LD Resources

Despite the compelling and alarming statistics on the impact Learning Disabilities (LD) has on the mental health of our youth, there remains a great need to better understand the relationships between language-based LDs, Autism Spectrum, and depression, substance abuse, and defiance, and low self-esteem. While some in the therapeutic community know that upwards of 60% of adolescents in treatment centers have learning disabilities (Hazelton and NICHD), they need to have a deeper understanding of why that is, and how clinicians and counselors can better respond. Similarly, knowing the presence of learning disabilities among clinically depressed, hospitalized children is 7 times higher than in the general population (Journal of Affective Disorders), compels us to learn more about specific experiences and mechanisms at play.

Conscious linking between information processing styles and therapeutic intervention will significantly increase effectiveness and speed up results.

By better understanding the experience of having neurological variance and differences, therapeutic attunement follows. The time is ripe for moving beyond and beneath surface understanding of how self-esteem is negatively impacted from school failure. Experiences and research is beginning to help us see how differences in information processing impact everything therapeutically.

Accepting the fact that many states use literacy and special education statistics from 3rd and 4th grades to accurately predict future prison beds is no longer acceptable. Combining best practices from both Learning Disabilities and Therapeutic disciplines is a key to solving this dilemma and national challenge. Therapeutic education is poised to play the leadership role.

Researchers continue to find that while intensive dietary modifications may help some small sub-groups, kids with ADHD need a overall healthy diet of low processed foods and high on quality proteins, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and quality fats, such as Omega-3.

Back in November, I’d posted about reported shortages of medications for ADHD, and at the time I hadn’t heard enough about it nor had I heard of anyone who’s actually experienced this, so I wasn’t sure what to make of it.

A couple of days ago, The New York Times reported further on these medication shortages. According to the report, these shortages are the result of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA ) being out of synch with the FDA and others involved with the sale and safety aspects of such medications.

The disconnect between the D.E.A. and just about everyone else involved in the sales of the medicines is so profound that they even disagree over whether there are shortages.

“We believe there is plenty of supply,” Special Agent Gary Boggs of the D.E.A.’s office of diversion control said in an interview.

And yet, among others, multiple drug manufacturers announced that their supply of these medicines are scarce. The Food and Drug Administration also lists these drugs as being in short supply.

Officials at the F.D.A. blame the shortages on overly strict quotas set by the D.E.A. — making for a rare open disagreement between two federal agencies.

Shortages, no shortages, essential medications, ripe for being misused on college campuses and elsewhere.  The government agencies need to get their act together.

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 while.

In this article from NPR, Physicists at Harvard have figured this out after one of their physics instructors,  Eric Mazur, began questioning his own assumptions about teaching and started observing and thinking about what his students actually knew versus formulas they memorized.

Using approaches that asked students to reassess what they think they know, slow down their answering process so that they can work in small groups to ponder and converse with one another about a particular problem, Mazur found that learning improved significantly.

Historically and with frustration, students with learning disabilities have long-known that collaboration and hands-on learning are always more effective that dense lectures.

I’ve felt for years that teenagers and young adults with Asperger’s Syndrome or with High Functioning Autism really need help understanding and negotiating romantic and sexual relationships. Moving from Social Skills or even Social Thinking curriculums (there’s a difference) to dating, sex, love and adult relationships is no easy task when your primary difficulties are recognizing and understanding non verbal communication, emotional fluency and regulating sensory experiences.

This is a wonderfully written piece in the NYTimes.com called Navigating Love and Autism. Compelling in it’s depth, this article captures many of the challenges particular to couples struggling with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The first night they slept entwined on his futon, Jack Robison, 19, who had since childhood thought of himself as “not like the other humans,” regarded Kirsten Lindsmith with undisguised tenderness.

This is an honest account of their struggles and one that provides glimpses into what it must be like for a young man with ASD, who, despite feeling love and romance for his sweetheart, has to tell her (and I assume because of some sensory overload issues), after she smiled at him one morning, as she leans in for a kiss, seeking his lips, he turned away, “I don’t really like kissing,” he said.

It’s a touching piece and although having ASD adds a particular burden to relationship, I want to tell the young man in the article, that many of their struggles are generic to the confusion we all feel at times in relationships.  You want to put your arm around his shoulder and smilingly tell him you know just how he feels when he’s not sure what his girlfriend wants from him.  Here’s an example:

One might start over Kirsten’s request that Jack hug her when she came home from school, or his perception that she was already angry at him when she came through the door.

“The more we argue, the worse it gets,” Jack said once, close to despair.

One night as Kirsten cooked dinner, he peered into the pan where she was sautéing vegetables to comment on the way she had cut the cauliflower.

“It’s too big,” he explained. “It won’t cook through.”

“It’s better when it’s not all mushy,” she insisted.

“No,” he said. “You’re just doing it wrong.”

Eventually, Kirsten, unable to contain her tears, fled to the living room.

“What I want,” she told him when they analyzed their clashes in less-fraught moments, “is to be held and rocked and comforted.”

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 granted to two students. Beginning 2012, we are offering two separate scholarships, the Anne Ford Scholarshipand Allegra Ford Scholarship.  To be considered, your complete application must be postmarked by December 31, 2011.

Notice that these are scholarships specifically awarded to students with documented a LD. However, also note that winners are selected by criteria above and beyond simply having a diagnosis of Learning Disabilities.
Here are examples from parts of the selection criteria.  Go to the NCLD website to read all the criteria.

The ideal Anne Ford Scholar is a student who:

• Articulates his or her LD and clearly demonstrates the importance of self-advocacy
• Is committed to completing a four-year college degree and has begun to set realistic career goals
• Excels as a role model and spokesperson for others who struggle with LD

To be eligible for the 2012 Anne Ford Scholarship, an applicant must:

• Be a graduating high school senior who will be attending a four-year bachelor’s degree program in the fall of 2012
• Have an overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher on a 4-point scale (or equivalent)

On boingboing dot net, there’s a fascinating discussion going on about the growing number of people getting diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).  The controversy involves the questioning of whether or not this represents a true increase/explosion of ASD, or attributable to better diagnostic tools, more awareness of symptoms and better informed parents and professionals.  Where the controversy begins to get really lively and heated is when suggestions are made that parents are doctor shopping in order to get the diagnosis they want in order to get the services they want.  The discussion further devolves while paring down the possible motives by some parents, to being purely financial.

Controversies are sometimes a created illusion, which misses the truth of a situation.  In this situation, painting this as an either-or scenario is misleading.  The tension of opposite camps on this matter hides reality.  What is the reality?  The reality is that the apparent rise of ASD is because of increased sophistication of diagnostic tools and awareness AND there are parents unfortunately, who needlessly overreact to their child’s behaviors and can only see what they want to see.  Are some parents trying to stuff their kids with anxiety disorders and/or other social/sensory/behavioral struggles into an Asperger’s diagnosis?  My guess is yes.  However the debate of which is true is one that misleads.  It’s both.

Corresponding with the increase in the numbers of reported cases of childhood autism is the reported decrease in “developmental delays, cognitive disorders, or mental retardation.”  There was a time when children with ASD, particularly those with more classic autism, were misdiagnosed with developmental or cognitive disabilities, aka, mentally retarded.  So, there’s a trade-off in terms of some of the numbers.

I started working with kids and families with Autism Spectrum in 1994, while I lived in CT.  Since then I’ve helped kids and teens directly and consulted with many families on things like school placement and parenting issues.  I’ve also been a school director of a private day school where at least a good 60% of the students were somewhere “on the spectrum.”    I’m saying this because I do know the lay of the land.  The suggestion that many or most parents are shopping for the diagnosis of Autism is really ignorant of the realities.  Autism is not some light diagnosis that has any cache, or is “desirable,” and the stresses of parenting a child on this spectrum can be enormous.

The LA Times series on which this Boing Boing discussion rests can be found here.

[via Richard Wanderman]

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Lianne Milton for the Bay Citizen

In this article from The NY Times, evidence once again, that innovation sometimes appears only when there’s been enough failure. In this San Francisco program, kids who’ve been exceedingly truant are given great opportunity to engage in exciting real-word activities with highly motivated teachers.

I’m glad for these kids, many of whom probably have learning disabilities. I just wish there was more innovation for all kids.

Ben Shifrin, Head of The Jemicy School, in Owings Mills, MD, has been inducted into the International Dyslexia Association’s Hall of Fame. Frankly, I had no idea there was such a Hall of Fame. For me, this is another chance to bring recognition to what I’ve always thought of as a great school for kids who have learning disabilities, particularly dyslexia. I’ve not been to the newer High School but have spent time at the Lower and Middle School. Jemicy School does educate the whole child, in terms of developing strengths as well as remediate weaknesses, and as a result, kids just seem to feel good while they’re getting the help they need.

I haven’t seen or heard of this happening in the northwest, where I live, but this is potentially very concerning for lots of folks, especially if it spreads and gets worse.

NPR did a story about this emerging shortage of ADHD meds, characterizing it as being part of a nationwide and increasing shortage of other medicines in general, most notably some cancer treatment drugs.

Yikes.

[via Richard Wanderman]

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?  Is understanding a student’s learning profile, stemming from an evaluation of information processing, cognitive skills, and achievement strengths and weaknesses, a puzzle or a mystery?

A puzzle, according to Gladwell’s and national-security expert Gregory Treverton’s definition, is something that is solved when there’s enough clear information. The key to solving a puzzle comes through the reporter and the reporting of the information. Given enough data, a puzzle gets solved. Determining Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts was a puzzle, and once enough information was given, puzzle solved. How Iraq would evolve after the fall of Saddam Hussein was anyones’s guess, and still a mystery. With mysteries, too much information can cloud understanding. With the fall of Enron, the giant energy company, the information was there ahead of time. That company released thousand of pages of financial information that should have but didn’t, alert the authorities, even though it was right in front of their faces.  In fact there was so much information it hid the truth.

What about Learning Profiles? We’ve become better and better at giving tests and evaluations that help us understand the nuances of information processing. We’re becoming experts on categorizing the data that comes from these evaluations and with ever increasing precision, describing the profile as Dyslexia. Non-Verbal Learning Disability, Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, and the like.

Understanding how individual children and teenagers will cope with and respond to their individual circumstances is much more difficult to understand. Which kids with learning disabilities will turn to drugs and alcohol? Who will turn their anger inward?  Who will turn their adverse circumstances and challenges into food for success and then thrive?

I know we can, and most likely will, apply more information to these questions, and we might be tempted to think that as a result, we automatically get better at providing the right interventions and predicting outcomes.  But it’s not always that simple. You might suppose for example, that a child from a wealthy family will stand a better chance to succeed in school, or that providing Orton-Gillingham training or another best practice to a child or teenager with reading difficulties will definitely give that kid a leg up. With enough intervention hours and enough improvement, will self-esteem issues disappear?

It doesn’t always work out that way.

One of the keys to making headway in providing holistic interventions and support, as well as predicting trajectories, may be in recognizing  that these questions are both a puzzle and a mystery.

Mysteries are understood and dependent upon more than logic and more than sequential reasoning.

Mysteries are dependent on stripping away some of the excess “information” to find essence.  Steve Jobs and Jon Ive of Apple understood on a design and product level, that simplicity can mean deep understanding and expression of the essence of excellence for a particular machine. In terms of kids with LD, this doesn’t mean discarding or dumbing down our understanding of IQ scores, achievement levels, or processing weaknesses; it may mean adding what’s thought of as right brain processing, intuition, and deep listening (both verbally and non-verbally). It means opening up to the mystery and diversity of cognitive processing, and our gut about what makes a particular child tick, their essence, and the psychological forces that impact both the observed and the observer.

Puzzle or mystery?

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 fees to the writers of textbooks, but Washington State has created a way to access collections of textbooks as well as other educational materials- mostly for free.  Apparently the most a school can charge for these is $30 per student.

They’ve begun with eighty-one of the state’s most popular general education and pre-college classes taken.  These are open licenses, which means that they’re available to other colleges and universities and anyone else who wants to give them a try.

I’ve already been on the site and looked at some US History text. It’s a pretty easy sign-in process and once I was looking over a chapter, and since I was using my Safari browser, it was easy to highlight, right-click and have my computer read it to me (if I was tired or dyslexic or had another learning disability).