iPads in Special Education

iPads in Neil Virani’s Special Education classroom at the Mulholland Middle School in Los Angeles are helping disabled students find success in learning.  Called his “secret weapon of accessibility”, iPads give his students the individualization they need. Virani’s using apps such as Day On (journaling), Popplet (mindmapping), and Toontastic (animation and storyboarding). For recording and sharing his lessons, he use Aver’s document camera software. To Virani, the iPad is a powerful classroom tool which helps his students “believe in themselves.”

Helping African-American Students

In order to improve the academic progress of African American students, President Obama signed the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. The President hopes that the initiative will help African American students “so that every child has greater access to a complete and competitive education from the time they’re born all through the time they get a career.” Tenets of the plan include helping the students get into early childhood programs that get them ready for school studies, making sure that African American children are not placed in special education programs unless they need these programs, addressing the numbers of suspensions and expulsions of black children from their schools, and offering the children the chance to “access rigorous courses and effective teachers” so that they can be ready for the future.

Autism: An Epidemic?

Estimates, according to Nirvi Shah’s article in the Special Education Blog of Education Week, are that one in every eighty-eight children in the United States has been identified with what is called “Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Mark Roithmayr, president of Autism Speaks, says, “Autism has now officially become an epidemic in the United States.” Although the Center for Disease Control is involved in a study to attempt to discover risk factors that lead to the problem, little is known about why some many children have the disorder or why the percentage of Autistic children is increasing.  Researchers believe it is highly likely that the number of Autistic children in the U.S. may be underestimated even though some say that part of the increase may be due to better identification of children with Autism. If you have an autistic child in your classroom, you understand that not all who are diagnosed with this disorder have the same problems. Because of this, some are proposing a change in the definition of Autism, which would narrow numbers (omitting those with Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder) of children currently diagnosed as Autistic. The definition has not been received well among advocates for those who would be excluded from the definition, because getting adequate services for these children may become a problem.

Language Lessons Help with Math Skills

In “Studies Find Language Is Key to Learning Math” , Education Week  (Feb. 17, 2011) Susan Goldin-Meadow, University of Chicago, explains that “profoundly deaf adults in Nicaragua who had not learned a formal sign language could not accurately describe or understand numbers greater than three.” When Goldin-Meadow tested adults who could hear or knew formal sign language, they were able to count without difficulty. Although the study didn’t involve students or young children, the results directly link math and language skill, meaning that intervention for math difficulties must include language help as well. Goldin-Meadow suggests that number lines, rather than fingers, would be better for early learning of math. Knowing how to count, like young children do, doesn’t mean they understand, for example, what  “seven” means.

Ed Week Teacher Online Book Club

Education Week offers a Bookclub for teachers. You can sign up for book discussions in areas of interest such as: Instructional Methods, Technology, Special or Gifted Education, Leadership, Mentoring/Coaching, Diversity, Curriculum, Educational Policy and School-Wide Improvement. Online Bookclub sessions are led by authors of books on “hot-button” topics. During the sessions, participants will have the opportunity to interact with others and with the author. The first featured book discussion (July 12-16) is: “The Hardest Questions Aren’t on the Test: Lessons from an Innovative Urban School”

(Nathan).  If you are interested, sign up now and get a chance to win a free book.