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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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College: How to Do More Than Just 'Get By'
NPR
Many of the college students who have returned to campus for another semester will struggle to pass their classes and graduate. To find out how students can get on the path to success, host Michel Martin talks with Melvina Noel, author of How to Thrive in College.
Engaging Students Through Multiple Literacies
Education Week
Teachers of all subjects must expand their instruction to include—or further emphasize—reading, writing, and critical thinking. In a recent paper from The Educational Forum, one teacher describes engaging students through creative work that expands the definition of "text" as well.
Study finds 43 percent of MA third-graders read below grade level
Lowell Sun
An alarming number of third-graders continue to read below their grade level despite Massachusetts leading the nation on standardized reading assessments, according to a new report.
Appreciating Special Education Students' Diversity
Education Week
A new concept has emerged on the horizon that promises to establish a more positive foundation upon which to build new strength-based assessments, programs, curricula, and environments for these kids.
The concept is neurodiversity. The term, which was coined by Australian autism-activist Judy Singer and American journalist Harvey Blume in the late 1990s, suggests that what we've called in the past "disabilities" ought to be described instead as "differences" or "diversities." Proponents of neurodiversity encourage us to apply the same attitudes that we have about biodiversity and cultural diversity to an understanding of how different brains are wired.
Nudging Schools to Help Students With Learning Disabilities
New York Times
Parents have extensive rights under IDEA, including the right to ask for an evaluation or a re-evaluation of their child at any time. Most important, however, is the parents’ right to be part of the team that decides what special education services and therapies the child will receive.
Sesame Street Goes Sensory Friendly
Disability Scoop
Sesame Street Live will do a performance designed to meet the special needs of those with autism and other disabilities.
Organizers say they are providing parents with production notes in advance so that kids can be prepared. What’s more, there will be quiet areas at the venue for anyone needing a break during the performance and extra space will be offered in the seating areas so that audience members can move around.
At Book Summit, Access to Reading Matters Most
Education Week
Publishers, writers, preservationists, technology experts, and literacy advocates gathered at the Library of Congress last week to discuss the future of reading and reading technology at the first International Summit of the Book. While the summit offered a variety of perspectives on the evolving role of the book in knowledge-sharing, access to reading emerged as a shared interest and challenge for those concerned with books in relation to literacy.
Athletics and Special Education: Reaction to New Guidelines
Education Week
A document from the U.S. Department of Education intended to clarify schools' responsibility to make sure students with disabilities have access to extracurricular sports has drawn sharply different opinions. Disability-rights advocates welcome the guidance, while critics say federal officials are pushing requirements that could place new financial burdens on districts.
Live Chat on Neurodiversity in the Classroom
Education Week
Understanding Neurodiversity to Build a Strengths-Based Classroom.
The deficit model in education and psychology frames student ability in terms of what cannot be accomplished. Join Education Week in a conversation that focuses instead on students' strengths and interests!
TODAY, Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, 4-5pm, Eastern time.
Concerns About ADHD Practices and Amphetamine Addiction
New York Times
This article presents a harrowing example of what can go wrong when a diagnosis is only partially addressed.
"Young adults are by far the fastest-growing segment of people taking A.D.H.D medications. Nearly 14 million monthly prescriptions for the condition were written for Americans ages 20 to 39 in 2011, two and a half times the 5.6 million just four years before, according to the data company I.M.S. Health. While this rise is generally attributed to the maturing of adolescents who have A.D.H.D. into young adults — combined with a greater recognition of adult A.D.H.D. in general — many experts caution that savvy college graduates, freed of parental oversight, can legally and easily obtain stimulant prescriptions from obliging doctors."
Interview: Dr. Ross Greene Talks About Explosive Kids
Smart Kids With Learning Disabilities
Ross Greene, Ph.D. is Director of the Collaborative Problem Solving Institute in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Read his interview and learn problem-solving strategies that will help your child regulate emotions and frustration.
50 Educational Podcasts You Should be Listening To
Getting Smart
Podcasts are a great way to get information when you’re driving in your car, making dinner at home, or waiting at the DMV to renew your license. Podcasts don’t force you to find more time in your day; they give you the opportunity to capitalize on all the dead time that already exists in your day by simply downloading the .mp3 or syncing a podcast to your iTunes account on your smartphone.
Workplace Disability Discrimination Claims Hit Record High
Disability Scoop
More complaints of disability-related job discrimination were filed last year than ever before. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received 26,379 claims of job bias citing disability issues in the 2012 fiscal year.
Number Sense, Not Counting Skills, Predicts Math Ability, Says Study
Education Week
1, 2, ... ?
A new study indicates that understanding number concepts (like being able to identify, compare, and work with numbers) may predict first grade student's future math ability more than counting skills.
Special Ed. Director Blazes Paths in Virginia
Education Week
When Judy Sorrell was a child, she knew she would devote her life to working with children with disabilities.
As a 5th grader, well before the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act existed, requiring public schools to educate students with disabilities in the "least restrictive" environment possible, Sorrell was already indignant over the way a younger cousin with Down syndrome was being treated in school.
Increased Access to School Sports for Students with Disabilities Expected
Disability Scoop
For the first time, federal officials are telling school districts that they must offer students with disabilities equal access to school sports. Click through the link to read more!
Disability Advocate to Retire from Congress
Disability Scoop
After four decades of serving, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, revealed plans not to seek a sixth term in the U.S. Senate next year. Harkin's contributions include the Americans with Disabilities Act and several special education, employment, and health care initiatives.
Dyslexia Center Looks to Raise Funds, Awareness
The Centre County Gazette (State College, PA)
For the second consecutive year, an anonymous donor has offered to give a 50 percent matching grant to the Children's Dyslexia Center in State College if the Center raises $20,000 by Aug. 31. Last year the Center raised the $20,000 needed for the anonymous donor's grant several ways. The Tour for Dyslexia, a cross-country group bike tour started and led by Larry Emigh, chairperson on the Board of Governors for the Center, raised $16,000 last year.
How Cultural Assumptions About Struggle Affect Learning Outcomes
NPR
A focus on persistence through intellectual struggle strengthens self-efficacy and leads to positive outcomes in Eastern Cultures. NPR takes a look at cross-cultural differences in classroom attitudes toward learning and their effect on students.
Steps to Academic Success for Students with LD
NICHY
Learn about accomodations, supports, and specialized instruction that can enable students with LD to thrive in the classroom.