset. It was so terrible to see. It was the worst day of my career the first time she had one of these episodes. The year before I got her, she was sent home 34 times for that. The first year I had her, we had three incidents. Two of them were right at the beginning, and I started using the books. The next year she had zero. And the next year she had zero.

And her family started going on vacations. They had never gone on a trip in their entire life with her, and they were able to go to Hawaii. I made a book, “I’m Going to Hawaii,” and was able to go online and find vacation pictures from people.

And people took pictures of everything, so I got the inside of the plane so I could show her, “This is the inside of the plane you’re going to go on.” And they were actually the Aloha Airlines logos, but a plane stuffed with people. A lot of times, you know, you can get a picture of the airplane, but it’s empty. And this was crammed full, so she knew exactly what to expect.

And when her parents got back from the trip, their life was changed. Absolutely changed. They didn’t have a single incident the whole time.

And now that student has graduated. And when I met her, she was someone – they were trying to figure out how they could make a life for this young lady – one that meant she never had to leave her house. And when she left me, she got a job, and she goes to work five days a week. Her whole family’s life is changed from it.

How Brett puts pictures together

Vicki: So, you take the pictures. Do you have a technology you use to put these books together?

Brett: I do it in two different ways. I make a printout version that you can just look at on your computer and print out. And then I use Microsoft Sway because they have a feature where I can record the book. And that can also be used on the phone. So someone could take the phone, and push a button, and it will read it to them.

I’ve just started recording them. I only have one of them done. I have 45 books at this point.

Editor’s Note: Today’s Sponsor Book Creator has all of these features as well. You can start now with 40 free books to create for your kids. Go to: coolcatteacher.com/bookcreator

How to Find the books

Vicki: Wow. Can people get them online? Can you give a link?

Brett: They are. They are all online, but sadly, most of them are only in places where I’ve been. So, I have quite a few books for Washington D.C., because I’m there for conferences. I have Portland, Oregon, where I’m from. Last year I was at the NNSTOY Conference in Chicago, and we took in the Chicago Art Institute, so they have a book. So, it kind of depends where I go. But I go a lot of places these days.

Vicki: And so they can tweet you to ask you to – if they have a special request?

Brett: Absolutely. You know, I would love to do that. Or I would help somebody in another state. If they said, “I really… I need to make this for my student.” I would walk them through every step, and then I would hope that they’d let me put them on my blog. It’s MrBsClassroom.com, and they’re all on there.

What happened, though, since I have had this opportunity to go out and speak, I’ve made books now for eleven countries. So, I’m starting to collect people who can translate. I have an Italian mom who has a son with autism, and she’s translating all the books I wrote for Italy into Italian.

So my outreach is – I’ll do the best I can, which is an English book on how to go to visit the Coliseum, when I went. But it’s in English, so it helps somebody who speaks English who can go to the Coliseum, but this housewife is making it a tool for every person with autism in Italy. And that’s my dream.

How do you use the books with children?

Vicki: So you have the book. You show it to the child. You talk it through. So, describe what you do, once you have the book in hand, when you’re sitting down. You’re sitting down one-on-one with the child for this?

Brett: I’ve done both. You know, with the whole classroom, showing them. And then I’ll sit with a student, and we’ll just go page by page, and like this is… You know, I read the book to them and point at the picture and say, “We’re going to go here, and these are the stairs that we’re going to go up. You don’t need to be worried about that.” In the books, I always focus on “This is a safe place. Stay with your group.”

But I always show pictures – at least one in every book, I think, of someone sitting down on a chair somewhere – where I say, “If it gets to be too much, you can just sit down and rest for a minute. You don’t need to get upset. Just have a minute. Take a moment. Have a seat.”

Vicki: And you show them a place where they can sit…

Brett: Exactly.

Vicki: Ohhhh, so you’re giving them an out. You’re saying, “OK.” In some ways it’s metacognition. “OK, I realize I’m getting tired. So I’m going to ask to sit over here.”

Brett: Absolutely. And that way, they don’t have to stress out because someone doesn’t understand what they want. They can show me in the book. “I’m ready to sit down.” It gives them a way to communicate back, or maybe even to ask a simple type of question about the outing.

Vicki: This is genius. I mean, it’s just beautiful.

Helping kids and people with the fear of the unknown

Brett: But it’s not genius. It’s so… You know, once I realized that these people who have such a… That autism comes in so many different shades and varieties and… But the people who have that fear of the unknown, and the transition problems… Once I just took a moment to sit down and say, “Well, how do I fix that?” And it was a simple fix. They just need to know. But I had to figure out a way to get them to know.

And I feel sorry for my friends. I’m always – my poor partner – I’m always tricking them. “Hey, let’s go to breakfast downtown.” Then while we’re down there, I’m like, “Well, while we’re here, let’s go down by the Tram. I need to take some pictures. So you know, all my friends have been in books, and course they always say OK. How do you say no to that?

Vicki: Yeah, because I want to help a child who really needs the help.

Brett: Absolutely.

Vicki: So… we’re going to put the link to the blog in the Shownotes.

Brett: Thank you.

Vicki: And do you have on your blog instructions for teachers who want to create books like you’ve done?

Brett: I haven’t done that, because nobody’s asked for it yet.

Vicki: I’m asking! (laughs)

Brett: You know what?

Vicki: I think people are going to want to know how to do that!

We need more travel books for children who struggle with fears of the unknown

Brett: If there’s a teacher who thinks that this is the answer to helping one of their students, I will do everything they need to help. If they can take the pictures for me, I can write the book for them. I haven’t done that yet, but I keep hoping I will have to. I’m trying to be the guy who takes the snowball at the top of the hill and pushes it. Because I can. It’s taken me twelve years to do 45 books. And that’s… that’s not enough. You know, I want… I want every Smithsonian Museum on the mall to have a book. And every important place, and every city… I want them to have a book, because, without them, people who have these issues with the transition will never get to go. Or if they go, it won’t be successful.

Vicki: So it just opens up a great opportunity for those with autism to be able to go places. It’s a great strategy.

Brett: Right. And if you have a listener who decided, you know, this is what my daughter needs. And they want to make a book, what I will do then is I’ll take that book and put that on my blog, and maybe help them find somewhere locally where they can do it so that the people in their community can share the book. And if ten people just do one book, then your community has the support it needs. I’ve done twelve for Portland, and it makes it one of the most accessible cities in the United States for people with this autism

Vicki: So what do you call these books?

Brett: I call them Ability Guidebooks.

Vicki: Ability Guidebooks… So, teachers, this is a remarkable idea. Ability Guidebooks for those with autism, or transition issues. And you know there are lots of kids who could benefit from this. I’ll include the blog, so you can go there.

Did you want to add something, Brett?

Brett: You were saying other students… I had never thought about that. I was thinking of my own kids at first, and what I started to get were messages from kindergarten and first grade teachers saying, “We were going on a field trip to the art museum, and I used your book to show my eight-year-olds exactly how to behave in the museum.” And it makes a world of difference because they see what’s expected beforehand.

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford

  Bio as submitted

Brett Bigham is the only Oregon special education teacher to be named Teacher of the Year or to be awarded the NEA National Award for Excellence in Education. He was named a NEA Foundation Global Fellow in 2015 and is one of only a handful of teachers to be given that honor again for 2018 where he will travel to South Africa as a representative of U.S. teachers.

Blog:www.mrbsclassroom.com

Twitter:@2014ortoy

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

[ralph31ortiz]

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books

Brett Bigham on episode 208 [A special encore episode] of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Autistic children can struggle with unfamiliar places. However, one teacher of the year has found a way to help improve traveling experiences for autistic children and their families. Brett Bigham has created a way to use books to help special needs and young children prepare to go to new places. Learn about this technique and how to help children travel who may have fears. You can even make books for kids (or some older students might be able to as well.) What a life-changing concept! Ability books for those with special needs.

Check out my Do What Matters DIY Productivity System with 108 Excel templates and PDF’s that I use to make my own planner – https://gum.co/bZbtZ.

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books

Vicki: Today we’re talking with Brett Bigham @2014ortoy, AKA “Mr. B” who was Oregon Teacher of the Year 2014.

Brett, your love and passion has been kids with special needs, for quite some time. And you work with older kids who have special needs, so we’re going to talk a little bit about a way that you helped kids with special needs kind of transition to other places. So, give me an example of something you’ve done.

How Brett helped his autistic and special needs kids take field trips each week

Brett: I worked with students who were ages 18-21, for quite a while, and a lot of my students had pretty severe autism. My classroom’s a county level classroom. So I was only getting students if the local district couldn’t handle their health or their behavior. I had two full-time nurses in my room and a very busy class.

So, what I started to discover was that when I took some of those kids with severe autism out on a field trip, they were melting down. They really couldn’t stand not knowing what was coming up.

So I kind of realized, “Well, I need to fix that,” instead of deciding they should go on field trips. I decided I have to modify what I’m doing. So I started going the week before to the event or the field trip we were going on. And we went out every Friday. It was part of our program, to get our students more used to being out in the community.

So if we were going to ride on the Portland Tram, I would go the weekend before and take pictures of every step. “These are the stairs you go in, this is the door you open, this is the ticket machine,” — every step they need to do the field trip.

I’d make a book. I’d print the pictures into the book, and then write all the steps. Then we would spend the week going over what was coming up.

They’re similar to a “social story,” which a lot of people who work with autism will see, like, “I’m Going to the Doctor” or a trip, or how to go. And they’re step-by-step, but they’re very generic. And I needed specifics.

I had to show the staircase they were going to walk up. I had to show them the signs they needed to look at to find the arrows of where to go. So, I just started doing them in my own room.

How one family was finally able to go on vacation

And after a while, one of my students that really needed these had what’s called Severe Self-Injurious Behavior. She would hit herself when she became upset. It was so terrible to see. It was the worst day of my career the first time she had one of these episodes. The year before I got her, she was sent home 34 times for that. The first year I had her, we had three incidents. Two of them were right at the beginning, and I started using the books. The next year she had zero. And the next year she had zero.

And her family started going on vacations. They had never gone on a trip in their entire life with her, and they were able to go to Hawaii. I made a book, “I’m Going to Hawaii,” and was able to go online and find vacation pictures from people.

And people took pictures of everything, so I got the inside of the plane so I could show her, “This is the inside of the plane you’re going to go on.” And they were actually the Aloha Airlines logos, but a plane stuffed with people. A lot of times, you know, you can get a picture of the airplane, but it’s empty. And this was crammed full, so she knew exactly what to expect.

And when her parents got back from the trip, their life was changed. Absolutely changed. They didn’t have a single incident the whole time.

And now that student has graduated. And when I met her, she was someone – they were trying to figure out how they could make a life for this young lady – one that meant she never had to leave her house. And when she left me, she got a job, and she goes to work five days a week. Her whole family’s life is changed from it.

How Brett puts pictures together

Vicki: So, you take the pictures. Do you have a technology you use to put these books together?

Brett: I do it in two different ways. I make a printout version that you can just look at on your computer and print out. And then I use Microsoft Sway because they have a feature where I can record the book. And that can also be used on the phone. So someone could take the phone, and push a button, and it will read it to them.

I’ve just started recording them. I only have one of them done. I have 45 books at this point.

Editor’s Note: Today’s Sponsor Book Creator has all of these features as well. You can start now with 40 free books to create for your kids. Go to: coolcatteacher.com/bookcreator

How to Find the books

Vicki: Wow. Can people get them online? Can you give a link?

Brett: They are. They are all online, but sadly, most of them are only in places where I’ve been. So, I have quite a few books for Washington D.C., because I’m there for conferences. I have Portland, Oregon, where I’m from. Last year I was at the NNSTOY Conference in Chicago, and we took in the Chicago Art Institute, so they have a book. So, it kind of depends where I go. But I go a lot of places these days.

Vicki: And so they can tweet you to ask you to – if they have a special request?

Brett: Absolutely. You know, I would love to do that. Or I would help somebody in another state. If they said, “I really… I need to make this for my student.” I would walk them through every step, and then I would hope that they’d let me put them on my blog. It’s MrBsClassroom.com, and they’re all on there.

What happened, though, since I have had this opportunity to go out and speak, I’ve made books now for eleven countries. So, I’m starting to collect people who can translate. I have an Italian mom who has a son with autism, and she’s translating all the books I wrote for Italy into Italian.

So my outreach is – I’ll do the best I can, which is an English book on how to go to visit the Coliseum, when I went. But it’s in English, so it helps somebody who speaks English who can go to the Coliseum, but this housewife is making it a tool for every person with autism in Italy. And that’s my dream.

How do you use the books with children?

Vicki: So you have the book. You show it to the child. You talk it through. So, describe what you do, once you have the book in hand, when you’re sitting down. You’re sitting down one-on-one with the child for this?

Brett: I’ve done both. You know, with the whole classroom, showing them. And then I’ll sit with a student, and we’ll just go page by page, and like this is… You know, I read the book to them and point at the picture and say, “We’re going to go here, and these are the stairs that we’re going to go up. You don’t need to be worried about that.” In the books, I always focus on “This is a safe place. Stay with your group.”

But I always show pictures – at least one in every book, I think, of someone sitting down on a chair somewhere – where I say, “If it gets to be too much, you can just sit down and rest for a minute. You don’t need to get upset. Just have a minute. Take a moment. Have a seat.”

Vicki: And you show them a place where they can sit…

Brett: Exactly.

Vicki: Ohhhh, so you’re giving them an out. You’re saying, “OK.” In some ways it’s metacognition. “OK, I realize I’m getting tired. So I’m going to ask to sit over here.”

Brett: Absolutely. And that way, they don’t have to stress out because someone doesn’t understand what they want. They can show me in the book. “I’m ready to sit down.” It gives them a way to communicate back, or maybe even to ask a simple type of question about the outing.

Vicki: This is genius. I mean, it’s just beautiful.

Helping kids and people with the fear of the unknown

Brett: But it’s not genius. It’s so… You know, once I realized that these people who have such a… That autism comes in so many different shades and varieties and… But the people who have that fear of the unknown, and the transition problems… Once I just took a moment to sit down and say, “Well, how do I fix that?” And it was a simple fix. They just need to know. But I had to figure out a way to get them to know.

And I feel sorry for my friends. I’m always – my poor partner – I’m always tricking them. “Hey, let’s go to breakfast downtown.” Then while we’re down there, I’m like, “Well, while we’re here, let’s go down by the Tram. I need to take some pictures. So you know, all my friends have been in books, and course they always say OK. How do you say no to that?

Vicki: Yeah, because I want to help a child who really needs the help.

Brett: Absolutely.

Vicki: So… we’re going to put the link to the blog in the Shownotes.

Brett: Thank you.

Vicki: And do you have on your blog instructions for teachers who want to create books like you’ve done?

Brett: I haven’t done that, because nobody’s asked for it yet.

Vicki: I’m asking! (laughs)

Brett: You know what?

Vicki: I think people are going to want to know how to do that!

We need more travel books for children who struggle with fears of the unknown

Brett: If there’s a teacher who thinks that this is the answer to helping one of their students, I will do everything they need to help. If they can take the pictures for me, I can write the book for them. I haven’t done that yet, but I keep hoping I will have to. I’m trying to be the guy who takes the snowball at the top of the hill and pushes it. Because I can. It’s taken me twelve years to do 45 books. And that’s… that’s not enough. You know, I want… I want every Smithsonian Museum on the mall to have a book. And every important place, and every city… I want them to have a book, because, without them, people who have these issues with the transition will never get to go. Or if they go, it won’t be successful.

Vicki: So it just opens up a great opportunity for those with autism to be able to go places. It’s a great strategy.

Brett: Right. And if you have a listener who decided, you know, this is what my daughter needs. And they want to make a book, what I will do then is I’ll take that book and put that on my blog, and maybe help them find somewhere locally where they can do it so that the people in their community can share the book. And if ten people just do one book, then your community has the support it needs. I’ve done twelve for Portland, and it makes it one of the most accessible cities in the United States for people with this autism

Vicki: So what do you call these books?

Brett: I call them Ability Guidebooks.

Vicki: Ability Guidebooks… So, teachers, this is a remarkable idea. Ability Guidebooks for those with autism, or transition issues. And you know there are lots of kids who could benefit from this. I’ll include the blog, so you can go there.

Did you want to add something, Brett?

Brett: You were saying other students… I had never thought about that. I was thinking of my own kids at first, and what I started to get were messages from kindergarten and first grade teachers saying, “We were going on a field trip to the art museum, and I used your book to show my eight-year-olds exactly how to behave in the museum.” And it makes a world of difference because they see what’s expected beforehand.

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford

  Bio as submitted

Brett Bigham is the only Oregon special education teacher to be named Teacher of the Year or to be awarded the NEA National Award for Excellence in Education. He was named a NEA Foundation Global Fellow in 2015 and is one of only a handful of teachers to be given that honor again for 2018 where he will travel to South Africa as a representative of U.S. teachers.

Blog:www.mrbsclassroom.com

Twitter:@2014ortoy

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

from Cool Cat Teacher BlogCool Cat Teacher Blog http://www.coolcatteacher.com/e208/

[athena29stone]

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books

Brett Bigham on episode 208 [A special encore episode] of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Autistic children can struggle with unfamiliar places. However, one teacher of the year has found a way to help improve traveling experiences for autistic children and their families. Brett Bigham has created a way to use books to help special needs and young children prepare to go to new places. Learn about this technique and how to help children travel who may have fears. You can even make books for kids (or some older students might be able to as well.) What a life-changing concept! Ability books for those with special needs.

Check out my Do What Matters DIY Productivity System with 108 Excel templates and PDF’s that I use to make my own planner – https://gum.co/bZbtZ.

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books

Vicki: Today we’re talking with Brett Bigham @2014ortoy, AKA “Mr. B” who was Oregon Teacher of the Year 2014.

Brett, your love and passion has been kids with special needs, for quite some time. And you work with older kids who have special needs, so we’re going to talk a little bit about a way that you helped kids with special needs kind of transition to other places. So, give me an example of something you’ve done.

How Brett helped his autistic and special needs kids take field trips each week

Brett: I worked with students who were ages 18-21, for quite a while, and a lot of my students had pretty severe autism. My classroom’s a county level classroom. So I was only getting students if the local district couldn’t handle their health or their behavior. I had two full-time nurses in my room and a very busy class.

So, what I started to discover was that when I took some of those kids with severe autism out on a field trip, they were melting down. They really couldn’t stand not knowing what was coming up.

So I kind of realized, “Well, I need to fix that,” instead of deciding they should go on field trips. I decided I have to modify what I’m doing. So I started going the week before to the event or the field trip we were going on. And we went out every Friday. It was part of our program, to get our students more used to being out in the community.

So if we were going to ride on the Portland Tram, I would go the weekend before and take pictures of every step. “These are the stairs you go in, this is the door you open, this is the ticket machine,” — every step they need to do the field trip.

I’d make a book. I’d print the pictures into the book, and then write all the steps. Then we would spend the week going over what was coming up.

They’re similar to a “social story,” which a lot of people who work with autism will see, like, “I’m Going to the Doctor” or a trip, or how to go. And they’re step-by-step, but they’re very generic. And I needed specifics.

I had to show the staircase they were going to walk up. I had to show them the signs they needed to look at to find the arrows of where to go. So, I just started doing them in my own room.

How one family was finally able to go on vacation

And after a while, one of my students that really needed these had what’s called Severe Self-Injurious Behavior. She would hit herself when she became upset. It was so terrible to see. It was the worst day of my career the first time she had one of these episodes. The year before I got her, she was sent home 34 times for that. The first year I had her, we had three incidents. Two of them were right at the beginning, and I started using the books. The next year she had zero. And the next year she had zero.

And her family started going on vacations. They had never gone on a trip in their entire life with her, and they were able to go to Hawaii. I made a book, “I’m Going to Hawaii,” and was able to go online and find vacation pictures from people.

And people took pictures of everything, so I got the inside of the plane so I could show her, “This is the inside of the plane you’re going to go on.” And they were actually the Aloha Airlines logos, but a plane stuffed with people. A lot of times, you know, you can get a picture of the airplane, but it’s empty. And this was crammed full, so she knew exactly what to expect.

And when her parents got back from the trip, their life was changed. Absolutely changed. They didn’t have a single incident the whole time.

And now that student has graduated. And when I met her, she was someone – they were trying to figure out how they could make a life for this young lady – one that meant she never had to leave her house. And when she left me, she got a job, and she goes to work five days a week. Her whole family’s life is changed from it.

How Brett puts pictures together

Vicki: So, you take the pictures. Do you have a technology you use to put these books together?

Brett: I do it in two different ways. I make a printout version that you can just look at on your computer and print out. And then I use Microsoft Sway because they have a feature where I can record the book. And that can also be used on the phone. So someone could take the phone, and push a button, and it will read it to them.

I’ve just started recording them. I only have one of them done. I have 45 books at this point.

Editor’s Note: Today’s Sponsor Book Creator has all of these features as well. You can start now with 40 free books to create for your kids. Go to: coolcatteacher.com/bookcreator

How to Find the books

Vicki: Wow. Can people get them online? Can you give a link?

Brett: They are. They are all online, but sadly, most of them are only in places where I’ve been. So, I have quite a few books for Washington D.C., because I’m there for conferences. I have Portland, Oregon, where I’m from. Last year I was at the NNSTOY Conference in Chicago, and we took in the Chicago Art Institute, so they have a book. So, it kind of depends where I go. But I go a lot of places these days.

Vicki: And so they can tweet you to ask you to – if they have a special request?

Brett: Absolutely. You know, I would love to do that. Or I would help somebody in another state. If they said, “I really… I need to make this for my student.” I would walk them through every step, and then I would hope that they’d let me put them on my blog. It’s MrBsClassroom.com, and they’re all on there.

What happened, though, since I have had this opportunity to go out and speak, I’ve made books now for eleven countries. So, I’m starting to collect people who can translate. I have an Italian mom who has a son with autism, and she’s translating all the books I wrote for Italy into Italian.

So my outreach is – I’ll do the best I can, which is an English book on how to go to visit the Coliseum, when I went. But it’s in English, so it helps somebody who speaks English who can go to the Coliseum, but this housewife is making it a tool for every person with autism in Italy. And that’s my dream.

How do you use the books with children?

Vicki: So you have the book. You show it to the child. You talk it through. So, describe what you do, once you have the book in hand, when you’re sitting down. You’re sitting down one-on-one with the child for this?

Brett: I’ve done both. You know, with the whole classroom, showing them. And then I’ll sit with a student, and we’ll just go page by page, and like this is… You know, I read the book to them and point at the picture and say, “We’re going to go here, and these are the stairs that we’re going to go up. You don’t need to be worried about that.” In the books, I always focus on “This is a safe place. Stay with your group.”

But I always show pictures – at least one in every book, I think, of someone sitting down on a chair somewhere – where I say, “If it gets to be too much, you can just sit down and rest for a minute. You don’t need to get upset. Just have a minute. Take a moment. Have a seat.”

Vicki: And you show them a place where they can sit…

Brett: Exactly.

Vicki: Ohhhh, so you’re giving them an out. You’re saying, “OK.” In some ways it’s metacognition. “OK, I realize I’m getting tired. So I’m going to ask to sit over here.”

Brett: Absolutely. And that way, they don’t have to stress out because someone doesn’t understand what they want. They can show me in the book. “I’m ready to sit down.” It gives them a way to communicate back, or maybe even to ask a simple type of question about the outing.

Vicki: This is genius. I mean, it’s just beautiful.

Helping kids and people with the fear of the unknown

Brett: But it’s not genius. It’s so… You know, once I realized that these people who have such a… That autism comes in so many different shades and varieties and… But the people who have that fear of the unknown, and the transition problems… Once I just took a moment to sit down and say, “Well, how do I fix that?” And it was a simple fix. They just need to know. But I had to figure out a way to get them to know.

And I feel sorry for my friends. I’m always – my poor partner – I’m always tricking them. “Hey, let’s go to breakfast downtown.” Then while we’re down there, I’m like, “Well, while we’re here, let’s go down by the Tram. I need to take some pictures. So you know, all my friends have been in books, and course they always say OK. How do you say no to that?

Vicki: Yeah, because I want to help a child who really needs the help.

Brett: Absolutely.

Vicki: So… we’re going to put the link to the blog in the Shownotes.

Brett: Thank you.

Vicki: And do you have on your blog instructions for teachers who want to create books like you’ve done?

Brett: I haven’t done that, because nobody’s asked for it yet.

Vicki: I’m asking! (laughs)

Brett: You know what?

Vicki: I think people are going to want to know how to do that!

We need more travel books for children who struggle with fears of the unknown

Brett: If there’s a teacher who thinks that this is the answer to helping one of their students, I will do everything they need to help. If they can take the pictures for me, I can write the book for them. I haven’t done that yet, but I keep hoping I will have to. I’m trying to be the guy who takes the snowball at the top of the hill and pushes it. Because I can. It’s taken me twelve years to do 45 books. And that’s… that’s not enough. You know, I want… I want every Smithsonian Museum on the mall to have a book. And every important place, and every city… I want them to have a book, because, without them, people who have these issues with the transition will never get to go. Or if they go, it won’t be successful.

Vicki: So it just opens up a great opportunity for those with autism to be able to go places. It’s a great strategy.

Brett: Right. And if you have a listener who decided, you know, this is what my daughter needs. And they want to make a book, what I will do then is I’ll take that book and put that on my blog, and maybe help them find somewhere locally where they can do it so that the people in their community can share the book. And if ten people just do one book, then your community has the support it needs. I’ve done twelve for Portland, and it makes it one of the most accessible cities in the United States for people with this autism

Vicki: So what do you call these books?

Brett: I call them Ability Guidebooks.

Vicki: Ability Guidebooks… So, teachers, this is a remarkable idea. Ability Guidebooks for those with autism, or transition issues. And you know there are lots of kids who could benefit from this. I’ll include the blog, so you can go there.

Did you want to add something, Brett?

Brett: You were saying other students… I had never thought about that. I was thinking of my own kids at first, and what I started to get were messages from kindergarten and first grade teachers saying, “We were going on a field trip to the art museum, and I used your book to show my eight-year-olds exactly how to behave in the museum.” And it makes a world of difference because they see what’s expected beforehand.

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford

  Bio as submitted

Brett Bigham is the only Oregon special education teacher to be named Teacher of the Year or to be awarded the NEA National Award for Excellence in Education. He was named a NEA Foundation Global Fellow in 2015 and is one of only a handful of teachers to be given that honor again for 2018 where he will travel to South Africa as a representative of U.S. teachers.

Blog:www.mrbsclassroom.com

Twitter:@2014ortoy

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

from Cool Cat Teacher BlogCool Cat Teacher Blog http://www.coolcatteacher.com/e208/

[aira26soonas]

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books

Brett Bigham on episode 208 [A special encore episode] of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Autistic children can struggle with unfamiliar places. However, one teacher of the year has found a way to help improve traveling experiences for autistic children and their families. Brett Bigham has created a way to use books to help special needs and young children prepare to go to new places. Learn about this technique and how to help children travel who may have fears. You can even make books for kids (or some older students might be able to as well.) What a life-changing concept! Ability books for those with special needs.

Check out my Do What Matters DIY Productivity System with 108 Excel templates and PDF’s that I use to make my own planner – https://gum.co/bZbtZ.

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

***

Enhanced Transcript

Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books

Vicki: Today we’re talking with Brett Bigham @2014ortoy, AKA “Mr. B” who was Oregon Teacher of the Year 2014.

Brett, your love and passion has been kids with special needs, for quite some time. And you work with older kids who have special needs, so we’re going to talk a little bit about a way that you helped kids with special needs kind of transition to other places. So, give me an example of something you’ve done.

How Brett helped his autistic and special needs kids take field trips each week

Brett: I worked with students who were ages 18-21, for quite a while, and a lot of my students had pretty severe autism. My classroom’s a county level classroom. So I was only getting students if the local district couldn’t handle their health or their behavior. I had two full-time nurses in my room and a very busy class.

So, what I started to discover was that when I took some of those kids with severe autism out on a field trip, they were melting down. They really couldn’t stand not knowing what was coming up.

So I kind of realized, “Well, I need to fix that,” instead of deciding they should go on field trips. I decided I have to modify what I’m doing. So I started going the week before to the event or the field trip we were going on. And we went out every Friday. It was part of our program, to get our students more used to being out in the community.

So if we were going to ride on the Portland Tram, I would go the weekend before and take pictures of every step. “These are the stairs you go in, this is the door you open, this is the ticket machine,” — every step they need to do the field trip.

I’d make a book. I’d print the pictures into the book, and then write all the steps. Then we would spend the week going over what was coming up.

They’re similar to a “social story,” which a lot of people who work with autism will see, like, “I’m Going to the Doctor” or a trip, or how to go. And they’re step-by-step, but they’re very generic. And I needed specifics.

I had to show the staircase they were going to walk up. I had to show them the signs they needed to look at to find the arrows of where to go. So, I just started doing them in my own room.

How one family was finally able to go on vacation

And after a while, one of my students that really needed these had what’s called Severe Self-Injurious Behavior. She would hit herself when she became upset. It was so terrible to see. It was the worst day of my career the first time she had one of these episodes. The year before I got her, she was sent home 34 times for that. The first year I had her, we had three incidents. Two of them were right at the beginning, and I started using the books. The next year she had zero. And the next year she had zero.

And her family started going on vacations. They had never gone on a trip in their entire life with her, and they were able to go to Hawaii. I made a book, “I’m Going to Hawaii,” and was able to go online and find vacation pictures from people.

And people took pictures of everything, so I got the inside of the plane so I could show her, “This is the inside of the plane you’re going to go on.” And they were actually the Aloha Airlines logos, but a plane stuffed with people. A lot of times, you know, you can get a picture of the airplane, but it’s empty. And this was crammed full, so she knew exactly what to expect.

And when her parents got back from the trip, their life was changed. Absolutely changed. They didn’t have a single incident the whole time.

And now that student has graduated. And when I met her, she was someone – they were trying to figure out how they could make a life for this young lady – one that meant she never had to leave her house. And when she left me, she got a job, and she goes to work five days a week. Her whole family’s life is changed from it.

How Brett puts pictures together

Vicki: So, you take the pictures. Do you have a technology you use to put these books together?

Brett: I do it in two different ways. I make a printout version that you can just look at on your computer and print out. And then I use Microsoft Sway because they have a feature where I can record the book. And that can also be used on the phone. So someone could take the phone, and push a button, and it will read it to them.

I’ve just started recording them. I only have one of them done. I have 45 books at this point.

Editor’s Note: Today’s Sponsor Book Creator has all of these features as well. You can start now with 40 free books to create for your kids. Go to: coolcatteacher.com/bookcreator

How to Find the books

Vicki: Wow. Can people get them online? Can you give a link?

Brett: They are. They are all online, but sadly, most of them are only in places where I’ve been. So, I have quite a few books for Washington D.C., because I’m there for conferences. I have Portland, Oregon, where I’m from. Last year I was at the NNSTOY Conference in Chicago, and we took in the Chicago Art Institute, so they have a book. So, it kind of depends where I go. But I go a lot of places these days.

Vicki: And so they can tweet you to ask you to – if they have a special request?

Brett: Absolutely. You know, I would love to do that. Or I would help somebody in another state. If they said, “I really… I need to make this for my student.” I would walk them through every step, and then I would hope that they’d let me put them on my blog. It’s MrBsClassroom.com, and they’re all on there.

What happened, though, since I have had this opportunity to go out and speak, I’ve made books now for eleven countries. So, I’m starting to collect people who can translate. I have an Italian mom who has a son with autism, and she’s translating all the books I wrote for Italy into Italian.

So my outreach is – I’ll do the best I can, which is an English book on how to go to visit the Coliseum, when I went. But it’s in English, so it helps somebody who speaks English who can go to the Coliseum, but this housewife is making it a tool for every person with autism in Italy. And that’s my dream.

How do you use the books with children?

Vicki: So you have the book. You show it to the child. You talk it through. So, describe what you do, once you have the book in hand, when you’re sitting down. You’re sitting down one-on-one with the child for this?

Brett: I’ve done both. You know, with the whole classroom, showing them. And then I’ll sit with a student, and we’ll just go page by page, and like this is… You know, I read the book to them and point at the picture and say, “We’re going to go here, and these are the stairs that we’re going to go up. You don’t need to be worried about that.” In the books, I always focus on “This is a safe place. Stay with your group.”

But I always show pictures – at least one in every book, I think, of someone sitting down on a chair somewhere – where I say, “If it gets to be too much, you can just sit down and rest for a minute. You don’t need to get upset. Just have a minute. Take a moment. Have a seat.”

Vicki: And you show them a place where they can sit…

Brett: Exactly.

Vicki: Ohhhh, so you’re giving them an out. You’re saying, “OK.” In some ways it’s metacognition. “OK, I realize I’m getting tired. So I’m going to ask to sit over here.”

Brett: Absolutely. And that way, they don’t have to stress out because someone doesn’t understand what they want. They can show me in the book. “I’m ready to sit down.” It gives them a way to communicate back, or maybe even to ask a simple type of question about the outing.

Vicki: This is genius. I mean, it’s just beautiful.

Helping kids and people with the fear of the unknown

Brett: But it’s not genius. It’s so… You know, once I realized that these people who have such a… That autism comes in so many different shades and varieties and… But the people who have that fear of the unknown, and the transition problems… Once I just took a moment to sit down and say, “Well, how do I fix that?” And it was a simple fix. They just need to know. But I had to figure out a way to get them to know.

And I feel sorry for my friends. I’m always – my poor partner – I’m always tricking them. “Hey, let’s go to breakfast downtown.” Then while we’re down there, I’m like, “Well, while we’re here, let’s go down by the Tram. I need to take some pictures. So you know, all my friends have been in books, and course they always say OK. How do you say no to that?

Vicki: Yeah, because I want to help a child who really needs the help.

Brett: Absolutely.

Vicki: So… we’re going to put the link to the blog in the Shownotes.

Brett: Thank you.

Vicki: And do you have on your blog instructions for teachers who want to create books like you’ve done?

Brett: I haven’t done that, because nobody’s asked for it yet.

Vicki: I’m asking! (laughs)

Brett: You know what?

Vicki: I think people are going to want to know how to do that!

We need more travel books for children who struggle with fears of the unknown

Brett: If there’s a teacher who thinks that this is the answer to helping one of their students, I will do everything they need to help. If they can take the pictures for me, I can write the book for them. I haven’t done that yet, but I keep hoping I will have to. I’m trying to be the guy who takes the snowball at the top of the hill and pushes it. Because I can. It’s taken me twelve years to do 45 books. And that’s… that’s not enough. You know, I want… I want every Smithsonian Museum on the mall to have a book. And every important place, and every city… I want them to have a book, because, without them, people who have these issues with the transition will never get to go. Or if they go, it won’t be successful.

Vicki: So it just opens up a great opportunity for those with autism to be able to go places. It’s a great strategy.

Brett: Right. And if you have a listener who decided, you know, this is what my daughter needs. And they want to make a book, what I will do then is I’ll take that book and put that on my blog, and maybe help them find somewhere locally where they can do it so that the people in their community can share the book. And if ten people just do one book, then your community has the support it needs. I’ve done twelve for Portland, and it makes it one of the most accessible cities in the United States for people with this autism

Vicki: So what do you call these books?

Brett: I call them Ability Guidebooks.

Vicki: Ability Guidebooks… So, teachers, this is a remarkable idea. Ability Guidebooks for those with autism, or transition issues. And you know there are lots of kids who could benefit from this. I’ll include the blog, so you can go there.

Did you want to add something, Brett?

Brett: You were saying other students… I had never thought about that. I was thinking of my own kids at first, and what I started to get were messages from kindergarten and first grade teachers saying, “We were going on a field trip to the art museum, and I used your book to show my eight-year-olds exactly how to behave in the museum.” And it makes a world of difference because they see what’s expected beforehand.

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford

  Bio as submitted

Brett Bigham is the only Oregon special education teacher to be named Teacher of the Year or to be awarded the NEA National Award for Excellence in Education. He was named a NEA Foundation Global Fellow in 2015 and is one of only a handful of teachers to be given that honor again for 2018 where he will travel to South Africa as a representative of U.S. teachers.

Blog:www.mrbsclassroom.com

Twitter:@2014ortoy

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post Helping Autistic Students Travel by Making Books appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

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How to Develop a Unique Style for Your Photography

In today’s world, everyone has a camera. It may be as simple as the camera on their phones, but they still have one. This means that millions, maybe billions of people are taking photos every day. What does that mean for you? It means you have to compete with all those to make your images stand out. You have to find a way to be different, but how? The best way is to develop a style that is uniquely yours.

When people look at your work they instantly know it is yours, or someone trying to copy it. Your style is how you become known and how you make yourself stand apart.

Looking north along the Harbour Esplanade.

What does having a photographic style mean?

Basically, that you do something to your images that make them different, whether it is done when the shot is taken or in post-processing, or maybe both. Whatever it is that you do, you want people to know straight away that the image is yours before they see the name. There should be a similarity between all your images and they look like they belong together.

It almost goes against the grain of what humans are like and our need to conform. If you want your images to stand out you have to find a way to make them different to what everyone else is doing. Think about how you can work that is not the same. It can be about photographing the same thing, but you do it your way.

When I was in art school we were told over and over again that nothing was original anymore. Anything that you wanted to do had already been done. It is true in most cases, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to find a way to work that could be different.

How do you develop a style?

Ask any artist or photographer that has their own distinct style and they will give you a different answer. For most, there will be something that drives them to create work in a particular way.

There are four main things to consider when developing your own unique style; why you are doing the work, the subject matter, the technical process, and post-processing. Let’s look at these individually and see some artists who work that way.

A long exposure of a building in the Docklands.

Why are you doing it

This is a bit like an artist’s statement in that you know what you are trying to do with your images. Many artists work this way. They understand what they are trying to achieve and have a look or story they are trying to get.

Australian artist/photographer Tracey Moffat looks at indigenous people and culture, and how they are understood culturally and socially. She says she is more interested in creating her own realities than dealing with reality. From the start, Moffat has an idea of what it is she is striving for.

My own work starts with the idea of what would the world be like without humans. I find places like Pripyat, the worker’s town that was evacuated after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, fascinating. It has not been lived in since, and there is a quietness in the images that I find quite appealing. I try to photograph places with no people in them to see if I can imitate that silence. At the same time, I like to create a world in my images that doesn’t seem quite real.

Off the street at the entrance of a building.

The subject matter

Usually, someone who is developing a style, or has one, will have a certain subject matter that they stick to – it might be mountains, the night sky, or waterfalls. It will be what they want to photograph and they tend to only do that thing. While some can be that strict with themselves, most photographers have a few things they like to photograph. However, that doesn’t mean that all the images will fit within that same style.

One of my favorite painters, Rick Amor, does a lot of architectural paintings. He creates his own realities in fictional cities, but he also likes to paint scenes from the beach and he does a lot of self-portraits. There is variety in his work, and each has its own style.

It could be said that I like architecture the most, but really, what interests me is the hand of man. I find anything that man has built or destroyed interesting. I tend to concentrate on cities, perhaps because I live in one, and it is easy to get there to take photos. However, if you were to look at my Instagram page you would see that I also like to photograph anything with water in it. Many images do not fit my subject, but you can’t always do art images and I do like photographing other things from time to time.

Etihad Stadium closed.

The technical process of taking images

The best way to get your images is knowing how to use your camera and getting the best out of it. There are photographers that rely on their cameras to give them what they want and the technical details become very important. The art of photography comes from the technical aspects.

If you are a technical photographer then you would be looking for a specific technique that you can use that will help give all your images the same feel. What that technical aspect will be is completely up to you. There are a lot of photographers that are striving for an image that is very technical, and the creative part isn’t necessarily that important.

You will find that many landscape and nature photographers are more technically driven. Matty Smith, an Australian underwater photographer, does his best to get everything in camera. He likes to reduce how much post-processing he has to do, therefore it is very important to him that he gets what he wants while out in the field, or under the water.

I am not a technical photographer. I don’t let the technical aspects of photography dictate my image. That doesn’t mean I don’t know them, they just don’t mean as much to me.

Using Post-processing

You will find that technical photographers don’t do a lot of post-processing, while others will use it a lot. There are no rules about what you should use, but you will find that many photographers that have really distinctive styles get their look through photo editing.

Brooke Shaden is primarily an artist who uses photography to create her own look. She does portraits in different settings and often uses costumes for them. The thing that sets her apart is her post-processing. She has a distinctive style that is hers. You will see lots of images that are similar, but they are usually people who are trying to imitate what she does.

My work is mostly created with post-processing. I have things I like to do to images, and playing in Adobe Photoshop is as much fun to me as taking the photos. I spend far more time processing than I do taking the images. I like to play with the light to see what I can do with it and for me, an image is complete when it looks almost like a movie still, not quite real.

La Trobe Street looking to the Bolte Bridge.

Artists who have their own style

There are so many photographers that have very distinctive styles and if you want to develop your own style you should look at their work to see what they do. See if you can find inspiration.

Here is a list of photographers that have, at some stage, influenced my photography and helped me to develop my own style.

Joel Grimes

Peter Eastway – see also: The Magic of Antarctica with Special Guest Peter Eastway

Kristy Mitchell

Joel Tjintjelaar

Julia Anna Gospodarou

Art Wolfe

There are a few for you to start with.

The Harbour Esplanade looking down the tram tracks.

Should you copy

It is so easy to copy what another photographer does, especially if they teach somewhere, but should you really copy what they do? There have been photographers who have done that and everyone just says, “Oh they are copying so and so.”

It is okay to copy what a photographer does to learn some new skills, but ultimately if you want your own style, one that is uniquely yours, then you need to work out what to do with your own images.

I learned a lot about developing a style and working as an artist through my fine arts degree. I also watched a lot of videos on how other photographers created their work. I would pick up tips and then see if I could apply them to my own work. I experimented with what they did so I could use it, but also so it would look different.

Near the end of Collins Street.

How to develop your own style

Go through all the steps here and see which apply to you. Work out what you want your work to be about and how you can get a look that is you, or so others know it is yours without having to look for a name.

Remember, that for your style to be uniquely yours, it needs to be different to what others are doing. It can be something simple, or perhaps more complicated. It won’t happen straight away and may take you quite a while to develop your own look.

You might find that you start one thing, and then change. It is normal, and in the beginning, it will change quite a bit. It will also evolve over time. What I am doing now is quite different to what I was doing 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago. Some might say that it is has changed a lot in the last two to three years.

As you start thinking about it, you may also find that you already have a style and are not even be aware of it, which is what happened to me. It took me a while to see what my style was, though many others could see it before I did. However, I know it now and understand it better.

To see how you progress places like Instagram can be perfect. You see all the work there and it is easy to look at the images together and over time.

Finally

Just experiment and try things. You never know where it will end up. Also, don’t always listen to others, especially for approval, do your own thing and eventually others will come around to it.

Have you developed a unique style for your photography? How did you do it? Please share your comments and thoughts below.

A long exposure over the water at Docklands.

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