I keep meaning to return to the topic of handwriting, but I’ve not had the time. I want to extend the notes I made about correcting reversals, but work on a book about K-8 reading instruction just keeps getting in the way! However, in part as a reminder to me, I’m dropping a link here to a page by Leila from Special Ed and Me about handwriting resources.
Monthly Archive for July, 2008
When children and youth with Learning Disabilities grow up, they often report that the difficulties they faced in schools are repeated in the work-a-day world. In “Disabled and Driven: Woman faces challenges of unseen disability and a lack of understanding,” Mary Rae Bragg of the Dubuque (IA, US) Telegraph Herald relates the experience of a person identified only as “Judy” who encountered difficulty securing accommodations in her workplace.
Judy’s learning disability was not diagnosed until years after she graduated from Hempstead High School and had a family of her own.
Withdrawn and quiet as a teenager, Judy said she became “invisible” in high school, working twice as hard as others to get C’s. Compensating for poor English and math skills, she turned to the art classes she loved.
Once Judy left high school, she retreated into a life apart from the education experience that made her feel “stupid.”
Ms. Bragg’s article tells the full story. Here’s a link to it.
For those interested in learning about the views of adults with Learning Disabilities, there are many excellent sources:
Gerber, P. J. (1991). Speaking for themselves: Ethnographic interviews with adults with learning disabilities. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Rodis, P., Garrod, A., Boscardin, M. L. (2001). Learning disabilities & life stories. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
With this post, I’m beginning a series of polls to assess readers’ perspectives on response to intervention or response to instruction (RtI) and Learning Disabilities. As most people concerned with LD know, RtI was expressly permitted in the most recent set of regulations under the US law, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Although most special educators agree at least in part with RtI, one of the most controversial issues is whether implementing RtI will reduce the incidence of LD. That’s the topic of this poll.
Do you expect that providing tier-one and tier-two reading instruction according to an RTI model during primary and elementary grades will reduce the incidence of Learning Disabilities (dyslexia)?
- No (39%, 14 Votes)
- Yes, a little (e.g., from ~5% to ~4%) (33%, 12 Votes)
- Yes, some (e.g., from ~5% to ~2-3%) (22%, 8 Votes)
- Yes, lots (e.g., from ~5% to ~1%) (6%, 2 Votes)
Total Voters: 36
Loading ...By the way, the Division for Learning Disabilities published a good booklet providing basic background about RtI. It is written in practitioner-friendly language and can be read in only a few minutes. Visit the products section of TeachingLD.org to learn more about it. (Yes, I contributed to the booklet, but I don’t make any royalties from it.)
By the way (2), over on Teach Effectively there are a set of slides from presentations about RTI. These presentations were delivered by prominent special educators at the 2007 meeting of the Council for Exceptional Children.
Please note that this poll should not be consider scientific evidence. Do not construe the results of any of these polls as representative of systematic polls conducted by reputable polling organizations. These results simply reflect the opinion of the people who responded to the question. The sample of people who respond is selective, not randomly drawn from a defined population.
Hey, teacher, my child can’t read
Dean Geyer, who is a parent of a child who had difficulty learning to read, has launched a blog entitled “Hey, Teacher, My Child Can’t Read.” His daughter’s experience is, in part, a success story; after five years of special education in Delaware (US), he reports that she is on the honor roll and no longer eligible for special education.
In his entries, Mr. Geyer frequently refers to “auditory processing disorder.” Although I am very glad to learn that Mr. Geyer’s daughter is succeeding, I am wary of attributing much to the diagnosis of auditory processing disorder. I’ve been hearing about this disorder for most of my career, but I have as yet not found a satisfactorily rigorous or substantiated account of it.
If someone could point me to a definitive resource on this disorder, we could examine it systematically. I fear, however, that a close examination of the resource will reveal that it is simply hypothesizing some hidden process that can’t be precisely tested and is pretty readily reduced to not having learned some pretty specific skills.
Here are some of the questions one should ask:
By the way, I think there’s a similar case to be made for “non-verbal learning disability.”
Regardless of the outcomes of an investigation of auditory processing disorder, it’s still quite wonderful to know that Mr. Geyer’s daughter is succeeding. I encourage readers to jump over to Hey, Teacher, My Child Can’t Read and read his posts. I’m adding his site to LD Blog’s blog roll.
Update: It seems this domain name is no longer being maintained. More when I can get in touch with Mr. Geyer. 11 September 2009.