The month of April has the wonderful distinction of being Autism Awareness Month, and today, April 2nd, is World Autism Day. Autism is a neurological disorder that disrupts a person’s learning and socialization. While it affects over 1.5 million people in the U.S., it’s considered a ‘spectrum’ disorder because the characteristics vary from person to person.
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I recently went through the messy and exhausting process of deep cleaning of my home office.
I noticed that my crowded work space was beginning to affect my mental space, so it was time to dig in and declutter. The piles on my desk were overwhelming, my bookshelves overflowing and my filing system completely ineffective. So after considerable time spent sorting, purging and reorganizing, I can say it was worth every bit of the effort. Not only is the space more inviting, the atmosphere itself feels cleaner and I feel there’s room for me and my thoughts now.
As much as a good purging and declutter is for us as adults, it is even more significant for our kids. Young children are in the process of developing internal order and the space around them profoundly affects them externally and internally.
Standardized tests can strike fear in the heart of any man – young and old, but ever wonder why? It seems odd that a few questions that require a pencil dot on a Scantron Sheet, can bring forth such stress and emotion. This is especially true for visual-spatial learners whose test results don’t reflect their true intelligence or ability.
Testing is designed with a left-brain bias. Linear-thinkers with good short-term memory and deductive thinking skills are much more likely to score well on standardized tests, because they measure the way the left side of the brain works, leaving our right-brain kids at a significant disadvantage.
A few days from now (March 2nd) will mark the birthday of one of childhood’s favorite authors, Dr. Seuss. Over the years, Seuss has become a household name; the brief mention of him always brings crazy imagery and catchy rhymes to mind. 
In honor of his birthday, National Read Across America Day was named and is held on the school day closest to March 2nd (Seuss’ birthday).
Testing time is here in many US schools. When my kids were young, there was much less emphasis on standardized testing and test results. Now schools devote much of February getting kids prepared for standardized testing that happens in March.
In some schools preparation is a review of material they have been learning in the classroom. In others it can mean a whole shift to cover material that they haven’t covered, but will be tested on. With all that’s weighing on test results; from teacher pay to school funding, there can be a tendency to stress. Parents may be stressed on what it means for their child. How might their child be ‘labeled’. Teachers can be stressed. School and district administrators are stressed – again because there’s a lot riding on those test scores.
There is a rather critical matter at hand in education and I want to speak very directly about it. The arts are being eliminated from our schools and testing is on the rise. There is a prevailing notion that we need less of the arts in order to make more time for the subjects that are being tested and for the tests themselves.
This line of thinking actually results in lower test scores and disconnected, discouraged, under-achieving students. Why? Because the arts, the very thing schools want to eliminate, are essential to the majority of the student population; not because art is a fun way to relax or express oneself – but because the arts actually fuel the brain. The majority of the student population are visual-spatial learners that NEED the arts to think effectively.
Remember the times you sat down in class and the teacher said, “Take out a piece of paper. We’re going to have a pop quiz!” Waves of panic flooded your body as you stared at that blank sheet of paper. Even when you were confident about what you learned – there was something about a pop quiz – a test- that could rattle the best of us. Our kids are no different. 
And they take a lot more tests than we ever did.
Here are some things you can do as parents and grandparents, to help your kids get ready for test time.
Testing time is coming up and although it can be a stressful time of studying, quizzing and preparing your little ones, don’t forget there are more ways to encourage a love of learning than flashcards and drilling facts… try art! 
Use your child’s love of drawing and coloring to learn! Did you know you can apply your child’s naturally tendency to create towards learning new academic skills in a fun and exciting way? These Artoozie workbooks; Squares, Circles, Patterns and Cats, were intentionally designed as an activity that students can use with an adult or explore on their own for hours of fun.
