Comments for Future Focus http://futurefocus.info Future Focus, Terry Wiens, knowledge management consultant, non-profit development, advocacy, ESL case management, ESL families with special needs children, autism Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:46:26 -0600 hourly 1 Comment on Shaking Up Your Beliefs by Morph Review http://futurefocus.info/?p=637&cpage=1#comment-348 Morph Review Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:46:26 +0000 http://futurefocus.info/?p=637#comment-348 Hey there! I ran into this site while I was searching some health and fitness related terms in Yahoo earlier today. Once I wound up here I remained around a little bit to read one or two articles... insightful stuff. I am going to make sure to come back later on some time and catch up. Hey there! I ran into this site while I was searching some health and fitness related terms in Yahoo earlier today. Once I wound up here I remained around a little bit to read one or two articles… insightful stuff. I am going to make sure to come back later on some time and catch up.

]]> Comment on What Fiscal Responsibility? by Cameron http://futurefocus.info/?p=641&cpage=1#comment-340 Cameron Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:22:33 +0000 http://futurefocus.info/?p=641#comment-340 Considering how much BS there will be at these summits, it's hard to imagine why the public washrooms were built 25 Kms away from the venue in Huntsville. Considering how much BS there will be at these summits, it’s hard to imagine why the public washrooms were built 25 Kms away from the venue in Huntsville.

]]> Comment on What Fiscal Responsibility? by Cameron http://futurefocus.info/?p=641&cpage=1#comment-338 Cameron Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:33:50 +0000 http://futurefocus.info/?p=641#comment-338 Over $1,000,000,000.00 to host a summit of nations in which few if any demonstrate fiscal responsibility, and many are on the verge of bankruptcy...shameful! Over $1,000,000,000.00 to host a summit of nations in which few if any demonstrate fiscal responsibility, and many are on the verge of bankruptcy…shameful!

]]> Comment on Useless Government Meetings by Ellen Durkee http://futurefocus.info/?p=499&cpage=1#comment-52 Ellen Durkee Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:34:21 +0000 http://futurefocus.info/?p=499#comment-52 thank you! I wish everyone would read your words. I'll be passing this along. thank you! I wish everyone would read your words. I’ll be passing this along.

]]> Comment on Whatever Happened to the News by Troy Johnston http://futurefocus.info/?p=472&cpage=1#comment-16 Troy Johnston Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:47:52 +0000 http://futurefocus.info/?p=472#comment-16 I Need Lawyer Help Anyone with a Heart Dear Sir or Madam: I am righting this letter and putting it in all the places I can, in the hopes that someone will see it and help me. In the year 2001 I was mugged in Ontario, I am currently living in Alberta. As a result of the mugging I received severe head trauma. I was in a small coma with a 3 inch crack in the back of my skull. After I got out of the wheelchair and started to walk again (about 3 months), I was attacked again and received a cracked Eye socket, cheekbone and jaw. I was supposed to receive steel plates in my skull after this but did not due to the reasons I will explain. I went over 12 months with no health care in this country, also no welfare, no disability and no E.I. insurance. I was refused medical help in Hospitals, walk-in clinics and even the medical clinics that help the homeless. To date I have yet to receive the help I need but I am working on it. So I will not get into the mental stress it caused me, a born and raised Canadian, that I did not receive any help from my government and that they threw me to the street to die. The issues that I am now dealing with and will be for sometime or forever are as follows: - I can not remember 40%-50% of my life before or after the injury. - Lost 30 IQ points. - My emotions and moods are all over the board. - I have numbness throughout the left side of my body - Panic and anxiety attacks almost on an hourly basis. - I have lost all of my education and skills from prior to the injury. - I lost my children. - I lost my ability to sleep ( severe head trauma, you should sleep at least 10 hrs a day – Not 5 ) - I lost my respect and faith in our Country! - I have been forced into work like construction, (due to the fact that all of my education is gone) where there is a good chance that I will injure myself and expire from this life. I can not take even one more hit to my skull. - I am scared of being in public places, being alone with someone in their house, In short I am very afraid deep into my bones. That is the few I will say in this letter, I do have more though. I know The Canada Health Act was violated as well as my Human Rights as a Canadian Citizen. I just want a chance at having my life back. Somehow to provide for my children, to be educated again, to go back to work at a safe job that enables me to live. And to feel like my Country cares about me and stands by it’s word that if we pay our taxes and work hard that the Government will not allow us to fall so far that we will never get back up. Sincerely, Mr.Troy Johnston mr.johnston73@yahoo.ca I Need Lawyer Help
Anyone with a Heart

Dear Sir or Madam:
I am righting this letter and putting it in all the places I can, in the hopes that someone will see it and help me.
In the year 2001 I was mugged in Ontario, I am currently living in Alberta. As a result of the mugging I received severe head trauma. I was in a small coma with a 3 inch crack in the back of my skull. After I got out of the wheelchair and started to walk again (about 3 months), I was attacked again and received a cracked Eye socket, cheekbone and jaw. I was supposed to receive steel plates in my skull after this but did not due to the reasons I will explain.
I went over 12 months with no health care in this country, also no welfare, no disability and no E.I. insurance. I was refused medical help in Hospitals, walk-in clinics and even the medical clinics that help the homeless. To date I have yet to receive the help I need but I am working on it. So I will not get into the mental stress it caused me, a born and raised Canadian, that I did not receive any help from my government and that they threw me to the street to die.
The issues that I am now dealing with and will be for sometime or forever are as follows:
- I can not remember 40%-50% of my life before or after the injury.
- Lost 30 IQ points.
- My emotions and moods are all over the board.
- I have numbness throughout the left side of my body
- Panic and anxiety attacks almost on an hourly basis.
- I have lost all of my education and skills from prior to the injury.
- I lost my children.
- I lost my ability to sleep ( severe head trauma, you should sleep at least 10 hrs a day – Not 5 )
- I lost my respect and faith in our Country!
- I have been forced into work like construction, (due to the fact that all of my education is gone) where there is a good chance that I will injure myself and expire from this life. I can not take even one more hit to my skull.
- I am scared of being in public places, being alone with someone in their house, In short I am very afraid deep into my bones.

That is the few I will say in this letter, I do have more though. I know The Canada Health Act was violated as well as my Human Rights as a Canadian Citizen. I just want a chance at having my life back. Somehow to provide for my children, to be educated again, to go back to work at a safe job that enables me to live. And to feel like my Country cares about me and stands by it’s word that if we pay our taxes and work hard that the Government will not allow us to fall so far that we will never get back up.
Sincerely,
Mr.Troy Johnston
mr.johnston73@yahoo.ca

]]> Comment on Forcing Square Pegs into Round Holes by Bayle http://futurefocus.info/?p=120&cpage=1#comment-2 Bayle Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:03:04 +0000 http://futurefocus.info/?p=120#comment-2 Thank you! Going into a variety of settings, I often see how "inclusion" has become a fancy name for warehousing in an inappropriate setting. Yes, sometimes in elementary school students are "included" in a way that builds their own social and academic skills without interfering with the education of others, and possibly even enhancing them. By secondary school, socializing during class time is not generally part of the routine, except during group projects when each student is expected to contribute equal value academically. Some students with special needs are capable of doing this with or without reasonable accommodations. Others are not ready. So instead of focused instruction on the academic and social skills s/he most needs to grow into a more self-sufficient adult the student with the disabilities is shunted to a corner with an aide, where the aide takes notes the student can neither understand nor read readwhile the student stares into space or becomes bored and restless, or some attempt at a totally divergent instruction is attempted with the need to not disrupt the general education process restricting the kinds of instructional materials and strategies that can be used. I don't see this as "individualized instruction" in any meaningful sense of the term. It's still one-size-fits-almost-nobody. It's a different size than in the pre-IDEA days, so it fits a different group of folks. But it's not individualized and the regulations as they are currently written (or at least interpreted) seem to prohibit individualized evaluation of each student, class and non-academic opportunity; and mandate the maximum amount of wasted time and instructional energy. What's the answer? Meaningful education reform, for all students. In the meantime, we can encourage everyone to consider the individual needs of each student, the short-term objectives that build toward long-term goals, and identifying the tools, strategies, and personnel most likely to support those goals. The environment has become a distractor. A student huddled with an aide in the back of a classroom is not "in the same environment" as his non-disabled peers. He needs to be in an environment where maximum focus can be placed on the things he needs to learn next, in the manner he is most likely to learn them. Sorry for having gotten off onto a rant. You've obviously hit one of my hot buttons. Thank you!
Going into a variety of settings, I often see how “inclusion” has become a fancy name for warehousing in an inappropriate setting. Yes, sometimes in elementary school students are “included” in a way that builds their own social and academic skills without interfering with the education of others, and possibly even enhancing them. By secondary school, socializing during class time is not generally part of the routine, except during group projects when each student is expected to contribute equal value academically. Some students with special needs are capable of doing this with or without reasonable accommodations. Others are not ready. So instead of focused instruction on the academic and social skills s/he most needs to grow into a more self-sufficient adult the student with the disabilities is shunted to a corner with an aide, where the aide takes notes the student can neither understand nor read readwhile the student stares into space or becomes bored and restless, or some attempt at a totally divergent instruction is attempted with the need to not disrupt the general education process restricting the kinds of instructional materials and strategies that can be used. I don’t see this as “individualized instruction” in any meaningful sense of the term. It’s still one-size-fits-almost-nobody. It’s a different size than in the pre-IDEA days, so it fits a different group of folks. But it’s not individualized and the regulations as they are currently written (or at least interpreted) seem to prohibit individualized evaluation of each student, class and non-academic opportunity; and mandate the maximum amount of wasted time and instructional energy.

What’s the answer? Meaningful education reform, for all students. In the meantime, we can encourage everyone to consider the individual needs of each student, the short-term objectives that build toward long-term goals, and identifying the tools, strategies, and personnel most likely to support those goals. The environment has become a distractor. A student huddled with an aide in the back of a classroom is not “in the same environment” as his non-disabled peers. He needs to be in an environment where maximum focus can be placed on the things he needs to learn next, in the manner he is most likely to learn them.

Sorry for having gotten off onto a rant. You’ve obviously hit one of my hot buttons.

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