Images from CMU Site
As Liz mentioned in a comment on the post RC > WR, Ann Meyler and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) published a study documenting changes in children’s brain functioning following remedial reading instruction. In “Modifying the brain activation of poor readers during sentence comprehension with extended remedial instruction: A longitudinal study of neuroplasticity,” Professor Meyler and colleagues reported the results of conducting fMRI examinations of children while they performed sentence comprehension tasks at three different times: (i) prior to remedial reading instruction, (ii) following 100 hours of remedial reading instruction, and (iii) one year after remedial instruction had ended. The team found that the sample of students whom they imaged had clearly different patterns of activity in their brains following remediation and that the differences persisted one year after intervention ended.
Continue reading ‘Remediation affects brain functioning’
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Under the headline, “Schools turn to intervention: Program aims to prevent kids from being rushed into special education,” Lisa Singleton-Rickman of the Times Daily (of northwestern Alabama, US) reported about local schools’ use of response-to-intervention procedures.
School districts across the country are adopting early intervention programs in hopes of steering some children away from expensive special education classes.
While it’s a cost savings to the system, the payoff comes mainly for the student who, through intervention from the school, won’t be among those identified as in need of special education.
The adoption of such programs, known as Response to Intervention, is catching on across the country as school districts are trying to cut down on over-identification - too many children being shunted off to special education who don’t need to be there. This year, there were 84,772 special education students in Alabama schools. The cost to educate a student through a special education program can be twice as much as a general education student, up to $12,000 a year.
Continue reading ‘AL local RtI coverage’
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In “Action needed for dyslexics,” Rebecca Gardiner of the Howick and Pakuranga (NZ) Times reported about requests that the New Zealand Ministry of Education honor a committment to provide services for students with dyslexia and Learning Disabilities. In an article dated 19 May 2008, Ms. Gardiner has multiple quotations from a teacher on the topic.
A year after the Ministry of Education officially recognised the condition, Cockle Bay Primary teacher Jayne de Groot says “Nothing has changed whatsoever.
“There’s been no ministry funding for anything as yet, even though it’s been out of the closet for a year,” says Mrs de Groot, who is dean of the middle school.
“There’s been no training, even though we were promised that as teachers.”
Continue reading ‘Whither dyslexia in NZ?’
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Pete and Pam Wright recently launched a blog, so let’s welcome them to the neighborhood. Their contributions via the rapidly changing form of blogs promise to be helpful. You can read the blog on the Web or, of course, subscribe to it with your favorite RSS reader.
Flash of the electrons to Christina Samuels of On Special Education for alerting me to this.
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Joanne Jacobs has a post entitled “The illiterate teacher” about author John Corcoran who reports in a book that he “taught high school social studies, bookkeeping and P.E. for 17 years despite being illiterate.” Ms. Jacobs reported that Mr. Corcoran, who’s book is The Teacher Who Couldn’t Read, also funds a foundation that promotes reading instruction. According to the John Corcoran Foundation Web site, Mr. Corcoran has also written another book, Bridge to Literacy: No Child - or Adult Left Behind.
Link to Ms. Jacob’s post. See also the John Corcoran Foundation Web site.
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Graduation stories
It is the season of graduations from high schools and colleges, and with them will come a rash of stories about individuals with Learning Disabilities reaching those milestones in education. I came upon one of them in John Schumacher’s story, “Payne’s basketball dream now a reality:The former Sac State player will graduate today, against some tall odds,” that appeared in the Sacramento (CA) Bee. This graduation story, however, raises questions about the competence of educators.
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