• Director-Develop questions and lead the discussion
• Can you relate to Catherine trying hard to fit-in with Kristi? How important is it to belong with the right crowd at school?
• Do you find it interesting that Kristi is the new kid in town and Catherine is the one working so hard to be friends with her? Why do you think that is?
• Catherine does not really know what Kristi likes or is like, but she guesses. Have you every done that and have gone through a lot of trouble trying to be someone else for nothing?
• Catherine is very perceptive and empathetic about a lot of things, why do you think interacting with her regular peers is a blind spot for her?
• Catherine's words for Jason are helping him have a personality. The words before helped him ask for his basic needs, but not to express himself. Catherine immediately felt that if she were in him place, she would want to be able to express herself. What are some other words you could add to Jason's book that would help him to express himself and reveal his personality? (Think about what personality is and the kinds of words that go with types of personalities...we do not know what kind of personality Jason has, so we need to give him plenty of options!)
• If you had a communication board, what would be the most important words for you to have to express yourself/people to understand who you are and what you care about (you don't need to put words for obvious daily care and needs)?

• Summarizer-summarize reading

Catherine hopes to meet her new neighbor and make a good first impression. She learns that Kristi spends some of her time with her Dad in another place (but her parents are not officially divorced, but separated/taking a break) (Lord, 2006, p.92). Catherine goes to Occupational Therapy and brings some new cards and illustrations for Jason. She also plays a song for him by letting him use her CD player but feels weird about touching his hair. They have a nice interaction and she asks to make even more cards for Jason. The next day is rather chaotic at home because Mom is in her home office on the phone working and David is watching a section of a video over and over, and Catherine is supposed to be watching David, but she also wants to work on Jason's cards at her desk. Much to Catherine's surprise, Kristi comes inside the house and introduces herself. Catherine is very nervous about David embarrassing her because Kristi is someone who "will be popular" (Lord, 2006, pp.79-80). Catherine decides to spend time with Kristi instead of going to Occupational Therapy as planned to give Jason his new cards. Catherine and Kristi go to Kristi's bedroom and then Kristi's driveway to play basketball. During that time Catherine tries hard to be the kind of person that Kristi would find to be "cool." She didn't say anything bad about Ryan because Kristi seemed to like him even though Catherine did not because he is mean to David. Kristi put Catherine in a corner and she admitted that Jason was her boyfriend because Kristi saw Catherine's sketchpad (Catherine was more rattled by this than the reader would expect). Catherine returns home around dinnertime and Catherine's mom reports that Jason was disappointed, but brought carrots for Catherine's guinea pigs. Catherine goes to the next Occupational Therapy session to see Jason, give him the cards, apologize for not coming when she said she would, thank him for the carrots, and bring in her guinea pig to show. They have a nice time "talking" and Catherine resolves she has a lot more words she would like to make Jason.

Today (Wednesday) I will continue to post on Cynthia Lord's Rules Chapter's 6-11

This time, I will take on the following roles of our Literary Circle:

• Summarizer-summarize reading
• Director-Develop questions and lead the discussion
• Connector-Find connections between you and the book, the book and the world
• Travel Tracer-carefully track the action in words or diagrams

Illustrator-draw or find pictures related to the reading
Researcher- Dig up/discover background information that is relevant to the reading

Catherine has a Georgia O'Keeffe calendar in her room. It inspires her; Catherine say her dream is "to be an artist and have people gasp when they see my paintings, like I do on the first day of each month" (Lord, 2006, p.50)

Georgia O'Keefe-Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 – March 6, 1986) was an American artist. She was best known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, and New Mexico landscapes. O'Keeffe has been recognized as the "Mother of American modernism".(Wikipedia.org)

1918 Photograph by Alfred Stieglitz/Blue and Green Music,1921/Inside Red Canna,1919 (Wikipedia.og)

Literary Luminary- highlight special sections (like a close read)

Catherine is given a lot of responsibility regarding teaching her brother how to successfully navigate society, and she takes it very seriously, writing rules and reminding David of them as much as he needs to be reminded (taking them everywhere with her). She expresses this feeling of responsibility early on (Lord, 2006, p.11).

I think one passage that could use a close read was something I found to be a really profound longing/observation coming from a sibling of someone with a disability.:

"My own hands squeeze to fists. Sometimes I wish someone could invent a pill so David'd wake up one morning without autism, like someone waking from a long coma, and he'd say, 'Jeez, Catherine, where have I been?' And he'd be a regular brother like Melissa has--a brother who'd give back as much as he took, who I could joke with, even fight with. Someone I could yell at and he'd yell back, and we'd keep going an going until we'd both yelled ourselves out. But there's no pill and our quarrels fray instead of knot, always ending in him crying and me sorry for hurting him over something he can't help" (Lord, 2006, p.8).

Also, notice how Catherine describes every character's hair, even characters who are static and not important to the plot.

Another passage I found to be interesting is the following, because Catherine describes the one place she feels free to explore her emotions without agitating her brother David. Drawing with her colored pencils is her coping skill, and she very beautifully describes how she utilizes it:

"Sometimes I can change how I feel about something by drawing it. Drawing make me find the curves, the shadows, the ins and outs, and the beautiful parts. I solved my hating snakes by drawing their scales, tiny and silvery, overlapping and overlapping, until all I saw was how perfect they were. Can't say I'd want a snake crawling across me, but I don't have to run screaming to Dad every time I see a garden snake now" (Lord, 2006, p.19)

Catherine has a lot of empathy for a girl her age. I was moved by the following thoughtful passage about Jason's communication board:
"She takes a little card and a pen from her purse. Watching her, I wonder how that'd feel, to have to wait for someone to make a word before I could use it. And to have all my word lying out in the open, complete strangers able to walk by and see everything that mattered to me, without even knowing my name" (Lord, 2006, p.43).

Catherine also shows empathy and wisdom in the following complex thought (which took me several time to read and understand):
"I want to show Jason I'm sorry for not-looking at him the same embarrassed way I hate people not-looking at David" (Lord, 2006, p.46).

Vocabulary Enricher- Identify new words with special meaning

Egrets (Lord, 2006, p.13) An egret is a bird that is any of several herons, most of which are white or buff, and several of which develop fine plumes during the breeding season. (Wikipedia.org)


Heron (Lord, 2006, p.30) Long-legged freshwater and coastal birds. (Wikipedia.org)

Cloak (Lord, 2006, p.23) A loose outer garment, as a cape or coat. (Dictionary.com)

Autism: Psychiatry. a pervasive developmental disorder of children,characterized by impaired communication, excessive rigidity, andemotional detachment: now considered one of the autism spectrum disorders. (Dictionary.com)
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior. Parents usually notice signs in the first two years of their child's life. (Wikipedia.org)
Example: David is diagnosed with Autism. David has not non-verbal, that is why there is a spectrum. 
David likely falls somewhere in the middle. It is difficult to tell at his age.

Occupational Therapy: (OT) is the use of assessment and treatment to develop, recover, or maintain the daily living and work skills of people with a physical, mental, or cognitive disorder. Occupational therapists also focus much of their work on identifying and eliminating environmental barriers to independence and participation in daily activities.^[1] Occupational therapists work with clients of all ages, ranging from infants to the elderly.^[2] Occupational therapy interventions focus on adapting the environment, modifying the task, teaching the skill, and educating the client/family in order to increase participation in and performance of daily activities, particularly those that are meaningful to the client (Wikipedia.org).
Example: David goes to Occupational Therapy several times a week to help with his speech and behavior to help with his ability to interact in everyday society. David's mother mentions how hard David is working to "initiate conversation" (Lord, 2006, p. 31).

Illustrator-draw or find pictures related to the reading: David "scripts" from the following book. He uses the "rule," "If you don't have the words you need, borrow someone else's" (Lord, 2006, p.38). David finds comfort and patience in using the words from the book below to apply to frustrating situations in daily life that are out of his control. Lord portrays a positive view on "scripting," except David's mother's concern, "David'll never learn to talk right if we keep letting him borrow words," but Catherine cleverly responds to this concern with a scripted line (Lord, 2006, p.57).

• Researcher: "Scripting:" A) One of the restrictive/repetitive behaviors some people with Autism engage in is echolalia. Echolalia is the repetition of words or phrases with no meaning or function attached to them. 
• "Scripting." (2010). Autism-community.com. Retrieved from <http://www.autism-       community.com/scripting-a-parent-seeking-help/>.
• "Scripting" B)  "If you don't have the words you need, borrow someone else's" (Lord, 2006, p.50). A person with Autism connects deeply with a particular script from a movie and/or book like David does with Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad are Friends, which is why this additional "rule" was made for David specifically, "if you need to borrow words, Arnold Lobel wrote some good ones," (Lord, 2006, 38).