Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Skill-Building Apps for Challenged Readers

Patti's Comments:  Many of these are free!!

Excerpt from My Special Needs Network: (click for entire article)

With summer nearly upon us, there are some students and their parents who may be searching for good apps designed for improvement in the following reading skill areas:

• Focusing
• Word-attack skills
• Fluency
• Tracking
• Comprehension
• Retention

We thought this would be an ideal time to provide our readers with apps for these specific skill areas. That way, over the summer break, students (and others) might be able to “brush up on” areas of weakness so that they will be improved by the time the new fall term begins.

New Grant Helps UH Learning Disabilities Research

Excerpt from KUHF: (click for entire article)

The grant is from the National Institute of Health and is a continuation of an earlier award in 2006. The UH Center for Learning Disabilities works with elementary and middle school students here in Houston and in Austin, with early interventions that focus on reading difficulties.

Dr. Jack Fletcher heads the center and says the new award will help researchers study a known gap between early elementary grades and middle school.

Reauthorizing IDEA with Those We Serve

Excerpt from Disability Blog: (click for entire article)

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a federal law that makes it possible for families to access free and appropriate education for their children with disabilities. The standards established under IDEA impact families and school districts across the country.

IDEA requires all public schools to provide a free and appropriate public education tailored to the specific needs of a child with a disability. One of the key components of the statute is the Individualized Education Plan, commonly referred to as the IEP. The IEP is a written document that outlines a child’s education throughout his educational career. The document defines goals for the student, services needed to help meet those goals and a method of evaluating a student’s progress. Families looking for more information about IEPs and how to prepare for them can visit the Autism Society website.

As a nonprofit organization representing those affected by autism, the Autism Society is taking steps to prepare for the possible reauthorization of IDEA. The Autism Society strives to be a fair and honest broker of information about autism, and an organization that brings reasonable and bipartisan ideas to Washington. That’s why our position on the IDEA reauthorization will be shaped by exactly what families and educators need.

Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities Names 2012 Youth Achievement Award Winners

Excerpt from PR Web: (click for entire article)

Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities, Inc. (SKLD) is pleased to announce the winner of its ninth annual Youth Achievement Award, recognizing the outstanding accomplishments of a student with learning disabilities or ADHD. Clinton Berry of Owensboro, KY will accept the $1,000 Award at the nonprofit organization’s 12th Anniversary Benefit on June 8th, at the Stepping Stones Museum for Children in Norwalk, CT. A senior at Owensboro High School, Berry was selected from over 150 entrants in the annual contest conducted by SKLD, the nonprofit organization based in Westport, CT.

Berry, 18, credits his reading and writing disabilities, identified in first grade, with motivating him to set high goals for himself. Getting individualized help in addition to using assistive technology, and his own hard work allowed Berry to catch up with his peers academically in middle school. He has been honored with both academic and public service awards, holds a Black Belt in Traditional Karate, and is a member of his high school golf team, concert band, and Owensboro’s Emergency First Responders. For his 2010 Eagle Scout project, he designed and built a 2500 square foot rehabilitation center for bald eagles in Owensboro’s Yellow Creek Park. He will study engineering at Murray State University next fall.

Learning Disabilities, the Wonderlic Test, and the NFL

Excerpt from the Law Office of Matthew Stoloff: (click for entire article)

Lowell Cohn has a good piece about a college football player with a learning disability who received a low score on the Wonderlic test.

The Wonderlic Cognitive Abilities Test is an “intelligence test” that consists of 50 multiple choice questions that must be answered in 12 minutes. These questions consist of basic math and English questions. If you’re interested in seeing what this test looks like, try answering a few sample questions here.

A person who gets a a score of 20 on the Wonderlic test is deemed to have “average intelligence.” The NFL has been using the Wonderlic test for over 30 years to assess prospective football players. According to Wikipedia, the “average football player usually scores around 20 points.” Presumably, an aspiring football cornerback should get a score of 18 on the Wonderlic.

The Upside of Learning Disabilities

Patti's Comments:  This is so true!!!! LOVE IT!

Excerpt from Psychology Today: (click for entire article)

I’ve written about my struggles with dyslexia in the past. Correction. I’ve written about my struggles with a system determined to force everyone into one myopic mold which is so crippled it is utterly unable to understand what diversity really means. Educators and politicians throw the term around and attach catchy slogans to initiatives that are supposed to embrace difference, but in the end, they really just don’t get it.

My experience through the school system was an arduous one, a part of which I wrote about recently on PT here. To think that what I went through back then has turned into parents, doctors and educators opting to medicate children to change their brains, and that this is considered progress, is beyond comprehension.

Learning Disability - What Is It?

Excerpt from About.com: (click for entire article)

Does your child seem to struggle with school tasks that other children seem to learn more easily?  Is your child frustrated with the learning process and possibly beginning to dislike school? Every child struggles with learning occasionally, but in some cases, learning problems become more pervasive and may signal something more serious, like a learning disability. Learn more about learning disabilities, what they are, and how they are diagnosed.

Dyslexia Definition Symptoms

Excerpt from About.com: (click for entire article)

What Is Dyslexia?

Depending on the educational jurisdiction, the term Dyslexia may or may not be used to define a disability in reading. Some educational jurisdictions refer to Dyslexia as a type of learning disability pertaining to reading. However, Dyslexia is often described as a reading disorder or a disability affecting reading or the impairment of the ability to read. Typically, those with Dyslexia have a normal intelligence. The prevalence of Dyslexia has been estimated to occur in between 5-10% of the population. Dyslexia symptoms can range from mild to severe.

Categories Affected by Dyslexia

Reading
Dyslexics will often confuse letters (b for d, p for b etc.) and say words backwards (tac for cat) and will often omit simple words in sentences. Word and letter reversals are common as are the omissions of small words and parts of words. Their ability to see the sequence in words or sentences is somewhat scrambled. Their visual and phonetic memory is extremely weak which causes the deficits in reading.

Language Processing Delays - Auditory Processing

Excerpt from About.com: (click for entire article)

Many children with language delays or learning disabilities once diagnosed are told they have 'processing delays'. This really refers to the time it takes for the child to process information from text, from oral information or to decipher vocabulary. They often have the language skills to comprehend, but require additional time to determine meaning. They often have language comprehension ability lower than their same age group.

Difficulties in processing language impacts the student in the classroom as the information coming to the child is often at a greater pace than the child is capable of processing. Children with language processing delays are at a greater disadvantage in the classroom setting.

Here are 10 strategies to support the child with language processing delays:

1. When presenting information, make sure you are engaging the child. Establish eye contact.

2. Repeat directions/instructions and/or have the student repeat them for you.

Five Misconceptions about Learning Disabilities

Excerpt from LD Online: (click for entire article)

In the classroom, it starts simply — sometimes with a struggle to sound out simple words; sometimes with trouble telling time, memorizing the times tables or learning left from right. It often ends simply, too: with a troubling statistic. One in five of the American students identified as having a learning disability will walk away from their education. That's compared to a dropout rate of 8 percent in the general population.