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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.
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Advocates in Wisconsin Seek Restrictions on Child Restraints
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (WI)
Recalling how their children had suffered from the use of inappropriate physical restraints and seclusion in time-out rooms, parents and advocacy groups called Wednesday for new legislation that would restrict such measures in Wisconsin schools.
Advocates, Administrators Divided on Kansas Dyslexia Bill
CJOnline
For years, parents who say their children aren’t receiving adequate services have been calling for change, arguing that many children with dyslexia go undiagnosed. Moreover, even when diagnosed, they say, those students often don’t receive the specialized instruction they need.
A bill in the Senate Committee on Education would seek to remedy that. Senate Bill 44 has the support of the Kansas Coalition for Dyslexia Legislation, but opponents, including school administrators, say the bill is at best redundant and at worst a violation of federal law.
Advocating for Special Needs Children
The Georgetown Record (MA)
The Georgetown Special Education Parent Advisory Council (SPED PAC) is a state-mandated volunteer organization of parents who have children with a variety of learning differences. The PAC helps parents become an effective advocate for their child and is a support group as well.
USA Today Prep Rally Blog
There's a lot being written about a Texas coach who was fired after allowing Covenant School to rout Dallas Academy 100 to 0. Was it unsportsmanlike to run up the score? Perhaps. But the girls' basketball team at Dallas Academy — a small school that offers small classes for children with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and other learning differences — are handling the commotion with humor and grace.
After-School Programs May Boost Common Core Knowledge
Pittsburg Kids + Creativity Network
"As the nation moves toward Common Core standards in classrooms, school districts are bracing for a sudden drop in test scores. The Common Core standards, which 46 states and the District of Columbia have adopted, are asking different things of students (and teachers). Eventually, supporters hope, the new standards will create true 21st-century learners who can master not only the facts but the ability to be a critical thinker, innovator, and lifelong learner. In the meantime, however, the big question mark is their immediate and longer term impact, particularly on low-income children or those for whom English is not their first language."
Age-Old Problem, Perpetually Absent Solution: Fitting Special Education to Students' Needs
Washington Post
Miguel Landeros is a lanky, well-spoken 12-year-old about to begin seventh grade in Stafford County, VA. He is severely learning disabled, with reading, writing and math skill levels at least two years below his peers, and needs special teaching, according to a licensed clinical psychologist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore and other specialists. Last February, Stafford officials refused to accept that evaluation and left him in regular classes. Recently, they promised to give him more specialized services, but not the ones the experts who examined him say he needs.
Age-Related Changes in Motor Skills Subtle Signs Among Girls and Boys With ADHD
Education Week
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder affects the motor skills of boys more than girls, according to a report published in the Nov. 4, issue of Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Lacrosse Magazine
Julian Owens had a lacrosse stick in his hands every day at after-school day care. His mother didn't know what it was used for, and she was worried about her boy, who failed second grade with a learning disability and was growing up without a father since he was eight months old. The second-grader who tried to play big against fourth- and fifth-graders is now a sneaky 6-foot-1, 175-pound attackman. Julian, now a junior at Palm Beach Central (Fla.) High School, keeps his grades at a B average.
Alabama Beefs Up High School Diploma Endorsements
Dothan Eagle (AL)
Alabama has been tweaking its high school diploma options, recently beefing up its academic endorsement and adding a new credit-based diploma endorsement to help students who struggle with the state exit exam to graduate on time.
Alabama Teacher Aids Students with Dyslexia
Tuscaloosa News (AL)
Celia Sofie, the Title I reading teacher at Cottondale Elementary, in Cottondale, AL works with students every day who have mild to severe forms of dyslexia. Sofie has been recognized by school officials for her work ethic and dedication in helping students with dyslexia learn to read. After getting her doctorate, Sofie decided to channel her energies into students with dyslexia and learn more about the disorder that affects 20 percent of the population.
All in a Days Work for a New Orleans Special Education Teacher
Times-Picayune (LA)
This entry in the Times-Piscayune's Nola Blog describes the situation faced by Shawn Datchuk, the only special education teacher in a New Orleans charter school. What do you do and who do you help with the time and resources you have?
All of Patricia Lambert's Students Were 'Priceless'
St. Petersburg Times (FL)
One of the first people Sharon Platter met when she transferred her son to Center Academy, a private school that serves children with learning disabilities and other challenges, was Patricia Lambert, then the school's assistant principal. Platter got the feeling Mrs. Lambert cared about each student and was won over. Mrs. Lambert, who died July 25 at 65, was the school's driving force. A teacher at Center since 1984, she became principal a decade ago, shepherding and challenging its 100 or so students.
Amazon Retreats on Kindle's Text-To-Speech Issue
CNET News
Amazon announced late Friday that the company is modifying systems to allow authors and publishers to decide whether to enable Kindle's text-to-speech function on a per-title basis. For Kindle owners interested in the text-to-speech feature — such as those with dyslexia or visual impairments — the device just lost value.
Amazon's Kindle to Add Features for Vision-Impaired
WKOW (WI)
Amazon.com's Kindle e-book reader is getting two new features to make it more accessible to blind and vision-impaired users. The announcement came a month after UW-Madison and Syracuse University said they wouldn't consider making the device available on campus until Amazon made it easier for vision-impaired students to use.
An A.D.H.D. Student Finds Confidence on the Track
New York Times Well Blog
As a child, school for me was like being in Charlie Brown's classroom. The other kids heard what was going on, and all I would hear was "Waa, waaa waaa, wa wa." Words were spoken, and I knew them, but I couldn't figure out exactly what it was I was supposed to be getting. Everything changed in the seventh grade, when I decided to join the track team. School had been nothing but one failure after another and a constant reminder that I was inferior to the other kids. But when I stepped on the track it was different. I could keep up.
An Oregon School for Troubled Teens Under Scrutiny
Time
On April 28, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that has caused anguish in the world of special education and children's mental health. The case, Forest Grove v. TA, centers on the question of whether the families of disabled children have the right to seek reimbursement for private school tuition from the state, if the child has not first received special education services in public school. The legal question is a narrow one, but the case raises larger, more troublesome issues about student safety and the quality of educational services that families should expect when they place their children in private residential care.
Harvard Crimson
When I began at Harvard this fall, I wasn't like a lot of the other freshmen. I wasn't my high school valedictorian. I hadn't invented anything, let alone Facebook, although I spend way too much time on it. I never aspired to be president but thought it would be cool to have a future president as my roommate. I hadn't spent the last 19 years dreaming about going to Harvard. In fact, all I really hoped for was to get through middle school.
T.H.E. Journal
What once read "requires" now reads "needs." But the amending of that single word in the 2004 update of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) automatically triggered a surge in the number of students eligible for assistive technology in K-12 schools. Education technology magazine T.H.E. Journal looks at how assistive technology is being used in schools.
North Shore Magazine (IL)
While diagnosing emotional and behavioral disorders helps many children get the extra support they need to succeed in school, some North Shore parents wonder if diagnostic labeling has gone too far. When should we just let kids be kids, and when should we seek expert intervention to remedy those things that make them "different"? The answer isn't always easy.
Anesthesia in Infancy Tied to Learning Problems
Reuters Health
Infants who are given general anesthesia more than once are twice as likely to have learning disabilities later on than children never exposed to the drugs, a new study suggests.
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