Barto's World

Holiday Graphing

2011-12-05T12:52:00.004-05:00

As I've been streaming Pandora.com and listening to the local radio station with my daughters this past week, I realized that this season provides an opportunity for some authentic, differentiated graphing, probability and intentional listening practice.

To Do

Pick a song. Select a day or time period. Estimate how many times you'll hear that song (each can pick their own song even!). Then, keep track and compare.

I thought about it as we were on our way to school the other morning. My eight year old informed me that she had heard I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus "at least 12 times already" that morning. Really? I would've loved to test that probable over-generalization -but I was actually feeling like it had been over 100 times.

Have fun - while I've been typing, I've heard what must be my fifth Frosty of the day!

Other Extensions/Additions

Compare numbers of female artists and male artists.
Do you hear any you don't already know?
Compare hymns and "secular" songs.
Country artists vs. contemporary artists.
Songs with lyrics vs. instrumental.

RTI in a Nutshell

2011-10-17T11:14:00.003-04:00

In the GR area? Join me Thursday, October 20 from 4-5 at the Rivertown Barnes & Noble. I have an opportunity to provide an overview for teachers and parents of going through the RTI process for reading and what resources are available through SLD Center and the GR Community.

Event Information at Barnes & Noble

Event Informational Invite

We Shouldn't Label, Just Color Code

2011-10-09T20:10:00.003-04:00

Perusing EdWeek this evening, one article I selected was commentary on a policy at a high school in California: Color Coded High School ID Cards Sort Students by Test Performance

Educationally Appropriate?

Seriously? I found that I could not even read the article carefully because I was so disgusted at the thought of promoting a system that so visibly segregates based on factors that may or not really matter for individuals in 20 years. I'm not saying that test scores don't have their purpose, but there is strong debate whether or not they really measure what we need to know at this time.

Working in the field of learning disabilities, I tend to focus on growth rather than isolated performance. I prefer to look at multiple characteristics of a person and though I am a successful test-taker, I know many other quality individuals who are not.

Principal Carpenter pointed out that prior to the program, many students did not care about their test scores.

To say that a system that color codes children (of any age) based on their performance on a test is at all appropriate to their educational development is ridiculous. Does such a system raise test scores? Quite possibly since without the right color card, you are not in the "right crowd". You lose out on privileges, have to stand in the long line ..... comparable to adult condoned hazing in my opinion.

Reflection of Human Nature

As I thought more, I realized that this controversial method to motivate students for school performance is indicative of my main frustrations with the current system of education. This is not really for the students; it's to improve the lives of the adults working in the school: their evaluations are dependent now on students' test performances; color coding assists with scheduling like classes; it also assists in identifying groups of kids for appropriate supports and resources.

Perhaps color coding is a more honest system than in other high schools. Students with learning disabilities or others who are not generally considered successful as students often feel that they are not treated the same as those who perform well. Adults are well-intentioned in telling them that's not true and encouraging them to be successful. How many mean it?

Don't many adults who interact with high school age children advice them to find the right crowd... to date the kids that are successful ...... encourage students with similar interests to similar activities? Perhaps this is a more honest and up front way of saying, "yep, test scores are the ticket to all things wonderful".

What does this say to the others though?

Cursive or not to Cursive

2011-10-06T22:55:00.002-04:00

http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/10/in-the-digital-age-is-teaching-cursive-relevant279.html?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=pbs

I continually push for teaching cursive at some point, but why is it always graded which leads kids to feeling de-graded?

The Math Laboratory: What is Math Lab for?

2011-09-16T10:24:00.001-04:00

The Math Laboratory: What is Math Lab for?: A major goal for K–8 mathematics education should be proficiency with fractions (including decimals, percent, and negative fractions), for ...

The Math Laboratory: Welcome to the Lab!!!

2011-09-16T10:24:00.000-04:00

The Math Laboratory: Welcome to the Lab!!!: Welcome to the world of the Mad Mathematicians! We are hypothesizing, investigating and working with all things mathematics in Mrs. B's Math...

Back in the Classroom Again

2011-09-16T10:13:00.004-04:00

Can't help by hear that to a country melody - you know, "back in the saddle again...." and classroom even has the same number of syllable :).

Anyway, people are a complex mixture of neurons and characteristics. I have been serving at LMA as Executive Director for the past three years which took me out of the classroom pretty much and in The Admin seat. I love our school, I love what I do; I also love my family and though I don't love it, have to take care of myself. That darn fibro and awesome kids - nah, I don't really need to take over the world anyway! Why am I seeming to babble? Because I'm back - in the classroom that is. Our school and program has grown and I could take on no more. I am happily handing over the reins to a new energy. Happily, because I still get to stay on board with some of the admin stuff and being back in with the kids which means more time for my own at home too. I filled a need at the right time and the next right time is now. I'm excited for what that will bring, knowing that transition can never be all roses and rainbows, but through appropriate challenges comes learning and I LOVE learning.

That said - that's why I've been away for quite a while. My classroom duties now are Math Labs primarily which are small group remediation, skill support, concept development and/or enrichment. Naturally, I have my students thinking about their work and their learning and we are sharing some of that (to give them an authentic and valid venue). Check our Blog: The Math Laboratory :)

What Message do Report Cards Send

2011-08-15T23:36:00.003-04:00

Kids are expected to get good grades. If it's not a graded class, it's being cut from their days. Do we really intend to send the message that they should be A's at everything? Who can really live up to that? Is it any wonder that mental health issues among school age children and young adults are so prevalent?

What To Do When ADHD is NOT in the IEP

2011-08-02T23:47:00.000-04:00

What To Do When ADHD is NOT in the IEP

Evident Learning

2010-09-07T20:35:00.004-04:00

Today was my daughter's first day of fourth grade. She's in a Montessori program, so this meant new teacher, new class and even a new floor in her school building. She is comfortable in her school building, so even with a week of bad dreams, she went to school an enthusiastic learner today. Why is this an example for blogging - because tonight was her first night of upper elementary homework and while I admit I sighed a few times, I have been grinning for hours!

It can be extremely challenging to know what your children are doing during the school day. As a teacher and administrator, I get how much trust is in our hands. As a parent, I remind the teacher/admin in me every day! I don't get the same types of communications from my daughters' school that I know we send home from ours - but we're a "niche" school. A school my daughter very well could have needed to save herself from the educational system - but we've been fortunate.

Our daughters' teachers are willing and able to support creative learning and unique personalities. . . they meet the standards for curriculum and the standards for making good people.

How do I know what my kids do in school? How do I know they are learning in their public school? Because I watched her collecting leaves tonight for 25 minutes as we walked our dog and the whole time, she was telling me all about what she was collecting and what Mr. H said about them today. Today. Her first day of the school year. Her first science class with this teacher ever. Her first day with a new class up on the upper elementary floor.

Is she learning in school? What is she learning in school? First and foremost, she is learning that she is a valuable human being who is safe in her learning. God bless her teachers!!!

Learning and the Twilight Zone

2010-03-22T19:56:00.004-04:00

I wish I could say that I came up with this comparison, but thank you Joseph P. Allen & Claudia W. Allen for their commentary in Education Week in March! Their commentary highlights the fact that 'we' know more about how an adolescent's brain works today than ever before. In fact, 'we' know that

"adolescents are primed for action, stimulation, and relevance".

Yet, have we used this information to cause effective change?

So, the comparison between learning in The Twilight Zone:

...surgeons spend endless years operating only on cadavers, never getting to operate on live humans. Then extend that so that all adults in this world only work at simulated versions of their jobs. Lawyers would endlessly argue only mock cases, plumbers would repair only fake leaks, and teachers would teach only to videocameras in empty classrooms.

What would happen if we left learning in the Zone?

Our sense of meaning and intrinsic motivation in this world would quickly fade. Over time, we'd become bored, lethargic, and disengaged. Said differently, we'd come to look much like the teenagers sitting in our high school classrooms.

Hmmm, that sounds an awful lot like what we have now in many area. How can learning have optimal impact? How can we increase engagement for adolescents - without losing structure that addresses content standards, differentiation and learning development? Once again, I don't have any great answers, but I do know why looking for them is so important: to avoid the Twilight Zone.

Talents of Dyslexia

2010-03-15T21:58:00.002-04:00

I never cease to be amazed by the talents of individuals with dyslexia and learning differences! If their brains weren't wired "differently", the world would miss out on way too many mind-expanding works of creation!

Random Educations Questions for the Week

2010-02-16T21:13:00.002-05:00

How can you determine the difference between sensory regulation and laziness in older kids?

When do you give up on a kid?

How can we appropriately support and refresh teachers who give their all every day?

When do you balance the needs of the child with the curriculum dictates?

What is the balance between neurodevelopment, social development, memory development and curriculum?

Which is truly the goal of a good education: learning to learn or learning specific content?

How do you measure learning to learn?

Incorporating Social Networking into Literature Study

2010-02-08T17:09:00.003-05:00

Here's my random project idea of the week!

Project for Studying Biography (or character study)at any school age level:
what would social networking for your person or character look like?

If your person was on Facebook or MySpace:
Who would be on his/her friends' list?
What might be posted on his/her wall?
What causes might she/he be a fan of?
What would their profile information look like?

You can provide a template with specific requirements or have them design their own visual (not set up a bogus account!).

For older students, you could create a Ning network for your class and within that network, students could create homepages and blogs for specific characters in a novel.

The ideas become endless and contextualized for the 21st Century learner!!! Oooh, wish I had my own class again now! :)

Special Education vs. Programs

2010-01-03T17:07:00.003-05:00

Bandaid
Originally uploaded by Mimi_K

This weekend, I have read a lot about education reform. . . changes that should be made and changes that shouldn't. . . changes that will and changes that won't..... and yet, not many of the articles or blurbs I read reflected the impact any of these changes actually have on the students, teachers or parents.

We are in the age of No Child Left Behind, yet this is now combined with a Race to the Top for state education departments. Doesn't a race mean there will be some left behind? Using the word competition indicates that there will be a loser.

According to Dictionary.com, education is

the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.

When your child comes to you with a boo-boo, some part of them is broken. You assess the damage to determine what is needed to heal that damage. We even have doctors and emergency rooms for the damage that is too big to support at home.

Emergency rooms have a triage process to determine what type of help is needed once you get there and you don't get surgery just because you happen to be at a surgical hospital or the neurologist happens to be on service that evening. A doctor will also give you a referral if you have an injury that is outside their area of expertise.

The process to develop educational supports is, in theory, an educational triage. Educational specialists respond to the fact that a learner is broken and try to determine what is needed to correct the damage. Unfortunately, educators or social workers, or speech pathologists, or whichever fortunate soul is in charge of a child's IEP meetings, are part of the education system, not educational triage.

Special education is used to support students with disabilities who are not progressing in a general curriculum. As we in the trenches work with students, teachers and parents, we try to help teachers adapt lessons and classroom management to support all learners. We sit through Child Study meetings, conferences, read research journals, advise parents and attend IEP meetings. Those of us in the trenches see first hand what the true impact of the education system can be. Some kids make it, some don't.

The creation of Individualized Education Plans (IEP) tend to be meetings to explain to parents what programs are available and whether or not their child fits any of those programs. A one-size-fits-all-because-we-don't-have-funding-for-specialists-and-we-cannot-refer-or-we-have-not-done-our-jobs approach. For those who run those meetings, their hands are often tied. They can only follow the procedures set by their districts if they want to keep their jobs. They often become reduced to having the power to do nothing more than pass out a band-aid program to support broken learners even if they know the learner requires the educational equivalent of crutches or surgery.

Band aids now come in different colors, sizes, and shapes. You can get colored casts for broken limbs and surgery can be performed as an out-patient procedure. Why are educators still required to operate under the philosophy that One-Size-Will-Fit-All-You-Just-Have-to-Try-Harder?

Random Education Questions for the Week

2009-12-10T22:04:00.003-05:00

Why does stupid really seem to mean, "whew, that's not too hard for me"?

Why is rigor put into action as "more homework"?

A MET determines whether or not a child has a disability. Why is it often used as a screening for eligibility for special education?

How is it so confusing that a 504 plan designates that a person has a disability that is accommodated in some way? It must be confusing since I often hear that a person doesn't qualify for a 504. Do they have a disability? Yes (similar to a MET question). Are they using ANY accommodations? Yes. There you go. Oh, one more question - would they require specialized instruction? That would then go to an IEP. No, only accommodations - bam! 504.

My biggest random thought rolling around right now pertains only to Michigan: how will it be good for kids if each district uses a different method to determine if a student has a learning disability? Will they all become unintended judges of the quality of instruction in a neighboring district during data collection? And, how can gen ed teachers truly be prepared and/or supported to provide all the initial interventions required at the early stages for each type of different learner??

Whew - maybe now I can get some sleep :).

Non-Public Schools in MI

2009-11-04T16:55:00.002-05:00

MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

The Michigan Department of Education, Office of Special Education and
Early Intervention Services will conduct public hearings to receive
comment on the following proposed administrative rules and documents:

Special Education Programs and Services Administrative Rules
(2009-043ED)
Criteria for Specific Learning Disabilities
Nonpublic Services Plan

The rules are promulgated by the authority conferred on the
superintendent of public instruction by sections 1701 and 1703 of 1976
PA 451, MCL 380.1701 and MCL 380.1703, and Executive Reorganization
Order Nos. 1996-6 and 1996-7, MCL 388.993 and MCL 388.994. The
proposed changes will bring the administrative rules into alignment
with the reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and
update outdated language.

In addition, the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic
Growth, State Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules will conduct
public hearings to receive public comments on the following proposed
administrative rule:

Due Process Procedures for Special Education (2009-049ED)

The rule is promulgated by authority conferred on the State Office of
Administrative Hearings and Rules by sections 1701 and 1703 of 1976 PA
451, MCL 380.1701 and 380.1703, and Executive Order 2005-1, MCL
445.2021. Rule 340.1883(3) contains an incorrect rule reference. The
current subrule references Rule 340.1881, a rule that was rescinded in
2005. Hence, this subrule must be amended to reflect the correct
reference (R 340.1724f).

The proposed rules are accessible on the Michigan Department of
Education, Office of Special Education and Early Intervention Services
Web site at www.michigan.gov/ose-eis under Spotlight. These rules
are published in the November 15, 2009, Michigan Register. The rules
are proposed to take effect upon the filing with the Secretary of State.

Public hearings for both rule sets will be held at the following sites:

Tuesday, December 1, 2009 from 3:30 8:00 p.m. at Wayne State
University Law School, Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium, 471 W. Palmer,
Detroit, Michigan 49202; and Wednesday, December 2, 2009 from 3:30
8:00 p.m. at Ingham Intermediate School District, Thorburn Education
Center, Conference Rooms B & C, 2630 West Howell Road, Mason, Michigan
48854.

Oral or written comment may be presented in person at the hearing or
submitted in writing by mail, e-mail, or facsimile no later than 5:00
p.m., December 18, 2009. All comment will be reviewed and considered
in the final version of the rules. Comments may be submitted to the
following:

Public Comment
Office of Special Education and Early Intervention Services
Michigan Department of Education
P.O. Box 30008
Lansing, MI 48909
Email: mde-ose@michigan.gov
Fax: 517-373-7504.

If special accommodations are needed to participate in the public
hearings, contact Meredith Hines at 517-373-0924 or email at hinesm@michigan.gov
by November 16, 2009.

Textbooks vs. Digital Media

2009-08-27T22:39:00.002-04:00

There is a current discussion along this thread on the Independent Schools Network which cites an article that was published in the Times: "In a Digital Future, Textbooks are History".

I love validation I must say and this was one of those times. Our school has not used textbooks for most courses for at least five years. Part of it was a cost factor combined with the amount of differentiation we do on a daily basis with multi-age classes for students with learning disabilities. Another reason was that there is rarely one textbook that includes what we want for all units in a good format. We determine the content and then supplement and with the advancement in technologies, we use quite a bit of digital text. Continuing to grow in this fashion, we are also finding that by posting links to this "text" on our wikispace, etc.. we are also negating the "I left it at school/home" factor and use an on-screen reader for those who need support that way. It's been quite powerful really!

Full Disclosure?

2009-08-12T22:31:00.002-04:00

Who needs to know you have or don't have ADHD? How do you explain without sounding like you're making excuses? Edge Foundation has a blog with resources for answering this exact question! Disclosing your ADHD: pros and cons

What is ADHD Really?

2009-08-12T22:11:00.004-04:00

Through a tweet, I found a great site out of Canada! Teach ADHD is a resource for teachers to begin to bring research into the classroom for kids with ADHD. What is the science behind how their brains work? How will this be seen in a classroom? What is the impact of these struggles?

ADHD is more than being active or distractable. Great resource!!!

Attention; Activity; or ADDed Awareness?

2009-07-23T09:20:00.001-04:00

"But why do I always get yelled at?” Please catch me doing something right and praise me for my specific positive behavior. Remind me (and yourself) about my good points, when I’m having a bad day. - from an ADHD Bill of Rights published in The Bigger Picture of ADHD/ADD That You Might Not Know.

When I describe my job to people and mention ADHD, I often hear things like "Oh, kids on medication"; or "Oh wow. You must be a saint."; or, "Hyper kids huh?". At other times, I've noticed ADHD becoming almost a buzz word for any person who forgets something, loses track of a thought, has a messy desk or has an energy build-up (even when it's really a caffiene build up). While those things may be not far off truth in appropriate context, they are certainly not a good full picture of what it is like to have ADHD or to work with those who do. In no way do these descriptions capture the talent and creativity in their energy; their unique way of looking at the world that can instigate change when children with ADHD become adults with ADHD.

In my web wanderings this week, I came across a wonderful posting that outlines a good understanding of the full picture of ADHD: The Bigger Picture of ADHD/ADD That You Might Not Know. I have to include that I am not very familiar with the site it is posted on having just seen it for the first time. I do not know who the author of this post was, but I do know that the content is accurate and extremely user-friendly information that can be (and maybe should be) passed on.

Teaching Kids Rather Than Grades: Is that Possible?

2009-06-27T15:12:00.004-04:00

Found some interesting commentary and link on a fellow blogger's site, regarding teaching to the development of the learner rather than grade placement based on age.

The End of Grade Levels
I believe there are solid pluses to this idea, which are some of the same reasons multi-age classes can be powerfully successful: less stigmatism for meeting, or not, some benchmark that has been placed on that grade level; the opportunity for students to learn more from each other; and teach kids to learn and truly work with others rather than segregate based on age. A discussion I started to have frequently this spring with some of our students was that only during your school years will you be surrounded by people your own age. In the workplace, or even college, you will have folks of all ages in your classes or environment and it is better to learn how to deal with both the positive and negatives of that, than it would be for me to not schedule freshmen in the juniors' classes when needed.

And, as with anything, there are certainly some negatives to prepare for: the stigma of not "keeping up" with peers will remain depending on how actual groupings are created; the the application of the concept so that slower learners are challenged and don't end up floating through an even bigger black hole of education.

Done correctly, we can instill a solid love of learning and build self-esteem which only benefits everyone. Many private LD schools have achieved this for quite some time. The challenge is how to set the expectations, implement them AND have people feel comfortable trusting that system.

Change is challenge and excitement all rolled together!!!

Screen Readers

2009-06-27T14:50:00.003-04:00

We use Universal Reader frequently at school, but have still struggled sometimes with a screen reader for a pdf file. Thanks to Twitter, I found a link with tips for setting yourself up for a screen reader for pdf files: RNIB.

Enjoy!

New Case Law

2009-06-23T22:16:00.001-04:00

According to a recent posting at Wrights Law, IDEA language requires that all states "to identify, locate, and evaluate all children with disabilities' to ensure that they receive needed special education services.". On June 22, 2009, the Supreme Court ruled on a case that will directly impact the delivery of a Free and Appopriate Education and determining what it means to have a disability in a public school. To read more of the Wrights Law article click here.

Focusing on the Need for Esteem

2009-05-20T09:19:00.003-04:00

Children of the Code is a project I have been following since it started. It is growing and serves as a vast resource for those interested in teaching or learning more about how children read.

The Children of the Code project has five major components:

1. A Television, DVD and Web documentary series;
2. A college, university, and professional development DVD series;
3. A cross-indexed website/database containing videos and transcripts of our interviews with the world's leading experts in fields related to reading;
4. A variety of professional development events for educators;
5. A series of presentations for parents, policy makers, and the general public.

video tour of CoTC project

RtI Resources

2009-05-10T20:55:00.005-04:00

LDA of Michigan has developed an RtI Blog to extend the learning available at our annual conference. This blog is focused on the topic of Response to Intervention (RtI)and is being offered as an outreach service of the Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan to professional organizations and educational professionals. Enjoy!

disABILITY!!!!

2009-05-06T22:49:00.003-04:00

Bringing more awareness to learning disabilities:

There are many misconceptions about people with learning disabilities which can best be eased by education and/or personal experience. How easy it is for us to inwardly recoil when we hear “learning disability” and perhaps make a quick judgment about another person. How mistaken we are to assume that one with learning disabilities or even mental health problems is less of a person. The way Boyle has taken what seems to be a disability and has turned it into ability is the perfect example of the above definition of inspiration.

I really didn't know who Susan Boyle was, but I know that she has accomplished great things. That rocks!

Spaces for Teaching

2009-03-01T13:58:00.006-05:00

A recent post on Edutopia (Re-Creating Teaching Spaces, 2/5/09) has me thinking about space. I have read quite a bit about making sure our schools and classrooms are conducive to learning and usually this is geared to thinking about the students. What about the teacher? I always ran my classroom as a community of learners and that included me, the teacher.

I do not have the best skills as creating what may look like an orderly environment to outsiders, but it worked well. Often there were things hanging from the ceiling or posted on the cupboards - student artwork or organizational tools from one project or another. Student personalities blended with mine and it was a community; this was also the way I survived best.

It was important for me to be respectful of all my students and their needs. It was also important for me to tend to my needs if I expected to be good for anything all day long. The goal is learning; and how does that happen best. . . .

Stephen Hurley's posting got me thinking because a school is the workplace of a teacher. We have to live there as much, if not more than, the students. All is better if we provide openness for student needs. Why is it then that many teachers feel that their space is not supposed to be reflective of themselves? Why are all classrooms suppposed to look the same (or are they)? How is orderly defined in each classroom? I do think about this idea frequently, because I want to make sure to not overly-distract my students.

This fall, I transitioned into a different position this fall and now have an office rather than a classroom. I slowly eeked my personality into my office and no matter what I do, I cannot get away from piles. Neat piles, but piles none-the-less. As I moved things out of my classroom and tried to decide what to take home and what to store at school somewhere, I had haphazardly hung a plastic chestplate of armor (from our study of the middle ages)on a protruding nail in my office. I figured I would replace it with a calendar or some tasteful work of art for my professional space. That was August. The chestplate still hangs, without any context for new visitors, but my students prefer it there. My niece explained to me that it helps the office feel more like me. They still think it's not busy enough to reflect me, but they'll settle for leaving the chestplate on the wall. I'm okay with that - though I doubt that that type of learning community could ever be properly assessed on a test or report card....

"ADHD is not a disorder of attention"......

2008-12-05T21:20:00.007-05:00

... it is an issue of neurological self-regulation. How true, how true. ADHD is often becoming a buzz-word if someone acts impulsively or acts in a way that may seem disorganized to another person.

Once the concept of a "disability" enters the conservation, often a slight feeling of discomfort can enter the conversation with it. It completely depends on the experience of the individuals in the discussion as to what their perception of a disability is and ADHD is no exception. One of our parents explained to me once how frustrated she was when her son (I'll call him Jimmy Joe)took driver education. She mentioned to the instructor that her son had ADHD. She was ready to suggest that he sit near the front if he needed and that the Mr. X might just want to do a check periodically that Jimmy Joe was following the class discussions. Before she could do this, the instructor responded that "that [was] okay, you can come read him the tests". She was stunned and frustrated because Mr. X had assumed that Jimmy Joe couldn't read.

Another boy I knew was told when he was in middle school that he really shouldn't plan on going to college because his ADHD was "pretty severe you know" so he "really wouldn't get much". He was automatically treated as if he wasn't capable of the learning required in an academically rigorous setting.

In my web wanderings this evening, I stumbled across the NASET (National Association of Special Education Teachers) site and found a wonderful overview of ADHD. The more people can be educated in what ADHD really is, the more individuals with ADHD do not have to feel so stigmatized. Part of the overview explains:

The thinking difficulties associated with ADHD do not have to do with intellectual ability. Instead, they arise out of problems with concentration, memory, and cognitive organization.

To read this accurately, read it again. Intellectual ability is independent of concentration, memory and cognitive organization issues. . . . . . . . . an encouraging thought.

to Read More

Advocacy and the State of Special Education

2008-10-31T12:44:00.002-04:00

This is from a notice I receive via email. There are changes occurring the will directly affect special education more so than most changes over the past 10-15 years or so.

This Week's Live Chat
The State of Special Education in the U.S.

When: Monday, Nov. 3, 3 p.m. Eastern time. | Where: http://www.edweek-chat.org

Submit questions in advance.

EPE Research Center director Christopher Swanson will moderate a wide-ranging discussion among leading experts on the critical issues shaping special education in the nation's schools.

The nation's schools educate more than 6 million students with disabilities, about nine percent of the school-age population. Nearly one-third of those disabled students are of traditional high school age. A new report from the EPE Research Center, to be released Monday November 3, examines a variety of challenges central to understanding special education in the nation's high schools, including the types of educational settings in which services are provided, the diagnosis of disabilities, overrepresentation of particular student groups, school discipline, academic achievement, high school completion and transitions into adulthood.

This is the first in our monthlong series of online chats in which leading experts in the field will engage in a lively, in-depth dialogue on critical issues facing special education today.

More information on the monthlong chat series and the new report is available here.

About the Guests:

Candace Cortiella is director of the Advocacy Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with disabilities.

Patricia Guard is the acting director of the Office of Special Education Programs, the division of the U.S. Department of Education serving the needs of children and youth with disabilities.

Patti Ralabate is a professional associate for special needs at the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers' union.

No special equipment other than Internet access is needed to participate in this text-based chat. A transcript will be posted shortly after the completion of the chat.

Inquiry, Inquiry, Inquiry

2008-09-13T16:58:00.003-04:00

I read a Teacher Leaders Network article at TeacherMagazine and I was not only laughing when I was done (the author has a very enjoyable style) but inspired. This teacher is writing to new teachers, but uses some very clear examples for simple strategies for being successful in teaching. It's not really curriculum focused, but there is more to surviving than curriculum like finding supplies, physical environment, attitude and incorporating life skills. To read more, check out Teaching Secrets: Thriving in the Science Classroom by Anne Jolly

"Going with the Flow"

2008-08-24T22:39:00.004-04:00

(photo taken by Will, 8th grade, 2008)

Our teachers report for in-service tomorrow and a friend sent me a book excerpt that I am going to use to focus our direction for this school year. I went to Flickr and set as A Fave a bunch of pictures that illustrated this passage and then made a slideshow at bighugelabs. I thought I'd post the passage and the slideshow here an an example of how I'm using things I've learned in this class. The passage is kind of long, but I liked how it reminds us that we have to balance the destination with the experience.

I am not sure that I cited the author of the pictures well enough, but live and learn I suppose......

Slide Show

From The Not So Big Life by Sarah Susanka

Going With the Flow

“Think of leaves on the surface of a stream. They’re floating along, carried by the current. Some drift from one side to the other as the stream flows along, whereas others appear to be floating more or less down the central channel. If you follow one particular leaf with your eyes, however, you’ll discover that a leaf that’s moving fast at one minute will be aimlessly sidelined a few minutes later, and a leaf that is slow moving at this minute will become speedy the next. Every leaf has its natural passage downstream, but if you were to try to write a script for each leaf and coordinate it with the scripts for all the other leaves, you would have a monumental task on your hands. If, in addition, you thought you were responsible for getting each leaf to its proper destination and if you believed that your not doing so would result in all the leaves bumping into one another and blocking their collective progress downstream, you’d be thinking like a typical micromanager, a ‘time obsesser”. If, on the other hand, you believed that no leaf should be forced to flow if it didn’t want to and that it was up to you to hold back the flow so that each leaf could exercise its free will, you’d be thinking like a “time resister”.

Neither approach is tenable. The river and the leaves will move and flow just the same, and all you’d be doing by obsessing or resisting would be burning yourself out.

At my Minneapolis architectural firm, we developed a personnel and project-management system that was based more on the dynamics of an unrestricted leaf flow than on time management. Although we were often met with raised eyebrows from colleagues in other companies when we described the system, it worked beautifully and continues to do so to this day. In most firms, the task of scheduling personnel typically falls on a single individual – usually one of the partners. With larger projects, where a number of people work on a single assignment for months at a time, this works well, but for a firm like ours, with many projects with unpredictable ebbs and flows, the normal management model for architectural firms was highly inefficient. So ours was a system invented out of necessity.

As the staff grew from two to five to ten and up to around forty-five by 1999, when I left, it became clear that if all of us – principals included – wanted to continue to engage in the activity we love most, designing, we’d have to develop a system that allowed for individuals to communicate easily and regularly with one another about their workloads, personnel needs, and time commitments. Trying to track and orchestrate personnel requirements for all the projects we had going at any one time would have been more than a full-time job, and not one that any of us would have relished.

By the time we were about ten people strong, the typical approach to scheduling wasn’t working well, so we decided to implement a weekly lunch meeting for all employees, at which we would share our current work needs and obligations. They beauty of the system was that it allowed all of us to identify our needs from our particular perspective and permitted the firm as a whole to responds. So a draftsman was able to let all of us know that in two weeks he’s be available to work on a new project because his current work was coming to an end. A project architect was able to indicate that she needed an architecture student with good model-making and drawing skills to help with two remodeling projects. Another project architect could let us know that one of his biggest projects had been put on hold that he needed more work ASAP.

As each person spoke, others around the table could indicate their availability or their ability to provide work for someone else. And without any apparent effort, matters always seemed to work out. The meetings allowed us to see into the near future without making complex charts, and they kept us from attempting to fix and make concrete a flow that was constantly moving and changing…..

What most of us don’t fully understand but this system acknowledges, more or less by accident, is that when things are allowed to flow, they get resolved. They resolve themselves in the moment and not through planning or trying to take control of the process. When leaves are allowed to move freely, as our workload lunch meetings proved time after time, they find their way downstream almost effortlessly. In so doing, for purposes of this metaphor, , they are perfectly present in their activity of floating. They are doing what’s in front of them to do – moving with the current – and in the process, as a by-product of their engagement, they’re moving downstream. The objective of each leaf is not movement downstream, but engagement with the current, which results in the experience of floating.

It’s when we try to make a script to follow exactly or when we ignore the passage of time entirely that we get into trouble, just as the leaves would if they tried to get to the right place at the right moment or if they struggled to stay put rather than where the current was taking them. We assume that what’ important is the movement downstream – the destination – when in fact it’s the involvement with ourselves and with one another in each new moment that really matter, that bring satisfaction and meaning into our lives. And that involvement, of course, is the journey – the process of engaging fully in every experience that comes your way. . . .

It’s not that preplanning is either good or bad, but you have to use discernment to determine what requires some planning and what can be allowed to unfold. For the time-obsessed, it’s the contrivance of preplanning every interaction, the “efforting” involved in the implementation of that plan, and the lack of unscripted time in which to do what really needs to be done in the moment that cause problems. For the time-resistant, it’s the determination to stay free of time’s limiting characteristics, the absence of any planning whatsoever, and the resulting lack of awareness of what really needs to be done in the moment that cause frustration. Either approach keeps you out of the natural flow, separated from the knowledge that everything is moving exactly as it needs to; in truth, there’s not a leaf out of place”.

Educational Transformation

2008-08-20T22:57:00.002-04:00

Technology is a tool that can change teaching and learning. How is technology used in a classroom? The New York Times has an essay, At School, Technology Starts to Turn a Corner, that looks at just that this week. How are you using your computers? For internet searches and as a basic library replacement? Or as a tool to facilitate your teaching and learning?

Sir Mark says he is convinced that advances in computing, combined with improved understanding of how to tailor the technology to different students, can help transform education.

“This is the best Trojan horse for causing change in schools that I have ever seen,” he said.

Technology is the one tool that can even the school-playing field for students of all learning levels. How will you be part of the transformation?

Barto is a Lifelong Learner

2008-08-17T22:59:00.005-04:00

I know that I've been blogging for a bit and have developed a few wikispaces, but I often feel like I know just enough to be dangerous but not enough to really know what I'm doing. So I signed up for Web 2.0 through our ISD. I'll be honest, I have never understood what Web 2.0 was or was not and I am thoroughly enjoying this experience! I get to "play" with all kinds of tools on the Web (which I love to do) and get credit for it! One of our first assignments was to view a video on Life Long Learning and to set up a blog to keep track of our progress. I thought I'd pop it in here too as an example of life long learning in action!

View the Seven and 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners

Barto's Becoming Web Wise. Feel free to stop by and check out my progress.

Math Research May Be Starting to Catch Up

2008-07-20T13:51:00.004-04:00

The regulations for Public Law (P.L.) 101-476, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), formerly P.L. 94-142, the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA), define a learning disability as a "disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using spoken or written language, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or to do mathematical calculations." (from Kidsource at NICHCY)

Since RTI has been evolving, one of my biggest concerns is that the areas of learning disabilities that are not reading based will not be serviced well. There are a plethora of research-based remediations and teaching methods now available for reading instruction, at least for the early years, and not much for the other areas of learning disabilities. I read some web entries today that has given me hope that math may be catching up, though I still question how soon solid interventions will be able to be put into place to assist our young ones with dyscalculia soon enough.

Dyscalculia Research Reveals Possible Cause by Amanda Windom

Down for the Count by Laura Blue, in Time Magazine

Reader's Digest Support for Non-Profits

2008-07-16T20:39:00.002-04:00

I realize that I have quoted this whole blog entry, but it's awesome!! What a great way to highlight someone you appreciate and help your favorite non-profit at the same time!

* Inspiring People

"Make it Matter" is a new initiative of the Reader’s Digest Foundation. The Foundation will give away $1 million to nonprofit organizations based on inspiring stories submitted by the public.

Every month for ten months, Reader’s Digest will choose one individual whose story of giving back serves as an inspiration to others. For each story, the Reader’s Digest Foundation will donate $100,000 to a nonprofit organization that is associated either with the story or the cause. These individuals and their stories of giving back will appear every month in the new "Make it Matter" column in Reader’s Digest and on rd.com, beginning with the April issue.

Stories can be submitted at http://www.rd.com/makeitmatter.do.

Sensory Integration and a Tube of Toothpaste

2008-07-10T13:28:00.002-04:00

I have been fortunate to work with a few little guys this summer who I am sure have some pretty severe sensory integration issues and this morning a wonderful comparison popped into my mind (does anyone out there have a white board that could work to catch the amazing thoughts that come to me in the shower?). Anyway, I was musing on how frustrating it is to know that they have not been diagnosed and know that some of their behaviors could be addressed with therapies at the same time I was reminding myself that many people, including school personnel, do not understand sensory integration very well. It is still a newer concept outside of the autistic world, but one that can have significant advantages for many of our ADHD, ODD or OCD children without the full autism spectrum challenges. I find myself often explaining children to teachers and parents right now using sensory references, so here's my new one:

A child with sensory issues can be like a tube of toothpaste. After a few squeezes (stimulus), the tube is no longer even. Sometimes, it fills up at the top, sometimes it fills at the bottom and sometimes there's just a gap in the middle. To get some toothpaste out, you often have to smooth it back out in some fashion, and you certainly have to take the cap off when there's too much pressure. However, squeeze too hard and everything explodes! Even the folks who roll up their tube at the bottom have to adjust it every day to maintain their acceptable amount of pressure in the toothpaste tube.

That tube of toothpaste now reminds me of many of my students. They need to be stimulated appropriately, or squeezed sometimes, but not too hard or too soft. And when the pressure is on from any stimulus, things might blow and they will not stop blowing on their own in these kids. The tube needs to be rebalanced.

I expect that I will now be taking extra tubes of toothpaste with me to presentations from now on :).

Kids Have Energy, We Need to Help Them Use It Well

2008-06-29T11:12:00.003-04:00

Kids are full of life. Sometimes it spills out of them in a whirlwind of activity. Incredibly, the simplest sensory integration tool can be the most effective vehicle to harness and direct their energy.

I love how they phrase this! Some of the simplest tools I've used are:

Balance and Movement

A "wiggle seat", which Viking calls a Seat Cushion. They can be used to build core balance and strength but they also allow any stationary seat to be a little more movable. Students sit on them, put them on the floor and balance their feet on them, and a few occasionally push their heads into them for 10 seconds or so to "reset" themselves. These seats are portable and can be taken from room to room which is a huge plus. At home,we have used one at the dinner table, we have put in in the booster seat for long trips, we have taken it to church to use on the pews, to softball games for on the bleachers and have even used one as an "extra" seat on the floor.

Balance boards also work wonders. I found one at an Odd Lots store and it is the most demanded tool I have at school, with all ages! Some use it under their feet while they are sitting, some stand on it for short bursts and I have one that stands on it to read and another stands on when she has a longer writing assignment.

Massage/Tactile Options
I picked up some small massage knobs (for lack of a better term) at a local Dollar Store. One version looked like a small brush and one had more knobby bristles. These are great for a quick pick me up once a class or so and one boy likes to keep one in reach and rub it on his leg periodically which helps reset his attention.

Another teacher found some inexpensive massage tools like this that vibrate and the elementary students use these at times. Viking Fitness also has vibrating pillows available and there are many other options online I'm sure.

At home, we have a pad that goes on the couch and we can set it to heat (for my fibro days this is great) and can set it to vibrate also, which works well in short bursts once a day for my daughter. If she is getting out of sorts or we know we'll be going somewhere that will overload her senses, she parks on the vibrating cushion for 5-10 minutes - fun and effective!

Fidget Tools and Fine Motor

We bought one of these for my daughter and I love it - so does she. It's portable and soothing and all one piece. You can take it apart I think, but that is not the goal which can help it be less distracting.

Other options I've used in the classroom include stones (from a planter that broke), fabric swatches, placing small strips of velcro and some smooth fabric on notebook covers, we use TheraPutty and squishy balls, I've also used hand grippers from the Dollar Store or twisty stick. I know these have a different name, but they are from the craft section of some store and don't have pointy ends like pipe cleaners or bent paper clips.

Some Sources for Sensory Tools
Our best resource is our OT at school. She is full of ideas and is great at finding cost affordable options. Her favorite easy recommendation is a water bottle. Sucking is one of the most soothing actions for the nervous system apparently and water is great.

Be sure to browse your local Dollar Store, Target or Odd Lots. Thing tactile and think management. Lots of pieces will be found all over!

I have found that when looking for ideas or materials on the internet, I can find some things by searching with sensory integration, but I find more at occupational therapy sites. Most of them even have separate sections just for sensory tools.

Some places I like on the web:
* Viking Fitness, Grand Rapids, MI and on the web
* Dream Catcher Weighted Blankets (these are a little pricey for classroom use, but a great resource to recommend to parents)
* Therapro - discount occupational therapy supplies.

Education about Fibromyalgia

2008-06-27T23:38:00.002-04:00

Fibro is a part of who I am and has turned out to be something else that people need to be educated about. A website I recently found that is great for those with fibro or for those who are trying to learn more about it to support someone else is Fibromyalgia Awareness.

Interestingly, one of the difficulties for people with fibro is sleep regulation, which is also a common problem with people who have attention issues. This page has some successful suggestions for sleep regulation which are worth a look even if the other fibro information is not of use to you.

Thinking on the Positive Side

2008-06-27T21:32:00.004-04:00

I love to find ways to remind myself that not only what I do is important, but that also remind me how to maintain a healthy balance. I just came across one in the blogsphere courtesy of Marja in her blog Dutch Corner: Golfballs and Two Glasses of Wine.

I am also enjoying Marj's blog this evening because she provides information and insight on living with learning disabilities. I love how she is realistic and honest about the struggles but still paints a positive picture. Recently she illustrated an awesome point, one that dovetails with my own personal philosophies:

Obstacles add interest to the flow

They surely do! She is an inspiration - thanks Marj!

Opportunity to Impact The Developmental Disabilities Act

2008-06-27T20:51:00.005-04:00

From LDA of America's Stateline e-news (June 20, 2008):

Fellowship Opportunities

The Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation is seeking outstanding leaders who are parents / family members of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities or professionals with a specialty in intellectual disability who are working towards the enhancement of inclusive services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This is an intensive one-year public policy fellowship in Washington DC. These are fantastic opportunities to work on Capitol Hill or in a federal agency. Please see the announcements from the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation (ParentFellowshipAnnouncement2008-2009.pdf ProfessionalFellowshipAnnouncement2008-2009.pdf) for more information. The deadline is August 15, 2008.

From the Announcement:

The coming year offers exciting opportunities to be involved in policy and legislative development in key areas such as The Developmental Disabilities Act, special education, health and mental health care for persons with disabilities, disability civil rights, child care, housing, justice, child welfare and other areas related to improving the quality of life for individuals with mental
retardation/intellectual disabilities.

Too true, too true!

Waves in the Blogsphere

2008-06-19T22:11:00.003-04:00

I was checking out the blogs in my RSS feed this afternoon and noticed a posting on weblogg-ed regarding the AP and charging for quotes copied onto blogs from their content. I remember thinking, ooooh, then my kids started asking for things and, I moved on.

Later I was checking out my newsletters from Edutopia and ended up at a reference to the same posting from today. Okay, that caught my attention even more. I was excited about the Edutopia article regarding online book discussions (Blogging is History by Helena Echlin) and started thinking about my next posting and how it would relate to the same topic. My students are doing similar things and it's awesome. . . but that will now be for another day because I followed the blogsphere to a whole other topic: ethics, quoting and blogging.

The Circle of the Blogs
This is one reason I have come to love blogging, because it fits my ADD mind. That is also one reason I am not keen on it, because it doesn't necessarily help me tame my bad habits, but I digress again...

While reading the article, I noticed a reference in the article to a blogging site I had not heard of: drupal-ed, so I clicked a link to check it out. I found a small description which was sort of the "front door" of DrupalEd, but there was also a link to Bill's Blog and I wanted to see what this site was like. Well, Bill's entry for today referred to a comment made on Will Richardson's blog (weblogg-ed) about the new policy from the AP, so of course, I clicked the link and was taken back to Will's posting and the comments made about it - Full Circle.

It is amazing to me how vast and yet how small the blogsphere can really be sometimes. How much the ripple effect can carry over here is also amazing to me; one ripple like the AP and all of a sudden there are waves all over the place.

One Educators Reaction
I don't know what will happen because of this policy and I certainly cannot wax as eloquently about as the others I read from today, but I do know that this is a type of debate that makes me excited about using this medium with my students. They should know that they are part of the world and that there are things going on out there that they can speak about and maybe start that ripple effect for some positive change. They could also use this for reasoning out possible outcomes, I mean what would happen if many other places followed the AP's example? Many bloggers would be cut short or have to dig deep in the pockets. $12.50 for Five Words?

WHOAH - I'd be a millionaire by now, if I had anything valuable enough for anyone to copy; but wait, then that would bring them back to maybe read more of my stuff..... and I would feel pretty good about that and might have taught someone something along the way...... hmmmmmmm.

Or maybe, we could just use the barter system. Five words for five words. (oooh, that was five together, could that qualify?)

Wow, when it comes down to it, who does own words that are posted in the universe of the blogsphere??? I suppose once I send them out there, I make the choice to share. As I tell my students: "Use your powers for good" and "Never underestimate the power of words in the world. Once you put something out there in words, it can be used by whomever hears or reads it. How you will be portrayed is no longer up to you, unless you choose your words carefully."

Those are all my own words in those quotes, so I suppose I'll just charge myself an Oreo to use them and call it a night.

A Parent's Journey III

2008-06-18T09:47:00.007-04:00

Okay, first grade is completed and I am proud (and relieved) to say that our daughter is reading above grade level. In fact, through the standardized measure (Gintey) she is reading at the 85%ile! Her decoding is lower than her comprehension so I know that she needs context, but knowing that her auditory processing is an issue, that's to be expected. What has made the difference? That's the fascinating thing about human beings - who knows for sure.... but, as a professional, I can make some very educated assumptions:

Environment
Her classroom environment fits her very well. Research is showing that the brain performs better when the person is comfortable, both physically and emotionally (a good summary is in: Emotion: The gatekeeper to learning).

Our daughter is comfortable with her teacher, her classroom and her school. She is in a Montessori class so she is allowed lots of movement and she creates a plan each day so she knows what to expect and can see her own progress. She will also be in this class with this teacher until 3rd grade - it works, so we are THRILLED!

Amygdala: An almond-shaped structure in the middle of the brain, connected to the hippocampus, which detects the emotional content of sensory data and plays a role in
the formation of emotion-laden memories.

a.k.a.: the Gatekeeper.

Language
We know that she knew all of her letter sounds and we knew that she often confused similar sounds or syllables when she heard them which caused her to write them that way too. A friend summarized children with reading difficulties and auditory processing to me the other day as the kids in whom the switch seems to flip. They seem like the geniuses in any reading program they are involved with when that switch flips. Nic would be like that I think. Don't get me wrong, we read with her at home, she was working on sounds and blending at school, but one day it just clicked. We gave her room and tried not to stress her about it (let the amygdala do its job!). Her homework from school was to read 20 minutes every night and they had sustained reading at school every day and that sustained practice does help! The first time she curled up next to me while I was reading and she read her own chapter book I admit I was all misty. Some of my favorite times now are when we sit in my sun room, each with a book and then chat about something funny or scary that we just read.....

Supporting Her Development

And, one of the last pieces was truly her sensory development. There was no question that it had not developed "as would be expected for her age" and that was an issue. How can a body be relaxed enough to learn when it's tight from the inside out? Then trying to process inefficiently all the auditory stimulation on top of that - impossible.

What we have done is:
* remind ourselves to modulate our voices to not add to her frustration when she is starting to escalate.
* use the weighted blanket every night at bedtime to help regulate her sleep
* think more actively about our schedule and hers, what type of activity is required, what stress may it put on her nervous system and how will that be balanced out afterward
* wrestle with her and/or provide some intense tactile stimulation each day
* remind ourselves (frequently) that she may be processing what we've said when she's staring out into space - give her think time and phrase our cues as cues not as criticism (for example: in a firm but calm voice as "what were the directions again" or "could you hear what I said" instead of "were you listening" or "what did I say".
* limiting screen time (overstimulating for the brain neurons) particularly for the hour before bedtime. She does seem to be soothed somehow if she is on the computer for 10-15 minutes first thing in the morning.

What About the Anxiety?
I find that the anxiety often comes out when her sensory is heightened or when there is a lot of auditory stimulation - her system is overloaded and doesn't know what to do to survive. I also find that acknowledging it with a clear answer also helps. For example, every night Nic asks me if I will check on her after she goes to bed. She is frequently sure that she will never fall asleep and I'm not sure what the other worry is, though I know there is one. I have learned that if I just reply "Of course I will. I always do." I can see the tension decrease and she heads off to bed. I

In the classroom, I often use humor or a cue such as "remind yourself that Mrs. B will take care of it - that is what they pay her for after all" and that helps. Our anxious children, especially is there is something else going on in that brain are often not using self-talk to calm themselves down. I figure that as a teacher, that can be one of the best gifts I can ever give them.

Last Thoughts (for today)
Unfortunately, there is no one fix for all children who struggle like ours did, so I can't just publish a recipe card and say "do this"; but I can say try this and keep trying this and, while it might not "fix" everything, it may make life a little easier in your house or in your classroom!

Environment Does Effect Learning From the Inside Out

2008-06-13T10:27:00.003-04:00

When I start to read about toxins and learning disabilities I admit, my stomach tightens, my head starts to shake no and as a parent, a tiny guilt switch flips in the back of my brain and I know that I start to turn off. As a teacher, who tends to deal with after-the-fact I also shift gears because at that point, what can I do about it. However, the more that I live in both roles, the more I find a balance.... I try to not feel guilty about my own kids and what they may or may not have been exposed to and as an Educational Practitioner my brain takes 2 routes: 1) knowing exposure levels that may have contributed to cognitive development may provide a positive path for medical remediation if you will, rather than medicate the annoying symptoms, let's actually target the cause; and 2) prevention is still the best possibility for reducing the numbers of struggling kids and pained adults.. . . even though 100% prevention would put me out of a career....... Below are a few links for information and education that started this particular mind-path this morning:

Discover Magazine: How Much Do Chemicals Affect Our Health? (4.25.08)

Can we do anything now to mitigate deficits from exposures experienced long ago?
There’s nothing we can do to reverse the damage that’s already been done. I recommend against taking chelating agents. Yes, they get the lead out of your body, but they are known to damage the kidneys and are of no proven benefit. Better to ward off brain decline by staying mentally active and using your brain. Read. Physical exercise keeps the brain healthy. Social networks are very important. People who have lots of friends age much more gracefully than people who are isolated. A general prescription would be to eat well, exercise regularly, have a lot of friends, and laugh.

LDA of Michigan has an ongoing project, the Healthy Child Project, that is

dedicated to helping you:

learn more about exactly what are these toxic substances in the environment and how they might affect our children’s health;

understand possible reasons why the incidence of learning disabilities, developmental disabilities and disease among children is on the rise;

find out how to join with others to make a difference in protecting the health and future of our children.

Ted Schettler, MD is a keynote speaker for LDA of Michigan in October 2008

Learning, behavioral and developmental disabilities including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and autism prevent our children from reaching their full human potential. Seventeen percent of children in the United States have been diagnosed with one or more developmental disabilities. These disorders have widespread societal implications, from health and education costs to the repercussions of criminal behavior. Though trends are difficult to establish with certainty, there is a growing consensus that learning and behavioral disorders are increasing in frequency.
These disabilities are clearly the result of complex interactions among genetic, environmental, and social factors that impact children during vulnerable periods of development.

For more see the LDA of Michigan site or see more about Generations at Risk

Learning About Learning

2008-06-12T14:07:00.008-04:00

Over Spring Break, my husband and I took our daughters to the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry. I was thrilled when I got to the exhibit on the Brain, not only because it had models and maps of the brain, but because there was a whole section on Learning Differences - and it was good! Very visual and there was information and experiences for a variety of learning disabilities such as dyscalculia, dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyspraxia along with other differences such as Down's Syndrome, Autism and Cerebral Palsy I believe.

I truly appreciated this powerful and positive way to present this information!

Here were some photos we caught while we were there (please feel free to use them or duplicate them without editing the content):

Auditory Processing

2008-04-22T22:19:00.002-04:00

Many people ask me about auditory processing: what is it? How can you help? Is it really important to pay attention to? and more. Lynn Carahaly is speaking at LMA, Thurs. May 1 for free :) and she has a recent article posted in Family Talk Magazine that addresses these questions well. For more information on her presentation on May 1, you can contact school at (616)464-3330.

Monitoring Auditory Processing by Lynn Carahaly

RTI Network is Up and Running

2008-04-09T17:19:00.002-04:00

RTI, or Response to Intervention, is one of the newest buzzes in the education world, both regular ed and special ed. It is a tiered system designed to better support struggling learners in schools. While I do agree with better interventions and using research-based methods, I do not always agree with the implementation of RTI. One of my largest issues is that even at the simplest level it seems to me to be unbalanced for students with learning disabilities. There are many research-based methods for reading interventions and I do agree that there should be better documentation and less delay of helping struggling students earlier. But, what about math interventions? Where is the support and research for the interventions regarding listening, speaking and/or social skills?

Even so, there is a new initiative designed to provide education and resources for those who want to, or need to, learn more about RTI. Many organizations came together to provide this resource and, while I haven't checked out the whole site thoroughly, this is an issue of great importance and I am excited to see such an initiative out there.

RTINetwork.org is the online home of the RTI Action Network, a national initiative dedicated to the responsible and effective implementation of Response to Intervention (RTI). This Web site provides the information and tools educators and families need to help each child succeed.

For more, check it out at RTINetwork.org.

My World at Home

2008-04-09T16:49:00.003-04:00

I will continue to write about our parenting journey here, but have separated out some of the other home experiences to another location: Barto's Home-World. I realize that having a home life doesn't make me less of a professional and that I can't ever truly separate out that part of me, but I wanted a spot to talk simply and pay a little more attention to my parenting-self than my analytical, more research-based self.

What This Does Not Mean
This does not mean that I will start to write in a stuffier manner, nor will I start writing without parenthetical thoughts or hyphens. I will continue to be me which includes some randomness of thought and inserting student-based examples frequently. Also, I know many more professional level bloggers recommend short postings, but I doubt I will change that style yet, at least not quickly. Just wouldn't be me :).

Perception and Reality

2008-03-20T22:06:00.003-04:00

Out of Mouths of Babes

Okay, maybe not babes, but middle school children anyway. This week, one of our parents subbed for a sick teacher and at lunch she told me she had an Out of the Mouths of Babes story she just had to share. She was right - she had to share it and so do I. Perception can be a funny, funny thing - and can come from who-knows-where!

As she was getting ready that morning, she was looking for something to wear and was debating about wearing a skirt. She apparently had this debate out-loud as when she added the "because I might have to shave my legs" her son, who is in my middle school class, told her to "Just do what Mrs. Barto does".

At this point I was more than intrigued, because I was quite positive that I have never talked about shaved or unshaven legs of mine or otherwise in either history or English class, to which he explained: "Just wear tall boots. Tall, leather boots like Mrs. Barto does".

Well, status of my legs withstanding, I was fascinated by his take on my fashion choices. Reality and comprehension are based on perception, and (apparently) perception can come from lots of different thought patterns! Out of the Mouths of Babes indeed......

Resources for Sensory Integration

2008-03-02T17:42:00.005-05:00

I was creating a resource tonight for our parents at school on sensory integration resources and decided to post them here as well. I haven't read all of the books, but I have found everything else to be helpful with my daughter and my students. I was at a meeting a few weeks ago with an OT coordinator that specializes in sensory issues who was amazing! One of the parts that I found most fascinating was the distinction between the kids who are tactile-needy and those who are tactile-defensive. I am looking for my notes presently and when I find them, they will be next up on the blog queue!

On the Web

* From Lindsey Biel, OTR/L and Nancy Peske (Raising a Sensory Smart Child)
o Sensory Diet Activities for Home and Away
o Tips for Helping Your Child with Sensory Problems
o Toys, Equipment and Gifts for Kids with Sensory Issues
o Seasonal Tips for Cabin Fever

Books
This is a list of books that I'd formed so far, but rather than take the time to link them all again, here is the link to one of the pages I created originally. Literacy of Teaching has links to all of these. Enjoy!

* The Out of Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder by Kranowitz
* The Out of Sync Child Has Fun: Activities for Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder by Kranowitz
* Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children with Sensory Processing Disorder by Miller & Fuller
* The Sensory-Sensitive Child: Practical Solutions for Out Of Bounds Behavior by K. Smith
* Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight: What to do if you are Sensory Defensive in an Overstimulating World by Heller
* Sensory Smarts: A Book for Kids With ADHD or Autism Spectrum Disorders Struggling with Sensory Integration Problems by Chara, Chara, Chara and Berns
* Helping Hyperactive Kids - A Sensory Integration Approach: Techniques and Tips for Parents and Professionals by Horowitz
o Many of the activities in this book and the illustrations are geared toward small children, but the information is applicable to older ages as well!
* Raising a Sensory Smart Child: The Definitive Handbook for Helping Your Child with Sensory Integration Issues by Biel and Peske
* the highly sensitive child: Helping Our Children Thrive When the World Overwhelms Them by Aron
* Raising Your Spirited Child: A Guide for Parents Whose Child is More Intense, Sensitive, Perceptive, Persistent and Energetic by Kurcinka

Some of our Favorite Products

* Weighted Blankets
My daughter and I found a lap-size blanket at Viking Fitness that is surface washable, but it is also microwavable! We warm it up before bed and lay it over her as she's been tucked in to help her calm her body enough to go to sleep. Love it! (P.S. This picture is from Viking's website, it's not my daughter)

* Theraputty
o A good fidget for stretching, pulling or rubbing (tactile stimulation).

* Water Bottles
Our OT told us that sucking is one of the most balancing activities our students can do throughout the day. This works with hard candy, but water is also a powerful restorative, so we ask them all to bring water bottles.

Blogs About Best Practices

2008-02-18T21:14:00.007-05:00

As I wandered the internet this evening, I found a few postings about what should be considered best practices. They are at the very least, good teaching. I thought I'd collect a few here:

An excerpt from Social Studies: Sharpening the Saw

The more I read about scientific studies on the brain and neurolearning, the more clear it becomes that the public schools need to bring more “right -brained” thinking skills into the classroom next to the traditional analysis, application and comprehension activities. We need to integrate synthesis, metaphors, analogies, alinear exercises and visual models with traditional methods in order to maximize student learning.

This social studies teacher uses what she calls "DBQ"'s or Daily Board Questions to prompt the thinking of her students. Imagine, a world where students are prompted to think and take time to discuss rather than plow through a pre-determined amount of content so that two or three objectives could be checked off at the end of the week.

an excerpt from Generation YES: The art of being an unreasonable educator

The problem is that by being reasonable, educators pre-compromise themselves out of strong, defendable positions. Project-based learning is a strong position to come from. There is research on how to do it, why to do it, and lots of examples of success. But by compromising even before you get to the negotiation, you lose out. You have lost your ability to create conditions of success, and you have lost your negotiating power.

Most likely when you get to the actual planning, the people you thought would be impressed by your reasonableness stun you by not appreciating it at all. They want MORE compromise. In your eyes, they are unreasonable. You’ve already compromised (in your head) and now there’s no more to give. How come they get to be unreasonable when you’ve worked so hard before the meeting even started? It’s not fair!

You must practice the art of being unreasonable.

Okay, so I feel that I can easily say that I practice the art of being unreasonable daily -just ask my husband (just kidding). Last week, my history class presented their Culture Exhibits (see last posting for examples), my English class worked to wrap up "filming" of a news conference for the characters in My Side of the Mountain, my Biology class updated their data for their independent experiments and our junior high math lab continued their planning for their Rocketry Challenge. And, even better, I got an A+ for my un-reasonableness!

excerpt from Eide Neurolearning Blog: Music, Your Brain and Attention

For many students (and non-students too), music is activating and seems to help with attention and as well as getting tasks done. We know many time-blind people who become more time-aware with music, but because our brains change with what we do with it, the work of listening might really help us with the ease of listening in the long rung, too. So maybe instead of saying, "Stop listening to your music, and do your homework!", it may be better for us to say, "Start listening to your music, so you can do your homework!"

We are just looking into Listening Therapy for our daughter for her auditory processing and sensory integration. We are also looking at the program at school for our students. This month has been a month of auditory processing and executive functions research for me and this is a topic that comes up consistently - how types of music can help "re-program" the brain. I know that when I was finishing ed school and when I was pregnant for my daughters there was a lot of articles about the Mozart effect and how it makes kids smarter. I don't know that it truly makes them smarter, but I do think that it can certainly help the brain work more efficiently. I tend to think of it as something that can't hurt anyone, but can help so many.

Barto Earned an "A+"

2008-02-14T22:09:00.007-05:00

Valentine's Day
I can't really say that Valentine's Day is my favorite in-school holiday and this year, with two classes of middle school girls mostly, that remains true! However, in addition to our Valentine Celebration we had two other events, one was a student organized talent show (about which I am sure I will have more to say later) and a Culture Fair put on by my middle school History class.

Culture Fair
This was our first Culture Fair, and apparently, for many of my 7 exhibitors this was their first time really exhibiting their work. Each student chose a culture we have studied this unit to present in a small exhbit on their desk top. Not a surprise to me, we had only Maya and Aztec represented, because who can resist a good temple or sacrifice right? For two weeks, students worked in class and at home to design a visual display, an artifact and a written presentation. They needed to find something that would make a good desk cover and they needed to be prepared to man their exibits for 30 minutes for walk-through exhibitors.

As I went to bed last night, I was telling my husband that I was hoping that no one was disappointed today. We used a small portion of our classroom for the display, there was no stage, no glitz or glamour. These were truly student made projects, not parent made, or ordered online kits. These were true planning and problem solving projects: sugar cube temples; corn-fields of painted drinking straws; craft stick and modeling clay huts . . . and the most amazing part for me, these were projects by learners who often struggle with sequencing, planning, problem solving and expressive language, not to mention anxiety of "performing" in front of their peers, forget parents, students, teachers and grandparents! And it was wonderful!!!!! The only disappointment was for those who had to wait for an opening at the exhibit they wanted to visit next or the researcher who had a lull in the action as visitors were at other exhibits.

Each of my researchers had to explain their project many times and field questions. They had to fluctuate between communicating with people they knew and people they didn't know. They also had the opportunity to explain their work to an audience of more than me and earn some appreciation in addition to a grade. I have heard that it takes 7 positive statements to make up for 1 negative statement. Today, I was proud and humbled that our Culture Fair was able to make up for a lot of negative feedback that some of my students have received in the past in regards to their performance and output abilities! I was proud that my students were proud of themselves! I was thrilled that my students got to see that their work matters to more than just me or their own mom and dad! I was gratified to know that my students know that they are part of a learning community! On top of all these proud moments today, one of our dads stopped by me on his way out the door and very quietly let me know that he thought I got the A+ today for what our Culture Fair did for our students' learning and, more importantly, for their self-esteem.

If Valentine's Day is about caring and warming the heart, then I suppose I did change my mind some. I really did enjoy this in-school Valentine's Day after all. . . . . .

Samplings of Our Exhibits (Enjoy!)

Musings on Executive Functions

2008-02-13T23:32:00.005-05:00

Executive Functions

The term executive function describes a set of cognitive abilities that control and regulate other abilities and behaviors. Executive functions are necessary for goal-directed behavior. They include the ability to initiate and stop actions, to monitor and change behavior as needed, and to plan future behavior when faced with novel tasks and situations. Executive functions allow us to anticipate outcomes and adapt to changing situations. The ability to form concepts and think abstractly are often considered components of executive function.

- from Encyclopedia of Mind Disorders

Our theme of study this year for our staff and educational presentations has been executive functions. Today in the Teacher's Lounge, a colleague and I were reliving the morning while laughing and crying - without tears- as we discussed what was basically the executive functioning (and/or dysfunctioning) of our current students. We ended the discussion with the light-hearted plan of creating a documentary titled something like The 100 Reasons You Should Care About Executive Functioning.

This evening, I was reading Winnie the Pooh's Valentine with my daughter and, after I stopped enjoying the vocabulary like "enthralled" and "plummeted" and after Rabbit needed a wheelbarrow to "consult" his thick dictionary, I realized that Pooh and his gang are often examples of executive functions - and why they are important.....

In this adventure for example, Pooh was tacking up felt hearts in "all the most strategic places" and had remembered that Owl had explained that strategic places meant
"the places where things were sure to be in the way and, therefore, attract the most attention. At least, that's how Pooh remembered Owl explaining it, which, as far as he was concerned, made it as true as if Owl had actually said it just that way . . ."

Memory and attention . . . . . hmmmm.... then, as Pooh was contemplating his handiwork [monitoring his own actions!], Roo came in to ask Pooh a question. In standard Pooh-fashion, there was some miscommunication for a page or two as they worked through that - problem solving at its best!

It turned out that Roo's dilemma was that he wanted to give a valentine to his mom and didn't know how. Pooh however, being a bear of little brain but lots of executive functions, knew that they would be able to figure it out. Pooh was faced with a novel situation and adapted!

His solution, of course, was to gather all of the other great brains of the Hundred Acre Wood for a brainstorming session. During this session, Piglet first identified the most important thing about a valentine - defining the concept.

A valentine must say 'I love you'! Definitely important. Then Rabbit, being the highly functioning Brain that he is, continued defining their concept with the important point that, since 'I love you' are "the most important words one person can say to another, . . . . a valentine should say them in as many different ways as possible". Looking ahead - great planning Rabbit!

After much gathering of tools and teamwork, Roo had his valentine: a giant boulder that Gopher had chiseled into a heart shape, Tigger had painted (orange with black stripes of course) and that Roo wrote I LOVE YOU on in his best handwriting. Then came Rabbit's thick dictionary brought down the hill in the wheelbarrow. Great planning on Rabbit's part, the dictionary I mean. Anyway, Rabbit's dictionary allowed him to include all of the important phrases that mean I love you, such as "Kiss me good night" and "Do your homework" and "Eat your vegetables" - perhaps the self-talk feature such as "does that make sense?" was not working effectively there.....

All of the team is quite impressed with their impressive creation, until little Roo asks what I call the EFT (Executive Functions Trainer)question: "How am I going to get this to my mother?".

This is when I started laughing and laughing, because it reminded me so much of the students who wanted to make a diorama of an island by building the whole volcano first and the city inside it later (oops, couldn't fit our hands in anymore let alone would we be able to see the city....) or the child who occasionally puts on his shoes and then realizes that he only has one sock on...... talk about planning and anticipating outcomes!

Now, just in case you are worried about poor Roo's valentine, never fear! Eeyore points out that they had one way of doing a valentine. Pooh is thrilled with Eeyore's observation (so full of encouragement is our Pooh, which takes everyone else by surprise because it takes quite a bit of processing to truly find those effective alternatives, but Pooh points out that if there was one way of doing a valentine, then there must be a "two way" because "one does not, after all, mean only. It means the something before the next thing. . . ". Pooh is applying his skills to adapt to the changing situation!

Having processed all of this information and observing everyone else's behaviors and decisions, Roo realizes what the "next thing" is and is able to apply that knowledge independently in his own way. Roo gives his mom a beautiful bunch of colorful wildflowers.

He was also able to verbalize his processing (another high level skill). He explains that his flowers are good valentine because they say "I love you", and, since they are all different kinds, they say 'I love you' "in lots of different ways". And, since the flowers were small and he is small, they were the "most impressive" valentine he could carry all by himself. What a thinker that Roo is!

During our discussion in the Teacher's Lounge, I know that I made the statement that I have to admit that I am glad that our students do need some training in executive functions, etc.... because that's one form of job security for us. More importantly, it ensures that my days are never boring and that I often receive the reward of seeing growth during my time with them (various degrees of growth and various lengths of time, but still, evident growth most of the time). That reward is a huge part of why I do what I do; but, the next time I feel that I am shaking my head and thinking "why, why, why?" or "how does that work up in that head exactly", I can now remember (after a few deep breaths I'm sure) that I can rest assured. If the crew in the Hundred Acre can always pull through, we can too!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

The Power of Words

2008-02-11T21:26:00.001-05:00

I found an old notebook I used to collect quotes in and thought I'd just post some of those (and some newer ones) today. I tried to give credit to those who originally penned these words and apologize if I missed crediting anyone who lent me the power of their words!

"Our greatest national resource is the minds of our children."
— Walt Disney

"Throughout history the exemplary teacher has never been just an instructor in a subject; he is nearly always its living advertisement."
— Michael Dirda

". . the humanities encourage the development of our own humanity. They are our instruments of self-exploration."
— Michael Dirda

". . if you are given lined paper, write crosswise. At least occassionally."
— Michael Dirda

". . . there's no use trying to live in other people's opinions. The only thing to do is live in your own."
— Emily in Emily Climbs by L.M. Montgomery

"Remember that "Help us grow this grass" is a far more effective sign than "Keep off the grass"."
— Norman Vincent Peale

"Children need models more than they need critics."
- Joseph Joubert

Faces by Jess Moss in The Other Side of the Door
There are millions of kids in the world,
all with two eyes, one nose and a mouth
And of those millions of faces, no two are exactly alike.
You'd think that by now there'd be no way left to put together
eyes and noses and mouths to make faces that
are different from any other face
But that's what's amazing is that there will keep on being
millions and millions of different ways forever
And no two faces will ever be exactly the same.

There are millions and millions of kids in the world - each with one brain. No two are exactly alike and no two ever will be....... (this part was all me :)).

A Parent's Journey: Part II

2008-02-10T21:39:00.001-05:00

Part one of this journey was posted in August of last year and was What We Do For Our Daughter and the Evaluation Process. I realize I haven't been very timely in updating this journey, such is the life of a teacher/mother/Fibromyalgia fighter.

Anyway, we have completed the Evaluation and have entered the phase of "Addressing the Needs of our Child". This is a phase that will be never-ending and I imagine cyclical at times as she grows out and back into certain needs, etc... The cliff-notes of the past few months are:

The Insurance Company
We received the form letter in response to my letter that explained where to find the codes that explained how these decisions are made, etc... Basically, what I expected.

The Evaluation
We did not have our daughter evaluated through the school because she was not really showing much evidence of her struggles at school enough yet and I wanted a comprehensive eval not one that had to focus on what they would be able to support her with at school. We went through a center that is newly formed in our area and one I highly recommend to anyone in the West Michigan area. They're website is www.brainspotential.com.

Knowing the evaluators (by reputation and reports) and having a high professional opinion of them helped alleviate some of my own anxiety, but not all. I don't know that that's entirely possible when you are turning over your child, even for a short time to someone else. Once they put on paper their conclusions, it became permanent. That is a scary thought. I had to remember that I had faith in these people and enough of my own professional expertise to ensure that the report would be an accurate description of my daughter.

As I said, the people at BRAINS are wonderful and we received a comprehensive evaluation and my daughter was comfortable throughout the evaluation! In fact, she was playing around with the evaluator and I felt good leaving because I knew that he would see her for the precocious, loving little wonder she was and that she had been playing - not saying no and being defiant. . . but I digress.....

The short version of the eval was: Auditory Processing Disorder, Sensory Integration Disorder and Generalized Anxiety. No ADD (which is what I thought but feared would be the stop-point) and no dyslexia (at this time).

Again, I feel blessed that I have been called always to work in the field I work in and to be good at what I do. I have a multitude of resources and information available to me - BUT I continue to be amazed at how challenging it can be for me with all of those benefits!! We started with the sensory piece and have been working with trying to even out the sleeping patterns. We have again been fortunate with her teacher and current school situation. She is in a 1st-3rd grade montessori classroom which provides the structure and movement she needs as well as an appropriate level of sensory stimulus.

Steps Down the Path
My first step was to read through the report a few times and I highlighted or jotted down kind of an outline of important things/phrases I needed to remember. What my daughter did well with versus things that were challenging.

After discussing my thoughts with my husband (and my friend at school) I shared the results of the eval with her teacher and took with me my notes that covered what I thought were the main points for understanding my daughter (as a learner). I asked her teacher if she had seen any struggles with these things at school after pointing out some things that we had noticed at home. Her teacher was wonderful and open to information and strategies as needed. We discussed her reading which was coming along well. Her teacher had noticed some of the auditory mis-cues, but they hadn't been creating a big problem in the classroom. Neither of us felt that we needed to seek support services through the school system at this time. WHEW!!!

Sensory Another highly recommended stop in Western Michigan is Viking Fitness! They are awesome - and their center is a great place to start for sensory tools. We found a weighted blanket that can also be heated in the microwave which we use at bedtime - very soothing! We also found some excellent fidget tools and exercise bands. I purchased some chew tube for her and for some students at school and we are looking into a hammock like swing to hang in our basement for the vestibular stimulation.

Next stop: the health store for some liquid melatonin. Our pediatrician recommended checking dosages recommended at the AAP site, though I have to admit that I had a hard time finding a good source. We have seen that this helps her sleep at night, though it is more successful with 1) a regular bedtime routine and 2) the weighted blanket. We've also worked with yoga for kids and remind her to practice her breathing when she's thinking she can't sleep (which can still be almost every night sometimes - I wish my husband and I were more in sync with administering the melatonin).

Next, we've tried to work in regular physical stimulation for her each day. Deep pressure with tickling or wrestling, rolling an exercise ball over her, using the electric massager or kicking a standing punching bag. She also likes to jump around on a gym mat which she got for Christmas. For vestibular, we're looking for a swing, she likes to do somersaults and we have an exercise ball she rolls around on. She also likes to sit on a wiggle seat at the dinner table, though she often likes to sit on it on her knees with the pointier side up... to each his own....

We're still trying to find a good balance for strategies when she gets overloaded, but she now has her own "quiet room" which is a small closet in the hall by her room. There's a lamp and a beanbag in there now. Her "private" belongings that she doesn't want her sister to mess with and some books. It's small with low lighting and she can basically de-stimulate herself in there when she needs and feels like she has something that just she controls (for the most part) so it also addresses her anxiety. It's awesome really.

At this point in the school year, her reading was At Grade Level on her report card and will more than likely be Above next quarter (she's gone from struggling with c-a-t in the fall to reading just about anything put in front of her). We are at the point where we are getting ready to tackle more of the auditory processing, especially since her physical hearing seems to be intact but she has trouble with processing what she hears - especially on the phone! So, next stop: evaluating therapies and interventions for auditory processing.

Building Literacy One Book at a Time

2008-02-08T23:00:00.000-05:00

I'm not always huge on Award Winning Books with my students, because they can sometimes be too thick or require too much inference for my reluctant readers; BUT, thanks to our gift of snow days this year, I have stumbled across the Schneider Family Book Awards though and am excited! The Schneider Awards which:

". . . honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. . . . . The book must emphasize the artistic expression of the disability experience for children and/or adolescent audiences. It must portray some aspect of living with a disability or that of a friend or family member, whether the disability is physical, mental or emotional." [Teenreads.com]

Some of the picks I have added to my Need to Read List are:
o (2007 Teen) Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby From School Library Journal
Grade 6-9–Joey Willis is deaf, and her mother won't allow her to learn American Sign Language. Her isolated existence is turned upside down, however, when she meets her elderly neighbor, Dr. Charles Mansell, and his sign-language-using chimpanzee, Sukari. Against her mother's wishes, Joey begins to learn to sign, and Charlie, whose parents were deaf, opens her eyes to a future filled with possibilities. When he dies, Sukari's fate is left in Joey's hands. Rorby has clearly done her research. From the dialogue gaps that allow youngsters to share the frustration even a skilled lip reader feels, to a brutal scene in a chimp-filled research facility, the wealth of details support but, unfortunately, often overwhelm the story. The tale is so dense that many plot threads are abruptly abandoned, and the narrative skips ahead at random intervals. Laden with issues–parent-child relationships, the treatment of research animals, and child abuse (Joey's deafness is the result of a beating by her father)–the book often gets bogged down in its own seriousness. However, the writing shines when Rorby focuses on what is obviously her true passion: Sukari and the fate of chimpanzees like her.–Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, Carroll County Public Library, MD [Amazon.com]

o (2006 Middle School) My Thirteenth Winter: A Memoir, written by Samantha Abeel and published by Orchard Books, a division of Scholasticis the winner of the teen book. The book was chosen for its honest and sensitive portrayal of the author’s youth as she struggles with dyscalculia, a learning disability in mathematics. The syndrome also affects one’s ability to perform simple tasks, such as telling time or following directions. Abeel’s diagnosis at age 13 helped her and her family make sense of why she excelled in literature but didn’t know what change to expect when buying groceries. She shares her gift of language in this compelling memoir. [ALA]

In Memoriam of an Inspirational Leader

2007-12-11T09:16:00.001-05:00

I once had the opportunity to hear an amazing lady speak at what could have been a very boring dinner/awards ceremony - you know how they can be . . . This amazing lady was speaking about teaching students with learning disabilities and her words, though not necessarily academic, were some of the most inspiring I have ever experienced in my teaching of these exceptional students.

This dynamic, vibrant, strong lady spoke about appreciating the postives and remembering why we do what we do.... all of the language confusions, the memory gaps, the "outside-of-the-box" thinking, the organizational disasters . . . those are the things that make our kids memorable. These characteristics can be very challenging but they are also the things that make our jobs so rewarding. These are the kids who need someone to make a difference and Sally Smith did this through the Lab School in Washington D.C., through her books on Academic Club and learning with art and drama (which we now use at my school within our history curriculum)and through her work with the Learning Disabilities Association of America.

Sally passed away a week and a half ago, but we in special education are fortunate to have had Sally in our field and will remember her for years to come. She will be greatly missed.

In Memoriam on NPR

Building Community

2007-11-03T16:43:00.000-04:00

Topics that I seem to see frequently are how to build solid learning communities and how to prepare our high school students for their future in the work world. I was fortunate to have witnessed both of these in action in our school over the past two weeks.

Our school currently includes students in grades 2-12 and our population is 100% students with LD and/or ADHD. Often our students have not been successful in school and/or have not had many opportunities to act as leaders in the school. These are the skills our students need to be successful as adults and require experience and shaping. This fall, our high school students tackled a leadership challenge and I am extremely proud to say that I was able to be a part of it.

It should be noted that we have 9 high school students and 20 younger students which often gives our whole school events, our community building events, a less "mature" aura which often contributes further to our high school students often feeling as though they are not as "good" as other high school students. Halloween is often a time when this disparity is more evident . . . . younger kids means more "tame" Halloween celebrations or having to select from a limited amount of videos, etc.. We often expect much grumbling on the part of our older students when their Halloween enjoyment is reigned in. This year however, we had quite a different experience. Our high school students organized a Haunted House for our younger students and they exceeded our expectations even on their meager (non-existent) budget.

As a group, students with learning disabilities often have difficulty with organizing materials and time, they can struggle with interpersonal communication and planning multi-step projects. They can have weaknesses with spatial organization but strengths with language based tasks, or vice versa and their memories can be inconsistent. Our group fits that generalization fairly well as a group which can make group work challenging at times. This project however was different. Yes, they had some adult help - we have a sociology intern this year in our building 2 days a week and she was able to prod them to manage their time and plan things out, but our high school students actually balance two high schools and only attend LMA in the mornings. They managed to organize schedules and materials to completely transform one classroom into a haunted maze within a week and a half using approximately 1 to 1 1/2 hours of biology work time and 1 hour of advisory time (10 min. per day)in addition to time they came in before school or stayed through their lunch periods. They managed 8 different individuals and everyone had a job on Halloween. They developed rules for the attendees, asked for $1 admission, restricted entrance to two people at a time and tailored the "rounds" for each section; low intensity for the 2nd-4th graders, slightly more intensity for the 5th & 6th graders and high intensity for the 7th & 8th graders. They reigned in their own impulsive behaviors to keep from going too over the top and made sure everyone had an enjoyable time and all received credit for their efforts.

Sure, this project caught their attention and they hoped to raise money for their year-end trip, but more importantly they were successful. On the Fri. before Halloween, the original design (a box maze) wasn't working coming together well. The three officers who had started the project weren't sure they were going to have anything worthwhile, but they opened up the project further to others, some teachers offered some structural suggestions and the students picked the ball back up and ran with it. Our intern kept working with them on her days, helping them select assignments for the days she wasn't in and kept encouraging them that they could be successful and it would be worthwhile. (The fact that our intern is an alumni of our high school made it an even more impactful event.)

I realize that I am blessed to be at a small school where we have more opportunity to set up experiences like we had this week, but the biggest key was the students following through. They had a valid, life-based challenge and they met it. They received some support, but not too much, they were given restrictions, but not too many and they were treated with respect. They were expected to meet the expectations - and they did. . . and they enjoyed it. In fact, they worked their haunted house for almost an hour and a half straight in masks, sweatshirt and plastic walls. They entertained elementary and middle school students, service providers who were visiting our building that morning, teachers, staff and parents. I know that a few of them really enjoyed being able to "pay back" some of their teachers or service providers for all the work we make them do :). In short, they developed skills they will need to survive in the world of work after graduation.

As for community building, not only is our high school a stronger community of 9,but our younger kids made thank you cards for the high school students to let them know how much they appreciated all their work - and the really neat thing about that was that the high school students then argued about who had the best card :). They are now part of our learning community, no doubt about it. In fact, I think they're already planning some type of Thanksgiving event for the younger students....

When I tell people that I work at a non-profit school for students with learning disabilities and/or ADHD in grades 2-12, I often hear "oh wow", or "you must be a saint" or "oooh, I couldn't do that" followed by "why" or "what made you go into that" often with a modifier such as "I've worked with those kinds kids once" with a story that often is about more physically or cognitively impaired students than mine. I don't really have an easy answer for them to their questions . . . . in fact, I usually go into "nerd" mode quoting varying researchers, statistics or diagnostic definitions. Weeks like this week though are when I don't need the statistics or research to explain my enthusiasm for my kids. I just answer, "because I can"!

Educating Brains

2007-11-03T15:35:00.000-04:00

I am sometimes what could be considered an educational "nerd". I've been watching this new show this fall, something about the Big Bang, whose premise is two physics geniuses (often labeled as "nerds") befriending a beautiful blond across the hall and the inconsistencies in their social skils. This week, one of the physicists dressed as the Doppler Effect for Halloween and while he was quite excited about it, other people were more amused at his excitement as opposed to his creativity. I can relate to what's-his-name since I often get the courtesy nod when I am off and running about educational research. It's not that others are not interested, I'm just a nerd and act like I have received my Limited Collection whatever-would-be-cool to other people when I get educational journals or when I find interesting research online. I was like a kid at Christmas when I got my copy of the current Handbook of Learning Disabilities and squealed like I'd seen a mouse when I found an Educator's Diagnostic Manual (the educational version of the DSM). . . . I get groupie-like when I hear names like Sam Kirk, Levine, Lavoie, Lerner or other names that I've read in journals or textbooks. Working with LDA of MI, I have been fortunate enough to meet many folks I have read or who have been the "backbones" of LD or educational research and I admit I tend to be amazed to meet the people behind the names. I realize they are all people, mere humans, but these are people who often inspire me in my profession. These are the people who challenge my mental sets and provide me with tools for continually improving my practice. They are my "teachers" in a sense.

This fall, I have been practically glowing because I had the opportunity to one of my top favorites: Dr. David Sousa. Of course, I have to admit that my glowing was tempered with hope, because there are times when you meet some of your idols and it's not as pleasant as you would hope. Chalk it up to stress, jetlag, focus on their work,or simple personality differences, but it can be disappointing to meet someone you admire and realize that you admire their work more...

Well, Dr. Sousa spoke at the Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan's Annual Conference at the end of October and I was not disappointed in any fashion. Dr. Sousa was a fantastic and educational speaker as well as a friendly and gracious person. I consider myself fortunate to have heard his keynote and was inspired when he defined the necessity of having good educators. He said that educators "changed brains" and that only educators are expected to change brains daily as part of their job. Even neurosurgeons are required to take a certain amount of hours between brain surgeries so their bodies can return to a healthy pattern of regulation.

What a powerful statement! Learning is a process of developing, or changing, the brain and (hopefully) training it to work more efficiently as we work to gain larger knowledge bases. As educators, this presents us with what can be an overwhelming responsibility, but this responsibility is also exciting. We are changing brains daily and classroom teachers are working with the same brains daily which is an honor not many professions can claim.

If educators have the responsibility for changing brains, then we certainly have a responsibility to understand the brain to the best of our ability. I have to admit, I am a huge fan of Dr. Sousa's so I am slightly biased, but I am a student of his work because his work makes sense.

As a teacher, and as a parent with children in Montessori classrooms, my other favorite part from his keynote address that day was: What types of teaching methods are we using? How old is our knowledge of the brain and how it works? We are now living in 2007 with PET scans and MRI's. Children are coming to school with 2007 Brains. What brains are we teaching to?

A Parent's Journey

2007-08-04T11:58:00.001-04:00

I have experienced the world of learning disabilities and ADD as a sibling and daughter, though my mother and sister were not diagnosed until my sister and I were adults. I too, was diagnosed as an adult so my self-awareness and experiences were still through memories and adult experiences. I have been able to study and analyze this "world" as a teacher, an administrator and as a researcher and am now adding a new experience to this list, the journey of a parent.

I think I have mentioned before that my husband and I were starting this journey this summer and I am thankful for being able to further my perspective in this area, though I do worry about some of the aspects this will bring for my daughter in the future. But right now, I am simply working to gain the best understanding of how we can help her both in and out of school and to do this, we have turned to an excellent diagnostic center in our area - which means we have now begun the interactions with the insurance companies. So, I am thinking that I will log parts of our journey to possibly provide information and support for other parents.

Part one was "What Do We Do For Our Daughter" and part two, which we are in the middle of right now (though I would imagine we will frequently revisit part one) is "The Evaluation Process", which includes The Insurance Company.

The Insurance Company
This week, we received our "notification of unauthorized services" letter. Now, having dealt with many families who have gone through this process with private evaluations, I expected that we would be receiving such a letter and yet I continuously find it interesting (and appalling) that psychological testing is not considered medical - it is a psychologist, a doctor of psychological medicine, who is required for this testing . . . . So, we were not surprised to receive the letter and fully expected to be required to pay a portion of the fees. It turns out that we will be required to pay for 2.5 hours and the insurance company will pay for 2 hours. This may be better than some or worse than some, I really don't know. I just know that we were fortunate that we were able to find the money to cover our portion and will be able to pursue what we know to be best for our daughter.

As a professional however, I had some pretty strong feelings about the judgment used to support this action. I know that the health care industry is much larger than me and that this is "how it's always been done", however I was not satisfied with that and hope that others are not. I wrote this response, not really expecting much change in the judgment of my daughter's coverage but to possibly educate one more person or industry in the reality of learning differences. Perhaps this will also be of help to some of you:

The Letter
Dear Sir or Madam:
We have received the notification for ****’s psychological testing with **** and would like to request a copy of the written clinical criteria that are used to determine coverage. As a parent, I was not surprised at the decision and we had assumed that we would have some additional cost for pursuing this option for our child. As a professional in the field of learning disabilities however, I find this decision to be counterproductive.

Research is consistently proving that individuals with learning disabilities frequently develop medical/psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression, particularly when they are not “treated” appropriately as soon as possible. We pursued psychological testing for our daughter because she was already, at the age of 5, showing possible difficulties with language processing of some type which appeared to be creating much anxiety and was affecting her self-esteem. Knowing the serious problems that could develop as she grows older, we chose to pursue a comprehensive evaluation as soon as possible so we would be able to pursue appropriate treatment and support for her both in and out of school.

If ****’s anxiety were to continue unaddressed, as is the case for many who cannot afford the uncovered portion of psychological testing, she could easily require medication which would then be covered through our prescription coverage. At that point, it seems, we would be addressing a medical condition. Knowing that the cause is primarily a processing issue, it would follow that that processing is then connected to a medical necessity, not an educational choice; and, that this medical necessity of medication may have been avoided by treatment before it became such a necessity. As proper treatment as early as possible is the ideal option as well as being the least obtrusive, we have chosen to take this route with our daughter. We are also aware that this choice could save us quite a bit of money as she grows older, money that may have had to have been spent on psychological therapies, medication and support from other medical and educational professionals. In turn, this saves our insurance company money as well.

Working as a teacher and administrator in a school for student with learning disabilities and through my work with the Learning Disabilities Association of America, I realize how many families face the same issues we are now facing with our daughter. I know that there are many parents who are not able to pursue appropriate support for their child or who are forced financially to rely solely on the school systems for diagnosis and treatment; school systems which are often under-staffed and limited in the resources necessary to provide comprehensive evaluative services and treatment. Unfortunately, many of these children then develop further psychological issues such as we are attempting to avoid or at least minimize with our daughter. My husband and I realize that the debate regarding preventative care and reactive care is not a new one in the field of health care. We can only hope that it will possibly be resolved at a point that will better benefit our daughter and other individuals with possible learning or processing disabilities.

Sincerely,

Verbs in Math???

2007-07-24T22:19:00.000-04:00

“Mathematical power is the ability to explore, to conjecture, to reason logically and to use a variety of mathematical methods effectively to solve problems. The ultimate goal of mathematics education is for all students to develop mathematical power to participate fully as a citizen and worker in our contemporary world.”
- from Michigan Curriculum Framework Vision Statement for Math

I love this statement! I used it with our practicum students this summer, I use it when I give presentations or workshops and I use it with my students, particularly because it is usually so in contrast with how they define math. We look at defining math at the beginning of each school year. Last year, each of my middle school students interviewed at least five people about math and how they used it in their lives. We categorized and graphed the results. Not one matched the vision statement above. If I remember correctly, we had a lot of responses similar to "math is addition and subtraction" or "math is manipulating numbers". . . we also had a few "math is torture" and "math is a bunch of stuff you don't have to understand, but it will help you with your checkbook".

What was more amazing was that when asked, many people, particularly adults and/or high school upperclassmen, said they did not really use math in their daily lives. Right around this point is when we start looking at the vision statement above. "Mathematical power". Wow! Many of my students are very knowledgeable about video games (in fact, I almost banned conversation about getting a wee, until I was tutored in video-game-ology) so the concept of mathematical power grabbed their attention right away! Nowhere in the definition of math, at least from the State of Michigan, does it state that to be participate fully as a citizen do you need to memorize your times tables or be able to answer 50 problems in 3 minutes. You need to be able to "explore" - awesome! You need to be able to "conjecture" - ooooh, estimate and hypothesize, you mean math is like science....? You need to be able to "reason logically" - well, there are steps and formulas that can help with that. . . . You also need to be able to "use a variety of mathematical methods effectively to solve problems" - wow, good thing they teach you that stuff in school!

I'm not advocating that fluency with operations and procedures isn't necessary, because it certainly helps a person apply methods more effectively and can help keep memory skills sharpened. What I am saying is that nowhere, within this vision of mathematics, does it say that you have to be fast all the time, or that you should complete these actions automatically or without thinking about what you are doing. In fact, the verbs that are used in this vision are active verbs: explore, conjecture, reason, use effectively and solve.

I frequently read editorials or other articles about how US students are performing poorly in math and have seen statements such as "how can schools improve math instruction". Though it may be over-simplifying what is a very complex issue, my response would be: add a verb not a worksheet or timer.

The Balance Challenge

2007-06-02T22:24:00.001-04:00

As the school year is winding down I find myself wondering not only where it has gone, but how I could do it better. My husband is looking forward to summer because his view is that I ALWAYS have schoolwork to do at night and now that should get better; but then I have to wonder . . . . will it?

I just don't know. I know that having multi-age, hands-on classrooms is a lot of work and that I find it mentally challenging and very rewarding - but the balance is tough. The balance of my classes, communicating with parents, communicating with colleagues, paperwork (IEP's, etc..), trying to support a positive community of practice at school, working with LDA; as well as, taking care of our household, my kids (and looking into what learning supports our older daughter might need as she gets ready to venture into 1st grade), communicating with family, coordinating birthday parties and holiday parties and completing my practicum to finally get the LD endorsement for my certificate. WHEW - we made it and while it was worth it, I just keep wondering, what could have made it better?

How do other working moms do it, especially teacher-moms? Our job is not a finish-your-work-at-work kind of job. I know how much time many parents spend helping their kids with their homework, and how much time I spend with students' work, not to mention planning for their next batch of work. How can we set things up at our house to prepare for the time we will now have to add in for our children's homework, sports/play, etc..? I know I have some ideas and I'm sure it will work out, but I am wondering if anyone has any words of wisdom for this next section of our lives...... :)

Students as Teachers

2007-05-24T17:33:00.000-04:00

My students never cease to amaze me and I feel truly feel blessed that I have the opportunity to show them that often! Positive feedback can be important for anyone and the more authentic the better. What is more authentic than teaching your teacher something that she couldn't do on her own?!?!? One of my seventh graders showed me today how to properly embed a YouTube video on our class wikispace and I was amazed at how easy it was - and how proud he was.

This seventh grader is quite tech savvy (the same student who gave me my "Blinky") and this gave him an opportunity to use his knowledge appropriately while receiving authentic feedback. He was also assisting his class in preparing for a neat activity since the video was for making chainmail which we will be doing next week as we study guilds.

He then shared with me the new videos he's embedded on his home page of our wiki and I was again struck by how giving a student their own space can really support their growth and self-esteem. He has posted categories of videos on his home page twice since we've started our wiki this semester, he taught the other students how to create their avatars and he selected one for me:

How cool is that! Out of all the images he searched, he chose one of Einstein for me (I do have a poster of Einstein in my classroom, especially since he is thought to have had a learning disability). While it might have because of our similar hairstyles, it ranks right up there in my favorite teaching moments!

I learn from my students every day and THAT is when I usually feel like a good teacher . . . in fact, it's because I can learn from my students that I believe I am a good teacher!

I Love My Job

2007-05-13T20:49:00.000-04:00

Okay, if you're sick of hearing how much I love where I work, then you probably want to skip this entry :). I have fibromyalgia and I've been fortunate that it hasn't interfered too much with me working, etc.. This week however was not fun! I was sick on Tuesday and as I forget, my naturally taut muscles became even tighter after a day in bed aching. Sooo, Friday morning when I was toweling and yawning, something got tight enough to pull, which left me with a neck that I couldn't really move much. Truthfully, I thought, ahh, it will go away . . . but just in case, I called my E.D. and told her I didn't think I'd make it the whole day. She immediately told me that she'd call a sub if I thought I needed one and I was off to finish getting ready. Over the next 30 minutes, I was glad that I had called her since by the time I got to school I was ready to throw up from the strain/pain.

So, why does this mean I love where I work? Well, the sub wasn't able to come in, but by the time I got there, my fellow staff members had rallied the wagons and had figured out a plan for them to cover my classes and not lose too much of their prep time. It was awesome! It was also one of those days when I couldn't just leave plans, because I had things I really needed to prep my students for, etc.. however mama Grace wasn't hearing any of it :). I was getting my class started and she came in asking me what I was doing. I gave them some instructions, she told me great, she could take care of that and kicked me out of my classroom (even though my ED had offered to take my 1st hour if needed)!! These are all people who work hard, have TONS of work to do and were willing to take on some of mine so I could nurse my muscles. How many people can say that they can truly rely on the people they work with? I hope you are one who can say you really enjoy going to work everyday; I know I do!

Helping Kids Learn to Be Thinkers and Learners......

2007-05-09T22:51:00.000-04:00

Two thoughts, okay at least two thoughts today following my wandering around the web (never seem to be able to get off my PC in just 10 minutes anymore!). I stumbled across some thought provoking and interesting posts by two people I don't know, Will and Dave; one was actually in response to the other guy's postings. So, before I start saying that guy too much, here's what they were:
1st one: "Will's post"
2nd one: "David's post"
Of course, I found them interesting because I tended to agree with them on a lot of things and have added them to my favorites now. But, they reminded me of what I was going to blog about Monday, which was learning and thinking. Teaching kids to be active leaners and thinkers. I frequently try to remind the teachers (the other 4 in my school) to remember to celebrate what we do do and that teaching life-long thinking is more valuable than whether or not Jimmy is listening to you today or making the right decisions, if he is learning how to, that is more important. Doesn't really make our day easier, but it could make his life easier somewhere down the road!

And, on a smaller note (more tangible I suppose), some of the other things are teaching our students problem solving. Remembering that math is more than calcuation and drills, even when you are working with remediation or reteaching. How is tons more of what is tough going to make things better in the long run, especially in this day of calculators and computers, I mean come on. You can learn to think mathematically and strategically without being subjected to the prison of constant drills. Also, I think I've mentioned it before, but my class started a wikispace this year and I'm easing my fellow teachers into it, slowly but surely. This is not because they are opposed or anti-technology. It's usually because they are already very busy with the amazing amount of work we already put into our jobs and/or they are still buffering the uses and how it works...it can be overwhelming.

So, in line with those two thoughts, I had found two great articles from Edutopia to share. Now, I have to admit, when I first signed on to receive this e-newsletter I was a little skeptical. It seems that Hollywood entering the world of education is becoming a very "in" thing to do and, truthfully, there are a lot of "non-education" folk already messing with education; but I wanted to check it out. I have found it to be great and very applicable to even my setting. I am inspired by many things I read in their newsletters, and while some are more ideal than practical I think they are good challenges for all educators. Once our thoughts become static, we are no longer learning and to be a good teacher - okay, an awesome and inspiring one - we still need to remember how to learn!

Okay, back to the point. The first was exciting, and honestly, a pat on the back for me. I am not only letting my students "play" with technology and "play" on the internet, I am truly teaching them skills for life-long learning: Wiki Don't Lose That Number by Chris O'Neal. Thanks to Chris and to Edutopia for the continued encouragement, inspiration and validation! Also, just an aside, it was in response to some other Edutopia article that I'll have to go find one of these days that I started my wiki and blog spree....

Second point for today (finally, whew!): math is more than calculation! Math is problem solving, math is talking about problems and solving puzzles, it is critical thinking and discovering relationships... and I'm not the only one who thinks so and is improving students' learning by being committed to this notion: Math is Magic. Go Fullerton IV Elementary School!!!

I realize that this was a lot of chat for two points and I'm sure I exceeded my predicted amount of two . . . and ....... I'm sure I can say that it will probably happen again.... night all!

Found a Cool Cat Using Wiki, etc.. with Students

2007-05-05T23:35:00.000-04:00

One thing I have complained about for years is that I can never find anything that I want on the internet. All of a sudden, I'm finding all kinds of things! Sometimes, I'm not sure I could find them again, but it's been quite an adventure - and most of it started looking for ways to work better with my students! Well, today's journey took me to http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/01/how-wikis-podcasts-and-laptops-help.html
which is a great posting about using wikispaces, laptos and podcasts with students with learning disabilities.

"I am passionate about helping kids with learning disabilities. (I'm not sure the PC word but that's the one I'll use.) Any teacher can teach a smart kid -- a "smart kid" with regular learning abilities can learn from an inanimate object -- a book. They can teach themselves on the Internet. Teach them and you are knowledgeable about your subject. But it is the child who has challenges -- you are true teacher when you accommodate and reach that child."

I felt like I could've been reading my own journal or something; in fact, I think I used some similar statements in an educational philosophy paper somewhere along my journey.

I love her suggestions for using the wiki - I think I'll share them with my class on Monday and see what they think :) - check it out:

Look. Say. Do.
Many of the students with LD have been told to use the Look - Say - Do method of learning.Look. Say. Do. Using WikisWikis fit this beautifully and I've found my ADHD kids are some of the best at it.
Look -- The students are looking in their textbook and on the Internet for information related to their topic. They are reading it.
Say -- Meanwhile, they are discussing the topic often in a very animated fashion with their partner to make sure they aren't posting the same thing and to discuss where it fits.
Do -- Then, they are summarizing the new information they have found and putting into their wiki.
Look - They reread the wiki to ask themselves where the "holes" in their information lie.
Say - They talk about it with their partner.
Do - They search for more information and add it to the wiki and it continues.
Perfect!

Great advice! This is a strategy that is do-able, easy to remember and "fair". She (Vikie Davis, a great teacher from Georgia) has some other comments about "fair" that are great, and no matter when I read or hear fair, I am reminded of Rick Lavoie: "Fair does not mean equal; fair means everyone getting what he/she needs". Haven't seen F.A.T. City? Check it out!

Schools SHOULD be Comfortable

2007-05-02T20:37:00.000-04:00

I received my recent edition of Edutopia in my inbox today and, again, I remember why I love my job (I may stop saying that every post, but you know, if [insert your "it" of choice] it fits.....) - because our school IS comfortable. The article lead was Shouldn't Classrooms Be Comfortable and the article was "A Comfortable Truth: Kids Don't Need to Squirm to Learn". Sometimes kids need to move to learn, but making them squirm is NOT conducive to learning - AMEN to Edutopia!

"Nothing about the industrial-school model required comfort as a precondition for success. In fact, school comfort, through the introduction of seemingly superfluous elements, was often seen to militate against the high ideal of efficiency. Even though no research or evidence supports this idea, a myth persists to this day that an uncomfortable school is probably good because it creates self-disciplined kids, not pampered softies." Thank you Prakash Nair and Randall Fielding whoever you are! I remember being uncomfortable in school, I remember daydreaming in school, I remember laughing and I remember some learning...hmm...seems like the order of that should be a little different...

Nair and Fielding list 8 truths about comfort and learning or comfort and schools:

#1:Comfort Matters
I agree, in fact, I can't imagine if I wasn't comfortable in my space for the whole day! Who likes to be uncomfortable? I hate going to trainings or conferences when I'm not comfortable - who care if I'm supposed to learn something or I've paid to be there - those "priorities" are not exactly what the learning portion of my brains are taking in at the time; in fact, there's probably not much info even getting that far into my brain. That's when I pray I am taking good notes, the handouts are awesome or I can find it on the web....

#2 Some Pain, No Gain
Except for the chiropractor, psychiatrist or other health professionals that will be healing the pain there is no evident gain for anyone else. I suppose if you plan to work on a bench or in a cubicle on a hard chair as your career it might be good training - oh wait, I suppose the gain then is called disability right? Oh, no, even cubicles usually have some kind of padded chair, some even ergonomically correct, saves on health care costs, etc... hmm..... seems like I heard something on the news about concerns about cutting health care costs. That would be an interesting research project - is the long term health of kids from comfortable schools better than that of kids in "regular" schools? Don't know how you'd measure that exactly, but that's not really my point anyway :).

#3 The Breathing and Learning Connection
Okay, I know a few people in HVAC fields, in fact my dad does industrial systems and I can't tell you how often I've heard about how inefficient the air systems are in school buildings. I also wonder about the fact that within the last 5 years or so, there's been more and more discussion about the increase in learning disabilities. There is also a high incidence of asthma, allergies, and other immune or air related difficulties in students with learning problems. How much of this may be influenced by the air quality, particularly in the younger grades? We won't even think about overall air quality once you leave the school building . . . in homes. . . etc...

#4 Louder is Not Better
It does amaze me how many sounds there are in a school, even one as small as ours. We don't have bells, PA systems or hundreds of kids switching classes, but we still notice the noise of the computer, or the lights, or the big truck that drove by, the HVAC guy on the ceiling, etc..... and since most of my students are active or are moving, we tend to create quite a bit of noise. But, another teacher I was speaking with a few weeks ago was saying that they can have up to an announcement every 3-4 minutes during his class and then bells might ring for staggered lunch periods, etc.. In my class, I joke because noise can often mean learning - but it certainly is the right kind of noise! Is it really TV or video games effecting kids' attention spans and auditory processing?....

#5 Cozy and Cheeful Wins Hearts and Minds
Nair and Fielding dedicate this truth to the "architects who design schools". It is funny when some buildings can be classified as a mini-Taj Mahal, but run out of classroom space quickly. I understand why in this day and age creating nooks and crannies for comfort may create spaces that are difficult to supervise, and kids, especially teenagers, are already good at finding small spaces; but what about feeling like school is less like an institution and more of a community of learning? This one has no easy answer for sure, but it seems like there may be some out there...

#6 Cafes Are Not Just for Grown-Ups
"A school café (the antithesis of the typical school cafeteria) nourishes not only the body but also the spirit. Whereas a cafeteria is just a place to get food into kids and move them on, a café is a place where students might actually choose to be. Ideally, it would be much smaller than a big dining hall, accommodating no more than a hundred students at a time. There might be allday access to a variety of healthy and nutritious refreshments and beverages, and comfortable chairs and small tables could accommodate groups of four or bistro-type seating for individuals or two students at a time.
The area could also feature student artwork, plus newspapers and other casual reading materials, as well as good views to greenery and vistas where possible. Look into almost any popular city café; working people use such places as ad hoc study halls, and so can students. As with other comfort concepts in this article, such an environment may seem unlikely in the workaday world of public education, but if we can't imagine the ideal, we'll never evolve the real". I loved how they said it so much, there wasn't much to add. :)

#7 Comfort is Important Outside, Too
Okay, I'll be realistic. I would love to have a terrace and places for social gatherings, etc.. but how do you maintain such spaces? It can be a struggle to get them to clean up after themselves at lunch :). No, I'm not all of a sudden changing my tune, but sometimes even coming close to the ideal is just way too much thought of work. On the same note, we just spent an afternoon moving perennials and flower beds to beautify the outside of the building - actually we will be under construction to not only beautify, but fix the outside of our building. So I am with the "outside is important'; but I'm not up for tons more space to be monitoring pick up. Any other ideas?

# 8 (drumroll....) Emotions Count in Comfort

"One of the most uncomfortable things about schools is the degree to which students feel anonymous in them." Okay, this is showing to be more true than ever within the past few years. This is not more important because the news is showing more and more incidences of those who are through being anonymous, but because it's part of being human. Connecting with other people is vital to a person's well-being. Some choose to connect in ways that others might consider odd, but that connection is still necessary. How can we foster this in schools? It goes beyond character education and beyond teaching social skills I think; how as teachers, aides, leaders, etc...., particularly when we are feeling overwhelmed by standards and all the other aspects to our job remind ourselves that we are the most important role models? If we act as if each student is important through our actions, words and decisions then they are more likely to feel that way. When we teach these concepts, but still feed into the stereotypes of specific students - the "bad" kid, the "slacker", the "nobody", the "cut-up", etc... through our actions, words and decisions, again, they are more likely to feel that way. This is not all on teacher though. Society portrays many things as "important" and kids interpret this in many ways. How can we help them interpret them in healthy ways; and, if I return to the education arena, how do we do this in this world of "high standards" and No Child Left Behind. How are you emotionally comfortable at school when No Child is Being Left Behind, but you?

Okay, I'll stop now, but I know that at our school there are less than 50 students in grades 3-12 and I know them all. Some better than others, especially since I really only teach middle school this year, but I know them all BY NAME. They all know that someone misses them when they are not in school; they know that someone will notice if they start struggling or stop turning in work; someone will notice if they cut their hair - or read that challenging word, or write an awesome essay, or draw their first recognizable drawing (okay, so that's me and I'm still waiting for that to happen); but they know someone, usually more than one someone, will know! They may not always like this attention, but I'm good with that. I'd rather they had it and were irritated that they couldn't "get away with anything" than feel noone cares. That is one of the most horrible feelings in the world - and it has no place in a school. True learning is learning from everyone around you, and you can't do that if everyone is not there..

I asked some of my family and friends to check out my blog to see if it made sense, etc.. and my aunt told me she was proud of me - okay, I may be thirty-something, but that still sounds awesome to me! She also told me that one thing she has learned about special needs kids, her term not mine :), was that she has found that she learns more from them than she does from "regular" kids. How true, and you know what, that's why I love my job!

Feeling Nostalgic (Translation: Feeling Old-er)

2007-04-30T21:57:00.000-04:00

Okay, I realize that Ed Grimley does not have anything to do with learning disabilities, but I was feeling nostalgic and he makes me laugh, so I added some random links to my side panel (I'm sure it has a more technical name than that, but I don't know what it is).

Actually, laughing is what made me miss poor Ed. I have a few students right now that are just hilarious and I usually share their taste in humor and movies, etc... It's been great to know that I have been able to tie most of my math, history and some English work into Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and/or Monty Python. So, when the one pulled his pants up above his belly button the other day and started walking around saying he was cool (as a joke I should add), I started cracking up because it totally reminded me of Ed Grimley. And, of course, when I mentioned that, they had absolutely no idea who I was talking about... I forget just how young these middle school kids really are!

Our school is quite small; we have a staff of 8 and when I asked the other staff I was realizing my age when only one other person recognized who I was talking about and that was only after she confused it with Walter Grimley, the Quaker Oats guy!

So, in recognition that I am "old" I am revisiting Ed Grimley and laughing it up - and now, as a teacher of students with learning disabilities and some of the "quirky' behaviors that includes I have to admit that I find Ed even funnier than I used to :). Enjoy!

The Number Devil

2007-04-29T21:08:00.000-04:00

Right now, my math class is studying some number theory using The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. What fun! We’ve talked about exponents and place value while reading about “hopping” and discussed the importance of the number 1 and 0 without any moaning and groaning about doing math! Someof it has been a bit challenging as I try to take it out of the book and have them apply - but I think that’s more my learning curve than there’s sometimes. Tomorrow we’ll look at “Prima Donna” numbers which will review the prime number work we did before break, so I’m curious to see if the connections are made. It has been great fun though watching the connections that have been made, especially since my students are all different ages (5th-8th) and very different levels and needs. Some are self-proclaimed math-haters, but are growing into confident problem solvers - but that’s another discussion….

2007-04-29T21:04:00.000-04:00

The Buzz about Learning Disabilities

Why learning disabilities?
From the Learning Disabilities Association of America:
“A learning disability is a neurological disorder that affects one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using spoken or written language. The disability may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or to do mathematical calculations (for more visit http://www.ldanatl.org/).

Common learning disabilities include dyslexia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia, and some people include ADD/ADHD in the bunch. Diagnosis and educational planning often focus on the weaknesses of people involved and don’t necessarily highlight their strengths. It is common for an individual with learning disabilities to feel for a long time like he or she doesn’t have any strengths. I don’t believe this is true. Many people with these types of learning struggles have many gifts, just not always those valued and/or highlighted in traditional education. I got involved, and have stayed involved, with students with learning disabilities because I love working them. Each student I have and have ever worked with has his or her own unique way at looking at the world and I believe they should be acknowledged for those gifts. They can all learn and should never be made to feel that they can’t - in fact, many of them make the world a much more interesting place!

Other Resources:
LD Basics from LDOnline

Cool Things Going on in the World
Paul Sanchez, an adult in California, is trying to raise awareness (and $$) for kids with learning disabilities. I met Paul at the LDA of America (Learning Disabilities Association of America) conference in Reno a few years ago before his trip. Our state chapter (MI) has been communicating with him since his journey and I am excited to have a place where I can share with more people (or at least feel like I’m communicating with more people :)). Paul videotaped his journey and posted it on YouTube to raise money for kids with dylexia and other learning disabilities. His website is www.8wishes.com. Thanks Paul for all you do!!!!

Learning to Blog

2007-04-29T20:52:00.000-04:00

I'm new to blogging and trying this out. I orginally created a Barto's World at Edublogs and am figuring out how to best use blogs for me and for my students. I am not very "blog savvy" and found that I really struggled some with the first one, so we'll see how this one goes. So far, this one has been easy to use and not quite as slow as when I tried posting and creating on the other. Anyone else have any recommendations for easy to use blogs, that are still somewhat "protected"?

Scaffolding and Making Meaning in Education

2007-04-29T20:51:00.000-04:00

I completed a practicum this semester to finally earn the state endorsement on my certificate for learning disabilities and one of the hottest topics out there is scaffolding - providing those supports students need to access curriculum/expectations and/or acquire certain skills. This week I needed to write about scaffolding and had some thoughts:

One of the biggest challenges in providing appropriate scaffolds in a classroom of diverse learner is when they all need different scaffolds. What is a scaffold for one might be a hindrance for another… this is one of the concepts that I am most asked about when discussions revolve around student-centered instruction, accommodations, remediation, IEPs and or behavior management. It’s also a common theme among discussions I have with students.

Many students with learning disabilities have some difficulty thinking outside of themselves. By this I mean that most students I have worked with may know that all students learn differently - especially if they are at LMA because they must have learned differently for their parents to look for something different – and often they can explain why people learn differently, but many of these same students are the first to notice when students are treated differently. They look for order and often order means the same. . . . especially if someone else is getting something “good”.

I find that scaffolding for this understanding of how to be different and when and why that is okay is one of the hardest concepts to scaffold, for both students and adults. What is fair? Rick Lavoie says that “fair does not mean equal”. This is true; so how do we balance using a scaffold so our students can perform or learn along a continuum that will compare them against others at some point and scaffolding understanding of individual differences? I do believe that giving notes from a lecture to a student with auditory processing issues or output (writing) issues is important and an appropriate scaffold, but then how do they learn the skill of taking in information independently? How do they learn what to do with those notes? Scaffolds only assist students in making meaning when they are able to use them; when the result is something the student can use – not just a band-aid. Yes, giving a student notes can be like a band-aid. The teacher has provided supports. The teacher has followed the IEP. The IEP included good supports. The student is using an accommodation that is appropriate to his/her needs and may be making his/her best effort to do so; and still this child can look lazy, unappreciative and may not achieve the intended goal.

I do not think this is the case all the time, but with curricula getting more and more packed with content objectives – again I seem to cycle back to the MMC and state guidelines – when is there time in a school day to scaffold a student into being able to independently use an appropriate scaffold so that he can in turn grow to a point where he does not need that scaffold to be independent anymore (whew!)? Guidelines and standards are important to measure that education is providing appropriate skills and content knowledge to support the development and support of growing societies, but how is a society that was established on the principles of personal freedoms and rights of individuals so dependent on an education system that seems to forget the individual? How do we make meaning of that?….. Who scaffolds the system?

One of my Best "Teaching Moment" Stories

2007-04-29T20:50:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was one of my best teaching story moments. Monday, our students were getting ready to take a walk for PE and appparently were looking for flashlights. One of my students came in to my room looking for a flashlight or a “blinky thing”, which of course I don’t have. He was joking with me about how could I be a good teacher without a blinky thing and what kind of teacher was I, etc.. I truthfully was laughing, working and somewhat ignoring him at the same time. The next morning, he came in to class a little tardy and as he quietly handed me his tardy pass, he handed me a small, green oval plastic toy-like thing. He told me very quietly (with this little glint in his eye) that now I was a teacher, I have my own blinky thing! We shared a laugh and I have to admit that that was one of my favorite teaching moments. He doesn’t always remember to bring in his homework and might lose a paper within the classroom now and then, he can be impulsive and I tend to push him quite a bit in the classroom, but I know that as a teacher, I have connected with that person! A conversation that I didn’t think much about, has become one of my favorite moments in my 10 years of teaching!

What to do?

2007-04-29T20:48:00.000-04:00

I face a challenge with my blog I think. I work at a school for students with learning differences (dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, ADD/ADHD and combinations of these). We have created a wikispace which for me serves a few purposes: opens communication between home and school, supports those with organizational issues, supports some of the written expression/reading needs and provides students and (ultimately) our school community some space to be connected.
My dilemma is walking the line of confidentiality and privacy. I love highlighting the awesome things my students do and are capable of and find that it is important to do so. Their self-identity is often built on negative experiences or focused on their challenges. So my dilemma is that I am excited about the concepts of edublogs, being able to express the awesome things (and challenges) that are happening with my students, etc... but I have to be careful about protecting their privacy. With only 23 students in our school, it is often clear even without names who is who.....so how do I best balance the obviously supportive environment the electronic world has to offer with showcasing their talents and giving credit for their hard work with protecting their privacy within their special education labels?