I Want My Baby Safe

Rich Weinfeld Research

2011-08-27T19:41:47Z

I’m conducting research on educational consultant Rich Weinfeld.

Quick Notes About Expertise

Twice Exceptional
Special Needs
Asperger’s Syndrome

Quotes:

“Provide a predictable environment with clear rules and consequences.”
“In these cases, the advocate can help the parents to understand the process and effectively express their opinions, as well as ensure that parental input is treated with the same importance afforded any other parent. “
“An effective advocate helps parents and school staff to accurately see the problem and all of the possible solutions that may solve the problem that the individual child is experiencing.”
“Advocacy, when done appropriately, can be beneficial for any student. It may be especially crucial in cases where the parents don’t feel that they are an equal part of the process because of their own cultural, language, or socioeconomic differences. In these cases, the advocate can help the parents to understand the process and effectively express their opinions, as well as ensure that parental input is treated with the same importance afforded any other parent. “

Points of Interest

Rich Weinfeld was first a teacher, then a special education teacher, then a director of some sorts for the Montgomery County School System helping to plan and implement special education programs for the county. He now runs an education consultancy named the Weinfeld Education Group. Based upon what I’ve read, Mr. Weinfeld has spent 30 years as a education specialist. Twenty of those years were focused on students with learning disabilities, and ten of them included both students with learning disabilities as well as “twice-exceptional” students - gifted students with learning disabilities.
I was interested to learn about his specialization on twice exceptiona students. I’d never heard about those types of students yet the concept makes perfect sense.
Rich Weinfeld interviewed personnel at a school who recently taught a student who was unilaterally removed from the school without notice. In tandem, the school was issued a subpoena to produce documents and appear for a deposition by that student’s mother.

Thoughts

Rich Weinfeld appears to be totally legit. He appears to have a lot of passion for his work.
I can relate to his profession personally as my family is extensively involved with education. My mother spent several years working as a special education teacher and the rest of her thirty plus year teaching career as an elementary school art teacher. Also, my aunt has a PhD from Harvard University in developmental reading programs. She has helped design and implement reading development programs all over the world. Her husband, my uncle, is also an accomplished education administrator, currently working as a superintendant of schools in Massachusetts.

Questions

Is Rich Weinfeld acting as an educational advocate for a student when he recommends one school over another as more appropriate and beneficial for that student?
Is Rich Weinfeld qualified to evaluate schools as an advocate for children without learning disabilities?
Is Rich Weinfeld capable of identifying and diagnosing children with learning disabilities, such as Asperger’s Syndrome?
Would Rich Weinfeld’s school assesment change depending upon whether or not the student had a learning disability, such as Asperger’s Syndrome.
Given Rich Weinfeld’s substantial involvement with the Montgomery Public School system, is there a potential for bias - either for or against recommending attending these schools?

Puddle Jumper Life Jacket

2011-06-19T21:37:31Z

I just bought this life jacket for my three year old daughter. There is a really terrific pool in our housing community and there are three pools:

A toddler wading pool
An intermediate pool
A lap pool

My daughter has been swimming and taking swimming lessons since she could walk, so she is ready to be in the bigger pools, but she still leans towards the wading pool.

In previous years, she’s worn simple float wings or vests, but this year they don’t fit, so all she has is an inner tube. I bought this one to build her confidence, it will arrive this week so I’ll write more once she gives it a try.

Peter the Puppy

2011-01-05T01:02:05Z

Here’s a picture of good ol’ “Peter the Puppy”:

Purple Pillow Pet

2011-01-01T19:54:41Z

My brother-in-law bought my daughter this awesome Pillow Pet! Since its purple, it has added alliteration!

A Place for Tubby Time Toys

2010-12-10T12:38:13Z

My two year old daughter loves her bath time, and so of course she also loves her tubby toys!

She has about a half dozen duckies, frogs, a dinosaur, and even some mini-recycle bins that a friend gave her.

These have been sitting on the edge of the tub, and one day I decided to buy them a home.

While I usually go the cheap route, this time I bought the most expensive “tubby toys” storage unit: the “Skip Hop Tubby Bath Toy Organizer”. Its big, got stellar reviews on Amazon, and I wanted something that would last for a long time and be easy to clean.

So far so good!

UPDATE: Unfortunately, the product I received is faulty. Despite numerous reviews stating that the suction cups worked great on flat surfaces, and only a few that stated the suction cups did not work at all on textured surfaced, the suctions cups on the product I received are not sticking on my perfectly smooth porcelain tiles. This is exactly what I’d hoped to avoid by purchasing a “higher quality” product. Grrr.

I was just about to submit a return when I decided to give it one more try. I re-read the directions and followed them to a “t” - I cleaned the tiles (even scraping them with a razor blade), then placed a small amount of water at the center of each suction cup. I’m waiting the full ten minutes before attaching the bag. In my experience, the suction cup bar falls off before the ten minutes is up.

UPDATE 2: Looks like the drop of water that I placed into the center of each suction cup is what was missing. I had “wet them” before, but apparently not enough. Yay!

Little Kids Having Lots of Fun!

2010-08-25T03:50:37Z

When my daughter and I traveled to visit our family this summer, my sister went all out to make sure our little ones had a good time - she even got them sparklers!!

Two Year Old In Daycare

2010-07-13T17:29:43Z

My daughter is doing really well in her third week of daycare. The first week was really hard for her, as previously her mother, a nanny, and I had been her primary caretakers. Now she spends about four hours a day in daycare, Monday through Friday.

I was very hesitant to consider daycare, but I now feel she is getting a lot out of it. I've taken her to Music Together classes and gymnastics classes, and while she loved them both, she was very shy around the other kids and the other parents.

She is going to The Family Academy of Bethesda, Maryland. They have a Montessori program, as well as a full staff to take care of the children. The facilities are very clean and the staff is quite friendly.

Before long she'll be attending school! :-)

Play Doh

2010-05-16T01:00:10Z

My daughter loves Play Doh! However, I made this little doggy.

Twilight Turtle

2010-04-30T16:29:23Z

My sister bought this awesome night light for my two year old daughter:

I was hesitant to use Twilight Turtle at first, because I thought it might be too stimulating for her and it might actually keep her awake longer. Certainly, she was very interested in how it worked, picked it up and made the stars move around on the ceiling, wall, and then on her face! After the initial amazement, she found the soft glow comforting and was soon off to dreamland. I like it because it can go into her crib with her because it is soft and designed to not have any points or removable components.

The night light requires three AAA batteries which came with the product. I would definitely prefer AA batteries and I have to wonder why any manufacturers would choose AAA over AA when there isn't a space constraint like this turtle.

Twilight Turtle is sold by "Cloud b", and if your child doesn't like land turtles - fear not! They also have a sea turtle and a ladybug design, as well as a "sleep sheep" and a "gentle giraffe" that play music instead of glowing stars.

Sippy Cups and Starter Utensils

2010-02-18T14:24:54Z

I've been planning a trip to Target for quite some time and I finally made it this week.

On my list of items to purchase were more sippy cups and some starters forks for my toddler daughter.

I've had some Nuby sippy cups for awhile, but the tops I have leak quite a bit when the cup gets knocked over. A friend of mine has some tight-topped cups with either a straw or a mouthpiece with some really small holes in it.

I decided to get those and they are working out really well. My daughter likes them and they don't leak as much as the Nuby cups. She's also at the age where she doesn't need the handles on the Nuby cups as much, too.

We haven't tried out the utensils yet, but will do so tonight!

Wiggles

2010-02-12T18:42:06Z

Thanks to a family friend, my daughter and I just found out about the Wiggles! They are kind of bizarre, but my daughter certainly seems to like them. :-)

So far she really likes "Fruit Salad" and "Big Red Car".

Ezekiel the Elephant and Rasputin the Rhino

2010-02-09T06:54:19Z

My sister keeps telling me I need to decorate my daughter's room more, so when a good friend of mine offered me some animal stickers for her wall, I gladly accepted!

Check it out:

The picture doesn't show it, but we've since named the animals Ezekiel and Rasputin.

Blocks Rock

2010-01-27T06:08:11Z

Simply put, "Blocks Rock"!

These are the "Mega Blocks" brand.

Crib Bed

2010-01-26T15:39:06Z

The time has come for my daughter's crib to get converted into a bed. She's growing up too quickly.

Melissa and Doug

2010-01-05T00:57:38Z

My daughter got a cool present from her grand-mother this holiday season: a box of play food made by Melissa & Doug.

She's been having a great time with it so far. The cool thing about these toys is that they are simple, but they are totally interactive, colorful, and as far as I can tell, safe. They also encourage basic concentration for the dexterity to "cut" the vegetables and fruits.