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.
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Illinois Students With Disabilities Now Able To Opt Out Of Gym Class, According To New Bill
The Huffington Post
Student-athletes with disabilities in Illinois will now be able to opt out of gym class, just like their non-disabled student-athlete peers. Illinois governor Pat Quinn (D) signed a bill Sunday that allows students with disabilities to be excused from physical education classes, so long as they have proof that they participate in organized sports outside of school. This gym class exemption privilege previously existed for student-athletes but did not include students with disabilities, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Lawyers Urged to Adapt When Advising Clients with LD
Legal Futures
Lawyers needs to improve their interpersonal skills, be patient, respectful and remove jargon to provide disabled clients with a better legal service, research has claimed. More needs to be done to advertise legal services to people with learning disabilities, with easily accessible offices, clearer signage and straightforward language – according to the three-month study conducted by the Norah Fry Research Centre at the University of Bristol, UK.
How to Transform Direct Instruction
Edutopia
Summer is the time to look over those unit plans. As you reflect and rethink lessons, here's something to consider: How can you turn direct instruction into experiences where students instead discover?
From Toy to Tool: How to Develop Smart Tablet Habits in Class
KQED: Mind Shift
Managing tablets as learning tools in the classroom is not easy, especially when many kids use them largely as toys outside of school, if they have access to a tablet in their home environment. Kids often come to school and instinctively want to engage with a tablet as a toy, expecting to be free to play the games they want to play and explore the apps they are interested in.
Texas’ Bid to Ease Mandatory Exams for Public School Students
The New York Times
Despite sharply reducing state testing requirements for Texas high school students, the 83rd Legislature brought only conditional relief from high-stakes exams for students in lower grades, who take a total of 17 state tests before going to high school. For parents and educators who want less time spent on state exams in elementary and middle school, hopes are pinned on the new legislation, but with a big caveat: it is likely that Texas must first obtain a No Child Left Behind Act waiver from the federal Department of Education.
Rosetta Stone Steps Squarely Into Literacy, and Ed-Tech
Education Week
Rosetta Stone, widely known as a major provider of language-learning products, recently announced its latest foray into ed-tech by acquiring a company that provides online English reading and literacy instructional tools. Rosetta Stone paid $22.5 million for Lexia Learning Systems Inc., of Concord, Mass., which says its reading-proficiency products are being used by one million students.
Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates
Friday, July 19, 2013, the U.S. House of Representatives rolled back time with the passage of H.R. 5, The Student Success Act—legislation to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) currently known as No Child Left Behind. The bill, introduced in early June by Chairman John Kline (R-MN) passed on the floor of House, and eliminates many of the accountability requirements of the current No Child Left Behind Act.
UF to Develop Program Supporting Students with LD Majoring in Sciences, Math
University of Florida News
The University of Florida has received an $846,000 National Science Foundation grant to develop a model program to help students with learning disabilities achieve academic success in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, collectively referred to as STEM.
The Effects of Mandatory Retention and Its Use Across the Globe
informED
Recent policies enacted by states and school districts across the United States have reawakened the debate on mandatory grade retention. Since 2012, 14 states and the District of Columbia have adopted mandatory retention policies aimed at students who can’t read proficiently by the third grade. This article discusses the pros and cons of mandatory retention.
White House Honors Young Disability Champions
Disability Scoop
As the nation marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the White House is honoring eight “next generation leaders” in the disability community. During a ceremony Thursday to commemorate the twenty-third anniversary of the ADA, Obama administration officials lauded the young leaders — some of whom are still college students — as “Champions of Change.”
Education Overhaul Faces a Test of Partisanship
The New York Times
The House of Representatives recently passed a bill aimed at greatly narrowing the federal role in public education that was expanded under No Child Left Behind. No Democrat voted for the bill, called the Student Success Act, and the Obama administration has threatened to veto it. Even beyond the Beltway, the debate about education has become far more polarized in the past decade. Strange partnerships have emerged on both sides, as anxiety has grown over the lackluster performance of American students compared with children in other countries.
Can Playing Video Games Give Girls an Edge in Math?
KQED: Mind Shift
Authors of a recent study argue that exposure to video games “could play a significant role as part of a larger strategy designed to interest women in science and engineering careers.” Participants with little prior video-game exposure “realized large gains after only ten hours of training,” they note, adding that “we can only imagine the benefits that might be realized after weeks, months, or even years of action-video-gaming experience.”
Disney Encourages Readers to Create Their Own Stories
The New York Times
Taking advantage of interactive technology, Disney has introduced several initiatives meant to engage digital readers while taking advantage of the company’s extensive library. “It goes from the traditional reading experience through to a more interactive, immersive storytelling experience,” said Andrew Sugerman, executive vice president of Disney Publishing Worldwide.
Study Finds Spatial Skill Is Early Sign of Creativity
The New York Times
A gift for spatial reasoning — the kind that may inspire an imaginative child to dismantle a clock or the family refrigerator — may be a greater predictor of future creativity or innovation than math or verbal skills, particularly in math, science and related fields, according to a study published Monday in the journal Psychological Science.
Brain Test to Diagnose A.D.H.D. Is Approved
The New York Times
The Food and Drug Administration announced on Monday that it had approved the first brain wave test to help diagnose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children. The test takes 15 to 20 minutes, and measures two kinds of brain waves — theta and beta. Certain combinations of those waves tend to be more prevalent in children with A.D.H.D., the Food and Drug Administration said in a news release.
Depression Alters Young Brains
The New York Times
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, researchers have found brain changes in preschool-age children with depression that are not apparent in their nondepressed peers. The children underwent M.R.I. brain scans while viewing pictures of happy, sad, fearful or neutral faces. The researchers found that right amygdala and right thalamus activity was significantly greater in the depressed children than in the others, a finding that has also been observed in depressed adolescents and adults.
Minority Children Less Likely To Be Diagnosed with ADHD
CNN Health
Minority children are far less likely than their white counterparts to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a new study in this week's journal Pediatrics. In fact, authors found that African-American children were 69% less likely to be diagnosed, while Hispanic children were 45% less likely to have an ADHD diagnosis.
Doctors Study Brains of Premature Babies for ADHD Link
ABC-7 News
In the first study of its kind, scientists have pinpointed differences in the developing brain that may increase the risk of cognitive disabilities, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorders. Doctors believe being able to intervene this early may help kids avoid the consequences of ADHD. At Children's Hospital Los Angeles, researchers looked deep into the brains of premature babies to find out what differences can be seen at birth.
First Linux Dyslexia Software Released by Ghotit
Virtual Strategy Magazine
Ghotit released its long awaited Real Writer & Reader for Linux. Ghotit Real Writer & Reader uses advanced writing and reading assistant technologies tailor-made for people with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and other learning disabilities. Dr. Robert Iakobashvili, Ghotit CTO and one of Ghotit founders, said, "Internet forums reflect many attempts to use on Linux Windows dyslexia assistive software over the Wine emulator. Due to the nature of the assistive software rich by hooks and text-to-speech technologies, the attempts were rarely successful.
Child with LD to Get Classroom Support after Two-Year Battle
Liverpool Echo
The parents of a 10-year-old boy withdrawn from school in Wirral after threatening to harm himself have won a two-year battle for classroom support. Sue and Steve Peacock were unable to get son Mathew adequate help despite experts diagnosing him with emotional and learning difficulties. The couple finally had their calls for support vindicated after a judge ruled Mathew needed help – rejecting protests from the council that refused him specialist support.