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Showing posts with label college entrance tests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label college entrance tests. Show all posts

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

COLLEGES WITH GOOD LD PROGRAMS. A 2010 article from the Huffington Post, newly discovered on our computer, profiles 11 universities that go out of their way to support students with LDs. Find the profiles.
THE CAUSES OF AUTISM aren't simple, says an article by a pediatrician who covers the relative roles of genetics and environment. Find out more about inquiries involving twin studies and find out what kind of environmental influences might play a part.
GOT AN IEP? Or, rather, a kid with an IEP? Wrightslaw, in its most recent edition of Special Ed Advocate, covers the importance of writing follow-up letters after IEP meetings. Why? Because a well-written letter can be of great use in a due process hearing, should your situation ever devolve into such a thing. Find Special Ed Advocate.
THE BRAIN SCIENCE OF ATTENTION is part of the lengthy title of a book to be released this month: Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn. The author, an academic, is dyslexic. Her premise: kids are wired differently. (You knew that.) A quote  from the book: "If you are a successful entrepreneur in the United States, you are three times more likely to be than the general public to have been diagnosed with a learning or attention deficit disorder." Find out more at a Huffington Post blog.
FILE UNDER "C" FOR "CYNICAL." Or maybe "P" for "practical." Kids are now planning experiences that will give them fodder for a "standout" college application essay. From an article on this: “Students are planning their summer experiences to augment who they are and discover who they are, and that absolutely helps the college process.” Read the article to find out what kinds of experiences kids are cultivating.
AND FINALLY, THIS. The words "back to school" figured prominently in many of the press releases and articles we read as we prepared this posting, but the best back-to-school story was in an article in the Chicago Tribune about dropping off kids on the college campus. A college counselor related an incident where, as the parents were driving off, the father "rolled down the window of his car and shouted out to his son, 'By the way, you have a learning disability and Asperger's syndrome.'" Cool move, dad, to wait until such a moment to bring up those issues. Read more about how to act (and not act) during the big moment.

EFFECTIVE CHILD-REARING. An article in Scientific American Mind provides an analysis of effective child-rearing practices. Researchers distilled 10 skill sets from the "literature," then surveyed 2000 parents to determine which skills are most important  in "bringing up healthy, happy, and successful kids," according to the article. Number one: giving love and affection. Numbers two and three: managing stress and having a good relationship with the other parent. Low on the list: the use of behavioral management techniques, a finding that makes us personally happy because we never did as much of that as we thought we should. You can read some of the article at the SciAm Mind site.
MORE ON PARENTING. Science Daily points us to research showing that parents' efforts in educating their children is more important than efforts by the school or by the children themselves. The study also found that the socio-economic status of parents has an effect on the effort a school puts out. Read more.
ACCOMMODATIONS FOR ACT, SAT. If your gifted/LD child needs accommodations for college entrance exams such as the SAT or the ACT, check out an article in The New York Times, called "Accommodations Angst." The article provides statistics on the percentage of accommodation requests approved by the College Board and ACT. You'll also find background on the law and disability rights, plus some tips on how to gain the accommodations your child might need and deserve. Find the article.
VIDEO RESOURCE. The UC-Davis MIND Institute offers free online videos on a variety of topics of interest to those who raise, educate, and counsel twice-exceptional children. Topics include AD/HD, advocacy, ASD, assistive technology, learning disorders, treatment/therapy/intervention, and more. For example, under the topic "learning disorders," a visitor can choose from videos with titles such as:
  • Functional Brain Imaging Studies of Reading and Reading Disabilities
  • The Linguistic Basis of Reading Disabilities
  • Assessing Communication Skills of Young Children with Multiple Disabilities/Sensory Impairments: An Interdisciplinary Approach
The videos are presented by a variety of professionals; most are at least an hour long. Find the videos. 
NEW YORK SPD WORKSHOP.  Parents of children with a sensory processing disorder (SPD) and clinicians treating children with a SPD can learn about the latest research and treatment techniques at a full-day workshop to be held at Columbia University's Faculty House in Manhattan on December 3. The workshop will teach parents and clinicians how to create a tailored sensory experience for children, movement skills in the school and home environment and offer tips on seeking funding for the child's treatment. The workshop will also be available in Philadelphia. More information.
FAST FOOD AND YOUR CHILD. USA Today reported on research done by Yale University on nutrition and fast food. [That might be an oxymoron.] Research covered 3000 kids' meal combinations served up by eight chains. The findings: only a dozen or so of those meals are healthful. Read the USA Today article. Or, find out a lot more about the topic at the Fast Food Marketing site.