ADHD Awareness Month

There’s a very nice piece in the SmartBlog on Education called, “And still we can wander.” Author Stuart Grauer (Real Teachers) writes about learning through the mind of a student with ADHD. He says, “ADHD-types are on topic, maybe just not the required topic.” That’s because when they take off on a topic, they want to learn everything and diverge into their own discovery leaps.

Grauer knows that many teachers consider this an inability to concentrate, evidence of distractibility, and/or impulsive behavior. There are, what he calls, “dream-catcher” teachers who allow space for students to digress and to venture into the ideas that come into their minds. These are the types of teachers that ADHD students—and perhaps all students—need.  Grauer has found that if ADHD students are granted space to explore, to learn in a non-linear way, that most of these students will return their attention to the content being taught.

Brain Parade for Children with Special Needs

Brain Parade’s See. Touch. Learn ™ garnered the “Mostly Likely to Succeed” award at Ed Tech Summit 2013. According to Karen Billings, vice president of SIAA (Software and Information Industry Association) Education Division, “Brain Parade shows tremendous promise for shaping the future of technology in education, especially for those with special needs.”  This innovative app gives those working with children the ability to create “personalized” lessons, which will help them with communication skills. Students use iPads to learn from high-quality images and lessons created by a behavioral analyst. You can download a free copy from iTunes, but if you’d like the full version with advanced features and over 4400 images and 2200 exercises, you’ll want the Pro version, which is priced at $34.99.

Understanding Learning Disabilities

Science Daily reports that about two to three students in every classroom (up to 10% of all children) have some type of learning disability, and many have several disabilities. The study says, for example, that children who are hyperactive often struggle with dyslexia and about eleven percent of them have dyscalculia. The research was completed in order to offer a better “understanding of how individual differences in brain development interact with formal education” and how such knowledge can help adapt learning to the needs of the students, which may be achieved through use of technologies.

Learn Smart: An Adaptive Engine for Better Grades

McGraw-Hill’s LearnSmart is a personal digital tutor, which detects what students need to know in order to help them achieve their best. Called the “smartest adaptive engine in the industry”, this interactive product has been used in colleges and is now ready for high school use.  With it, students increase the effectiveness of their studies outside of class which will help them be better prepared for classes and improve retention, grades, and engagement in their studies.  Launched in February 2013, LearnSmart currently offers biology, U.S. History, Spanish, and A.P. and honors subjects; additional study areas will be available in the months after the launch.

A study of community college students using Learn Smart showed significant improvement in retention and pass rates. So far, no studies have targeted high school students, but expectations for success of the product are high.

Neurodiversity in the Classroom

Thomas Armstrong’s book, Neurodiversity in the Classroom, from ASCD focuses on helping students with learning disabilities, autism, hyperactivity disorder, intellectual disabilities, and emotional and behavioral disorders. Armstrong believes in strength-based strategies that focus on what these children can do, not what they can’t do. In the book’s chapters, he discusses the joys of ADHD, the gifts of autism, the strengths of students with intellectual disabilities, the multiple talents of the learning disabled, and the bright side of students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Armstrong points to the success of famous people in the sciences, arts, entertainment, sports, politics, military, business, and literature, who suffered from disorders such as hyperactivity, autism, and emotional and behavioral problems. The book contains “Strengths” Checklists, which educators can use to identify each student’s strengths.

Neurodiversity in the Classroom

ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) has released the Thomas Armstrong book, Neurodiversity in the Classroom: Strength-Based Strategies to Help Students with Special Needs Succeed in School and Life. Available in both paperback and as an eBook, the book explores cutting-edge research featuring the strengths of students who have learning disabilities, ADHD, autism, and intellectual, emotional, and behavioral disorders. Included are success stories about neurodiverse adults who have achieved success. Information is given on computer apps and strength-based learning strategies.

iPad Apps for Students Struggling with Language Arts

On 11/07/12, beginning at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) will offer the Webinar, iPad Apps to Support Learners Who Struggle with Reading and/or Writing. The 60-minute learning session ($39 for members, $99 for non-members) will explore how to use a set of iPads to help  “learners of all ages to overcome barriers to reading and writing. “ Those attending will learn about free and inexpensive apps to use with students who are experiencing learning problems and also about the accessibility features available on iPads. Teacher Paul Hamilton, who works with schools on Vancouver Island, will lead the session.

Online Speech Therapy—One-to-One Help

PresenceLearning offers a free download of its white paper, Can Online Speech Therapy Improve IEP Outcomes? Considering a shortage of speech therapists in schools, the paper shows how online therapy is effective and affordable. It helps to relieve high caseloads while giving students the individualized help and practice they need. If you would like to review case studies, academic studies, and success stories, go to the PresenceLearning site.

What is Blended Learning?

Although the Edutopia article, “From the Classroom: What Does Blended Learning Look Like?” (February 8, 2012), gives an example of a high school English class, the ideas in the piece by teacher Melissa Meyers, should be of interest to all teachers. Meyers, who teaches in a private K-12 special education school, discusses the teaching of Dante’s work with her Grade 12 World Literature class. Her students, even though they have disabilities such as severe dyslexia, writing disorders, and speech and language difficulties, are taken to Hell through the Website Virtual Inferno, which leads them on a journey through the nine levels. They play Dante’s Inferno video game using it as a step off to their research and writing.  “Franz Liszt’s A Symphony to Dante’s Divide Comedy is accompanied by Gustave Dore’s illustrations on Youtube, and ... Dante-era Florence through the “Firenze-Virtual History” iPad app.” To help with their reading of the Inferno, they have it available as an audio book on their iPads. That’s what blended learning is all about—integrating technologies in order to invigorate learning.

eBook/App Book/Animated Book for Young Students

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is available at the iTunes store for $4.99.  The reviews are excellent; in fact, it is rated #1 in the iPad App Store. Author William Joyce, who previously worked at Pixar, created this book, which is being called a mixture of a wonderful bedtime story and an animated movie. It includes interactive interfaces, which children may or may not use. The “book” lets children explore as they want through the “book” with or without music, voiceover, and embedded features. If you are interested, you can take a look at the trailer for a glimpse of what Mr. Lessmore has to offer.  I think you’ll like it. And, by the way, it is also a favorite of the orangutans at the Milwaukee and Houston zoos who are using iPads as part of enrichment exercises.