Scraps Of Mind

Scrapbooking as an Educational Tool

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I stumbled across this little snippet over at one of the newsbytes internet sites and it got me thinking about how valuable a social tool scrapbooking can be.

Scrap Girls consumers are using digital scrapbooking products for much more than scrapbooking family memories.

Los Angeles, CA (FV Newswire) - Scrap Girls consumers are using digital scrapbooking products for much more than scrapbooking family memories. Melanie, a layout designer at ScrapGirls.com, takes her digital scrapbooking personally. So personally in fact, that she has started using this art form to design social stories for her son. Melanie’s son struggles with language delays. As part of his therapy, his speech therapist recommended that Melanie should write stories for him in which she would describe how he should behave. Melanie knew right away how she would do this: digital scrapbooking.

Melanie uses digital scrapbooking products from ScrapGirls.com to display digital photos of her son in a colorful comic-book style that will keep his attention. Her son is the star and he loves the books. Through them, he can watch himself make good choices.

Rose Ann Bright, a Scrap Girls customer noted, “I think this is a wonderful idea. I teach a variety of children, some of whom have autism, learning disabilities, or intellectual disabilities. Social stories are a big part of teaching children the correct way to interact with peers and adults.” Rose Ann also suggests the digitally scrapbooked stories could be presented as PowerPoint presentations.

Julie Mendlik, a friend of Melanie’s, recently underwent brain surgery. To prepare her autistic son for the event, she prepared social stories to help him understand what would happen. He learned why his grandparents would be taking care of him for a while and why his father wouldn’t be around as much. He learned why his mother’s hair would be cut and why she wouldn’t be able to read to him or take him to school for a period of time.

How fantastic to be using scrapbooking as an educational tool!

I never really thought about it before but scrapbooking lends itself to this purpose so perfectly. After all, isn’t scrapbooking all about communication? Whether we are telling a story in pictures or a combination of pictures and words, or whether we are communicating a mood or emotion through the colours and design of our layouts. We’re communicating something.

And what a perfect tool to communicate to those with learning difficulties or who are too young to grasp complex ideas.

Have any of you used your scrapbooking in this way? Let us know in the comments. I’m sure many of us would like to know more about this side to scrapbooking that we may never have explored before.

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If you prepare a scrapbook of charts, figures and models, you’re likely to pass the 642-825 exams. Scrapbooking can help you remember information better so try it for your upcoming 642-845 exam. 70-284 exams will make you an expert in the MES, while 70-620 only deals with Windows Vista. Candidates must have the education and experience working with 250 to 5000 users in a network environment for 70-291 exams. 642-523 exams deal with installing and configuring security appliances in a network. If you’re on a job search for SMB AM, the exams that lead you to such jobs is 650-173.