Articles Related to Learning Disabilities
  

What Parents need to know about Juvenile Delinquency and the Michigan Juvenile Justice System
According to State statistics (2003), Michigan is responsible for 2,706 youth residing in juvenile detention and correctional facilities across the state. Many of these detained youth are children of color.  [Added 3-17-08]

Adult ADHD: Convincing Symptoms and Rising Diagnosis
Does this sound like anyone you know: chronic job hopper, frequently involved in fender benders, constantly misplacing things, always working long hours or two jobs? These aren’t just consequences of living in the information age or a dual income generation. Behaviors associated to childhood Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often manifest themselves differently and in a more transparent form in adults. [Added 3-17-08]

Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation in Children

In this age of cell phones and multi-tasking, we are often in overdrive while suffering from sleep deprivation. As we try to fit more and more into our twenty-four hour days and are increasingly bombarded with media, what effect does this have on our children? How much quality sleep are our children getting and what are we modeling for them? [Added 12-19-07]

The Pain of Adolescence

I experienced the heartbreak today of attending the funeral for a 19 year-old child who was killed in a car accident where alcohol was involved. The pain etched on the faces of the parents, siblings, and young friends who milled through the funeral home was both striking and bone chilling. All three teenagers involved in the accident are basically “good kids” who were in the process of growing up, figuring out what life held for them, and maturing into, I’m sure, fine adults. At least one of them will never have the chance to do this and the lives of the other two families are forever altered. [Added 12-19-07]

A Journey into the 21st Century Via a Wikispace

A wikispace is a website that contains content that can be edited by any user. Through Wikispaces.com, classroom teachers are able to sign up for free private spaces which allow any user on the internet to view pages but only members of that particular space to edit or create pages. Last winter, my middle school students embarked on a wikispace journey that has now expanded to include our whole school community: students in grades 2-12, teachers, parents and alumni. [Added 12-19-07]

Are You Confused About the Use of Assisted Reading Software?

Where do you start when you want to learn more about using assisted reading software in the classroom? How do the “hot topics” of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Response to Intervention (RtI) relate to assisted reading software? Here’s a quick primer. [Added 9-22-07]

Brain Research Into Classroom Practice
Dr. David A. Sousa is an international educational consultant and author of How the Brain Learns, Second Edition (published by Corwin Press). He has conducted workshops in hundreds of school districts on brain research, brain based learning, instructional skills, supervision, and science education at the elementary secondary, and university levels. He has made presentations at national conventions of educational organizations and has served as a consultant to regional and local school districts across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. [Added 9-22-07]

Book Review: Self-Advocacy Skills for Students with Learning Disabilities Making it Happen in College and Beyond - A Resource for Students, Parents, and Guidance Counselors

This book is extremely easy to read, easy to follow, and full of practical tips. Not only would individuals with learning disabilities find it useful but many of the strategies would be helpful for all students, parents and guidance counselors. [Added 9-22-07]

Learning Disabilities and the Juvenile Justice System
Imagine what it must be like for a young person with learning disabilities to be apprehended and questioned by the police. [Added 03-09-07]
 

"Now is the time for US to ACT"!
An historic event occurred on September 12, 2006. On that occasion, the Michigan Board of Education took unprecedented action which must be recognized and capitalized upon. In the clearly articulated statement made on that date (a copy of which follows in this publication) the Board made it unequivocally clear that it is the POLICY of the State Board of Education that School Wide Positive Behavior Support (PBS) will be fully implemented on behalf of ALL students, in ALL school districts in the State of Michigan. [Added 3-09-07]
 

Public Health and Environmental Leaders Applaud Gov. Granholm’s Green Chemistry Executive Directive: Emerging Area Holds Great Promise for Clean Environment and Strong Economy
Michigan public health and environmental leaders applauded a precedent-setting initiative signed October 17, 2006 by Gov. Granholm that will make the state a national leader in the fast-growing field of green chemistry. The Executive Directive promotes safe technologies and innovations aimed at lowering health risks and preventing harmful chemical pollution at the source. [Added 1-17-07]

State Board Adopts Michigan Merit Exam Passing Scored for 2006-07 School Year

The State Board of Education adopted the passing score levels for the Spring 2007 Michigan Merit Examination (MME), the new statewide high school test that includes the ACT test for all high school students. [Added 11-22-06]

Are You the Professional We're Looking For?
The Professional Advisory Board of the Learning Disabilities Association of Michigan is comprised of individuals who have commitment to and hold positive expectations on behalf of ALL learners, especially those who experience any type learning disability. [Added 5-25-06]

What is ADHD? Is it a Type of LD?
Many Parents and educational professionals confuse ADHD and LD. Is ADHD a form of LD? No. Each is distinctive neurologically-based disorder. Each is recognized and diagnosed differently. Each is treated in a different way. [Added 5-25-06]

Governor Requires Power Plants to Reduce Toxic Mercury Pollution: A Victory for Public Health and the Environment
On April 17, 2006, Governor Granholm announced that she is requiring power plants to reduce toxic mercury pollution by 90%, a step that will clean up Michigan’s waterways and protect the health of Michigan families. [Added 5-25-06]

Ten Ways We Distort Our Thoughts [Added 5-25-06]

In Memory of Ann Corrigan Murray, 1941-2006
Ann Murray, a long time friend and advocate for youth and adults with learning disabilities passed away on April 10, 2006 following complications from leukemia originally diagnosed in 1999. Ann had been a tireless volunteer with the Learning Disabilities Association’s Washtenaw Chapter for many years and was active in the Michigan LDA until her illness forced her to withdraw. [Added 5-25-06]

When You Love To Read…But Your Child Doesn’t
It is Sunday evening. The dishes are done, the dog is walked, and the laundry is folded. It’s the ideal time to relax with the New York Times, and my husband and I sink into the couch and each grab for our favorite sections. At the same time, our 15-year-old son, Alex, reaches for the remote control. [Added 3-20-06]
 

Invisible Doesn’t Mean It Isn’t There
I have Multiple Sclerosis. Admitting it and saying it out loud still brings a churn to my stomach and shortness to my breath, even though I have lived with it for 9 years. For those that do not know, Multiple Sclerosis is “…an “autoimmune” disease, in which, for unknown reasons, the body’s immune system begins to attack normal body tissue. In the case of MS, the body attacks the cells that make myelin.” [Added 3-20-06]

Salvation Through Assistive Technology
Mine is a story too commonly experienced by parents and teachers around the world. I was diagnosed with a cognitive deficit disorder in the second grade, placed in special education and speech classes, scored 650 on my SAT, and had to work my way through developmental studies, before I was mainstreamed at the University of Georgia. You could say that I was doomed to failure from the start. However, I was one of the fortunate ones and beat the system. [Added 12-6-05]

Book Review:  “It’s So Much Work to Be Your Friend” by Richard Lavoie (2005)
The title itself might not have you thinking that this is a book about social skills.  However, the fine print goes on to say … “Helping the Child with Learning Disabilities Find Social Success”. [Added 12-6-05]

Education’s Most Damaging “Urban Legend”
An “urban legend” is a story or belief that has been told, retold and told yet again. Because the tale is repeated so often and so widely, it comes to be viewed as “fact”. However, these stories are generally exaggerated, expanded or even totally untrue. [Added 12-6-05]
 

LDA Reaches the College Level
Entering my senior year as a Learning Disabilities major at Aquinas College I began looking for opportunities to better prepare myself and fellow students for the classrooms we would soon be entering. I began to investigate what the college had to offer. While I was able to find student chapters of professional educational organizations, I was unable to locate anything focused on helping the future LD teacher. With this realization, I looked towards LDA. [Added 12-6-05]

Smoking and Children’s Health
It is shocking to learn that the Cotinine levers (a by-product of tobacco smoke) is twice as high in infants and children, age 3-11 years of age than it as in adults over 20 years of age. These data are from the Centers for Disease Control and just published this year. The implication for parents is that these children are being exposed to more tobacco smoke than are adults. [Added 12-6-05]

Mayo Clinic Researchers find Math Learning Disorder is Common
In a recently published study, Mayo Clinic researchers determined Math Learning Disorder is common among school-age children. Results show that boys are more likely to have Math LD than girls. [Added 12-6-05]

Which Came First? Thinking or Feeling
What causes learning problems? This question is sometimes viewed as a chicken and egg debate. Recent research has begun to identify the areas of the brain that are involved with learning problems; however, children experiencing learning difficulties are still labeled as unmotivated, lacking effort or lazy. [Added 12-6-05]
 

Forum to Focus on Changing Michigan’s Culture of Education
Your Child, a coalition of education and family organizations that includes MEA as a significant contributing member, is sponsoring a series of public forums with The Detroit News to receive input on how schools, parents, businesses and communities can work together to change the culture of education in Michigan. The next forum is scheduled Thursday from 6-8 p.m. at the Oakland Schools Professional Development Center, 2111 Pontiac Lake Road, Waterford. [Added 11-14-05]

Looking for AT On-line (PDF)
Includes an extensive list of websites, downloads, e-books and more. [Added 11-6-05]

Rapid Determination of Assistive Technology Needs for Reading Disabilities in High School Seniors Seeking to Attend College (PDF)
In an ideal world students with reading disabilities would reach their senior year in high school with an integrated plan for accommodating their learning skill weaknesses in their current education, their future education, and lifespan employment situations. [Added 11-6-05]

Assistive Technology in Education (PDF)
Introduction to Assistive Technology systems, and includes evaluations of typical products. These evaluations are based on eight years of trials, experimentations, and field use with students ranging from elementary schools through graduate school. [Added 11-6-05]

Literacy Technology in the Elementary Classroom: A Quick Look at the Possibilities (PDF)
If you are teaching in an elementary classroom, you will be faced with students with literacy issues. If you are teaching in a middle school classroom, you will be faced with students with literacy issues. If you are teaching in a high school classroom, you will be faced with students with literacy issues. [Added 11-6-05]
 

IDEA Regulations Position Statement For LDA of Michigan (PDF)

Improving Your Child's Achievement By Building Stronger Home-School Connections
Excerpt: "Educators often lament the lack of parent involvement in children’s educational programs. Parents, particularly those of children with disabilities, often express frustration over the lack of options available to them for meaningful involvement. The discrepancy between these perceptions is a strong argument for developing meaningful ways to build stronger connections between home and school." [Added 9-01-05]

Top Ten Things I Wish Students With ADHD Knew About Their Medications
Excerpt: "Today, ADHD has been widely accepted to have a neurobiochemical basis, and stimulants remain the drugs of choice for the appropriate pharmacological treatment of this disorder. Research has indicated that a majority of individuals with the disorder continue to display symptoms which affect functioning into early adulthood." [Added 9-01-05]

Michigan’s IDEA Partnership

The purpose of Michigan’s IDEA Partnership is to help transform adult learning to support implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and improve student achievement. Adult learning includes learning among all adults who have the potential to influence a child’s development/education. [Added 9-01-05]

Summertime and Our Children Still LEARN!
Excerpt: "Many parents are concerned that their children are missing out on academics during the summer months. Children do not have to be in the classroom in order to learn. There are many lessons learned in the summer that can help to make the school year more effective." [Added 5-26-05]
 

Summer Reading Tips For Parents
Excerpt: "Summer shouldn't mean taking a break from learning, especially reading. Studies show that most students experience a loss of reading skills over the summer months, but children who continue to read actually gain skills. Efforts should be made during the summer to help children sustain reading skills, practice reading and read for enjoyment." [Added 5-26-05]

Tips for Grandparents
Excerpt: "When a child is born or diagnosed with disabilities, parents are not alone in their concerns. Grandparents are often anxious, too, not only for their grandchild, but for their child whose life is affected by the baby. Many grandparents and parents have been interviewed to ask how grandparents can best help their children and grandchildren. Here are some tips." [Added 5-26-05]

Who Do You Tell About Your Disability?
Excerpt: "It should be possible to talk about having a disability ... about your ADD or your Depression, or your Dyslexia .... you should be able to do so without encountering suspicions or disbelief. However, this is rarely the case." [Added 5-26-05]

LDA of Michigan's Nominee to be Honored at National Conference
Excerpt" “Ms. Shankland has been the largest influence in my educational career. She is a truly educated and motivated individual. She challenges me to work hard, do my best work, and succeed fully in everything that I do. She is the main reason that I am interested in pursuing and furthering a higher education…The only reason that I am interested in learning is because of Ms. Shankland’s support and encouragement." [Added 3-22-05]

Is Your Daughter a Daydreamer, Tomboy or "Chatty Kathy"?

Excerpt: Most parents today have heard a great deal about Attention Deficit Disorder. When they hear that term, it’s likely that a hyperactive little boy comes to mind. Boys with ADD, are easy to spot in the classroom, and are much more likely to be referred for an evaluation. Most questionnaires used to screen children for ADD emphasize items which describe these boys, items about hyperactivity, impulsivity and defiant behavior. Only those few girls who are like these boys with ADD are sent for assessment. The ratio of children referred to clinics for ADD evaluations continues to be about four or five boys for each girl. [Added 3-22-05]

Taking the GED Tests: Accommodating Accommodations
Excerpt: In recent years, the General Educational Development Testing Service (GEDTS) has worked diligently to develop ways to provide support for individuals with learning disabilities (LD) and/or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). GEDTS has been proactive in making sure that individuals, who have not graduated from high school and want to take the GED Tests, as well as those providers who support them, understand how to apply for accommodations. In support of these efforts, GEDTS has designed an easy process for requesting accommodations by any individual who has been diagnosed with LD and/or ADHD. [Added 2-15-05]

Ten Tips for Negotiating the Best Education for Your Child
Excerpt: Most parents whose children reach school age envision sending their children off to school in their new shoes and backpacks and waving as the bus pulls away. This role in their child's school experience would involve packing lunches, driving on field trips, bringing in cupcakes and helping with home work. But for many parents this dream quickly evaporates when they realize their child is struggling, not excelling, in school. [Added 12/02/04]

Top 10 Things You Can Do To "Practice Prevention"

Compiled by the Institute for Children’s Environmental Health and the Washington Toxic Coalition for the “Our Health, Our Environment: Making the Link” lecture series sponsored by the Seattle Biotech Legacy Foundation, Winter 2004. [Added 12/02/04]

Parenting Teens with ADHD Made Simple

Excerpt: Teens. One minute they love you. They want your input and guidance. Next minute, they’re super critical and act as if you’re an idiotic dork. They want you to be there, but only when they think they need you. They can’t figure out why you don’t know when to butt out! You can be so stupid, not to mention unfair and out to ruin their lives. [Added 12/02/04]

Dyscalculia: Learning Disabilities in Mathematics

Excerpt: What is dyscalculia? Dyscalculia is a term referring to a wide range of life-long learning disabilities involving math. There is no single form of math disability, and difficulties vary from person to person and affect people differently in school and throughout life. [Added 12/02/04]

Everyone's a Winner in Reno

Excerpt: Crisp high altitude air, sunny days in the midst of snowy winter, and the excitement of unique Nevada nightlife form the backdrop for this year’s, 42nd Annual International LDA Conference. Not everyone can be lucky at the roulette wheel in the casino, but “Everyone A Winner” is our theme, consonant with LDA’s message that “every person can succeed in school, in relationships, at work and in the community, given the right opportunities.” [Added 11-30-04]

Success in College for Adults with Learning Disabilities
Excerpt: Successful adult college students with learning disabilities, college advisors, and campus disability support services staff agree that developing knowledge about one's self -- the nature of one's learning disabilities as well as one's personal and academic strengths and weaknesses -- is vital for success in college. [Added 11-19-04]

Environmental Pollutants and their Influence on Brain Development: What We Know
Excerpt: There are many ways that something can go awry in the brain, which can impair our ability to learn, think, move, feel, perceive and/or behave appropriately. The brain starts developing early in embryonic life and continues developing into adolescence. The developing brain is extraordinarily sensitive to environmental agents' exposure levels that have no lasting effect on an adult¹s brain can have dramatic effects on the developing brain before birth or during childhood. [Added 11-19-04]

Children Don't Come with an Instructional Manual
Excerpt: With so many children in our schools experiencing learning and behavioral difficulties, Children Don’t Come with an Instructional Manual, by Wendy L. Moss, is a timely book for parents, health professionals, and especially teachers. [Added 11-19-04]

 
Mentoring Students With a Nonverbal Learning Disability

With summer at hand, whether or not to continue medication for students with ADHD is again with us. As with so many other decisions the answer is not the same for everyone; indeed, the devil is in the details. The details include the child’s temperament, strengths and weaknesses as well as the family’s summer plans.

Home (at yours and others!) for the Holidays
The holidays are a wonder-filled time of the year wherein friends and family exchange gifts and visits. Because children with learning differences often have difficulty making transitions, they are often anxious about visiting other's homes, and also may have difficulty playing the role of "host" to holiday visitors.