LD News
Each week, LD OnLine gathers interesting news headlines about learning disabilities and ADHD issues. Please note that LD OnLine does not necessarily endorse these views or any others on these outside websites.
To receive these headlines in an e-mail, sign up for our free LD Newsline service. These headlines are available as an RSS feed by clicking on the RSS icon below. We also offer our RSS feeds in an e-mail format which you can subscribe to below.
RSS this page | Subscribe by e-mail
Note: These links may expire after a week or so. Some web sites require you to register first before seeing an article.
Go to page: |< << 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 >> >|
Sort by: | Date | Title |
Test Shortage Has Ohio Special Education Teachers Scrambling
The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio)
As the Ohio state-mandated school testing season kicks into high gear, some testing coordinators and special-education teachers are scrambling because of a shortage of a an adapted test form required for special needs kids. A number of districts did not receive any or all of the booklets required for students who must have the Ohio Achievement Test read aloud to them by an aide or for those who listen to it on a CD, creating a chaotic situation for special education teachers as they prepare for testing.
Testing 1, 2, 3 — Educational Assessment: Portrait of a Learner
The Star (Canada)
The Toronto Star's three-part article paints a portrait of a child moving from grade to grade without learning. Yesterday's article showed how a psycho-educational assessment of a student is done. It was an extraordinary look at a process usually cloaked in mystery. Today, 13-year-old Josh and his mother Linda (whose names we have changed to protect their privacy) get the test results — and, perhaps, a lifeline.
Testing for special education: When, Why, and How?
Kalamazoo Gazette's Family Talk Magazine (MI)
Parents may wonder when to ask teachers whether their children qualify for special education services. Experts say the sooner the better. When the school follows through with an assessment, several different processes begin.
Testing Officials Again Tackle Accommodations And Exclusions for Special Student Populations
Education Week
Perhaps no topic has as thoroughly vexed officials who oversee the nation's leading test of academic progress as the wide variation among states and cities in the proportion of students with disabilities and limited English proficiency whom they exclude from taking the exam or provide with special accommodations for it.
Texan Speedskater's Olympic Dream Lives On
Dallas Morning Star
The moment Jordan Malone's dreams of the 2006 Turin Games died, after he'd skated at the U.S. Olympic short-track speedskating trials on a broken right ankle, he headed straight for his No. 1 teammate in the stands: his mom. Almost four years later, Malone's improbable story has continued. In September, Malone will try again, this time for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Malone has battled more than injuries to stay on the ice. He has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia. Because of banned substance regulations, he takes only an herb to try to control his ADHD, and skating has always helped.
Texas Student Wins National Honor for Essay on Living with Dyslexia
Fort Worth Star Telegram (TX)
When McKenzie Hightower learned that her essay had won a national writing award, she wrote a jubilant note to her teacher that wrapped up her thoughts succinctly. "Omg." Hightower's e-mail read, short for "oh my gosh." But don't mistake the informality for a stunted vocabulary. Hightower's ability for expressive composition is earning her accolades. Her evocative account of growing up with dyslexia won a gold medal in the annual Scholastic Art & Writing Awards competition.
Texas Voucher Bill would Provide Options for Students with Disabilities
Beaumont Express (TX)
A bill in the Texas Legislature proposes education options for families of children with disabilities. Authored by Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, it would provide scholarships to parents of children with disabilities. Those could be used in special education programs in either a public school in another district or a private school.
Texas Youth Spreading Holiday Cheer to Nation's VA Hospitals through Christmas Cards
Waco Herald-Tribune (TX)
Lindsay Gray, 8, is mailing 170 Christmas cards to veterans and service members to send them a bit of holiday cheer. She's sending one card to each of the 168 veterans' hospitals across the country, as well as to the military hospitals at Fort Hood and Fort Bliss. "She has dyslexia, so this has helped with her concentration more," said Lindsay's mother, Kara Lowe. "Even though she memorized what she wrote in the cards, she's still writing and not getting her letters mixed up."
Wicked Local (MA)
Behind the classic hipster he played on "Happy Days", Henry Winkler was an insecure kid who suffered from dyslexia. Winkler's children's book series "Hank Zipzer: The World's Greatest Underachiever" is based on his real life struggle with learning disabilities. Winkler will appear at the Sandwich High School auditorium on Today, Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. to promote the newest Zipzer book "The Life of Me (Enter at Your Own Risk)" and to talk about how he overcame dyslexia.
The 55 Best Free Education Apps For iPad
TeachThought
TeachThought writes:
"Finding apps isn’t difficult. Finding education apps is only a bit more challenging. Finding free education apps is also possible. Finding free education apps worth downloading is a different story entirely."
"The following is our list for the 55 best apps for learning we can find. Some are formal learning–math drilling and phonics, for example–while others are RSS readers, social media platforms, and the like. These are purposely not all purely academic, “training” apps that focus on individual skills, but rather the an array of apps students could use daily to improve their ability to think, connect, and use information."
The Big Picture: Artist Overcomes Dyslexia
CantonRep.com (OH)
Gabbi Urban, a senior at GlenOak High School, doesn't let dyslexia keep her from communicating. Art has become her outlet. "A lot of people are afraid of learning disabilities, but it's not a negative — we just learn differently."
The Biggest Myths About Girls with ADHD
PsychCentral.com
It's only in recent years that ADHD is becoming better understood in girls and women. But we still have a long way to go, according to Terry Matlen, ACSW, a psychotherapist and coach who specializes in ADHD. She noted that we need to improve how we identify girls with ADHD, evaluate them and administer treatment.
The Claim: Eye Exercises Can Enhance Your Vision
The New York Times (NY)
This "Really?" column looks at claims, widely promoted online and advocated by various companies, that eye exercises can reduce the need for glasses and ease learning disabilities. The bottom line: Eye exercises are useful for some problems, but they do not seem to relieve myopia or dyslexia.
RTI Action Network
The legal dimension of response to intervention (RTI) has been the subject of considerable confusion. This brief article provides an overview of the prevailing misperceptions, or what may be termed the “common lore,” and the corresponding objective recitations, or the actual law, regarding RTI. Many of the misinterpretations are due to the professional norms or particular preferences of scholars from the various fields—including school psychology and developmental neuroscience—that intersect at special education.
The Cost of Literacy: Overcoming Learning Disabilities
WBEZ
Like one in five students, Jacob has language-based learning disabilities that affects his reading and writing abilities. His challenges include dyslexia, dysgraphia, slow processing and decoding issues. When asked what's hard about reading, the fourth grader answers, "Sounding out words. Sounding out words, yeah. It shouldn't. I just feel I have no time and I have to rush. So, it was hard for me to sound out words or read words or memorize words."
The Creative Energy Behind ADHD
The Wall Street Journal
As a mother of two children with ADHD, The Wall Street Journal's Work and Family reporter Sue Shellenbarger wonders, "How can you tell whether all that splintered energy will help your own child succeed? And how can you help channel all that mental voltage productively?" She asked a few famous ADHD sufferers and their parents for answers, including the founder of JetBlue airlines, the founder of Kinko's, and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" host Ty Pennington. Ty's mother, Yvonne, says that while many viewers get emotional watching her son deliver remodeled homes to deserving families, she cries for different reasons. After being told years ago that her unruly son was the worst kid in his school, she says, "my tears come from the joy, at how far he has come."
WAMU (DC)
For kids with dyslexia, learning to read can be tough going. The disorder afflicts an estimated 15% of Americans. Dyslexics typically have trouble associating letters with sounds and words. Many learn to work around the challenge, but there's an intriguing new twist: some who work with dyslexics believe that the disability may also confer certain advantages. Specifically, anecdotal evidence suggests that dyslexics have sharper peripheral and three dimensional vision. Join the Diane Rehm show for a talk about the special challenges and possible advantages for people with dyslexia.
Brandon News & Tribune (FL)
A group of middle schoolers enthusiastically leaves the confines of their academic classroom, bouncing into a high-tech gymnasium of sorts, where they not only use their muscles, but their minds. Interactive Education Academy, a school for special-needs students in Valrico, FL, has introduced a new fitness program that also incorporates motor skills, coordination and classroom work.
The Berkshire Eagle (MA)
Since age 3, Pittsfield High School sophomore Katie Jodoin has been classified as a special-needs student. A generation ago, Jodoin, who has a genetic learning disorder, might have been educated in a classroom only with other children identified as needing extra help, students with afflictions ranging from vision or hearing impairments to autism. But thanks to her school's policy of inclusion she takes both regular and special-education classes and participates in Pittsfield High's culinary arts program.
ADDitudeMag.com
Equine-assisted ADHD therapy forced me to align my actions with my intentions and to exude the calm confidence I asked for in return. Horses, I learned, mirror what they see in our hearts and feel in our heads.
Sponsored Links
About these ads
Consumer Tips
