Tag Archives: families

TED talks on Autism and other child & family topics

Posted on June 1, 2016 | Leave a comment

maxresdefault copyDo you want to listen to ideas worth spreading?

TED.com is a website devoted to global conferences where experienced and respected people share their thoughts and ideas with the world. The TED annual conference series began in 1990, and since June 2006 the talks have been offered for free online viewing through the TED.com website, which now has over 2,400 talks. Altogether, the talks have been watched over one billion times worldwide.

A great talk to start with is ‘How autism freed me to be myself‘ by 16 year old Rosie King, who challenges stereotypes of people with autism and contextualizes the issue by asking us, “Why be normal?” Rosie’s talk is only 6 minutes long, but has been viewed well over one million times and has both a transcript and multi-lingual subtitles. There are currently seven other TED talks on autism at http://www.ted.com/topics/autism+spectrum+disorder.

Other child & family areas to browse within the TED.com video library include:

Play (14 talks)  http://www.ted.com/topics/play

Family (19 talks) http://www.ted.com/topics/family

Parenting (26 talks) http://www.ted.com/topics/parenting

Children (92 talks) http://www.ted.com/topics/children

TED is owned by a nonprofit, nonpartisan foundation. TED’s speakers are given a maximum of 18 minutes to present their ideas in the most innovative and engaging ways they can. You can download most TED Talks in MP4 or MP3 format either directly from the website or through the TED app, which allows you to watch talks offline from your mobile device, although you will need to first download the TED app via iTunes or Google Play. This is great if you have a slow internet connection or you want to watch Talks when you’re travelling.80x15

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Free e-textbook: Family Life in Adolescence

Posted on November 15, 2015 | Leave a comment

FLAMany parents fear the time when their beautiful happy children will become unmanageable adolescents continually engaging in risky or destructive behaviour. Unfortunately, this view of adolescents is the focus of the media, even though it relates to just a small proportion of young people.

In Family Life in Adolescence, research is collated showing that most adolescents are responsible young people who care about their families and crave the support of their parents. The research also indicates that the quality of the relationship parents have with their adolescents is crucial to the wellbeing of those young people.

Authors Patricia Noller and Sharon Atkin discuss the need for parents to set reasonable limits on their adolescents and to expect appropriate behaviour. They also show that children who have experienced positive, caring relationships with their parents are more likely than other adolescents to behave responsibly.

Family Life in Adolescence is valuable reading for anyone interested in the development of young people and the impact of the family environment. It draws on contemporary research across the globe, showing that behaviour in adolescence builds on earlier experiences in the family. It will prove useful to practitioners from a range of professions, such as social workers, educators and youth leaders.

This 222-page book is available in both PDF and EPUB format suitable for e-readers. Both may be downloaded free of charge from: http://www.degruyter.com/viewbooktoc/product/447873

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3 new free textbooks from BCcampus

Posted on October 1, 2015 | Leave a comment

Open-Textbooks-StickerThese excellent online textbooks may be freely downloaded by students, teachers and members of the public.

British Columbia’s Open Textbook Project began in 2012 and so far contains over 70 openly licensed textbooks, each available to read online, download in PDF, ePub and mobi (Kindle) formats for free, or as low-price printed books, and educators may use, re-use, modify, and adapt the books to fit course requirements. Here I’m looking at three examples of interest to the children’s workforce.

1. Introduction to Psychology
This is a 695-page textbook aimed at first-year university students. It has 16 chapters and is in full colour – but note that this results in the PDF being a 39MB download. It is designed to help students organise their thinking about psychology at a conceptual level, and each section also includes learning objectives, key takeaways, exercises and critical thinking activities, making it highly interactive. Many in the children’s workforce will immediately want to read Chapter 7: Growing and Developing, which includes prenatal development, infancy and childhood.
Download Introduction to Psychology here: opentextbc.ca/introductiontopsychology/80x15

2. Introduction to Sociology
This is a 717-page textbook again aimed at first-year university students. It has 21 chapters and is in full colour – but the PDF file size is larger still, being a 71MB download.
This textbook adheres to the scope and sequence of a typical introductory sociology course, organized so that topics are introduced conceptually, with relevant, everyday experiences. I began by reading Chapter 5: Socialization and Chapter 14: Marriage and Family, and found both chapters attractive and stimulating.
Download Introduction to Sociology here: opentextbc.ca/introductiontosociology/cc by

3. Supporting Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities & Mental Illness
This is a 111-page black & white textbook with 7 chapters, so the PDF is a much smaller download, being just 1.2MB. Unlike the two titles above, this one has a more vocational nature, and although children and childhood issues are covered throughout, the target audience of the book appears to be carers of adults. Each chapter presents up-to-date evidence-informed practice knowledge, and for those interested mainly in ‘what to do’, text box summaries are provided for reading and listening. Throughout the book there are links to corresponding mp3 audio clips, which makes reading the book an engaging experience.
Download Supporting Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities & Mental Illness here: opentextbc.ca/caregivers/cc by

If you want to discover more about the BCcampus Open Textbook Project, you can do so at: open.bccampus.ca, where you can also search their whole collection via open.bccampus.ca/find-open-textbooks/.

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