http://www.ldonline.org/ en-us LD OnLine Administrator hourly 1 http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Fears_That_Welsh-Speaking_Pupils_with_Dyslexia_Aren%27t_Identified_Early_Enough Thu, 29 May 2008 14:30:15 GMT The phonetic simplicity of the Welsh language may still be masking dyslexic children in primary classrooms, an official said yesterday at the Urdd Eisteddfod. While English dyslexics are quickly defeated by the language's inconsistent spellings, children learning to read in Welsh have an easier start because the written words follow consistent pronunciation rules. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Fears_That_Welsh-Speaking_Pupils_with_Dyslexia_Aren%27t_Identified_Early_Enough http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Concern_Growing_Over_Controversial_Changes_to_Virginia_Special_Ed_Law_ Tue, 27 May 2008 14:36:41 GMT One of the changes to Virginia's Special Education law that has caused the greatest uproar among parents and advocates is eliminating the parental consent requirement when a district wants to stop providing special education services for a child. In the regulations under consideration, the school must notify a parent, but not seek permission. The changes also propose eliminating parental consent when determining services for transfer students. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Concern_Growing_Over_Controversial_Changes_to_Virginia_Special_Ed_Law_ http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/D.C._Schools_Trying_New_Approach_to_Special_Ed_Cases Tue, 27 May 2008 14:36:06 GMT After tangling in litigation for close to a decade, the District of Columbia school system agreed in 2006 to work quickly to pare down a backlog of cases related to special education services it had failed to provide to students with disabilities. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/D.C._Schools_Trying_New_Approach_to_Special_Ed_Cases http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Opinion%3A_Fix_NCLB_to_Let_Disabled_Students_Succeed_on_Tests Tue, 27 May 2008 14:35:26 GMT Across the nation, thousands if not millions of students have been set up to fail. These students have endured countless frustrations and setbacks simply to make it through high school, yet they now face the prospect of having the tools they need taken from them. They need those tools to pass the test that may determine whether they can graduate. The reason they face this calamity? They happen to have disabilities. And under No Child Left Behind, they are therefore at the mercy of a federal bureaucracy that determines whether they can use the accommodations that need to succeed. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Opinion%3A_Fix_NCLB_to_Let_Disabled_Students_Succeed_on_Tests http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Adult_ADHD_%27Linked_to_Lost_Work%27 Tue, 27 May 2008 14:34:39 GMT Adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder do 22 fewer days of work per year than people who do not have the condition, a study says. The research, which looked at 7,000 workers in 10 countries, found an average of 3.5% had ADHD. Writing in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the Dutch team said workplace screening should be used to pick up people with the problem. A UK expert backed the idea, but warned they should not be stigmatized. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Adult_ADHD_%27Linked_to_Lost_Work%27 http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Patient_Voices%3A_ADHD Fri, 23 May 2008 14:36:03 GMT The challenges faced by those with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder — weighing the decision to take stimulant medication, facing those who doubt your disorder, and adapting to your symptoms — are daunting and deeply personal. Here, in their own words, are the stories of adults and children coping with ADHD. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Patient_Voices%3A_ADHD http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Looking_Inside_Kids%27_Minds_Can_Open_the_Future Fri, 23 May 2008 14:35:08 GMT The Bright Minds Institute diagnostic and treatment center uses brain imaging to diagnose and treat kids' cognitive disorders. While some patients say it has helped, some leading doctors say it's too soon to use sophisticated tests like these clinically, and that people might be wasting their money on them. Dr. Bradley Peterson, director of the Pediatric Neuropsychiatry Research program at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, said the technology is not there yet. "No test can tell you that this child has ADHD and that one doesn't," Peterson said. "At least at present day. Hopefully, in the next year or coming years, we might have that, but we don't yet." http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Looking_Inside_Kids%27_Minds_Can_Open_the_Future http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Disabled_Students_Denied_Graduation Fri, 23 May 2008 14:34:09 GMT Twins Alyssa and Amanda Reta have developmental disabilities, but they chose to work towards receiving a regular high school diploma — a harder path for them. They were on their way toward getting their caps and gowns when both failed to pass the math portion of the California High School Exit Exam. This is the first year that the requirement to pass a cumulative exam applied to special education students. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Disabled_Students_Denied_Graduation http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Profits_For_Publishers_In_Making_Books_Accessible_To_All Fri, 23 May 2008 14:32:12 GMT This story looks at the European Union's EUAIN project and its successors which connect the publishing industry in Europe with accessibility organizations. The dream is to make all new publications simultaneously available in formats such as Braille, large print and audio. This will mean the blind, the partially sighted and people with reading disabilities such as dyslexia have the same access rights to information as the rest of society. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Profits_For_Publishers_In_Making_Books_Accessible_To_All http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/California_School_Board_Scraps_Special_Ed_Gag_Orders Thu, 22 May 2008 14:04:27 GMT Ending a year of controversy, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education voted last Thursday to drop confidentiality clauses in agreements with parents of special education students. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/California_School_Board_Scraps_Special_Ed_Gag_Orders http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Meyer%3A_Identifying_Older_Children_With_Special_Needs_Can_be_Difficult Thu, 22 May 2008 14:03:31 GMT As part of the process of hiring a new special education director for Harvard, Massachusetts Public Schools, the top four candidates participated in a public forum. Candidate Michael Meyer remarked that identifying a child with special needs in middle and high schools can be a bit more difficult because the teachers don't have "ownership" of the students like they do in the elementary level. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Meyer%3A_Identifying_Older_Children_With_Special_Needs_Can_be_Difficult http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Oklahoma_Officials_Inspect_Troubled_School Thu, 22 May 2008 14:03:05 GMT Oklahoma State education officials conducted an impromptu inspection Thursday of special education student records at the troubled Tulsa Academic Center. A compliance audit of the Center was triggered by a combination of student, parent and school employee complaints to the state and by media reports. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Oklahoma_Officials_Inspect_Troubled_School http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Ave_Maria_Prep_School_Graduates_Eight_in_First_Class Thu, 22 May 2008 14:02:27 GMT Ave Maria Preparatory School of Sarasota, Florida will graduate 8 high school seniors today. Founded in 2004 by Sister Gilchrist Cottrill, the school serves students with a wide range of special learning needs: LD, ADD, ADHD, autism, Asperger's syndrome, delayed development, sensory disorders and auditory processing deficits. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Ave_Maria_Prep_School_Graduates_Eight_in_First_Class http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Harford_County_School_Helps_with_Learning_Problems Wed, 21 May 2008 14:31:05 GMT A University of Maryland coach and the private remedial Highlands School, which works exclusively with students with learning disabilities like dyslexia, ADHD and hearing issues, will create a new new community outreach center for parents who have many questions and little help. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Harford_County_School_Helps_with_Learning_Problems http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Mara%3A_There_Needs_to_be_a_Relationship_Between_Parents_and_the_School Wed, 21 May 2008 14:30:31 GMT As part of the process of hiring a new special education director for Harvard Public Schools, the top four candidates participated in a public forum. As the parent of a former special education student, candidate John Mara knows well that there needs to be a partnership with administration and parents, he said. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Mara%3A_There_Needs_to_be_a_Relationship_Between_Parents_and_the_School http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Making_Reading_Easier Wed, 21 May 2008 14:30:03 GMT A Publishers Weekly article says, with large print books, size is not all that matters. A new company, Read How You Want, issues not only large print editions of books but also more unique typefaces that serve a range of readers with special disabilities - things like eye-tracking problems, dyslexia and other reading impediments. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Making_Reading_Easier http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Parents_Protest_Special_Education_Changes Wed, 21 May 2008 14:28:02 GMT Parents and advocates for special education students in Loudoun County are protesting proposed state regulations, saying they would be a step backward for Virginia. Comments on the changes must be received by the Virginia Department of Education by June 30. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Parents_Protest_Special_Education_Changes http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Parents%3A_Houston_ISD_Not_Meeting_Dyslexic_Students%27_Needs Tue, 20 May 2008 14:06:22 GMT A year after pledging to spend more than half a million dollars to identify and help dyslexic students, the Houston, Texas Independent School District has diagnosed just 70 additional children, according to HISD records. Only 326 children in the 200,000-student school district are considered dyslexic — several thousand below the number experts say they would anticipate. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Parents%3A_Houston_ISD_Not_Meeting_Dyslexic_Students%27_Needs http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Kaplan%3A_One_Priority_is_Keep_SPED_Students_in_The_District Tue, 20 May 2008 14:05:52 GMT As part of the process of hiring a new special education director for Harvard, Massachusetts Public Schools, the top four candidates participated in a public forum. Candidate Steven Kaplan said one of his priorities is keeping special education students in the district. According to Mr. Kaplan, "It starts with holding classes for potential special education teachers." http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Kaplan%3A_One_Priority_is_Keep_SPED_Students_in_The_District http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Opinion%3A_More_Options_for_Ohio%27s_Disabled_Students Tue, 20 May 2008 14:05:05 GMT The EdChoice program, introduced in 2006, gives Ohio students whose public schools have been on Academic Watch for at least three years the opportunity to improve their educational environment by providing funding for them to transfer to a private school. While this and other programs are helpful to those students with general education needs, the fact remains that students with disabilities require special attention and should benefit from the same freedom of choice. http://www.ldonline.org/ldnews/Opinion%3A_More_Options_for_Ohio%27s_Disabled_Students