Education Learning Issues

TECHNOLOGY IN INSTRUCTION. In the July/August issue of 2e Newsletter, we featured the use of technology in educating twice-exceptional students. The New York Times, on July 22nd, reported on "The School of One," a summer school pilot program in a New York middle school in which students use laptops to work their way through a math program that consist of online quizzes, games, and worksheets. The students' progress on any given day determines the next day's curriculum. The superintendent of New York schools says that the program tailors lessons to student strengths, weaknesses, and interests. Read more.

NATURE VERSUS NURTURE -- A NEW PERSPECTIVE. Science Daily reports on a newly published research from the University of Iowa that calls for burying the "nature versus nurture" debate in favor of a systemic, multi-causal perspective. The research team rejects the idea of genetic expression as a one-way, deterministic mechanism. Instead (from the article): "The UI team believes genes are expressed at every point in development and are affected all along the way by a gamut of environmental factors -- everything from proteins and chemicals to the socioeconomic status of a family. These ideas are unified by a perspective called developmental systems theory." Find the article.

DISABILITY AWARENESS. Easter Seals has released Friends Who Care, a disability awareness curriculum to help presumably "normal" children understand what it's like to have a disability involving vision, hearing, AD/HD, autism, and others limiting factors. Find out more.

ASK AN ASPIE to anticipate another person's state of mind -- and the Aspie may be able to respond correctly to the prompt, even though many with the condition don't spontaneously "read" the mental state of others -- that's the message in a short piece in Scientific American. Read it.

POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS -- BAD FOR IQ. A study reported in Science Daily links environmental pollutants by that name (also called PAHs) to lower IQ test scores in children who are exposed to high levels of those pollutants prenatally. Exposure led to a difference of 4.31 points on full-scale IQ scores and 4.67 points on verbal IQ scores, as compared to less-exposed children. PAHs come from burning coal, oil, and other organic substances (including tobacco). Chalk it up as another one of those things that affect us beyond our control. Read the article.

ADVOCATING FOR THAT 2e CHILD. Wrightslaw, in its newsletter Special Ed Advocate, is offering a refresher course in effective advocacy. Find the first lesson -- along with a link to an advocacy resource directory -- in this week's edition.

LEARNING IS COMPUTATIONAL, SOCIAL. Science Daily reported on research converging to "create foundations for a new science of learning," according to the article. The research, from the University of Washington's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, notes that infants "learn the sounds and words of their language by picking up probabilistic information as they listen," that they are calculating statistically. But the researchers also emphasize the social aspect, noting that babies need other people to learn, not just a TV screen. That said, the article also covers the role of technology in learning. Read the Science Daily article. (To read more on the research, find the June 17th edition of the journal Science.)

MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Washington Post columnist Jay Matthews reviews the book Leading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery County Public Schools. While the book emphasizes process and can seem academic, implies Matthews, he urges those interested in education to take a look. To encourage such a look, Matthews offers some lessons titles from a key chapter, titles that might entice those with a stake in 2e education. One sample lesson title: "Implementing a strategy of common, rigorous standards with differentiated resources and instruction can create excellence and equity for all students." Does that sound like what a 2e kid needs? Readers of 2e Newsletter know that MCPS has a reputation for serving 2e kids well; this book about the schools and its leaders may offer reasons why that's so. Find Matthews' article.

MORE NEWS AND RESOURCES as the week goes on.

THIS WEEK FROM WRIGHTSLAW. If you have a twice-exceptional child and you need to advocate at school, you might be interested in this week's edition of Special Ed Advocate from Wrightslaw. The Wrightslaw site and their newsletters are heavy with advocacy advice, but if you're not familiar with them we recommend taking a look.

EVOLVING DEFINITION OF GIFTEDNESS -- that's the title of Education Week's Live Chat for November 19, 4 to 5 pm Eastern time. Can giftedness be nurtured, taught, or lost? The chat is text-based; a transcript is posted after the close of the chat. Tune in. You may also submit questions in advance.

DAVIDSON INSTITUTE eNEWS-UPDATE. The November issue is online, with articles about the 2008 Davidson Fellows, a potpourri of legislative and policy news from across the country, a profile of the 2008 NAGC Scholar of the Year, Dr. Donna Ford, and more.

WHAT ASPERGER'S IS LIKE. The Pocono Record covered a presentation by the Aspie author William Stillman, in which Stillman provided an exercise to try to let attendees feel what it would be like to have Asperger's. His device: asking the audience to play "Simon Says" while lights flickered on and off and static blasted at odd times. Read the article, his perceptions on having Asperger's, and his advice for dealing with those with autism.

TEACHING SOCIAL SKILLS TO NERDS is the topic of an article from the Orlando Sentinel. The author distinguishes between "S" (systematizing) brains and "E" (emphathizing) brains -- and guess which type has trouple with social skills. The article contends, however, that nerds (extreme S-brain individuals) can be socialized. Read it.

HEAVY WEEK FOR NEUROSCIENCE NEWS. This week is the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (attendance: over 31,000), and lots of news is sure to come out of it. If you're interested, you can read coverage of the meeting at a blog site from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Up so far: research that chewing gum can improve short-term memory; and findings on the neurological basis of love. We'll try to find and highlight news relevant to giftedness, LDs, parenting, child development, and education.

TS AND GIFTEDNESS. December 7th's Hallmark Hall of Fame program is titled "Front of the Class," and is based on the true story of a young man with Tourette Syndrome who became, according to CBS, "a gifted teacher." The program airs from 9 to 11 pm eastern time.

THE DISAPPEARING MALE is the title of a cheery article in the Windsor Star noting studies of the increasing rates of birth defects and disorders in boys, disorders such as TS, LDs, and autism. Chemicals in the environment are seen as the culprit. The topic is further explored in a CBC television show of the same name. Read the article.

GIFTED EDUCATION PRESS QUARTERLY. Maurice Fisher published his winter edition this week. It includes articles on educating the gifted and on using e-books with gifted readers. Find it online.

DUMP YOUR UNMANAGEABLE KID IN NEBRASKA? You're too late. The state legislature amended its "safe haven" law to apply only to infants 30 days old or less, not 18 years or less, according to the November 22nd New York Times. You'll have to figure out something else. Read it.

PROLIFIC INTERVIEWER MICHAEL SHAUGHNESSY of EdNews.org interviewed the co-editor of the new book Routledge International Companion to Gifted Education, which has chapters contributed by many prominent figures in the gifted arena. The purpose of the book: "To review, to synthesize, and to challenge current understandings and practices in gifted education around the world." Read the interview.

KIDS AND ANTI-PSYCHOTICS -- AGAIN. The column "Domestic Disturbances" in the November 20th New York Times revisited the practice of prescribing powerful antipsychotics such as Risperdal to not only kids with bipolar disorder but with AD/HD. The author, Judith Warner, points out that a spike in diagnosis of pediatric bipolar disorder "dovetails suspiciously well with the introduction of atypical antipsychotics in the early and mid-1990s." If you have a kid on meds because he or she is "chronically irritable, extremely aggressive, [or] prone to explosive outbursts and out-of-control rages," be sure to read this article. It deals with mis-categorization, misdiagnosis, and mis-prescription.

NEW TO SPECIAL ED SERVICES for your gifted/LD child? A six-page article by attorney Matt Cohen in the publication Nami Beginnings covers the rights of schools and parents in such areas as accommodations and remediation; evaluations; the provision of IEP services; proposed placements; FAPE; post-secondary supports; and suspensions. Read it here.

TOPIC: SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. RELEVANCE TO 2E: PROBABLY LOW. HUMOR CONTENT: HIGH. Sorry, we have to "pass" this along, odious as it might be. The website The Smoking Gun reported that a 12-year-old Florida boy was arrested this month -- arrested! -- for deliberately "breaking wind" to disrupt class. You can read the account and see a copy of the police report at Smoking Gun's site.

SUPERSTARS OF ADVOCACY. When people call us or email us with questions about IEPs, 504s, or advocating for their student, we send them right off to the Wrightslaw website, founded by Peter and Pam Wright. The Wrights also publish a weekly email newsletter, Special Ed Advocate, with content to help parents advocate for children, and the topics often seem relevant to educators as well. During this summer the newsletter has concentrated on "Summer School for Parents." For example, this week's edition is about measuring educational test scores and why parents must understand test scores; the newsletter comes complete with assignments and readings. Also included in this issue: tips on getting a private, comprehensive, independent evaluation to identify learning issues and a plan for addressing those issues. See the the July 29th edition of Special Ed Advocate or go here for the archives.

"I BELIEVE CHILDREN WHO DON'T LEARN TO READ ARE THE VICTIMS OF 'TEACHING DISABILITIES.'" That's what 76-year-old educator Don McCabe says in an interview with EdNews.org's columnist Michael Shaughnessy about reading problems in students. McCabe, who says he's dyslexic, AD/HD, and CAPD (which makes him, along with his presumed exceptional high abilities, 4e, right?), has written an autobiography called To Teach a Dyslexic. Read the interview. (You can also read the interview that Shaughnessy did with us, the publishers of 2e Newsletter, awhile back; find that interview here.)

LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT. Once, while kayaking in a pleasant, shallow stream in Michigan, I came upon my younger son, whom my wife and partner had just kicked out of her two-person kayak; he was wading back down the stream to Lake Michigan. The reason he had been kicked out, apparently, was that when she'd say "paddle left," he'd paddle right -- and vice versa. We still kid him about his occasional lapses in differentiating right from left and worry a little about what it might mean for him as he drives a car. This week, the Washington Post published a piece by a woman who starts off the article with "I can't tell left from right," and then goes on to summarize her experiences and what she's learned about research ("precious little") in the area. She reports no link between left/right confusion and handedness (lefty or righty), but reports that women are more likely to admit the confusion than men. The author even discovered a blog site with a conversation on the topic. Left-click here :-) to read her article.

HOW ARE KIDS DOING? Two reports released recently focus on America's children and teens. One, America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2008, is a federal government report of data on issues related to children and families. The Forum on Child and Family Statistics says this about the indicators they report on: "Indicators are chosen because they are easy to understand; are based on substantial research connecting them to child well-being; vary across important areas of children's lives; are measured regularly so that they can be updated and show trends over time; and represent large segments of the population, rather than one particular group. The indicators are organized into seven sections, each focusing on a domain relevant to children's lives: family and social environment; economic circumstances; health care; physical environment and safety; behavior; education; and health. Find the report. The second report, The State of Our Nation's Youth, "compiles the results of a national survey conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates on behalf of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. The poll was conducted via telephone to 1,006 teens between 13-19 years old residing in the U.S during April 2008," according to a press release. The report is to be released August 5th and will be available for download.

ON THE AD/HD FRONT. Two news items this week about AD/HD caught our attention. One, by an MD at Harvard Medical School, described how low levels of iron in a child's blood may cause symptoms that suggest AD/HD. Read it. The other, an article at MedPage Today, described the prevalences of AD/HD and learning disabilities over recent years; according to a government study, the prevalence of AD/HD has increased slightly since 1997 but the number of LD children without AD/HD has remained unchanged. The report also discusses the co-occurrence of LDs and AD/HD. (For the report, learning disability was defined "to include specific items related to listening, speaking, basic reading skills, reading comprehension, written expression, mathematical calculation and reasoning.") Find the article.

MORE THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT. Here's the lead sentence from a Reuters Health article: "Children whose mothers used cell phones frequently during pregnancy and who are themselves cell phone users are more likely to have behavior problems, new research shows." Read the article. And here's the lead sentence from a University of Michigan press release: "University of Michigan researchers are studying connections between air toxins and K-12 student performance in Michigan -- and possibly whether air quality should be a factor when deciding where to build public schools." Read it.