Levine suit to continue

Published on 22 February 2011 in News, The press and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

Attorney C. Durso
Atty C. Durso

Carmen L. Durso, the attorney representing 45 men who claim that Dr. Melvin Levine manipulated their genitals during private examinations for Learning Disabilities when the men were children or youths, said that their suit against Dr. Levine will proceed against his estate now that he has died.

Appearing on NECN’s “The Broadside,” Mr. Durso told interviewer Jim Braude that he has 45 people in the group, but that he has talked with “at least 60.” People say “thousands” were abused, but it is difficult to ascertain how that number is reached.
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Mel Levine died

Published on 19 February 2011 in News and The press. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

-Updated-
According to news reports, Dr. Melvin Levine, the pediatrician famed for promoting the idea of “learning differences” rather than Learning Disabilities and dogged by accusations of inappropriate examinations of young patients, found dead at age 71 on 18 February 2011. Dr. Levine’s death in Rougemont (NC, US) was reported one day after the filing of a law suit by former patients alleging medical malpractice.

Read David Abel’s report of Dr. Levine’s death in the Boston Globe, “Doctor in sex abuse suit dies: Worked 19 years at Children’s Hospital,” and the version carried by the Associated Press that appeared in the New York Times Boston Pediatrician Facing Sex Abuse Suit Dies. For more on the law suit, see Mark Pratt’s 17 February 2011 story, “Former Boston doctor accused in lawsuit of inappropriately touching boys during exams,” as carried in the Los Angeles Times.

Dr. Levine faced previous charges of sexual abuse while he was affiliated with Children’s Hospital in Boston (MA, US); those were dismissed. Another set of charges were settled. In response to the new round of charges, brought by 40 male former pediatric patients who are represented by attorney Carmen Durso, Dr. Levine’s attorney Edward Mahoney said that Dr. Levine has made valuable contributions to the field and he “denies in the strongest terms possible the allegations.” In an interview with television reporter Jim Braude, Mr. Durso discussed the future of the most recent law suit, given the context of Dr. Levine’s death.

Obituary from the Raliegh (NC, US) News & Observer (see, also, SpedPro.

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LearningRx in the popular press

Published on 3 February 2011 in Dyscalculia, Dyslexia, News, Research, The press and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Sandy Hausman, Charlottesville (VA, US) reporter for WVTF (one of the local public radio stations available in my listening area), carried a story about LearningRx and Learning Disabilities this morning. Unlike the credible coverage provided by many reporters for popular-but-unproven therapies for LD and other disorders, Ms. Hausman provided a sensible and balanced story about LearningRx. Here’s the blurb from WVTF’s Web site

Americans spend millions of dollars keeping our bodies in shape. Now a Charlottesville man is offering a workout for the brain. His center–part of a nationwide franchise–promises to help children and adults improve their concentration, memory, reasoning, and other mental skills. Sandy Hausman has the story.

Unlike many reporters who too-often fall for pop-psych and pop-ed theories (as regularly noted in other posts here on LD Blog), Ms. Hausman gets many facts right (e.g., prevalence of LD), phrases her report carefully (describes LearningRx reports as “internal studies”), includes appropriate caveats along with personal-interest angles, and even incorporates alternative explanations from the experts she interviews.

This is an example of journalism done better. Listen to an MP3 of Ms. Hausman’s report and explore WVTF.org.

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IDA research grants

Published on 2 February 2011 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Over on SpedPro.org I’ve posted a note about a research program sponsored by the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) to examine the effects of multisensory structured-language reading instruction. Skip over there to check on it.

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Core standards and LD?

Published on 21 January 2011 in Administration, Policy and The press. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

At a meeting I’m attending, folks are discussing the Council of Chief State School Officers’ Common Core State Standards Initiative. Here’s the basics:

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is a state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). The standards were developed in collaboration with teachers, school administrators, and experts, to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce.

>>snip< <

These standards define the knowledge and skills students should have within their K-12 education careers so that they will graduate high school able to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing academic college courses and in workforce training programs. The standards:

* Are aligned with college and work expectations;
* Are clear, understandable and consistent;
* Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills;
* Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards;
* Are informed by other top performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society; and
* Are evidence-based.

What do readers think about the idea of common standards, especially with regard to students with Learning Disabilities? Good idea overall? Good idea for our kids? Good idea with reservations? What reservations? Send this puppy to the kennel? Why?

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Paul Morris’s materials

Published on 17 January 2011 in Elementary, Preschool, Primary and The press. 1 Comment

Wishing folks a happy MLK Day!

For those teachers who frequent these pages and don’t know about Paul Morris, the author of 101 Language Activities, please allow me to encourage you to scoot on over to Free Language Stuff and explore his site. Yes, you read the adjectives correctly. The first adjective does mean “at no cost.” Mr. Morris makes available for free lots and lots of materials that teachers can use for teaching language skills.
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A success story

Published on 5 January 2011 in Dyslexia, News and The press. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

In “From illiterate to role model” Carla Rivera provides one of those examples worth passing along to others. Ms. Rivera, who reports for the Los Angeles Times, described the case of John Zickefoose, a man who at 30 years of age was not able to read to his own children, read their report cards, read prescription labels, or to order from a menu. As a boy he was diagnosed as having dyslexia but, after adult literacy studies, he participates in book clubs, writes his own speeches, and is an advocate for his local library.

Now, as Ms. Rivera reported, Mr. Zickefoose will serve as a member of his local school board.
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Willingham making sense of brain research

Published on 3 January 2011 in ADHD, Dyslexia, Foundation, News, Research and The press. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

In what will be his last guest column for the Washington Post education column, “The Answer Sheet,” cognitive psychologist Dan Willingham advises people to be skeptical about the poppycock that masquerades as scientific advice about brain-based education. Under the headline “Willingham: 3 brain facts every educator should know,” Professor Willingham explains clearly and with the force of evidence and plain, ordinary reason why “most of what you see advertised as educational advice rooted in neuroscience is bunkum.”

Professor Willingham contends that there are three facts educators should know.
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More on smoking and neuropsych disorders

Published on 13 December 2010 in ADHD, Causes, Comments, Families, News, Research and The press. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

New research shows that using nicotine during pregnancy affects genes involved in myelination and, consequently may help explain why the children of mothers who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to develop such psychiatric disorders as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, autism, and even drug abuse. In a paper presented at Neuroscience 2010, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Professor Ming Li, Ph.D., of the University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA, US) reported that when rats were given nicotine during pregnancy, their offspring manifested changes in myelin genes for the limbic system, especially the prefrontal cortex, a brain region important for decision-making.

“Our research shows that gestational treatment with nicotine significantly modifies myelin gene expression in specific brain regions that are involved in behavioral processes,” according to Professor Li, leader of the study. “Myelin deficits have been observed in adults with various psychiatric disorders. Our findings suggest that abnormal myelination may contribute to the psychiatric disorders associated with maternal smoking.”
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Fletcher paper about identifying LD

Published on 9 December 2010 in Administration, Administrivia, Dyslexia, News, Policy, Research and The press. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

The RTI Action Network published a paper by Jack Fletcher about identification of Learning Disabilities in the context of response to instruction (or intervention; RTI). Professor Fletcher, who has been a leading proponent of RTI since the 1990s, makes a strong case for the importance of examining instruction as a part of determining eligibility for LD services.
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