Monthly Archive for August, 2007

DLD conference 1-2 Nov

Published on 31 August 2007 in News and Research. 0 Comments

Teachers: Learn about evidence-based practices!

Join more than 20 renowned presenters for the annual fall conference of the Division for Learning Disabilities. Steve Graham, Karen Harris, Margo Mastropieri and Tom Scruggs, Rollanda O’Connor, Susan Osborne, Mitch Yell, and many others will hold workshops on teaching methods and other topics relevant for those who work directly with students with Learning Disabilities.

DLD’s unique format for the conference permits close interaction with presenters. In 3-hour sessions they not only present data but also teach participants how to use the practices and procedures they’ve studied. It’s a way of Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice and you can participate 1-2 November in San Antonio. TX.

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CLD conference

Published on 26 August 2007 in News and Research. 0 Comments

The Council for Learning Disabilities (CLD) will hold it’s annual conference in just a few weeks. Here’s the scoop about it.

Hello from the Council for Learning Disabilities! We are busy preparing for our 29th International Conference on Learning Disabilities to be held at the Sheraton Myrtle Beach Convention Center Hotel (Myrtle Beach, SC) from October 12-13, 2007. We cordially invite you to attend this important event! With more than 100 sessions, you will hear high quality topical sessions that are responsive to important issues and inclusive of effective, research-based practices in the field of learning disabilities. As part of its theme for the 2007 conference, “Coastal Treasures: Collaboration and Research-based Teaching” this conference in particular will feature many exciting sessions on collaboration and co-teaching that you don’t want to miss!

The deadline for early registration for the 29th International Conference on Learning Disabilities is fast approaching. The cut off date for the “early bird” rate is September 12, 2007. The cost of conference registration increases significantly after this time. If you are planning to attend the conference and expect to stay at the conference hotel, I strongly encourage you to phone the hotel today to make your reservations (remember to ask for the CLD room block rate). Our room block is being held through September 11, 2007 and will sell out quickly! If you experience difficulty with your hotel reservations, please contact me.

For ease in registration go to:
https://www.cldinternational.org/Conference/2007/register.asp

For information about the hotel go to:
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1726 (you must telephone the hotel and ask for the special CLD rate when you make your hotel reservations). The phone numbers are: 1-800-325-3535 or 843-918-5000.

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KidsHealth

Published on 19 August 2007 in Dyslexia, Families and The press. 0 Comments

KidsHealth, which is supported by Nemours Foundation, provides a very wide range of resources about child health. There are multiple articles aimed at children and youths with Learning Disabilities. Although they may be relatively superficial, they are written in a readable way and reasonably accurate.

Here’re links for entries for kids about learning problems and dyslexia and for teens about Learning Disabilities and dyslexia. (There are also resources directed to parents.)

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Instructivist on LS

Published on 15 August 2007 in Administration, Assessment, Comments, News and Research. 0 Comments

It was heartening (sort of like a little kid getting a pat on the head) to see that Instructivist caught the same story debunking learning styles from Great Britain that LD Blog covered recently. Wooohoo!

Instructivist’s coverage (but check the comments). (Link to a list of our earlier posts on this belt-level approach that’s based on virtually no evidence of effectiveness.)

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Torgesen on technology and reading

Published on 8 August 2007 in Administration, Dyslexia, News and Research. 0 Comments

Joseph Torgesen—a leading authority on reading psychology, reading instruction, and uses of technology in reading (as well as an all-around good guy)—has written a brief piece on what teachers should look for when considering educational software for reading. It’s at TeachingLD.org (scroll to the bottom of the page for “Expert Connection” and follow the links).

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ADHD ad

Published on 7 August 2007 in ADHD, Families, News, Research and The press. 3 Comments

I’m not in my usual geographical space this AM. It’s also not my usual sonic space; I’m listening to a local radio station while I’m having coffee in Cool Beans on the west side of Richmond (VA, US). On the radio I just heard a 30-sec advertisement aimed at parents and seeking children who manifest a list of symptoms of or have been diagnosed as having ADHD for a study of an “investigational medicine.”

Perhaps advertisements such as these are common in larger metropolitan areas, but it was a new one for me.

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Dore some more

Published on 3 August 2007 in ADHD, Comments, Dyslexia, News, Policy, Research and The press. 1 Comment

In case you missed it (I did), the Dore program was embroiled in a bit more controvery in the winter of 2007, enough to merit an editorial in Nature Neuorscience. The editorial recounts the resignation of members of the professional editorial board of Dyslexia over publication of two studies of the Dore treatment, points out problems of potential conflict of interest, describes the theory and practice of the Dore program, reports the two studies that form the base for the controversy, and recounts selected aspects of the scholaraly criticisms of the studies. The spoon that stirs the controversy, however, is that non-scientific factors are interferring with orderly analysis. According to Nature Neuorscience, at least two people who have said that the scientific evidence for the program’s effectiveness is weak have been subjected to legal pressure to withdraw their criticisms.

Nature Neuorscience goes on to indicate that questions about the usefulness of any treatment should be determined in an orderly scientific manner, not as a consequence of political or other unfalsifiable methods. If decisions are based on commerical or legal interests, consumers will not be able to depend on researchers for honest opinions.

Nature Neuroscience, by the way, is a relatively new journal (it’s only 10 years old) that rose rapidly to the top echelon of scholarly publications in neurosciences. It routinely ranks in the top five among its peers for its “impact factor,” a measure reflecting the relative frequency articles published in a particular journal are cited by in other publications.

Link to the editorial (access probably costs unless you’re hitting it from a university that has rights to it). Links to previous posts on LD Blog are here and here. Also see the many entries Liz Ditz has on this subject.

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LD international

Published on 2 August 2007 in Bookshelf and News. 0 Comments

Seeing the stories by Ms. Gifty Quarcoo from Africa reminded me that the special issue of Learning Disabilities Research & Practice (LDR&P) on international perspectives on Learning Disabilities is progressing toward publication. I don’t see an previous references to it in entries here on LD Blog, so let me note it here.

A marvelous group of scholars from different parts of the Earth have contributed to a special issue of LDR&P. Here is an alphabetical list of the contents of the issue.

  • Abosi, O. (In press). Educating children with learning disabilities in Africa. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 22(3).
  • Correia, L. M., & Martins, A. P. L. (In press). Specific learning disabilities and the Portuguese educational system. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 22(3).
  • Gumple, T. P., & Sharoni, V. (In press). Current best-practices in learning disabilities in Israel. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 22(3).
  • Jiménez, J. E., & Cadena, C. G. (In press). Learning disabilities in Guatemala and Spain: A cross-national study of the prevalence and cognitive processes associated with reading and spelling disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 22(3).
  • Jung, D. Y. South Korean perspectives on learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 22(3).
  • Thygesen, R. (In press). Students with learning disabilities: An update on Norwegian educational policy, practice, and research. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 22(3).
  • Tzeng, S.-J. (In press). Learning disabilities in Taiwan. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 22(3).

Along with my colleagues, Clay Keller and Li-Yu Hung, I was pleased to be able to act as editor for the special issue. I hope that it will help people around the world gain greater understanding of Learning Disabilities. Thanks to Charlie Hughes, editor of LDR&P, and the Division for Learning Disabilities for allowing us to assemble this fine set of articles.

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LD in Africa

Published on 1 August 2007 in News and The press. 2 Comments

The Monitor of Kampala (UG) has published a series of articles by Gifty Quarcoo about Learning Disabilities. The articles appear to be aimed at advancing the general public’s understanding of Learning Disabilities. As one might expect for articles aimed at the general public, the content is general.

I am glad to see that Learning Disabilities are receiving attention in the popular press in Africa. One of the things I’ve learned in that last couple of years is that educators in other countries are clearly aware of these problems in their home countries. To paraphrase a couple of comments I’ve heard, “We don’t have a formal label for them, but we have those students in our schools.”

Although one of Ms. Quarcoo’s articles implies that it is the third in a series, I could only locate two. I fear that the stories may not be archived for longer than a couple of weeks, so readers may want to snag these quickly. (Note that these come from different sources; the older one comes from AllAfrica.com, an aggregating site.) Here are the headlines for the two I could find, each linked to the respective article:

  1. Other Conditions That Cause Learning Difficulties
  2. Causes of learning disabilities
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