Driving Notes

Thanks for joining us for Who Knew Wednesday today!
April is Autism Awareness Month and we wanted to give you some ins and outs on this month, this condition and one really fun thing that’s happening in our community that creates a fun enviroment and works to include those with autism!
Autism is not a condition that we can run from nor are there cures right around the corner, but we can learn through the eyes of those who deal with it every day. Many amazing people have grown up facing the prejudice of the world because they were different, but didn’t let it dampen nor demean who they were. Autism Awareness Month helps us learn that while they face certain challenges, those who face the world are people just like you and me.
Read more about the history of Autism Awareness Month from Days of the Year!

The Knox Board of Developmental Disabilities is a great resource right here in Knox County that always seems to have something going on!
A group of Knox County parents of children with developmental disabilities banded together to support and enrich the lives of individuals in Knox County who had developmental disabilities over 60 years ago. Ten years later, the Knox County Board of Developmental Disabilities (KCBDD) was established as the local government agency charged with the responsibility to serve and protect these same individuals and their families. Over the past six decades, the Board has filled many roles, doing whatever was necessary to help individuals live fulfilling lives and be welcomed as members of our community. You can learn more about the Knox DD here!

One of the amazing things that the Knox DD does alongside the Mount Vernon Nazarene University is the Lego Club. This is a great community effort to create friendships and fellowship with those that are presenting on the autism spectrum. The latest Lego Club was held on April 11th and gave the challenge to build the most creative first responder!

With any condition, there are misconceptions that arise with them. Our friends at Autism Speaks shared 11 myths about autism and the truths behind them.
People with autism can’t understand the emotions of others.
FALSE.
Autism is caused by bad parenting. 
FALSE.
People with autism are just like Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rain Man.
FALSE.
People with autism are intellectually disabled.
FALSE.
Read the truths behind these myths and the other 7 myths here.

This list of difficulties faced by a person with autism are by no means exhaustive, but whether you are into brain training for children, are a parent or a teacher of a child with ASD, or are a certified Applied Behavior Analyst, there are number of things that you should know about those with autism.
“We struggle to communicate, but this does not mean we are not trying to be heard.”
“We may ignore or seem not to hear loud noises, yet we might be extremely sensitive to sounds that other people barely notice”
“The most capable of us may go on to lead completely normal lives, and many of us might marry and even have children of our own”
Check out this link to 20 things that children with autism want you to know for more!

Check out more about what autism is and how to join the movement of the Global Autism Project here!

Our Who Knew Wednesday Trivia Question was as follows…
What is the name of the original Lego theme park in California?
Our answer? Legoland!
Our winner? Rebecca from Butler!

Today in the food corner, we talked about BANANA DAY!
Here’s 35 recipes to use when you have ripe bananas because you need 35 of them.
My personal favorite… frozen banana cereal pops.

Thanks for listening!
– Lilly and Hannah

Thanks for hanging out with us today as we talk about something that I think is very important – SIGN LANGUAGE! Today is American Sign Language Day, so we shared some of the history and some facts about Sign Language to celebrate today!

There are many ways to communicate, and thousands of languages, each with their own various dialects. However, when considering the languages of the world many people forget those that don’t use the voice at all. Throughout the world there are those who are not born with the gift of verbal speech, and have had to find another way to communicate. The written word is one such method, but away from a computer it’s clumsy for casual conversation, and thus was born languages that include the use of hand signs to express meaning and share ideas. Appropriately enough, they’re known as Sign Languages, and American Sign Language (ASL) is one of the most prominent forms in the world.

ASL has an incredibly long history, given the age of the country in which it was born. In 1815 a school for the deaf was established with the intent of creating a cohesive language for those who could not use verbal speech. It was a remarkable leap forward for the time, and through the combination of several extant sign languages, Native American signals, French Sign Language, and even one for that was specifically created in Martha’s Vineyard (Known appropriately enough as Martha’s Vineyard Sign Language) the American Sign Language (ASL) was born.

There are many misconceptions about hearing loss and those that are deaf and there are so many blogs and articles that speak to these. Check out 10 misconceptions about hearing loss from Hearing Like Me here!
There are some instances where children are born deaf, but there a lot of instances where hearing loss comes later in life. Over 15 percent of the US reports some hearing troubles—that comes out to about 37 million American that suffer from some form of hearing loss! Learning Sign Language can be beneficial even if you have no deaf family members or you yourself are not deaf. It may come in handy some day. Read some more statistics about hearing loss here! Read more statistics about deafness here. Some of these might surprise you.

Here are some facts about Sign Language…

1. Sign language varies from country to country. Most of the country have their own sign language or share a certain sign language but, with a different dialect.
2. Sign languages have their own definite grammar. For instance, a well constructed question must be accompanied by the correct eyebrow position. When a person is asking questions related to who, where, what, why and when, then the eyebrows are kept down. If the question is regarding a yes/no situation, the eyebrows are kept up.
3. Brain injury damages the perception of sign language in the same way like other spoken languages. A person who has a brain injury might be able to produce signs but,cannot put them in correct grammatical order.
4. Sign language doesn’t only use signs to communicate. It uses facial expression, hand movement and position,gestures and body language to communicate.
5. In the American Sign Language (ASL), the alphabets can be demonstrated using one hand. However, in German and British Sign Languages, two hands are used.
6. In ASL, all the signs pertaining to women (such as wife, daughter etc.) are signed near to the jawline. On the other hand, men related signs (such as father, boy etc.) are signed by the forehead.
7. Deaf people often use name signs to refer to people. These name signs are attributed to each person and doesn’t requires fingerspelling the entire name. When you meet a deaf person, it is a practice to tell them your name sign.
8. Each sign is composed of five components. Any change in them will change the entire meaning of the sign.
– Orientation, handshape, location, movement and expression (facial and body)
9. Direction of the palm can change the entire meaning of the sign.
10. Two movement of the same handshape can have separate meanings.

For our Mystery Question today, we, of course, made it topic related.
The question: What percentage of deaf children are born to hearing parents?
The answer? 90%
Congratulations to Henry from Howard for correctly guessing!

Being deaf or having a deaf family member is not a prerequisite for you to learn to sign, and honestly, it’s not a complicated language to learn.
Here’s a link to some easy ways to start picking up the language!
I know it’s a little out there, but I’ve been watching a show called “Switched at Birth” where one of the main characters is deaf, so there is a lot of signing that happens in the show, which is a great way to kinda subconciously pick up on some signs while watching an entertaining TV show. You can check out some of the misconceptions and topics that the show covers here and how the show is diving deeper into deaf culture.

I also have an app on my phone called “Sign School”. This app allows me to look up most simple signs without having to pay an additional fee.

Thanks for l
– Lilly and Hannah

Call your sister! Text your brother! It’s Siblings Day and of course we had to celebrate!

I (Lilly), don’t actually have any siblings! #OnlyChild. I, have, however taken it upon myself to ‘claim’ other people as my siblings.
So, here’s my shoutout to my TaVaCi sister, Megan (upper right), my school little sisters, Raelyn and Reese (upper left), my radio big sister, Cierra (bottom right), and my apartment big sister, Breah (bottom left). Love you all!

Hannah, however, has actual siblings!

She has 3 actually! from left to right, younger brother Owen, Hannah, little sister Brynn, and youngest brother, Isaac!

On the show today, we shared with you some fun facts and some of the psychology behind having siblings!

You spend more time with your siblings than anyone else

A Pennsylvania State University study revealed that by the time children turn 11, they spend about 33% of their spare time with their siblings. In fact, even after they grow up and get busy with their lives, they spend about 11 hours a week with each other, and the duration escalates to 17 hours if the siblings are part of a big family.

Fights between siblings are natural

A study has said that siblings who are aged between 3 and 7 years old are involved in fights 3 1/2 times in an hour. The frequency is even worse with toddlers who reportedly fight every 10 minutes.

Siblings help you have better interpersonal skills

Younger siblings look up to their older brothers and sisters, thereby learning how to cope with difficult situations later in their lives. On the other hand, being a role model to their younger brothers and sisters help the older sibling develop proper nurturing and compassionate skills that the latter wouldn’t otherwise posses.

Younger siblings have a tendency to be more rebellious and extroverted

A study on 390 families conducted by the Leiden University in the Netherlands found that younger siblings were much more aggressive and rebellious as opposed to their older siblings. Younger siblings often feel the need to speak up for themselves and stand up to their older siblings in order to receive attention from their parents, thereby contributing to their extroverted and rebellious nature.
I’m an ‘only child’ so that’s my label. But, there’s a few more. Where you lay on this spectrum can determine parts of your personality! You know what I’m talking about, right? Oldest, middle, youngest of course!

firstborns are “dethroned” by a second child, which permanently affects the firstborn’s personality. Additionally, younger and older children may be spoiled and pampered, which also permanently affects their later personalities.

Some researchers say that the apparent disadvantages middle children endure can help them be more empathetic, independent, and articulate

Famous firstborns include Zac Efron, Beyoncé Knowles, Dakota Fanning, Harrison Ford, Matthew Parry, Jennifer Aniston, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Chuck Norris, Sylvester Stallone, Reese Witherspoon, and Ben Affleck.

Famous youngest siblings include Prince Harry, Blake Lively, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Martin Short, Ellen DeGeneres, Whoopi Goldberg, Jay Leno, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Jon Stewart, Billy Crystal, Danny DeVito, Drew Carey, Jim Carey, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, John Candy, and Charlie Chaplin

Generally, firstborns or only children are conscientious, well-organized, serious, goal-oriented, achieving, people pleasers, and believers in authority. Other traits include perfectionistic, reliable, and self-reliant

Last-borns or only children who marry other last-borns make the best match. The next most successful marriage pairing are middle children and last-borns

Because firstborns tend to be perfectionists, they may be afraid of making mistakes and resist taking action. They may also have trouble admitting when they’re wrong

Parents subconsciously identify with the child who holds the spot in the family they occupied themselves. A lastborn dad may think his youngest child’s antics are cute while a firstborn mom sees them as irresponsible.

Thanks for listening!
– Lilly and Hannah

Do you know the history of the zoo? It wasn’t always the way it is today!

Zoo is actually short for Zoological Garden, and is mostly used to refer to the modern concept of a zoo.   Prior to this the term menagerie was used, coming from a long history reaching back all the way to the ancient world.  The oldest collection of this sort was found during an archeological dig in Hierakonpolis Egypt in 2009.   The animals they had there included an impressive array of hippos, elephants, baboons, wildcats, and hartebeests. Read the full history of the zoo here!

Did you know that female elephants stick together. The older ones, called “aunties,” teach the younger ones how to be good moms?
What about these fun facts?
The sand cat, which lives in the desert in Africa and Asia, has furry paws so that it leaves no footprints in the sand.
The cheetah, which lives in many countries in Africa, can run faster than 60 miles per hour, which is about as fast as your parents drive the car on a major highway. But it can maintain that speed for only about 20 seconds. Then it has to rest.
Because apes in the wild spend about six hours a day looking for food, zookeepers hide the apes’ food.
Check out some more fun facts about some of the animals in the National Zoo here!

Thanks for listening!
– Lilly and Hannah