Welcome to Michael and Nicholas, the Lab's two new members!
Also, The Lab will continue to run every Thursday over the Xmas break. Next week (22nd) will be an Xmas party - basically the Lab as usual but with some food (bring a plate if you feel like it) and after that every Thursday as usual.
Happy holidays and hope everyone gets a chance to relax after what's bene an intense year for lots of people.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Melbourne exhibition of autistic young man's incredible artwork
Below is a message we received from the mother of a young man we have had the privilege of meeting. His name is Marley, he is autistic, and he has incredible artistic talent.
WILD LOVE
IMAGINARIUMS
BY MARLEY JAMES WRIGHT
BY MARLEY JAMES WRIGHT
Marley seems to dwell in a parallel world, but from a certain age he began to gain some understanding of the conventional one. He remains adamant that the feeling of love is not to be restrained, rather shared with with every being. Unable to speak coherently for years, he communicates powerfully with color and mesmerizing forms. He was diagnosed with autism and epilepsy in early childhood. "I will be what I am" ruled,and the usual social conditioning had no foothold. From age 5, he was never apart from ink and paper...
THE PIECES FOR THIS EXHIBITION WERE CHOSEN FROM 5000 DIGITAL WORKS TO SHOW THE ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT OVER THE LAST 7 YEARS.
He is now 17 and attends special school.
www.marleyjameswright.com
Location: No Vacancy Gallery THE ATRIUM,
Location: No Vacancy Gallery THE ATRIUM,
FEDERATION SQUARE, MELBOURNE
exhibition continues into January 2012
Please LIKE Marley on facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Marley-James-Wright/182025281891076
We would love you to send this invitation on to get marley's message of Wild Love out there!!!!
Monday, November 14, 2011
New article on The Lab
Check out the profile on The Lab on page 14 of this magazine called Made You Look, put out by the NSW Government disability program Don't Dis My Ability. You can download it here (large download: 4.9mb)
http://www.dontdismyability.com.au/news/made_you_look
http://www.dontdismyability.com.au/news/made_you_look
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Ideas from parents
A few ideas for The Lab were flagged by parents in yesterday's session. These are:
- for the mentors/tutors to put up a pic of themselves on the website next to their name, so that participants will remember them and their names
- for there to be a version of a group photo at The Lab with faces and names of participants, for similar reasons as above
- There is renewed interest in the Arduino kits, so looking at an Arduino show and tell in next week's session
- for participants to be slowly introduced to a range of different games, to avoid the Team Fortress 2 obsession gripping a couple of the guys
Lastly, a note that the sign-in book is now in operation and is working well. All parents signed participants in and out, which has really reduced the scope for not knowing where a participant is.
- for the mentors/tutors to put up a pic of themselves on the website next to their name, so that participants will remember them and their names
- for there to be a version of a group photo at The Lab with faces and names of participants, for similar reasons as above
- There is renewed interest in the Arduino kits, so looking at an Arduino show and tell in next week's session
- for participants to be slowly introduced to a range of different games, to avoid the Team Fortress 2 obsession gripping a couple of the guys
Lastly, a note that the sign-in book is now in operation and is working well. All parents signed participants in and out, which has really reduced the scope for not knowing where a participant is.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Adventures with Aspergers blog
Some folks might be interested in this new blog: http://kavehadel.com/blog/2011/10/adventures-with-aspergers-cartoon-look-outside/
It's a cartoon blog by an Iranian artist who aims to shed light on AS.
It's a cartoon blog by an Iranian artist who aims to shed light on AS.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Minecraft conference in the US
Minecraft is taking off in a big way it seems. Check out this conference in the US in November (thanks Greg W): http://minecon.mojang.com/
Friday, October 7, 2011
Article on The Lab in The Spectrum
Here's the article that has appeared in the current edition of the Autism Victoria magazine The Spectrum - thanks a heap to Darcy, Darcy, Paul and Lily for taking part.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
The Lab Holiday Sessions - September 2011
Today we held another holiday session with around 17 particpants(a full house).
A couple of older kids left as one in particular wasn't interested, but everybody else seemed to have a good time. At one stage 11 of the kids were on a shared minecraft server, so that was the hit of the day. It was very interesting meeting some of the young people and talking about their interests.
An overview of the room, with the IP address for the minecraft server as well as a message (NO COMPLAINTS, Expect Destruction) which was prompted by some issues in prior sessions.
An angry bird playing minecraft.
An overview of the room, which is on the 16th floor with great views of Melbourne.
This young man wasn't interested in games, just design, and tried zbrush, coming up with some incredible designs by himself, as our 3d designer wasn't there today. This is perhaps an example of what simply giving kids access can achieve - he taught himself a lot through trial and error, not really wishing to do tutorials.
Some of his creations - he ended up making videos of his creations which I unfortunately left behind but hope to recover shortly;
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Current activities at The Lab
With everything else happening, it's been a while since I posted an update on what is actually going on in The Lab.
Tomorrow (Wednesday September 28th) we will hold a holiday session with 17 participants at Victoria University on Flinders St. These are more casual sessions intended to reach an audience we can't cater for at the moment.
The weekly sessions continue to run well. A couple of weeks ago we had the judgement of our games competition, there were two winners, and more great entries. I will post them over the coming week or two.
We have now had one young man stop coming, unfortunately I think he was a little more advanced in terms of his skills than most of our group, so he didn't feel he was amongst peers or connect with people. Perhaps this is an issue we can address in the future if we deal with more people or larger groups.
On the positive side, our move means we can now invite back a young man who had a negative experience the first time he visited our previous location and was unable to return. He will be attending the holiday sessions and then most probably some kind of one on one sessions during the week.
Our new home in Maidstone
After Stefan did a mail-out asking for assistance with finding a new venue, we were fortunate enough to be contacted by John Roberts from Just Better Care, a carer agency. He was kind enough to show us through some offices near his own which were formerly occupied by Fletcher Jones, Eastcoast, and Pelaco. He also offered the use of their board room for the parents when they come in.
As well as the agency, the building houses the Vostro Institute, which provides training to industry.
The entry to the space.
The space.
Both of these businesses are very closely aligned with our own. In addition to this, the rent was reasonable, so we spoke with the building manager and organised to rent a space.
For the past week we have been renovating the space and moving our now quite considerable inventory from Footscray. We were fortunate enough to get some incredible next day service from Pierre at ET Telecom - he helped us with a situation our new provider TPG was going to take weeks to resolve.
We will finish cleaning up the new place tomorrow, ready for our first Lab session on Thursday. I will post some photos of what we have done then.
Here are some photos from before we moved in;
The board room which parent can use;
The entry to the space.
The space.
Farewell Footscray
So, we are leaving Footscray.
In a way I am happy, in another I am quite sad.
The picture above is sticker art found outside our office of two(arguably the greatest two) Footscray icons. The guy the left can be found around our former office at any time from 5am-5pm asking for change(any one of our workers would have been asked many times), and the lady at the atms is a regular fixture. It's sad that after the closure of Forges, this is what Footscray(cbd) is identified with - drugs, and the homeless. It's even sadder when you look at some of the historical photos - you can't help but feel like it's gone backwards over the past 80 or so years. The not so glorious office we have been in used to be a beautiful theatre in the 1930s.
It is an amazing place with some incredible people and so much potential, but it all just seems to be going to waste. I am not sure what the approach of the current governments are but it seems like they want to run it so far into the ground that it is buried and can be reborn. In the meantime there is a tragic amount of human waste.
I hope to return one day.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
On the move
Over the past few weeks we have had some issues at our current location, right in the middle of Footscray at the corner of Leeds and Hopkins.
Since we moved in we have watched the local area deteriorate quite a bit - I am not sure if it's a cyclical thing, but the past few weeks have seen police and junkies out in force across Footscray. Combined with several other issues, this has forced us to consider moving before our lease was supposed to be up, at the end of November.
The guy in charge of the building has been very understanding and has said it's okay if we move out by the end of this month, August, so we are now hunting for locations.
On the one hand it's sad it's come to this, but on the other hand we are looking forward to a new start in a fresh environment. This may also allow us to try again with one student who had a particularly troublesome time where we are and has been unable to return.
We appear to have at least one good option lined up which I will investigate early this week, but would be very interested in hearing from anybody else in the west who might have 80+ sq m of office space we can rent cheaply.
Since we moved in we have watched the local area deteriorate quite a bit - I am not sure if it's a cyclical thing, but the past few weeks have seen police and junkies out in force across Footscray. Combined with several other issues, this has forced us to consider moving before our lease was supposed to be up, at the end of November.
The guy in charge of the building has been very understanding and has said it's okay if we move out by the end of this month, August, so we are now hunting for locations.
On the one hand it's sad it's come to this, but on the other hand we are looking forward to a new start in a fresh environment. This may also allow us to try again with one student who had a particularly troublesome time where we are and has been unable to return.
We appear to have at least one good option lined up which I will investigate early this week, but would be very interested in hearing from anybody else in the west who might have 80+ sq m of office space we can rent cheaply.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Some thoughts on technologists and teachers
One thing I have been thinking about a lot lately is the phrase;
'Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he'll eat forever.'
This is a philosophy I think most good teachers follow, and I have also followed this in the past when working as a technologist implementing new programs in schools. Part of the implementation is always trying to get the staff up to speed so they can sustain whatever program we are putting in place.
In all of our experiences I can only really think of one case where this has occurred - and in that case it was for ulterior motives. To turn back to the phrase, in that case the guy in question wanted to become a fisherman himself.
In other settings despite massive expenditure and a lot of effort, educators have failed to really engage with these technologies.
As ideal as everybody catching their own fish sounds, it's not sustainable - most of us work long, hard days, and we want to simply turn up at the fishmongers and order what we like. There are so many issues I would have to overcome to go out and catch enough fish to feed my family. It is similar for teachers with technology.
There will always be those who live on the fringes of technological change, or by the sea, who will be happy to do their own development or fishing, but these people are the exception, not the norm.
I believe in future for education and technology to work, there needs to be a clear division of responsibilities. Teachers cannot be expected to learn new technologies on top of their already heavy teaching loads. Likewise technologists cannot be expected to become educational experts overnight. Working out how these two areas can work together is crucial.
For us at The Lab this has some important implications as it leads to the question of how this model, if proven successful by rigorous research, can be expanded to other settings.
One of our original plans was to embed what we have learnt into existing teaching practices, potentially through student teacher placements or talks to groups of student teachers.
In our case with young people with Asperger's, I think perhaps we can assist the teachers in identifying such students, but I am then not so sure about their capacity to deal with them. This requires a very different mindset to traditional education, and even if we do train up student teachers, what is relevant today probably wont be by next year. Engaging these young people takes constant devotion to technology.
What I do think we could help the teachers with, is how they should deal with technology and technologists to achieve their pedagogical objectives. I don't know much at all about teacher courses, but I suspect this is an area which has not been properly explored.
'Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he'll eat forever.'
This is a philosophy I think most good teachers follow, and I have also followed this in the past when working as a technologist implementing new programs in schools. Part of the implementation is always trying to get the staff up to speed so they can sustain whatever program we are putting in place.
In all of our experiences I can only really think of one case where this has occurred - and in that case it was for ulterior motives. To turn back to the phrase, in that case the guy in question wanted to become a fisherman himself.
In other settings despite massive expenditure and a lot of effort, educators have failed to really engage with these technologies.
As ideal as everybody catching their own fish sounds, it's not sustainable - most of us work long, hard days, and we want to simply turn up at the fishmongers and order what we like. There are so many issues I would have to overcome to go out and catch enough fish to feed my family. It is similar for teachers with technology.
There will always be those who live on the fringes of technological change, or by the sea, who will be happy to do their own development or fishing, but these people are the exception, not the norm.
I believe in future for education and technology to work, there needs to be a clear division of responsibilities. Teachers cannot be expected to learn new technologies on top of their already heavy teaching loads. Likewise technologists cannot be expected to become educational experts overnight. Working out how these two areas can work together is crucial.
For us at The Lab this has some important implications as it leads to the question of how this model, if proven successful by rigorous research, can be expanded to other settings.
One of our original plans was to embed what we have learnt into existing teaching practices, potentially through student teacher placements or talks to groups of student teachers.
In our case with young people with Asperger's, I think perhaps we can assist the teachers in identifying such students, but I am then not so sure about their capacity to deal with them. This requires a very different mindset to traditional education, and even if we do train up student teachers, what is relevant today probably wont be by next year. Engaging these young people takes constant devotion to technology.
What I do think we could help the teachers with, is how they should deal with technology and technologists to achieve their pedagogical objectives. I don't know much at all about teacher courses, but I suspect this is an area which has not been properly explored.
Monday, August 29, 2011
September 28 holiday workshop: full house and details
We now have a full house for our holiday introductory workshop on September 28.
Details are as follows:
1.00pm - 4.00pm
Room 16:14 (the games lab), Level 16, Victoria University, 300 Flinders Street, Melbourne.
The campus is opposite Flinders Street train station, near the corner of Flinders Street and Elizabeth Street.
We will have desktop computers on hand, or participants can bring their own laptops - this might be useful if you'd like us to load any software.
The session will see our techie tutors introducing some fun software to participants, based on their interests, plus maybe some joint activities in environments like Minecraft.
Parents/carers can either drop off their child and do shopping/coffees etc (plenty of both in the vicinity!) or stick around, chat to us and other parents/carers plus checks emails etc on the lab's computers. We'll bring some snacks too.
Stefan's mobile number is 0410387622 for any further queries, directions etc.
Look forward to seeing people there!
Details are as follows:
1.00pm - 4.00pm
Room 16:14 (the games lab), Level 16, Victoria University, 300 Flinders Street, Melbourne.
The campus is opposite Flinders Street train station, near the corner of Flinders Street and Elizabeth Street.
We will have desktop computers on hand, or participants can bring their own laptops - this might be useful if you'd like us to load any software.
The session will see our techie tutors introducing some fun software to participants, based on their interests, plus maybe some joint activities in environments like Minecraft.
Parents/carers can either drop off their child and do shopping/coffees etc (plenty of both in the vicinity!) or stick around, chat to us and other parents/carers plus checks emails etc on the lab's computers. We'll bring some snacks too.
Stefan's mobile number is 0410387622 for any further queries, directions etc.
Look forward to seeing people there!
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
How things are travelling
Yesterday we got an email from one of the parents which helped remind me how different things have turned out than what we originally imagined, possibly for the better.
The initial vision was that the young people would come in and would be keen to learn technical skills, as has generally been my experience when working with small numbers at limited-time workshops in the past.
At The Lab we have found the students are often more interested in socialising - which is normal for most kids, but unusual for some of these, and it's having positive results.
Despite being slightly unexpected, it gets back to a couple of things we have witnessed in the past;
- These young people know when they are surrounded by like minds, and feel very comfortable.
- The technology acts as an 'object of affinity' - allowing the young people to communicate through devices they are familiar with.
In terms of inspiring the kids to learn, we haven't wanted to force anybody so we started a gamemaking competition, which is completely voluntary, although we offered a prize as an incentive(a logitech gaming keyboard attachment). After one week one young man was already making quite a bit of progress, and this has caught the eyes of others, who are now learning by themselves to use software we have had difficulty interrupting their Lab gaming session to teach them.
I think one lesson in this is that we cannot force the kids to do anything(which was never our intention) - but we can motivate them by providing opportunities, as we have done with the competition.
The second lesson is perhaps that we cannot motivate the young people with our words - it must come from within. This is perhaps more likely to be inspired by other young people. If we can do something amazing, they don't care, we are old and they can't relate, but if the guy like them sitting next to them can, it's a different case. This would suggest that we should look at offering more open opportunities for the group at large - more activities they can choose to be a part of and work together on.
This is not to say the mentors aren't important - they are vital, giving the young people something to aspire to, and also being able to get the young people over those inevitable technical walls they come up against.
All of this has got me thinking about my own youth and where I got this kind of support. My parents sent me to Scouts, in the hope I would become a more social and well rounded person.
I think that's what we are doing at The Lab. We are using technology to do it - but if we can take care of the self esteem and sense of social inclusion of the young people I think they will be motivated to generally teach themselves the technical skills, and come to us for help when required.
1. Socialising through gaming
2. An increasing sense of social inclusion
3. Desire to learn technical skills
4. Increased social capital
Now back to providing opportunities....
One thing the Scouts did for me was provide a whole bunch of opportunities. I don't want to copy their military stylings, or christian rituals, but they do have some good ideas.
One of these is the badges. They have several similarities to achievements used in online gaming.
Scouts progress through three levels(Pioneer/red, Explorer/blue, Adventurer/green) depending on how many achievements they have. There are achievements involving community engagement and group work.
They provided a good framework for a lot of social activities, and they also allowed for a lot of us to achieve at least something in an area of our interest. Many of the skills were pretty obscure, but at the time they seemed quite important.
With all of this in mind I got thinking about having some online assessments for The Lab for a range of topics the kids would be interested in learning. Instead of badges, we could have online 'achievements' like many online games. These would be visible by peers, which is what would make them important.
It is also possible that this could be tied into existing courses either online, at high school or TAFE.
Achievements could include something like;
Beginner X
Advanced X
Master X
X=
Programmer(Basic, VB, C++ ??)
Web Programmer(html5, php)
Web Designer(html, css, graphic design, copywriting)
Graphic Designer(photoshop, illustrator, fireworks etc)
3d Designer(3ds max, blender, sketchup etc)
Filmmaker(vegas etc)
Music maker
Gamemaker(gamemaker, unity etc)
Arduino Programmer
System Administrator?
Teamwork(achieving something with another person)
Charity(helping others- eg http://www.spectrumvic.org.au/)
Master(teaching others)
Special interest???
Programming languages?
Specific Software?
Group activity badges?
Overall levels
Some vague ideas....
Beginner - Teamwork and 3X Beginner
Advanced - 3X Advanced and Charity or Master
Master - 3X Master and Charity or Master
The initial vision was that the young people would come in and would be keen to learn technical skills, as has generally been my experience when working with small numbers at limited-time workshops in the past.
At The Lab we have found the students are often more interested in socialising - which is normal for most kids, but unusual for some of these, and it's having positive results.
Despite being slightly unexpected, it gets back to a couple of things we have witnessed in the past;
- These young people know when they are surrounded by like minds, and feel very comfortable.
- The technology acts as an 'object of affinity' - allowing the young people to communicate through devices they are familiar with.
In terms of inspiring the kids to learn, we haven't wanted to force anybody so we started a gamemaking competition, which is completely voluntary, although we offered a prize as an incentive(a logitech gaming keyboard attachment). After one week one young man was already making quite a bit of progress, and this has caught the eyes of others, who are now learning by themselves to use software we have had difficulty interrupting their Lab gaming session to teach them.
I think one lesson in this is that we cannot force the kids to do anything(which was never our intention) - but we can motivate them by providing opportunities, as we have done with the competition.
The second lesson is perhaps that we cannot motivate the young people with our words - it must come from within. This is perhaps more likely to be inspired by other young people. If we can do something amazing, they don't care, we are old and they can't relate, but if the guy like them sitting next to them can, it's a different case. This would suggest that we should look at offering more open opportunities for the group at large - more activities they can choose to be a part of and work together on.
This is not to say the mentors aren't important - they are vital, giving the young people something to aspire to, and also being able to get the young people over those inevitable technical walls they come up against.
All of this has got me thinking about my own youth and where I got this kind of support. My parents sent me to Scouts, in the hope I would become a more social and well rounded person.
I think that's what we are doing at The Lab. We are using technology to do it - but if we can take care of the self esteem and sense of social inclusion of the young people I think they will be motivated to generally teach themselves the technical skills, and come to us for help when required.
1. Socialising through gaming
2. An increasing sense of social inclusion
3. Desire to learn technical skills
4. Increased social capital
Now back to providing opportunities....
One thing the Scouts did for me was provide a whole bunch of opportunities. I don't want to copy their military stylings, or christian rituals, but they do have some good ideas.
One of these is the badges. They have several similarities to achievements used in online gaming.
Scouts progress through three levels(Pioneer/red, Explorer/blue, Adventurer/green) depending on how many achievements they have. There are achievements involving community engagement and group work.
They provided a good framework for a lot of social activities, and they also allowed for a lot of us to achieve at least something in an area of our interest. Many of the skills were pretty obscure, but at the time they seemed quite important.
With all of this in mind I got thinking about having some online assessments for The Lab for a range of topics the kids would be interested in learning. Instead of badges, we could have online 'achievements' like many online games. These would be visible by peers, which is what would make them important.
It is also possible that this could be tied into existing courses either online, at high school or TAFE.
Achievements could include something like;
Beginner X
Advanced X
Master X
X=
Programmer(Basic, VB, C++ ??)
Web Programmer(html5, php)
Web Designer(html, css, graphic design, copywriting)
Graphic Designer(photoshop, illustrator, fireworks etc)
3d Designer(3ds max, blender, sketchup etc)
Filmmaker(vegas etc)
Music maker
Gamemaker(gamemaker, unity etc)
Arduino Programmer
System Administrator?
Teamwork(achieving something with another person)
Charity(helping others- eg http://www.spectrumvic.org.au/)
Master(teaching others)
Special interest???
Programming languages?
Specific Software?
Group activity badges?
Overall levels
Some vague ideas....
Beginner - Teamwork and 3X Beginner
Advanced - 3X Advanced and Charity or Master
Master - 3X Master and Charity or Master
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Update: sessions, end of the year plans, and another Lab outcome
A quick update on the Lab.
Sessions have been running smoothly of late - both the parents and kids seem to have developed a comfortable mode of interaction , and sessions are going well. There's been some (but not a lot) of interest in programming activities, but it seems the socialisation aspects of the Lab are just as important. Apparently all the kids are very keen to come, with some pestering their parents in advance. One participant called his dad on his mobile today to remind him (at 2pm) to get a move on - apparently he never does this usually.
Parents are, as usual, discussing lots in their room. Food features strongly - we don't bring food in ourselves anymore as there's usually a selection of goodies brought in.
One interesting outcome we heard about today - two participants (brothers) have started a Minecraft club at their school. There are four kids involved, and they're currently spending their recess and lunch breaks planning their world and to set up a Minecraft server. Apparently this is a big step up from aimlessly walking around during their breaks.
On another topic: Dale and I have been discussing moving from our current Lab location once the lease runs out in December. That central Footscray corner has not been getting any better of late - more people down on their luck, arrests etc - and the space itself is on the grungier side of the tracks, with a lack of decent kitchen and related facilities. Have put out some feelers with VU - will see what comes of it. Wonder too if the council might have something. We're paying around $320 a week currently, so it's not actually that cheap. Another possibility is a house in the area.
Sessions have been running smoothly of late - both the parents and kids seem to have developed a comfortable mode of interaction , and sessions are going well. There's been some (but not a lot) of interest in programming activities, but it seems the socialisation aspects of the Lab are just as important. Apparently all the kids are very keen to come, with some pestering their parents in advance. One participant called his dad on his mobile today to remind him (at 2pm) to get a move on - apparently he never does this usually.
Parents are, as usual, discussing lots in their room. Food features strongly - we don't bring food in ourselves anymore as there's usually a selection of goodies brought in.
One interesting outcome we heard about today - two participants (brothers) have started a Minecraft club at their school. There are four kids involved, and they're currently spending their recess and lunch breaks planning their world and to set up a Minecraft server. Apparently this is a big step up from aimlessly walking around during their breaks.
On another topic: Dale and I have been discussing moving from our current Lab location once the lease runs out in December. That central Footscray corner has not been getting any better of late - more people down on their luck, arrests etc - and the space itself is on the grungier side of the tracks, with a lack of decent kitchen and related facilities. Have put out some feelers with VU - will see what comes of it. Wonder too if the council might have something. We're paying around $320 a week currently, so it's not actually that cheap. Another possibility is a house in the area.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
July holiday sessions
We have just concluded our holiday sessions, which included Thursday afternoons with the normal group, and two Wednesday afternoons with two new groups of kids.
One surprise was how similar the groups were, despite being filled with such unique individuals.
Playing wii
Firstly the normal sessions - we are now up to eleven, and things are going well. A few kids are not able to attend all the time do to other issues, which is perhaps to be expected. Considering that some kids are happy just using laptops, we perhaps have room to cater for 9 kids so we are always full and using our time and space well.
We took a relaxed approach to things during the holidays and didn't push anything. We pulled out the Wii and old megadrive so the kids could play games together.
For these kids there is value in playing competitive social games - it teaches them to socialise, and to accept losing.
We had a minecraft competition and thanks to some generous contributions from Logitech were able to award all of the kids with a set of headphones as a prize. We hope that this will also help with the noise issue, it's very very loud during these sessions. I often wondered what was going to happen with a group of kids who are all happy to talk 'at' each other, and now we know, it gets louder and louder, until everybody is shouting to be heard. That said, it's not an annoying noise, it's more like a fun party with computer music in the background.
Wow hoodie
The extra sessions also went well. All up we had around 15 new young people in and I think all with the possible exception of one(who was not Asperger's) enjoyed themselves. Quite a few asked if they could come back.
In the first session all of the participants played minecraft, nearly all of the time. Many had already played, those who hadn't picked it up straight away.
In the second session they all played minecraft at some stage, but they also played some wii, world of warcraft, and terraria amongst other games.
The parents seemed happy but Trish and Stefan would know more about how that went.
Parent's room
July holiday sessions
We have just concluded our holiday sessions, which included Thursday afternoons with the normal group, and two Wednesday afternoons with two new groups of kids.
One surprise was how similar the groups were, despite being filled with such unique individuals.
Playing wii
Firstly the normal sessions - we are now up to eleven, and things are going well. A few kids are not able to attend all the time do to other issues, which is perhaps to be expected. Considering that some kids are happy just using laptops, we perhaps have room to cater for 9 kids so we are always full and using our time and space well.
We took a relaxed approach to things during the holidays and didn't push anything. We pulled out the Wii and old megadrive so the kids could play games together.
For these kids there is value in playing competitive social games - it teaches them to socialise, and to accept losing.
We had a minecraft competition and thanks to some generous contributions from Logitech were able to award all of the kids with a set of headphones as a prize. We hope that this will also help with the noise issue, it's very very loud during these sessions. I often wondered what was going to happen with a group of kids who are all happy to talk 'at' each other, and now we know, it gets louder and louder, until everybody is shouting to be heard. That said, it's not an annoying noise, it's more like a fun party with computer music in the background.
Wow hoodie
The extra sessions also went well. All up we had around 15 new young people in and I think all with the possible exception of one(who was not Asperger's) enjoyed themselves. Quite a few asked if they could come back.
In the first session all of the participants played minecraft, nearly all of the time. Many had already played, those who hadn't picked it up straight away.
In the second session they all played minecraft at some stage, but they also played some wii, world of warcraft, and terraria amongst other games.
The parents seemed happy but Trish and Stefan would know more about how that went.
Parent's room
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Some very useful information on Irlen Syndrome, Occupational Therapy (inc. stimming) and auditory processing from a new parent
At yesterday's Lab holiday session, one parent had a lot of very useful information to pass on about strategies for working with syndromes connected with Aspergers, based on extensive research and experience with her son.
Here are the details from her:
Irlen syndrome
http://www.dyslexiaservices.com.au/melb.htm
Individuals with Irlen Syndrome perceive the printed page and sometimes their environment differently. They must constantly make adaptation or compensate. Individuals are often unaware of the extra energy and effort they are putting into reading and perception.
Reading may be slow and inefficient, or there may be poor comprehension, strain, or fatigue. It can also affect attention span, listening, energy level, motivation, work production, and mental health.
People with Irlen Syndrome are often seen as underachievers or having behavioral, attitude or motivational problems. These problems can also coexist with other learning problems, such as attention deficit disorder, dyslexia, or autism. Treatment for Irlen Syndrome can alleviate many of the symptoms of these disorders in many cases."
We help children and adults suffering from
- Reading and learning problems
- Dyslexia
- ADD/HD, Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Behavioral and emotional problems
- Headaches, migraines, fatigue and other physical symptoms
- Light Sensitivity/Photophobia
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI), whip lash, and concussions
- Certain medical and visual conditions
- spatial and sensory issues.
Irelns is different to behavourial optometry, as Irlens is based on what colours in the light/colour spectrum the eye and brain register and how that can affect how the brain interprets the visual information given, where as behavioural optometry is based on how the Visual system works ( the mechanics of it) and believe that milestones in visual development have not been met and it is possible to restore these by exercises. They do NOT address all the visual and cross sensory issues in ASD.
The Irlen Lenses have been life changing for myself and my son. The Lenses help control the visual stimulation that we receive. It is truly amazing the world that has now opened up to us. The biggest improvement was recognising and addressing the body spatial issues we had, but also the reduced uncontrolled anxiety that we had when we were visually over stimulated. Wow to go shopping in a super maket with out melt downs, and for myself the head aches.
One thing i do recommend if you are considering this, is when you get screened for the actual Lenses and the tint. To Ask Gloria to test for photo sensitivity and for Flurescent lighting.
Occupational Therapy
Highly recommend, through the use of sensory integration, you can teach your child to eventually self regulate.
if your child is stimming, like for example spinning, that is an indication that the vestibular system is not providing enough feed back to the brain.
you can use an office chair but in my case i purchased a dizzy disc from the states.
http://www.autismcoach.com/Dizzy%20Disc.htm
the following link is a shop in Australia that sells the Dizzy disc Jr
http://www.therapytoyshop.com/
Vestibular motion/movement also impacts on auditory processing issues.
Auditory Processing
the following is a link for an extensive over view of CAPD
http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/ears/central_auditory.h
Educational Audiology, Eddie Keir. 23 Waterdale Rd, Ivanhoe, 3079. Tel: 03 9499 1683.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Session 8 - Minecraft at home issues
Session 8 already - time has flown.
Today we had an interesting start to the session when the kids and parents arrived and explained what had happened the previous week on the minecraft server we had set up for the kids.
Put simply, someone had burnt down a lot of the houses the kids had built, and this had started a chain reaction where kids were accusing each other of doing it and getting revenge.
There were a few interesting points about this;
- We have been looking at minecraft and learning about it's positives - mainly that it's an open environment which allows kids to play however they like, and explore their interests. What this also means however is that the kids have the freedom to offend each other in various ways.
- With a few of the kids, perhaps familiarity is breeding contempt?
- There is a big issue where some kids are very sensitive about how others act, and others aren't. Some of the kids are sensitive about how they are treated but totally insensitive when it comes to doing the same things to others - which is perhaps something we should have anticipated. The mystery is how we deal with this...it's a fine line between allowing kids to be themselves and not be judged, and making sure that feelings aren't hurt.
- A big issue is that this server has effected kids in their home lives, and has made their parents job more difficult. That's pretty much the opposite of what we set out to achieve.
- If we are to moderate the server constantly, it would require additional funding, as it's quite labour intensive, especially when you have to investigate kid politics.
- Both Stefan and myself spoke to the parents, who ended up agreeing to shut the server down for at least a week. Perhaps we can re-open it as a privilege not a right, with more restrictions, and establish a different mood.
- Part of wanting to create a model of learning for these young people means that we will be faced with issues and have to find solutions. In that regard today was a very positive session.
Action we have taken;
- During the class damage was turned off, and TNT made their browser crash.
- At the end of the session we turned the minecraft server off until we work out some strategies(both technical and real world) which will allow it to continue in a more positive way.
- Kids have been told to build in single player worlds for the competition which will now be judged next week after the prizes still didn't arrive.
- Sean ended up introducing one young man to javascript which was a positive end to the day. Many of the young people look up to Sean as he is 21, closer to their age, and knows a lot about gaming and programming - he can answer almost any question they have.
Today we had an interesting start to the session when the kids and parents arrived and explained what had happened the previous week on the minecraft server we had set up for the kids.
Put simply, someone had burnt down a lot of the houses the kids had built, and this had started a chain reaction where kids were accusing each other of doing it and getting revenge.
There were a few interesting points about this;
- We have been looking at minecraft and learning about it's positives - mainly that it's an open environment which allows kids to play however they like, and explore their interests. What this also means however is that the kids have the freedom to offend each other in various ways.
- With a few of the kids, perhaps familiarity is breeding contempt?
- There is a big issue where some kids are very sensitive about how others act, and others aren't. Some of the kids are sensitive about how they are treated but totally insensitive when it comes to doing the same things to others - which is perhaps something we should have anticipated. The mystery is how we deal with this...it's a fine line between allowing kids to be themselves and not be judged, and making sure that feelings aren't hurt.
- A big issue is that this server has effected kids in their home lives, and has made their parents job more difficult. That's pretty much the opposite of what we set out to achieve.
- If we are to moderate the server constantly, it would require additional funding, as it's quite labour intensive, especially when you have to investigate kid politics.
- Both Stefan and myself spoke to the parents, who ended up agreeing to shut the server down for at least a week. Perhaps we can re-open it as a privilege not a right, with more restrictions, and establish a different mood.
- Part of wanting to create a model of learning for these young people means that we will be faced with issues and have to find solutions. In that regard today was a very positive session.
Action we have taken;
- During the class damage was turned off, and TNT made their browser crash.
- At the end of the session we turned the minecraft server off until we work out some strategies(both technical and real world) which will allow it to continue in a more positive way.
- Kids have been told to build in single player worlds for the competition which will now be judged next week after the prizes still didn't arrive.
- Sean ended up introducing one young man to javascript which was a positive end to the day. Many of the young people look up to Sean as he is 21, closer to their age, and knows a lot about gaming and programming - he can answer almost any question they have.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Last week's session
An interesting session last week. One thing that has come out of it is the idea of either banning online videos or supplying headphones - so as not to distract or annoy others. Dale has also instigated a Minecraft competition with a prize, which has the kids v excited.
One parent mentioned that her child had been 'trapped' within the Minecraft server by another participant that week (ie while playing Minecraft from home) and had been very upset by this. Interestingly enough, by the next day (during the Lab session) the two boys involved were playing together again, collaboratively building a bridge structure within Minecraft.
This brings up a discussion point in regard to multiuser spaces like Minecraft: might they extend and even amplify feelings of being bullied in the real world? And/or: can they be used for building a sense of resilience, for rehearsing what happens 'out there' and learning to deal with it in a positive manner for oneself? In Minecraft you can destroy or build - it's up to you, and it seems the rough and tumble of the real world will happen to some degree online. So where do we draw the line between providing a protected space and 'cotton wooling'? This is something we're still negotiating on a weekly basis.
These discussions are also informing the current development of the code of conduct, which is underway by Trish.
It also raises questions about moderation levels. Some participants it seems like the presence of moderators in online forums...one likes that someone is watching over him (he dislikes being called a 'noob'). This is the case for the Minecraft server, but it's very lightly moderated.
One parent mentioned that her child had been 'trapped' within the Minecraft server by another participant that week (ie while playing Minecraft from home) and had been very upset by this. Interestingly enough, by the next day (during the Lab session) the two boys involved were playing together again, collaboratively building a bridge structure within Minecraft.
This brings up a discussion point in regard to multiuser spaces like Minecraft: might they extend and even amplify feelings of being bullied in the real world? And/or: can they be used for building a sense of resilience, for rehearsing what happens 'out there' and learning to deal with it in a positive manner for oneself? In Minecraft you can destroy or build - it's up to you, and it seems the rough and tumble of the real world will happen to some degree online. So where do we draw the line between providing a protected space and 'cotton wooling'? This is something we're still negotiating on a weekly basis.
These discussions are also informing the current development of the code of conduct, which is underway by Trish.
It also raises questions about moderation levels. Some participants it seems like the presence of moderators in online forums...one likes that someone is watching over him (he dislikes being called a 'noob'). This is the case for the Minecraft server, but it's very lightly moderated.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Holiday sessions - extra details
Our winter holiday sessions are happening (see below for flyer) for young people who haven't already attended The Lab.
Here's a little bit of extra info:
- the sessions will run from 3pm to 6pm on Wednesday July 6 and Wednesday July 13 in Footscray. If your child is interested in taking part in one of these sessions, please contact Stefan at: 9919 1618 or stefan.schutt@vu.edu.au. Bookings will be on a 'first-come-first served' basis.
- sessions are free, but you're welcome (though not obligated) to bring any snacks for kids and parents!
- we have a separate room for parents to meet and chat
- the technology we will use will depend entirely on the kids' interests. (Lately there's been a lot of interest in the collaborative game Minecraft as well as the Arduino programmable circuit boards.)
- address details are here: http://thelab.org.au/location
Here's a little bit of extra info:
- the sessions will run from 3pm to 6pm on Wednesday July 6 and Wednesday July 13 in Footscray. If your child is interested in taking part in one of these sessions, please contact Stefan at: 9919 1618 or stefan.schutt@vu.edu.au. Bookings will be on a 'first-come-first served' basis.
- sessions are free, but you're welcome (though not obligated) to bring any snacks for kids and parents!
- we have a separate room for parents to meet and chat
- the technology we will use will depend entirely on the kids' interests. (Lately there's been a lot of interest in the collaborative game Minecraft as well as the Arduino programmable circuit boards.)
- address details are here: http://thelab.org.au/location
Monday, June 20, 2011
Interview with Metaverse Journal about The Lab
We were fortunate enough to do an interview with the Metaverse Journal's David Holloway about The Lab;
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Session five
This week went very well, we had kids dancing to youtube, playing minecraft together, and exploring arduino kits which was new and quite a success. It is taking less effort every week.
Some images.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Last night's session
Yesterday we had a calmer session than usual - three of the kids were away, as were Dale and Trish.
Worth noting was the way all the four participants were getting on and interacting, talking firstly about Minecraft then about themselves - their ages, what grade they were in at school etc. There were quite a few questions of each other, showing a growing interest in the other kids, which is quite exciting to observe, especially for these kids who largely don't have friends or interests in peers' lives.
Everyone seemed very comfortable and relaxed in the space - it felt and sounded like any other group of kids. I'm guessing that the very presence of techie guys had a lot to do with it - they are guys who have demonstrated to the kids that they somehow 'get' them and their interests, and that they are around, ready to help but not pushing either.
Worth noting was the way all the four participants were getting on and interacting, talking firstly about Minecraft then about themselves - their ages, what grade they were in at school etc. There were quite a few questions of each other, showing a growing interest in the other kids, which is quite exciting to observe, especially for these kids who largely don't have friends or interests in peers' lives.
Everyone seemed very comfortable and relaxed in the space - it felt and sounded like any other group of kids. I'm guessing that the very presence of techie guys had a lot to do with it - they are guys who have demonstrated to the kids that they somehow 'get' them and their interests, and that they are around, ready to help but not pushing either.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Enquiries: the demand is obviously there
For the last few weeks since the media stories about The Lab in The Age, local papers and more recently ABC Radio, I have been receiving a steady stream of enquries from parents about The Lab. This is noteworthy because none of the stories had our contact details - people have found out about us and contacted us independently. I would say that I have had an average of one enquiry a day. The Lab now has a waiting list of 12 - enough for another group or two already. I've received enquiries from Melbourne, the Sunshine Coast, Perth, Tasmania, and one from the US. I think we're definitely onto something important here.
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