Link to The State of Learning Disabilities

"Yet look again, for the clouds divide;

A gleam of blue on the water lies;

And far away, on the mountain-side,

A sunbeam falls from the opening skies,

But the hurrying host that flew between

The cloud and the water, no more is seen;

Flake after flake,

At rest in the dark and silent lake."

~from The Snow-Shower by William Cullen Bryant

as found January 31, 2012 at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/243334

The National Center for Learning Disabilities has published this report on LD.org.

(I am not taking a position on this report, just providing a link.~ssa)

The State of Learning Disabilities

Share| By Candace Cortiella, Director - The Advocacy Institute Published: July 27 2011

NCLD, with the State of Learning Disabilities, has published a critical report that will further the debate over how to strengthen the programs and policies we have in place to serve and protect students and adults with learning disabilities. - Thomas H. Kean, NCLD Board Member and former Governor of New Jersey

Here is the link:

The State of Learning Disabilities

Dictionary.com App and other ideas

The Brain—is wider than the Sky—
For—put them side by side—
The one the other will contain
With ease—and You—beside—
From Emily Dickinson's poem, The Brain—is wider than the Sky—
http://poemhunter.com/poem/the-brain-is-wider-than-the-sky/

photo: ssa, Stillwater, August 2011 

                                                                                                                                                                              

UPDATE 2/28/12: Discovered that Dictionary.com starts charging for this voice-to-text feature after a limited number of uses. (They sell the feature in batches, 300 voice to text searches for 99 cents.)
iPod/iPhone/iPad and Android users: Dictionary.com has an app that allows voice-to-text entry. Your child can speak into the device and the entry will appear, correctly spelled, definition and all. (If your child has as much difficulty spelling as mine does, this may feel life-saving.) The apps also include audio pronunciation.

Voice-to-Text Experiment:
A quick, non-scientific test of the following 10 words resulted in 90 percent accuracy. 
After two minutes finding and downloading the app (using an older iPhone 3GS), I spoke these words directly into the phone (no headset used). 

auditory
falling
questions
dyslexia
(success)
successful
creativity
significant
actually
hope

The Dictionary.com app correctly pulled up nine of them. Ironically, the app failed to bring up the word "success." 90% accuracy? I can hardly wait to show this to my daughter!



Here are some other computer tools that I've heard about in the last few days.
We have not tried any of these yet.

Tools to Try:

Brainware Safari

"Award-winning BrainWare SAFARI builds 41 cognitive skills in 6 areas: Attention, Memory, Thinking, Visual Processing, Auditory Processing and Sensory Integration."--description from the website, http://www.mybrainware.com/who-we-help/parent/


"Because every brain is the result of uncountable reactions between us and environments, each brain is self-created and unique. While the parts of our brains specialize in certain kinds of tasks, we acquire skills to greater or lesser degrees.  That means that each individual is likely to have some strong areas and some weaker areas among all the mental processes that make up our cognitive functioning."
--quoted from the Brainware website, http://www.mybrainware.com/who-we-help/parent/child-development/


To help with Math:


1) Timez Attack by Big Brainz (good for helping with multiplication facts)
(free and paid versions)
 http://www.bigbrainz.com/

2) ALEKS (fee-based) Reading the "Success Stories" at ALEKS.COM (under the Independent Use section) made me think that we will be trying this one eventually. (It costs a lot less than paying a tutor.) The stories are listed by state--one child in New Jersey likes it so much that he begged his mom to allow him to pay for ALEKS himself. 

Here is their description:

"What is ALEKS? Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. ALEKS uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what a student knows and doesn't know in a course. ALEKS then instructs the student on the topics she is most ready to learn. As a student works through a course, ALEKS periodically reassesses the student to ensure that topics learned are also retained. ALEKS courses are very complete in their topic coverage and ALEKS avoids multiple-choice questions. A student who shows a high level of mastery of an ALEKS course will be successful in the actual course she is taking.

ALEKS also provides the advantages of one-on-one instruction, 24/7, from virtually any Web-based computer for a fraction of the cost of a human tutor."

from ALEKS website, http://www.aleks.com/about_aleks

To help with Keyboarding:

Dance Mat Typing

(free, online, no download required)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

Free Webinar Tuesday 1/24/12

"IDA-UMB Webinar: Intro to AT --  How Assistive Technology can enhance academic success?

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
7 – 8 p.m.
Registration is free
CEU's offered!

Here's an introduction on how to successfully use reading and writing assistive technology to enhance student’s academic success.
Speaker: Erika Kluge Frake M.F.C.S. is the Director of THINK with Success. As an Assistive Technology Specialist and Special Educator, she has several years of experience working with students in grades 2 through college to enhance their academic success through the use of Assistive Technology (AT) in the areas of reading, writing, note-taking, and executive function."

~This announcement and text is from the IDA-UMB website.

To register, go to this page where you will find a CLICK HERE link

http://www.ida-umb.org/pages/calendar/detail.cfm?EventID=148

International Dyslexia Association will host conference in Baltimore, October, 2012.

International Dyslexia Association will host its next conference in Baltimore, October, 2012.

Reading, Literacy, & Learning
63rd Annual IDA Conference
October 24-27, 2012
Baltimore Convention Center

http://www.interdys.org/AnnualConference.htm

There is a link to a PARENT SURVEY on the main page. If you are considering attending any IDA conferences, please take a few minutes to fill in the survey.

From the IDA webite: "During the 63rd Annual Conference, we will host our first parent focused conference.  The purpose is to provide parents the education, networking and socialization opportunities to help children with dyslexia and related learning differences.  If you are a parent of a child with dyslexia or other learning difference, please complete the survey below to help us design the parent conference!"

GRASP event for Twice Exceptional, January 18th at Noon

“Twice-Exceptional Children: Identification, Advocacy and Support” with Deantha Menon will take place this Wednesday (Jan 18) at Macalester Plymouth United Church (1658 Lincoln Avenue) from noon to 1:30pm. Bring your own lunch, $5 donation for non-GRASP members, children welcome with a quiet parent-provided activity.

The term “twice-exceptional” — or “2e” — refers to students who are high-ability/gifted learners who also have a physical, mental or learning disability. Because 2e students often perform at grade level, their learning vulnerabilities may go unrecognized or unaddressed. The notion that a child cannot be gifted if they have a disability is a common and persistent myth. These atypical learners may be mislabeled as bright but not trying hard enough, or as learning-disabled with no exceptional abilities, or they may simply be considered disruptive with poor social skills. The purpose of this event is to ensure that parents understand proper identification, advocacy and support for their gifted child as they navigate the education system. Deantha Menon received her Master of Arts degree in special education from the University of Colorado. She is a local speaker whose passions lie in helping families with 2e children navigate the public special-education system to bring their children to educational and personal success. She is a parent-to-parent advocacy coach who also draws from her daily experience as the mother of two twice-exceptional sons.

RSVP via online registration: https://sites.google.com/site/graspmn/events

Thank you to Thekla R.P. for the above description of the event, posted on our elementary school facebook page.