Posted in Colleges, Education Issues and Ideas on Feb 1st, 2012 No Comments »
Recently someone and I had an exchange about the notion of extra time as an accommodation for standardized tests such as the SAT. He brought up some good questions. Here’s one of them and my reply: Him: “Let’s talk about SAT tests. The fact that a neurotypical student benefits from extra time seems to indicate [...]
Posted in Discussion Topics, Education Issues and Ideas, Learning Disabilities and Mental Health on Jan 30th, 2012 No Comments »
As expected, the recent piece in the NY Times Ritalin Gone Wrong, has led to mostly negative commentary from people who read the article as though the professor is attacking the biological case for ADHD and parents. He does claim that since the evidence does not support the long-term efficacy of Ritalin and stimulants for [...]
Posted in Discussion Topics, Education Issues and Ideas, Learning Disabilities and Mental Health, News on Jan 29th, 2012 No Comments »
In an opinion piece in the NY Times, Dr. Alan Sroufe, a psychologist and professor Ameritus from The University of Minnesota argues that we must reduce our reliance on medicating children with stimulants because there are no studies that indicate these medications have any long-term benefits. This is sure to create unrest and unease within [...]
Posted in Discussion Topics, Education Issues and Ideas on Jan 21st, 2012 No Comments »
A Specialists’ Debate on Autism Has Many Worried Observers A debate among medical professionals over how to define autism has spilled over into the public domain, stirring anger and fear among many parents and advocates of those with the neurological disorder, even as some argue that the diagnosis has been too loosely applied. Personally, I’m [...]
Posted in Books and Videos, Computers and Software, Education Issues and Ideas, Learning Materials, News, Technology Issues and Ideas on Jan 19th, 2012 No Comments »
Apple’s Entrance into Digital Textbooks: revolutionary? Apple announced its entrance into digital textbooks, now selling through its iTunes and iBooks online. Though this has been somewhat expected, it’s exciting news. Believe me, this is not even the tip of the iceberg. I’ve already downloaded samples of the 8 textbooks listed in the iBooks store. While [...]
Posted in Discussion Topics, Education Issues and Ideas on Jan 2nd, 2012 No Comments »
The lecture is one of the oldest forms of education there is. … lecturing has never been an effective teaching technique and now that information is everywhere, some say it’s a waste of time. Indeed, physicists have the data to prove it. Many of us, me for example, have known this about lecturing for a [...]
Posted in Colleges, Education Issues and Ideas, LD Support Organizations on Dec 20th, 2011 No Comments »
The Anne Ford and Allegra Ford Scholarships offer financial assistance to two graduating seniors with documented learning disabilities (LD) who are pursuing post-secondary education. The Anne Ford Scholarship was first awarded in 2002; in 2009, with a generous donation from Anne’s daughter, Allegra, the award was renamed the Anne Ford and Allegra Ford Scholarship and [...]
Posted in Books and Videos, Education Issues and Ideas, Learning Disabilities and Mental Health on Nov 13th, 2011 5 Comments »
Photo by Evgeni Dinev In his book “What the Dog Saw,” based on a collection of his essays and New Yorker articles, Malcolm Gladwell wrote about the notion of Puzzles and Mysteries. Gladwell encouraged us to discern whether a problem or challenge to be solved was a puzzle or a mystery. What about kids with learning disabilities? [...]
Posted in Colleges, Computers and Software, Education Issues and Ideas, Learning Materials, Technology Issues and Ideas on Nov 3rd, 2011 No Comments »
wohnai/flickr From Good.is The average community college student in Washington spends about $1,200 per year on textbooks. I know that as a society we’re probably in the infancy of this movement to digitize textbooks and in a variety of ways, bring down the costs of textbooks to students. I don’t understand how they deal with [...]
Posted in Colleges, Education Issues and Ideas on Oct 24th, 2011 No Comments »
After reading this article in the NY Times online, two themes emerged in my head: 1. Create curriculum for entrepreneurship at the high school level and, 2. the Cass Business School study that identified upwards of 35% of successful serial entrepreneurs in the US self-identified as having dyslexia and/or ADHD. I’m a big fan of [...]
Posted in Computers and Software, Education Issues and Ideas, LD Support Professionals, Technology Issues and Ideas on Oct 23rd, 2011 11 Comments »
I’ve recently begun working with a 10 year old boy who has dyslexia. That’s not unusual for me. It’s an important part of what I do in my educational consulting practice, and I’ve been doing it for years. What’s new is that the young boy and his family live about four and a half hours [...]
Posted in Discussion Topics, Education Issues and Ideas, News on Oct 20th, 2011 1 Comment »
“The American Academy of Pediatrics this week issued new guidelines urging doctors to begin looking for signs of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder – ADHD – in children as young as four years old. Before, the guidelines had set the minimum age at 6 years old.” These new guidelines, discussed here on NPR’s On Point Radio [...]