How do we teach? Aug 2024
What does Kishami Academy use for curriculum? It varies to meet student needs, individually or as a group. We often begin with Pikes Peak Library District, Kishami Academy’s accumulated library, and thrift stores. We analyze workbooks, do research on students needs, search for topics that cover what we are looking for (or student interests/requests), and…
Kishami Academy’s Philosophy for Teaching & Learning
Kishami Academy is a research school which means that teachers are students themselves. Teachers learn from the people and students they interact with and engage in constant research to address difficulties and problems that arise in the educational, classroom, interpersonal, and emotional environments. They first research alone, then discuss their findings with the other teachers,…
How Lists Help Autistics Function
We all understand how difficult it is to have 20 tasks to accomplish and not very much time. Or we have 10 things we want to do and have to prioritize them so that we don’t get into trouble with people we have promised things to, or our families, or meeting deadlines at school or…
Autism & Punishments
This is an old-school vs new-world debate. The religious “spare the rod, spoil the child” is being replaced with new parenting that encourages natural consequences and a child focus that at times makes no sense at all. However, many of our children these days are unique and have needs that are more apparent than those…
U20 Research = Learning
Now that the move to our new school is completed: walls are painted, everything is in its place, math and language lessons are back on a more consistent track, and I’ve expanded the role of my Number One so that she is now in charge of Tuesday morning class meetings where we are working on…
Check out our new school
The first day of school in 2021 marked the tipping point–we needed a bigger place because we had too many students for where we were, but we did not have the money necessary to move to a traditional new location as Colorado Springs rental spaces are outrageous in cost. Having no government assistance or grants…
In Loving Memory
Tuesday June 23rd, we lost a great asset to our Kishami Academy, LLC family. A student who grew amazing lengths this school year in academics, mentally, and socially. He became a big brother to many students, a confidant, and a quiet strong presence for our class. He loved to create things from trash, could use…
Can Kishami Academy produce miracles?
Our Brain Bridging program co-exists with our academic program. Exercises work to help the brain hemispheres communicate better while meeting students academically exactly where they are and helping them fill in the gaps. Does this produce miracles? We do produce achievements, miracles are in the eyes of the beholder: saying a word that expresses need…
Kishami Academy has a new addition!
Meet Nyla our Service Dog in Training (SDiT). Nyla is our 2 year-old Border Collie/Labrador mix. We are currently working on basic obedience skills, becoming attuned to the early autism meltdown stages, and ignoring distractions. Nyla is a rescue who came to us already basically trained, but she was so unsure of what was expected…