Monthly Archive for April, 2005

The Seattle Post Intelligencer carried an Associated Press story datelined Everett WA (US) that reads like a terrible mash-up of race, disability, possibly poor parenting, and manifest determination. According to the story, an adolescent who has Learning Disabilities will have to write an essay as a way to have his record cleared.

The boy was found guilty last month of felony harassment for waving a noose at [an]other boy and using racial slurs in a parking lot at the high school in Monroe.

Because the teenager and his father had voluntarily taken a two-day racial-awareness class at Edmonds Community College in December, however, the judge granted a deferred disposition.

According to the story, “The white teenager, who has a learning disability, was expelled from Monroe High School after the episode and is now studying with a tutor from the public schools.” Do you think there was a determination of whether this boy’s LD played a role in his change in IEP? Let’s hope so. As deplorable as his action is, I can imagine that a boy who has LD and who may come from a home where racial intolerance occurs (we don’t know this to be the case; I’m alerted to the possibility, though, because the father went to the awareness class, too) might behave this way.

This one is full of interesting twists!

As an Ottawa special education teacher, Pierre Martel is outraged his son, Eric, can’t graduate from a French-language high school in Gatineau because he can’t spell in French.

Mr. Martel, who teaches at Carson Grove Elementary School, said his 18-year-old son failed a Quebec writing exam last spring because he has dyslexia, the same problem that troubled him as a student. “If a child is in a wheelchair, do you tell him he has to run to pass physical education? I was told that wasn’t the same thing, because the ministry requires linguistic competency.”

Let’s see…dyslexia, spelling, French, laws or rules or regulations, graduation, teacher as parent…there’s lots to consider in this story. Link.

Dayle Upham, an individual with a Learning Disability and a faculty member at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (US), has published a book about LD. According to a story by Kelly McBride, Upham’s book, “Making the Grade: Reflections on Being Learning Disabled,” is more than a resource for future teachers.

Part of Upham’s mission is to not only help students who struggle with learning disabilities, but also to help correct misconceptions about the disabilities themselves, she said. For instance, while many people think the term “dyslexia” has to do with getting letters mixed up, the word actually means an inability to read – switching letters may be just one problem from which dyslexics suffer. And by definition, people with learning disabilities have either average or above-average intelligence, Upham said.

Congratulations to Professor Upham!

According to a story in the Wichita Eagle, a grant from Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas will support an initiative of the Urban League of The MidPlains that provides a career and educational program for youth. Individuals who have learning disabilities and meet the income requirements are eligbile for grants that are aimed to help them “overcome barriers to continuing their education or finding a job.”