New Tab: Autism Resource Links

"I will give thanks to You, 

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Wonderful are Your works,

And my soul knows it very well."

Psalm 139:14 (NASB)

April is Autism Acceptance Month!

We've added an Autism resource tab to the top of the Christian Teacher, Public School blog. This small effort won't lead to the most exhaustive list of Autism Spectrum resources on the Web. Instead, I hope it helps readers of this blog form connections at crucial times in their journeys with autism (whether as parents, teachers, or as people on the Spectrum themselves) and to help others along the way.

Interested in writing about autism in the public school setting? I would like to connect with guest bloggers who are teachers or who are parents of public school children on the Spectrum. On the Spectrum yourself? Even better.

Here are some tips on writing about Autism for Christian Teacher, Public School:

• Be clear: Who are you and why are your writing about this topic? What's your point? What are you helping/asking readers to do?
• Be current and accurate in your research, citing sources as appropriate
• Explain acronyms on the first use
• Be personal, revealing actual perspectives of real people on the Autism Spectrum, not assumptions
• Obtain permission, change names as appropriate, and be accurate in your representations of others
• Connect readers to resources (lesson plans, accommodations, blogs, books, local chapters of Autism organizations, support groups, conferences, etc.)
• Keep a positive and constructive tone
• Be original (only your own work that hasn't appeared online before)
• Keep the audience in mind. We exist specifically for Christian teachers who teach in public schools, although others may find us helpful. Our preferred content is uplifting, spiritually-relevant, and biblically-literate. We believe that God created all neurotypes as a reflection of His creativity, uniqueness, power, glory, and love. We celebrate autism as a gift from the creator. Not every article need express this perspective overtly, and "preaching" is not wanted. Just let your light shine.

How to Submit

Please query before sending submissions for consideration. Contact Amy Ballard by email at amy (at) amyballard (dot) com. Nominal payment may be available for quality content on Autism in the public school, especially if written by teachers or students (current or former) with Autism. We'd love to hear from you!

Wishing for a Magazine That Doesn't Exist. . .Yet

I love magazines. Sometimes I think that I blog because I'm pretending I'm a magazine mogul. It's been a lifelong regret that my college class schedule didn't allow me to take the Magazine Publication class offered at my school. It's the one that got away.

Reading the most recent issue of Christianity Today has me enraptured all over again. What is it about magazines in print form that still charm us, even when everyone's getting their news and gossip online?

Musing in this vein caused me to wonder, is there an excellent magazine for Christian teachers in public schools?

I've seen many publications for Christian teachers who teach in Christian schools. I've seen dozens of fine publications for teachers of all sorts who teach in public schools. But where's a magazine specifically geared toward public school teachers who hold to the Christian faith?

Why would such a magazine be important? For the same reasons blogs like this one and books like Dalene Vickery Parker's are important. Because Christian teachers in public schools need encouragement and help from each other. Sometimes they need perspective. Sometimes they need legal advice. Sometimes they need assurance, or fresh ideas, or a reminder why they're in this calling to begin with.

Could such a magazine make a go of it? Would it succeed and thrive? I don't suppose anyone in publishing would recommend launching a print magazine of any kind right now. The market for magazines is not steady, with print subscriptions down significantly. Online subscriptions are on the rise, though, experts say. One of the biggest hurdles is competition from free online media, complete with video content. According to Thad McIlroy on The Future of Publishing, "The shift of ad dollars to the web is perhaps the biggest problem facing broad-circulation magazines today."

I don't know if my imagined magazine would succeed in print form in today's market. If someone would launch it, though, I know what it should look like.

The magazine would be glossy and image-filled. Everything in its pages would offer encouragement, beauty in the midst of harsh realities, and direction for Christian teachers in public schools. Profile articles would follow teachers who are navigating the stormy waters of America's schools well. Intelligent reporting would cover the news on religious freedom issues, education trends, and conferences worth attending. And many voices would be heard, with many perspectives on the issues that face teachers today. It would be a magazine for every Christian who teaches in public schools.

I don't know why the blog post on this topic right now. Like I said, it's on my mind. But so is Luke chapter one, where two women were blessed by God and given children miraculously even as their little corner of the world experienced a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Maybe this magazine is not a reality yet, but maybe God will bring it to pass. Maybe I need to start praying.

What magazines do you love? Does a magazine like the one I'm describing exist? Please leave a comment.

Public Schools, Transgender Kids, and a Breakneck Run Toward Totalitarianism

"Have a nice weekend," Obama says to the world. "And here's my latest totalitarian manifesto for your reading pleasure."

What the Department of Justice and the Department of Education call "guidance," Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick calls "blackmail" and Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas "social engineering."

David French of National Review puts it bluntly: "You may not have realized it yet, but the Obama administration just destroyed the traditional American public school." The battle has come home. If you are a parent, it now affects your child. If you are a public school teacher, it now affects your workplace, your calling, your livelihood.

This isn't about what the Bible says about sex. (For biblical perspective on the transgender bathroom issue, I wouldn't steer you to the usual passages about sex just at this moment. Instead, check out Romans 9:20, and in the King James at that: "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?") Instead, this is about what the United States Constitution says about government interference in the daily lives of American citizens.

Even before legalized gay marriage, the Obama administration was passing off the word "sex" in Title IX for the word "sexual orientation." Now schools are told, under threat of being defunded, to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their sexual orientation. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Students and staff alike will have a new lexicon to learn.

The letter, while not legally binding, has Texas considering cutting ties with government-funded schooling altogether. And how will Christian parents respond? Will there be a mass exodus from public schools? As Christian parents, what is the right response?

The Christian citizen should not react by saying, "I believe homosexuality and sex changes are sinful, so this is an outrage." We're talking about a fallen world, a human-made government, and a government school system. Expecting that system or that government or that world to follow the laws of the Bible would be naive (or worse). America does have a Constitution, however. It's there to protect the citizen from tyranny by government.

I commend to you the words of Ronald Reagan: "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

Obama may be on his way out, but voters have bleak options at the polls this election cycle. The likely nominees of both major parties appear all too willing to issue Obama-like fiats guiding individual Americans toward more help from the Government. Is it time to lose hope?

God would not have us despair. Paul wrote to the Romans, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." That's not just for when things are going well and the economy is good and there's a conservative President and Congress and Supreme Court doing things our way. It's for when we need hope the most. Paul certainly knew persecution for faith--he'd doled it out to others, and, after his conversion, endured it.

Teachers, let's continue in hope. And let's be praying.