LD OnLine News Headlines

“I never considered myself a perfectionist because the image that came to mind was of a Type-A overachiever who had their crap together, and I’ve never been mistaken for someone with their crap together. Things started making sense when I found out that procrastination is actually a result of perfectionism and anxiety. I would get so caught up with making things perfect that I’d struggle to finish, or even get started.”

Conditions like A.D.H.D. and autism can make starting and completing tasks feel impossible, but experts say there are workarounds.

ADHD prevalence rates in adults and children remain steady, suggesting that increased diagnosis rates reflect improved understanding and training, diagnostic tools, and self-advocacy skills.

Early learning professionals bring a unique perspective to early care and education issues. Their voices are key to moving the field forward. Their stories can inform efforts to retain talent and to improve systems serving families with young children. The stories highlighted here feature the perspectives of center- and home-based teachers and leaders on issues that matter to them.

Just as the Trump administration in recent months has slashed U.S. Department of Education programs that schools rely on, deep cuts to programs run by other agencies have similarly left students and schools without services and programming on which they have come to rely. With AmeriCorps, the cuts have halted before- and after-school programs. They’ve torpedoed funding for preschool programs. They’ve sent program administrators scrambling to fill budget holes in what is now a competitive market for replacement funding as organizations appeal for backup dollars. In Georgia, where the Communities In Schools chapter was among 14 AmeriCorps programs to be cut, Principal Benja Luke is disappointed to see the erosion of a service that helped bolster her school’s grade-level reading proficiency.

We asked educators to share the creative ways they’re solving problems, bolstering classroom learning experiences, and streamlining time-consuming tasks.

Lift your child’s spirits (and your own!) with these feel-good, strengths-focused tips informed by the principles of positive psychology.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has claimed America is overprescribing and ‘poisoning’ children with medications for ADHD and other drugs.

Despite reports of a recent surge in ADHD, a global analysis has found no reliable evidence of an increase in the number of children diagnosed with the condition since 2020.

Low pay, difficult working conditions and high attrition rates fuel the need for teachers in Pennsylvania, education experts say.

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration on Monday announced $7.76 million in grants to expand the state teacher apprenticeship program and address the ongoing statewide teacher shortage.

President Donald Trump is proposing $12 billion in cuts to the U.S. Department of Education budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. While the president’s budget proposal keeps topline funding steady for the Education Department’s two largest sources of funding for schools, Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, it asks Congress to eliminate nearly four dozen other grant programs that provide services for specific K-12 student populations, pay for teacher training and professional development, and fund education research and data collection, according to an Education Week analysis of the Trump budget.

Surrounded by smiling supporters and curious fourth graders, Gov. Jared Polis on Friday signed a bill into law that will require universal dyslexia screenings in Colorado schools starting in the 2027-28 school year.

The state desperately needs special education teachers. This Cañon City teacher answered the call after 22 years as an aide

In my nearly two decades first as a classroom teacher then a teacher trainer, I have found the following three scaffolding strategies highly effective: active reading strategies (such as cloze, partner, and choral); background knowledge activation; and peer-assisted learning. A caution: Let’s remember that scaffolding is not differentiation. When we scaffold our instruction, we are giving students access to grade-level material without altering the grade-level expectations.

Matt Cohen is an attorney and founder of Matt Cohen & Associates. He specializes in special education, disability rights, and human services law. He spoke to Community Voices about the history of special education laws in Illinois, challenges that schools and families face, and gives his opinion on how the dismantlement of the Department of Education would affect education and kids with disabilities. Matt also gives advice on how families of children with special needs should navigate the school system.

Pennsylvania faces a shortage of special education teachers. A partnership led by Gwynedd Mercy University seeks to address the problem.

In May, Gwynedd Mercy partnered with Bucks County Community College and Bucks County Intermediate Unit to create an apprenticeship program to train and certify special education teachers for pre-K through 12th grade, focusing on paraprofessionals who are already working in the area but are not yet teachers.

Neurodevelopmental disorders are a diverse group of conditions that affect the brain from early development. They include attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism and learning disabilities, such as dyslexia.

ADHD is the most common neurodevelopmental disorder. It affects around 8-10% of children and 2-5% of adults.

Learn more about how ADHD is diagnosed and what factors may contribute to its development.

New Jersey’s new, first-of-its-kind literacy plan aims to boost early reading skills among young learners, but advocates worry schools won’t be ready to roll it out this fall.

The statewide effort, launched under four bills signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in August 2024, aims to refine foundational literacy practices in schools based on research in reading and learning.

The comedian Phil Hanley remembers his school teachers calling him lazy and stupid, when in truth he was struggling with dyslexia. In his new memoir Spellbound: My Life as a Dyslexic Wordsmith, Hanley writes about how his mother defended him in an unsympathetic education system, and why he doesn’t want dyslexic kids today to feel the shame he did.

Who treats ADHD? Who can diagnose ADD? Should you see an MD, PhD, LCSW, or some other ADHD specialist? Here’s an overview of the titles and job descriptions that quickly confuse parents and adults seeking answers to their questions about symptoms of attention deficit.

APSARD’s ADHD diagnosis and treatment guidelines for adults in the U.S. will be published in 2024, says APSARD President, Ann Childress, in an interview with ADDitude.

Schools don’t always follow the law when providing accommodations for children protected under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Do you know which special-education services children with ADHD and LD are entitled to?

Women and girls with ADHD are at risk for poor outcomes as persistent gender bias and stereotypes hinder proper diagnosis and treatment of females.

As the Trump administration pushes forward with reshaping the federal role in education, the future of special education remains uncertain. Amid this uncertainty, it’s worth stepping back to assess what we know about the potential changes ahead—and what those changes could mean for students with disabilities.

Young people with disabilities in the United States are guaranteed the right to a free and appropriate public education at federally funded schools. But with shifts and cuts at the Education Department, families may be facing changes under the Trump administration.

Two federal laws – the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act – prohibit discrimination against students with disabilities. The majority of students with disabilities protected under the laws in the nation’s public schools have learning or developmental disabilities, including autism, dyslexia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and down syndrome. Students who are deaf, blind or have other physical impairments are also protected by the laws. The two civil rights laws ensure that students are placed in the “least restrictive environments” so they are not separated from their peers unless truly necessary.

President Donald Trump’s first federal budget proposal of his second term last Friday kicked off a flurry of activity in the K-12 education landscape, as district leaders and policy watchers tried to make sense of sweeping cuts outlined in relatively scant detail.

Education Week is tracking the potential impacts of Trump’s proposals, and trying to make sense of what’s known and unknown. Here are answers to some of the key questions educators and districts are likely wondering.

After months of intense debate, a citywide education panel voted Wednesday night to close a Brooklyn school with dwindling enrollment and open a new one for struggling readers in its place. And the panel greenlit opening a new school, the Central Brooklyn Literacy Academy, in the same building. It will be the second city-operated public school designed to serve students with dyslexia and other reading challenges.

New research shows fewer than half of parents find it fun to read aloud to their children. But reading aloud is one of the sacred, analog rituals of parenting. “CBS Evening News” co-anchor John Dickerson has more.

Three families share what it took to win the right for special ed students to learn with nondisabled kids — and what’s at risk under Trump & RFK Jr.

Thousands of students with disabilities in New Jersey could face significant setbacks as proposed federal cuts to special education funding, staff reductions, and changes in oversight could worsen existing challenges, particularly in low-income districts like Newark, advocates say.

Of the three school cases the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing this month, two have drawn widespread attention for their potential to significantly reshape public education.

One is about whether parents with religious objections may opt their children out of LGBTQ+ storybooks. Another is about whether public funding may be provided to a religious charter school.

The third case has received far less attention, but is being watched just as closely by educators. A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, scheduled for arguments April 28, centers on whether students with disabilities must satisfy a particularly stringent legal standard to prove they faced discrimination from their schools under two federal disability-rights laws.

Two of Colorado’s largest school districts will start universal dyslexia screening programs next school year, joining about a dozen other districts across the state that already look for signs of the learning disability in young students.

For the family of one 7-year-old, tantrums at the entrance were a daily occurrence. She would cry and cling to her mom until the principal came out and physically helped her through the front door.

What was initially assumed to be anxiety or a behavior disorder turned out to be a learning disability. “When we assessed her, we found that she had dyslexia. She wasn’t being defiant — she was overwhelmed by reading and writing tasks.”

Multimodal large language models (MLLMs) can outperform humans at many tasks, though they often fail at a seemingly simple one: reading time on a clock face. Computer scientist Louis Rosenberg suggests that this is because MLLMs process information much differently than humans — possibly in a way that resembles dyslexia.

In a surprising turnaround, Mississippi, once ranked near the bottom of U.S. education standings, has dramatically improved its student literacy rates.

As of 2023, the state ranks among the top 20 for fourth grade reading, a significant leap from its 49th-place ranking in 2013. This transformation was driven by evidence-based policy reforms focused on early literacy and teacher development.

The rest of the country might want to take note.

For six years, Colorado parents of children with dyslexia have pleaded with state lawmakers to pass a bill that would require public schools to screen early elementary students for dyslexia.

A bill that would require Colorado schools to screen early elementary students for dyslexia advanced out of a legislative committee Monday, marking a big win for advocates after years of effort.

Mental health information on social media can be both revelatory and misleading. How do clinicians and their patients make sense of it?

TikTok and other social media sites are full of mental health content—often short, grabby, first-person videos detailing symptoms for conditions like ADHD and autism. But what does this mean for teens and young adults who spend hours a day scrolling?

How might dismantling the Education Department alter services for students with disabilities?

What does the Institute of Museum and Library Services do? The agency provides financial support to a wide array of cultural and educational institutions, including art, science and history museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens and historic sites. Libraries of all types — public, academic, school and research — also benefit from the agency’s funding. Through grants, research and policy initiatives, the IMLS helps these institutions better serve their communities. 

The actions of President Donald Trump’s administration in recent months has led to an unprecedented period of turmoil and uncertainty, unsettling many current and former staffers, as well as district leaders and advocates for children with disabilities nationwide.

While helping families get services for their child with disabilities, Alexandra Kuske says she has seen school districts slip in language requiring parents to waive their children’s rights to bring claims under state and federal laws.

We teachers are bombarded with “research-backed” this or “evidence-supported” that. Maybe we have the time to read it and maybe we don’t. But what are the questions we should be asking about it? Today’s post is the second in a three-part series (see Part One here) offering a checklist that teachers can use to judge the credibility of the research behind the actions we are being told we should take in the classroom.

After the state eliminated an illegal cap on the number of children with disabilities schools can serve, caseloads mushroomed. Funding did not.

As cuts threaten insights into K–12 schools, the veteran researcher is helping to build a compendium of education insights.

Teachers can use these strategies for deeper communication to establish an inclusive learning environment for students.

The lawsuit accuses the government of dismantling the department by executive fiat without the required approval of Congress.

A special education leader under the George W. Bush administration says the dismantling of the Department of Education will impact students with disabilities.

Have you ever diagnosed yourself with a mental health disorder based on a TikTok video?

If so, you’re definitely not alone. Many people turn to social media to understand their behaviors and to find community.

“I personally don’t think that there’s anything more human than wanting to understand yourself and wanting to understand your own experiences,” says Vasileia Karasavva, lead author of a paper published in the journal PLOS One this week. “People have this innate urge to say, hey, like, am I alone with this?”

Yet the research throws a wrench in that tactic.

One writer shares how ADHD has had a dramatic impact on her daily life – from hair washing to dental health – and how she’s learned to cope with it.

Background music and stimulating music with amplitude modulation may improve sustained attention for adults with ADHD symptoms, suggests two new studies.

In his new book, “Shift: Managing Your Emotions – So They Don’t Manage You,” neuroscientist Ethan Kross shares the most current research on emotional regulation. He also offers a perspective on the functions of emotion and advises us against suppressing challenging emotions. Instead, he says to notice when their intensity or duration are doing you or your child more harm than good, and continue to gather an array of tools for shifting emotions out of high gear.

Take-Aways from Our Two-Part Series Focused On Tablets in Pre-K Through Third Grade

In January and February, New America’s Learning Sciences Exchange (LSX) program and Early and Elementary Education policy program partnered to host a two-part webinar series, helping educators, policymakers, and parents navigate the latest guidance. Researchers, pediatricians, media specialists, and early childhood educators gathered to discuss the evidence and everyday decisions around how technology should be used with children between pre-K and third grade, which types and amounts are appropriate, and whether various forms should be used at all.

For most students, instruction in how to read ends sometime in elementary school. But some kids still struggle with foundational reading skills well beyond that point.

Mass firings at the U.S. Department of Education will severely compromise families’ ability to ensure that the rights of their children with disabilities are upheld, advocates warn.

When comedian Phil Hanley hit the first grade, he started to realize that while his classmates were learning to read, he couldn’t seem to make any progress. That was the start of a lifelong journey with dyslexia, which caused Hanley to struggle in school, only to find success as a male model and now as a comedian. Hanley discusses his memoir Spellbound: My Life as a Dyslexic Wordsmith.

Writing a memoir was no laughing matter for Phil Hanley. Narrating the audiobook took 16 sessions, 64 hours and a supportive audience.

When you’re a struggling reader, there’s no amount of motivation that can power you through the sludge of an opening paragraph. Because no matter how intrigued you may be by the topic, when you get to around here, the words begin to fa      l              t                     e               r.

The U.S. Department of Education is expected to shrink by half. The Trump administration has laid off more than 1,300 workers, and 21 states including Minnesota have sued to stop the layoffs. 

One of the agency’s major roles is to make sure students with disabilities can get an education. Special education programs are required by law, and they remain intact. But parent advocates in Minnesota say they are watching for other impacts, including indirect ones. 

Gretchen Godfrey is the associate director of the Minnesota-based organization, PACER Center. She joined MPR News host Nina Moini to explain how parents of students with disabilities interact with the Department of Education and how the staffing cuts may affect Minnesota students.

The Education Department announced on Tuesday that it was firing more than 1,300 workers, effectively gutting the agency that manages federal loans for college, tracks student achievement and enforces civil rights laws in schools. The cuts could portend an additional move by Mr. Trump to essentially dismantle the department, as he has said he wants to do, even though it cannot be closed without the approval of Congress.