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Showing posts with label TBI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TBI. Show all posts

A HARVARD STUDENT diagnosed as a child with dyslexia, AD/HD, and an expressive language disorder has written a wry and insightful account of the challenges he faced growing up and the key (for him) to overcoming those challenges. "Unlike my classmates and teammates who may have spent much of their youth trying to stand out, I spent most of mine trying to fit in," writes the young man. Through sports he gained confidence, and he is now an aspiring Olympic diver. Find the article.
LD IN COLLEGE. Education Week published an article on the expansion of college options for those with LDs, describing a variety of students and their situations along with the programs they chose. Read more.
SAVE THE BRAIN. If you've got a gifted child who plays contact sports, or even soccer, you might be interested in an online library about sports concussions. There's an article about the site at The New York Times site, which not coincidentally just published a chilling, lengthy three-part series about the life and brain of the 28-year-old professional hockey player who recently died and was shown to have severe brain damage. Or, you may go directly to the Sports Concussion Library.
AUSTISM RESOURCE. A new webite, MyAutismTeam, according to Time Magazine, "is more than just a repository of recommendations about local therapists and accommodating Taekwondo studios and barbers; it's also a social-media destination. But unlike Facebook, it's intended as a place where parents of children whose developmental trajectory has taken a different turn from most of their peers can feel understood." Nothing more to say. Read about it in Time. Or, go to MyAutismTeam. 
ACCESSIBLE LEARNING MATERIALS. If the accessibility of learning materials is a concern for that twice-exceptional child  you raise or teach, you might be interested in a a report by the U.S. Department of Education on the topic. The report concerns post-secondary education. You may read about the report at  the CEC site.
LD ONLINE. The current edition of this newsletter focuses on tips for study skills: technology tips, resources for dyslexics, and more. Find the newsletter.
THE WEINFELD EDUCATION GROUP has announced the publication of its book Take Control of Dyslexia and Other Reading Difficulties by Prufrock Press. Find more information.
SENG has issued its December edition of the SENGVine newsletter. In it, Rosina Gallagher announces the end of her tenure on the SENG Board; Melissa Sornik offers an article on the twice-exceptional learner; and more. Find the newsletter.
THE GIFTED DEVELOPMENT CENTER'S December newsletter is also out. It features an article on "the visual-spatial identifier"; observations about visual-spacial abilities, including that "twice-exceptional children are usually visual-spatial learners"; and observations from the TAGT conference earlier this month. Read more.


From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

THE LEARNING STYLE DEBUNKERS are at it again. NPR's health blog "Shots" quotes psychologist Dan Willingham, whom you've read about before in this blog, in saying that teachers should not "tailor instruction to different kinds of learners." This seems counter-intuitive to many of us parents and educators, but the blog also mentions another psychologist who, in reviewing studies of learning styles, "found no scientific evidence backing up the idea." So the debate goes on... Read "Shots."
KNOW AN ASPIE KID? Read a great article about Noah Egler, 13, who  because of his intelligence and interests recently got a chance to participate in a med school seminar on prosthetic limbs, bonding with his 23-year-old lab partner in the process. In Noah's mind, "Asperger's is what makes him him," according to the article. Read it.
DYSLEXIA MYTHS. Read about them in blog at "Accredited Online Colleges," where all of the posts seem to involve a number. (10 Scary Red Bull Facts Every College Student Should Know. 25 Funniest Academic Raps on YouTube. And more.)  Myth 10: "Dyslexia is rare." The reality? It impacts up to 20 percent of us. Find the myths. 
YOU KNOW YOU'RE A BAD MOTHER WHEN you don't get you son a birthday card he really appreciates -- and you don't include money in it. At least, that's what an 18-year-old son of an attorney, divorced from the boy's mother, thought when he and his sister filed a lawsuit (through the father) against his mom for bad mothering. Two  years into the suit, a judge dismissed it. Read more and marvel.
ONLINE DEGREE FOR STUDENTS WITH AUTISM. Sage Colleges in Albany, New York, will in January initiate an all-online bachelor's program for students with autism or LDs. The school promises individualization and flexibility. Find out more.
LAUGHING AT CHAOS is the name of a blog by the mother of two, one apparently 2e. Last month she blogged about the family move from Colorado to Illinois: "For the record, you haven’t lived until you’ve driven across Nebraska in July with a flatulent dog. We’ve been playing a New!Awesome!Game! 'Where’s the feedlot or was that Rosie?'" This is obviously an astute and discriminating person, because yesterday she picked up on Monday's quote of the week on the 2e Newsletter Facebook page and riffed on that for awhile. Find the blog.
"DUH!" OF THE WEEK. The Canadian Paediatric Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics (not Paediatrics) are against boxing, saying that "Boxing is not an appropriate sport for children and teens." We agree; save young brains. Read more.

From the Week of August 23rd

SMART CHILD LEFT BEHIND is the title of an opinion piece in The New York Times this past Thursday. The piece disputes what it calls an optimistic notion that NCLB is raising test scores for top students as well as low-achieving students. It points out the disparity in the gains between the two groups, and provides three reasons why gifted students are not benefiting as much. Find the article.

KIDS LEARN ABOUT LEARNING DIFFERENCES -- their own. According to an Edutopia article, a charter school in San Francisco helps kids who learn differently. The school provides a Mel Levine-inspired environment and encourages students to learn about their personal learning styles. One former student relates how he went from getting straight D's in middle school to almost all A's in high school -- and into Cornell University. Read about the school.

IT'S FOOTBALL TIME AGAIN, and if your scholar/athlete is out on the field, make sure you know the symptoms of concussion, what concussion can do to higher mental processes, and the dangers of continuing to play after suffering a concussion. Two articles this week, one in The New York Times and one in Science Daily, attest to the dangers. Sorry to nag, but as they say: "A brain is a terrible thing to waste." Find the Times article. Find Science Daily's take on the topic.

RON DAVIS LECTURE. If you're a fan of dyslexia expert and author Ronald Davis, and if you live in the Chicago area, you're in luck. He has a two-hour lecture scheduled on the evening of October 14th in downtown Chicago. Find out more.

TAMARA FISHER'S most recent entry on her blog "Unwrapping the Gifted" is on RTI -- and she's concerned that the needs of the gifted aren't represented in the three-tiered RTI model. She explains her concerns... and then proposes changes in the RTI tiers to help address her concerns. She also provides links for those who want to learn more about RTI. Find her blog.

GIFTED WITH LD? OR JUST CAN'T SEE? An article in the Arizona Daily Star relates cases of children whose classroom achievement was greatly improved by addressing vision problems. According to the article, the American Optometric Association contends that as many as 60 percent of "problem learners" have undetected vision problems. The article also recounted how one bright but reluctant learner in a gifted ed class was not participating; after vision screening and treatment, both his confidence and his grades improved greatly. Read the article.

MORE NEWS as the week goes on...