Archive for the ‘School Notes’ Category
Free Resource Friday: Twice-Exceptional Resource Handbook
October 2nd, 2010
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How should teachers and parents tend to the unique needs of a student who has a disability AND is gifted? How do you even identify such children? The Colorado Department of Education has produced a 118-page handbook (pdf) with information on these children, often referred to as “twice-exceptional,” or “2e” for short. The audience for this handbook appears to be teachers and parents.
Some of the information, like how to identify children for services, is Colorado-specific. But most of the information in this book could be used by parents and teachers anywhere. I particularly liked the charts of “distinguishing characteristics” of gifted learners who are learning English, come from low socio-economic backgrounds, or have a learning disability.
For example, a “questioning attitude” is listed as a traditional characteristic of gifted students. But for English-language learners, there may be a cultural aversion to questioning authority. Children from a less-affluent background or with disabilities may manifest that attitude in a challenging or confrontational way.
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Honoring Youths With Disabilities Who Have Excelled
September 28th, 2010
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If you know a youth with disabilities who is excelling in categories such as academics, community service, and independent living skills, now is your chance to nominate that person for a Yes I Can! Award, sponsored by the Council For Exceptional Children.
Each year, CEC selects 27 winners for their achievements in one of nine categories: academics, arts, athletics, community service, employment, extracurricular activities, independent living skills, self-advocacy and technology. Last year’s winners included Kristina Brewster, a 19-year-old student from Atlanta with Down syndrome who manages the girl’s junior varsity soccer team and participates in her church choir, Girl Scouts and the Special Olympics; and Chelsea King from Brooklyn, a 17-year-old with spinal muscular atrophy who uses technology to read aloud to classmates and send e-mails to friends and family.
The nomination period ends Oct. 22, so get those names in! Also, the CEC has produced a short video that explains the program in more detail.
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Time to Update the Blogroll!
September 23rd, 2010
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I’d say it’s time to blow the dust off my blog roll (which you see to the right) and add some new perspectives, while shuffling off some old blogs that have gone dormant.
Have a suggestion for a blog to add? Post your thoughts here, and I’ll check it out. Please note that I’m looking for bloggers who are linked in some way to education of students with disabilities, so I’m not as interested in blogs that focus primarily on general education teaching, general education policy, or raising a child with a disability.
I hope to have a handful of new voices to share with you soon.
Tags: Time, Time Update
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Special Education: Have No Fear
September 20th, 2010
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It seems like I’m always writing about difficulties related to educating children with disabilities. Isn’t it time for a happy story? Enjoy this blog post called “Why We’re Not Afraid of Special Education” from a mother, Amy Corbett Storch. She decided to seek special education support for her young son, and couldn’t be happier.
There was a lot of concern over the “labels” in his “permanent files” and teachers “judging” him down the road and pegging him out beforehand as a “problem.” Concerns over the “sorts of kids” he’d be calling his peers or if he’d actually be expected to learn anything or “catch up” to the typical students….
It was fairly easy for me to ignore most of that chatter at the time, and it’s even easier now.
It’d be easy for me to bring up a bunch of issues: her child is young, his special education needs might be easier to meet than those of another child, he is helped by having an active and loving parent.
But, why do that? Every family and student’s journey through special education is different, and a positive situation is no less valid than a difficult one.
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Do we NEED a boogeyman?
September 16th, 2010
Wow, my first week of school began last week…crazy as usual and full of change. That IS the first week of school at any age level. So much goes into a new semester: roster changes, procedural changes, new faces, old problems, the excitement of returning, and the awkwardness of getting back in a groove; there’s really no need for that proverbial needle on an educator’s back. But I found it…three to be sure!
1. The Christian Science Monitor had an extensive bio on Arne Duncan. They balance the hope and humanity of the Secretary of Education with an underlying tone of targeting inferior teachers as the problem with schools.
2. TIME magazine’s entire issue this week focused on the potential of charter schools while subtly citing teacher unions as the problem with schools.
3. Probably my favorite was Newsweek’s editorial on why school reform fails, naming students (!!!) and their lacking motivation, as the problem with schools.
What is it about our national fabric that requires we find a boogeyman, a scapegoat, a fall guy, or otherwise something or someone to blame?
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Resources on Restraint and Seclusion in Special Education
September 12th, 2010
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Friend-of-the-blog Candace Cortiella of The Advocacy Institute has collected a great set of resources for those who’d like to follow the current state of national policy related to restraints and seclusion of children with disabilities.
In addition to the work that Candace has sponsored directly, like an August podcast with experts in the field, she has also linked to several important documents on the topic, like the May 2009 report from U.S. Government Accountability Office noting that there have been hundreds of cases of restraint and seclusion with no federal oversight, and other reports that note the wide disparity in state laws relating to this issue. This is excellent source material for advocates and school officials.
Let me also note some articles I’ve written on restraints and seclusion. In April 2009, I wrote an article on the report “School Is Not Supposed to Hurt,” produced by the National Disability Rights Network. And in June of 2009, I produced a shorter article on the response to the GAO report.
Tags: Restraint, Restraint Seclusion
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Are All Readers Literate?
September 7th, 2010
Back in 1965, UNESCO proclaimed September 8 to be International Literacy Day. The goal? To highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and society. I’ll try to link to some of the reports being released today as they come out.
Just learning this occasion exists reminded me of a post of Robert Pondiscio’s that I saw recently on the Core Knowledge Blog, which referred to a post on Mark Bauerlein’s blog at The Chronicle of Higher Education that commented on an article that Pondiscio wrote with E.D. Hirsch earlier this year. (You’ve got to love the internet.)
The article doesn’t necessary embrace the international spirit of today, but it hits literacy on the head.
To be fully literate is to have the communicative power of language at your command—to read, write, listen and speak with understanding.
The Pondiscio/Hirsch article argues that reading is not a transferable skill, at least not entirely.
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