A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Throughout the United States, co-teaching has silently become a major model for delivering instruction to special-education students in general education classes. The model pairs a general education teacher with a special education teacher.

Although co-teaching has great promise for helping special-education students, it also has many pitfalls. And the research examining its ability to improve students’ academics is in its infancy; in other words, we have little proof that it dramatically improves academics.

To address many of the issues in co-teaching, Drs. Gloria Lodato Wilson and Joan Blednick have authored a brief, clearly written, insightful book for teachers, administrators, and parents that examines the pitfalls and promises of co-teaching. Especially important for parents is chapter 10, Addressing Parent and Student Issues. In a question and answer format, it asks and answers the following questions:

• What are some of the concerns of parents regarding the co-taught classroom?
• Which co-teacher does the parent of a special-education student contact?
• What kind of homework demands are appropriate for students in a co-taught inclusive class?
• Should parents of children with special needs join both SEPTA [Special Education Parent-Teacher Association] and PTA?
• Are students with special needs accepted by their peers in a co-teaching environment?
• Are students with special needs stigmatized in inclusive classrooms?
• How are the needs of the general education students met in an inclusive setting?
• What do students think of co-teaching?
• How do teachers respond when students ask why there are two teachers in the classroom?

If your child is in a co-taught classroom, I urge you to read this book in its entirety. The reasons are simple: the more you know about co-teaching, the better you’ll be able to influence your child’s IEP and work cooperatively with his teachers. In addition, knowledge of co-teaching will help you determine if it’s progressing as it should and if it’s likely to benefit your child.

To hear Drs. Wilson and Blednick discuss co-teaching’s promises and pitfalls, listen to our radio show this coming Monday, 1/30/12 at 9 PM EST. Below you’ll find the needed information.

Reference

Wilson, G. L., & Blednick, J. (2011). Teaching in Tandem: Effective Co-Teaching in the Inclusive Classroom. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Howard Margolis © Reading2008 & Beyond

howard@reading2008.com

www.reading2008.com

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 To Help Children: The Special Needs Talk Radio Network

The Special Needs Talk Radio network is dedicated to helping parents and teachers help children with special needs. For a description and schedule of its six shows, go to http://specialneedstalkradio.com.

Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and I host Maximizing Your Child’s Potential (Mondays, 9 PM – 9:30 PM EST, http://specialneedstalkradio.com/maximizing-your-childs-potential).

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 Monday’s Radio Show

Co-Teaching: Promises and Pitfalls

• When: Monday, 1/30/2012, 9 – 9:30 PM EST

• Where: http://specialneedstalkradio.com/maximizing-your-childs-potential
• Guest: Drs. Gloria Lodato Wilson and Joan Blednick

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 Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds

(www.reading2008.com)

PsychologyToday.com wrote that Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds was one of the three “best books about education published in 2010. Recommend [it] to your friends.” On our blog, an English teacher and author wrote that Beating the Odds “is one of the best books, if not the best book on education published this year.”  A Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism called it “a great book.” A parent wrote, “Your Reading Disabilities book is by far the best resource I have found regarding the IEP and IDEA and providing understandable and concrete suggestions and implementation strategies.” Another wrote, your book is “fascinating and effective.” On Amazon, a professor of special education called it “a fantastic resource… well-written, practical… an essential guide.”

The KansasCityExaminer.com cited our blog as one of the ten best special needs blogs of 2010. The Coffee Klatch awarded it a Coffee Klatch emblem, signifying excellence.

We thank these and many other reviewers for their kind words. And we hope that our book and blog helps lots of children, parents, teachers, IEP Team members, and schools. It’s why we keep plugging away. – HM & GB

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

In our book, Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds, we emphasize the importance of getting the proper evaluations and maximizing their effectiveness by requesting specific information. Below is an example of a request for a neuropsychological evaluation.  The basic concepts can be adapted to virtually any educational evaluation. For reading evaluations, chapters 4 and 5 of Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds provide dozens of requests in the form of critical questions.

The Letter

As Wilson’s school records indicate, over the past decade his social, emotional, and academic progress has been poor. For example, his WISC IQ scores show he’s a highly intelligent 7^th grader, but his performances on recent State of NY reading and writing tests were abysmal.  He failed. His reading and writing competencies were those of a second grader. This lack of progress is corroborated by teacher observations, comments, report cards, and evaluations by the school’s reading and writing specialists.

As we had discussed at our last meeting (12/5/2011), a comprehensive and highly personalized neuropsychological evaluation is very important for improving Wilson’s social, emotional, and academic success. It needs to be administered and interpreted by a neuropsychologist who understands (a) schools, curriculum, and educational methodology; (b) how to evaluate the factors that impede and boost the social, emotional, and academic success of children with Wilson’s history; (c) how schools can effectively and efficiently remediate the neuropsychological factors that impede learning.

With respect to Wilson’s social, emotional, and academic success , we request that the neuropsychologist’s report tell us (a) what Wilson can do well; (b) what he has difficulty doing; (c) what is blocking his progress; (d) what he needs to learn; (e) what research-based interventions can eliminate the blocks to progress; (f) what research-based instructional practices will likely produce the solid success Wilson needs to make far more than a year’s progress in a year’s time; (g) the amount of daily or weekly time the school needs to provide each intervention or related service, so Wilson can make far more than a year’s progress in a year’s time; (h) the training teachers and staff need to help Wilson achieve far more than a year’s progress in a year’s time.

We recognize that Wilson’s IEP Team is responsible for writing his IEP’s goals and objectives and monitoring plan. To facilitate this progress and strengthen these IEP components, we request that the neuropsychological report suggest (a) measurable goals and objectives in all areas of need the evaluation identifies; (b) a monitoring plan that each week provides us with valid data on Wilson’s progress toward each suggested goal and objective; and (c) how to streamline and coordinate the different components of his program. We also request that the report suggest the training we need to support Wilson at home without assuming a primary teaching role.

As Wilson is half way through the academic year and his progress remains poor, we request to review the neuropsychological evaluation report by 2/13/2012 and have a meeting to discuss its implications and Wilson’s IEP by 2/20/12. This will increase Wilson’s chances of realizing success in the last third of the academic year.  We request to meet with the neuropsychologist before the evaluation.

If you have any disagreement with our requests, please contact me within the next two days. We fear time is running out, as each day Wilson is more discouraged about his lack of progress.

Sincerely,

Howard Margolis

A Mythical Parent

The Lesson

If you need information, ask for it.

Howard Margolis © Reading2008 & Beyond

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Many parents of children with reading disabilities and other learning disabilities get discouraged, disgusted, and angry at public schools that fail to provide their children with critical reading and related services. Their feelings are understandable. They see their children falling further and further behind their peers. They see their children’s frustration, anger, and tears. They see their children struggle and suffer endlessly, as the public schools’ indifference seems impenetrable. And so, many seek the salvation of publicly-funded charter schools. After all, they perform miracles.

Unfortunately, they don’t.

Like many public schools, some charter schools, such as the highly touted Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), probably do great things. I doubt, however, that they perform miracles. Why? Compelling data doesn’t exist that schools can quickly turn most struggling readers into competent ones, most children with reading disabilities into children without disabilities. Like quality public schools, quality charters can probably help many struggling readers become highly proficient, highly motivated readers; but many doesn’t mean all or most. And after 40+ years in general and special education and observations of innumerable private and public schools in two countries, I don’t believe in miracles; instead, to help struggling learners succeed, I believe in clear, highly motivating goals; knowledgeable, skilled, well-supported teachers; strong leadership; hard work; parent-school collaboration; and steady progress.  Despite the likelihood that the HCZ is doing some great things, it may be one of dozens of charter school miracles that are far more hype than miracle.

Here’s what Diane Rativtch, Research Professor of Education at New York University and former Assistant Secretary of Education in the administration of President George H.W. Bush, recently wrote about Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ):

The HCZ “is an antipoverty program in Harlem that provides a broad array of medical and social services to children and families, such as health programs, preschool, after-school tutoring, and parenting classes. Its three charter schools are far better funded than nearby regular public schools. Its small high school has classes of fewer than fifteen students with two licensed teachers in each classroom. Because it has a very wealthy board of trustees, HCZ has an endowment of $200 million. Even with the ample resources available to HCZ, its charters had many students in 2010 who did not meet state standards for proficiency in reading: 62 percent in one school, and 38 percent in the other. In the seventh grade, where students were in their third year, only 15 percent met state standards. When Geoffrey Canada first recruited students to his charter middle school, they entered with low scores; after three years, when their scores remained low, he kicked out the entire class. The neighborhood public schools can’t do this.”  (Diane Rativtch, updated version of The Death and Life of the Great American School System, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/reports-on-charter-schools-expose-new-problems/2011/10/31/gIQAcMye3M_blog.html).

This is not a condemnation of the HCZ. I admire HCZ’s comprehensive whole-child model (e.g., health care, counseling) and the expressed values of Geoffrey Canada. It’s a condemnation of the well-financed public relations campaign to make parents believe that public schools are automatically bad, that charter schools perform miracles. Charters don’t.  (But many give the impression they do. Here’s one trick some use to cut expenses, improve test scores, and look  miraculous: “counsel” struggling students and students with disabilities to drop out and return to public schools.)

In part, those public schools that are poorly run and unresponsive to children’s needs share the blame for the rise in charters and for the justifiable desperation of parents to help their children escape these public schools. Clearly, public schools have a moral and often legal obligation to provide children with the expertise and services they need to succeed. When children need critical services, such as extra reading help from reading specialists, public schools have an ethical and moral obligation not to deny, deny, deny, not to aggravate the suffering of children and their families. Shame on public schools that deny; greater shame on the politicians who fail to adequately fund public schools, who mandate policies that cripple children, teachers, and schools. To a far greater degree than public schools, such politicians are to blame.

If you’re the parent of a child with reading disabilities or other learning disabilities, if his school is denying him critical services, and if a far better school placement is unavailable, you must do at least six things:

(1) Develop good relationships with school personnel. (Good relationships do not mean agreement or acquiescence.)

(2) Learn the relevant education laws, in detail.

(3) Make sure your child gets high quality evaluations that result in an Individualized Education Program (IEP) with meaningful and measurable goals (and in some states, short-term objectives). If your child is ineligible for special education, get him the high quality evaluations needed to develop in-school remedial programs or after school tutoring programs. Make sure tutoring helps him succeed with the strategies taught in school.

(4) Carefully and frequently monitor his progress.

(5) If progress is poor, meet with the school to revise his program, which may include his IEP and methods of instruction.

(6) Become politically knowledgeable and active.

Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds will give you a great deal of information on points 1 through 5. Our blog will often help on point 6.

Yes, our suggestions can be complicated, time consuming, and exhausting. But they’re what children need if schools are denying them critical services. The research is clear: In general, charters are not the answer. In large part, the answer is knowledgeable, supportive, informed, persistent, politically active parents who, as part of a group, work to turn poor schools and dysfunctional neighborhoods into good ones.

Howard Margolis © Reading2008 & Beyond

howard@reading2008.com

www.reading2008.com

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 The Special Needs Talk Radio Network: It’s On The Air

The Special Needs Talk Radio network (http://specialneedstalkradio.com/) is on the air. Each of its six shows is dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth with special needs and their families.

Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and I host Maximizing Your Child’s Potential (Mondays, 9 PM – 9:30 PM EST, http://specialneedstalkradio.com/maximizing-your-childs-potential).

 Next Monday’s Show: Writing

As many parents, teachers, and children know, learning to write is hard work, work that’s easier said than done. But it can also be fun, liberating, and enormously satisfying. It can unlock potential. This coming Monday, a motivating writing teacher, Jaclyn Pryzbylkowski (Voorhees NJ Middle School), will discuss How Writing Instruction Can Help Children Achieve Their Potential.

When: Monday, November 7, 2011, 9 – 9:30 PM EST

Where: http://specialneedstalkradio.com/maximizing-your-childs-potential

 Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds

(www.reading2008.com)

PsychologyToday.com wrote that Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds was one of the three “best books about education published in 2010. Recommend [it] to your friends.” On our blog, an English teacher and author wrote that Beating the Odds “is one of the best books, if not the best book on education published this year.”  A Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism called it “a great book.” A parent wrote, “Your Reading Disabilities book is by far the best resource I have found regarding the IEP and IDEA and providing understandable and concrete suggestions and implementation strategies.” Another wrote, your book is “fascinating and effective.” On Amazon, a professor of special education called it “a fantastic resource… well-written, practical… an essential guide.”

The KansasCityExaminer.com cited our blog as one of the ten best special needs blogs of 2010. The Coffee Klatch awarded it a Coffee Klatch emblem, signifying excellence.

We thank these and many other reviewers for their kind words. And we hope that our book and blog helps lots of children, parents, teachers, IEP Team members, and schools. It’s why we keep plugging away. – HM & GB

How Occupational Therapy Can

Help Children Achieve Their Potential

Susan Orloff, OTR/L

Author of Learning Re-enabled

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/specialneedstalkradio/2011/10/25/maximizing-your-childs-potential

Overcoming Problems of Reading Fluency

Dr. Tim Rasinski of Kent State University

Monday, October 17, 2011, 9 – 9:30 PM EST

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Recently, Marion Brady offered thought-provoking insights on educational policy that deserve serious consideration, something that many Democrat and Republican politicians are loathe to do.

• Think there’s something wrong with a same-standards-and-tests-for-everybody approach to educating? Think a math whiz shouldn’t be held back just because he can’t write a good five-paragraph essay? Think a gifted writer shouldn’t be refused a diploma because she can’t solve a quadratic equation? …. If you think there’s something fundamentally, dangerously wrong with an educational reform effort that’s actually designed to standardize, designed to ignore human variation, designed to penalize individual differences, designed to produce a generation of clones …. [complain to] to your senators and representatives before they sell their vote to the publishing and testing corporations intent on getting an ever-bigger slice of that half-trillion dollars a year America spends on educating. (Brady, 2011)

But wait: Brady is wrong. Retention works. That’s why we do it over and over and over. If a kid fails, the only way to help him is to retain him in grade until he gets it right. It’s not punishment. It’s not harmful.

That’s what decades of research show. Right?

Wrong. The thrust of the valid research shows:

• The continued use of grade retention constitutes educational malpractice. It is the responsibility of educators to provide interventions that are effective in promoting academic success, yet research examining the effectiveness of retention reveals lower achievement, more behavior problems, and higher dropout rates among retained students. It is particularly disconcerting that a disproportionate number of students of ethnic minority and low income backgrounds are retained. Moreover, children’s experience of being held back is highly stressful; surveys indicate that by sixth grade, students report that only the loss of a parent and going blind is more stressful. (Jimerson, quoted in Hamson, 2009)
• The academic future of the students who were actually retained was poor. The academic performance of the Chicago third graders who were retained was similar to that of third graders who were not retained, retained sixth graders performed more poorly than their counterparts who were not retained, and retained eighth graders were far more likely to drop out and to do so at a younger age than students who were not retained. Furthermore, 78% of the students retained in eighth grade had dropped out by the time they turned 19…. These results mirror those of past retention studies that have reported that retained students either show declines in achievement over several years after retention or have academic outcomes that are no better after repeating a grade than those of low-achieving promoted students. In addition, students who have been retained have higher dropout rates than their promoted low-achieving peers. (Abbott  at al., 2010, p. 6)
• Failure to achieve grade-level expectations in reading is the primary reason students in the early grades are retained …. Research on grade retention clearly points to a connection between retention and dropout. … Grade retention was the most powerful predictor of later dropout, with retained students being 11 times more likely to drop out of school. (Reschly, 2010, p. 69).
• No other educational practice is as demonstrably harmful to students as the practice of grade retention (Florida Association of School Psychologists, post 2003, undated)

Makes me wonder about the knowledge and motivation of so many of our elected officials—Democrat and Republican. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make me wonder about the power of political contributions and paid lobbyists.

References

Abbott, M., Wills, H, Greenwood, C. R., Kamps, D., Heitzman-Powell, L., & Selig, J. (2010). The combined effects of grade retention and targeted small-group intervention on students’ literacy outcomes. Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 26(1), 4-25.

Brady, M. (2011). Dogs: An unusual guide to school reform. From The Answer Sheet by Valerie Strauss, The Washington Post, Retrieved 8/29/2011, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/guest-bloggers/dogs-an-unusual-guide-to-schoo.html.

Florida Association of School Psychologists (undated). Position Statement on Florida’s Third Grade Retention Mandate. Retrieved 10/8/2011, from http://www.fasp.org/PDF_Files/Public_Policy/PP3rdGrdRet.pdf.

Jimerson, S. R. Quoted in Haimson, L. (2009). Mayor Bloomberg Commits Educational Malpractice Once More. Retrieved 5/18/2010, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonie-haimson/mayor-bloomberg-commits-e_b_257548.html.

Reschly, A. L. (2010). Reading and school completion: critical connections and matthew effects. Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 26(1), 67 – 90.

Related Posts

http://www.reading2008.com/blog/learning-disabilities-the-tragedy-of-retention.htm

http://www.reading2008.com/blog/what-parents-must-know-about-reading-disabilities-part-ii-retenion.htm

Howard Margolis © Reading2008 & Beyond

howard@reading2008.com

www.reading2008.com

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The Special Needs Talk Radio Network: It’s On The Air

The new Special Needs Talk Radio network (http://specialneedstalkradio.com/) is on the air. Each of its six shows is dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth with special needs and their families.

Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and I host Maximizing Your Child’s Potential (Mondays, 9 PM – 9:30 PM EST, http://specialneedstalkradio.com/maximizing-your-childs-potential).

On Monday, October 10^th, our guest will be Dr. J. Richard Gentry, Educational Consultant. He’ll discuss Raising Confident Readers: Birth and Beyond.

Dr. Gentry earned his Elementary Education degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. in Reading Education from the University of Virginia in 1977. For sixteen years he taught Reading Education at Western Carolina University where he directed the Reading Center. He is well known for his research and writing in literacy education and is currently an independent researcher, author, and educational consultant.

Over the next few months, our guests will include:

• October 17^th —Dr. Tim Rasinski, Kent State University, Overcoming Problems of Reading Fluency
• October 24^th —Susan Orloff, OTR/L, Occupational Therapist, Learning Re-Enabled
• October 31^st —Dr. Nancy Padak, Kent State University, Helping Your Children Overcome Reading Problems
• Dr. Richard Boon, University of Georgia, Helping Teenagers Improve Their Reading
• Dr. Erica Lembke, University of Missouri, Monitoring Your Child’s Progress
• Dr. Patrick McCabe, Mercy College, Developing the Confidence of Struggling Learners
• Staci Greenwald, Special Education Attorney, The Pro’s and Con’s of Public and Private School Programs
• Dr. Annmarie Urso, State University of New York at Geneseo, How Response-To-Intervention ( RTI) Can Unlock Your Child’s Potential

If possible, look at the Special Needs Talk Radio’s website (http://specialneedstalkradio.com/). See how its many experts can help you help the children and youth you care about.

Strengthening Your Child’s Emotional Intelligence

Dr. John Pellitteri

City University of New York

To download, go to:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/specialneedstalkradio/2011/10/04/dr-john-pellitteri

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The Special Needs Talk Radio Network: It’s On The Air

The new Special Needs Talk Radio network (http://specialneedstalkradio.com/) is on the air. Each of its six shows is dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth with special needs and their families.

Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and I host Maximizing Your Child’s Potential (Mondays, 9 PM – 9:30 PM EST, http://specialneedstalkradio.com/maximizing-your-childs-potential).

On Monday, October 10^th, our guest will be Dr. J. Richard Gentry, Educational Consultant, Raising Confident Readers: Birth and Beyond. Dr. Gentry earned his Elementary Education degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and a Ph.D. in Reading Education from the University of Virginia in 1977. For sixteen years he taught Reading Education at Western Carolina University where he directed the Reading Center. He is well known for his research and writing in literacy education and is currently an independent researcher, author, and educational consultant.

Over the next few months, our guests will include:

• October 17^th —Dr. Tim Rasinski, Kent State University, Overcoming Problems of Reading Fluency
• October 24^th —Susan Orloff, OTR/L, Occupational Therapist, Learning Re-Enabled
• October 31^st —Dr. Nancy Padak, Kent State University, Helping Your Children Overcome Reading Problems
• Dr. Richard Boon, University of Georgia, Helping Teenagers Improve Their Reading
• Dr. Erica Lembke, University of Missouri, Monitoring Your Child’s Progress
• Dr. Patrick McCabe, Mercy College, Developing the Confidence of Struggling Learners
• Staci Greenwald, Special Education Attorney, The Pro’s and Con’s of Public and Private School Programs
• Dr. Annmarie Urso, State University of New York at Geneseo, How Response-To-Intervention ( RTI) Can Unlock Your Child’s Potential

If possible, look at the Special Needs Talk Radio’s website (http://specialneedstalkradio.com/). See how its many experts can help you help the children and youth you care about.

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Parents often ask us for the names of experts to evaluate their children or help them develop Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Often, these requests come from parts of the country with which we’re unfamiliar. In such situations, we generally make these suggestions:

• Check who teaches the relevant graduate courses at your local university. For example, if you want an expert to evaluate your child’s reading problems, check the university’s catalog and course schedule to see who teaches courses on the evaluation of reading problems. If you want an expert to evaluate your child’s problems with mathematics, check who teaches such courses. Call these experts (often professors) to get a sense of their personality, professionalism, values, availability, and fees. If they can’t offer their services, ask them for recommendations.
• Check if local universities have clinics that specialize in your child’s problem, such as a reading clinic, a learning disabilities clinic, a behavioral difficulties clinic, a counseling center.
• Review electronic databases of journal articles, such as EBSCO. Databases are often available through libraries. Search them for relevant terms, such as “reading disabilities + evaluation” if you’re seeking an expert to evaluate your child’s reading problems. Read several recent articles. Then call the authors of those you liked, even if they’re a thousand miles away. Briefly discuss their articles and your child’s difficulties; ask if they can recommend experts within 50-miles of your home. It’s a small world: After a few calls, you may get several names.
• Check book reviews on www.amazon.com and www.bn.com. If possible, read at least 10 reviews. Call the authors of the well-reviewed books. They may know experts near you.
• Ask parents of children with similar problems. Ask who they would recommend, would not recommend, and why. If they used the expert they’re recommending, and you think they would be willing, ask to see a copy of their expert’s report or the IEP she helped write. See if several people recommend the same expert.
• Ask your child’s doctors. If they make a recommendation, ask what experiences they had with the expert they’re recommending.

Once you have the names of experts, interview them. Assess their knowledge, openness, availability willingness to listen, and interest in helping. Ask about their fees. Ask to see samples of their reports or IEPs (with names omitted). Ask how they conduct evaluations or help to develop IEPs and how, if needed, they’ll follow up.

Before interviewing experts, learn what a quality evaluation or IEP should look like. For information on reading evaluations, read chapter 5 of Reading Disabilities: Beating the Odds (www.reading2008.com). For information on developing IEPs, read chapters 8 through 13.

Are these suggestions foolproof? No. But they can help you find experts who will make a positive difference in your child’s life.

If you have other ideas about finding experts, please put them in a comment on our blog. Your ideas may help our readers.

Howard Margolis © Reading2008 & Beyond

howard@reading2008.com

www.reading2008.com

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The Special Needs Talk Radio Network: It’s On The Air

The new Special Needs Talk Radio network (http://specialneedstalkradio.com/) is on the air. Each of its six shows is dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth with special needs and their families.

Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and I host Maximizing Your Child’s Potential (Mondays, 9 PM – 9:30 PM EST, http://specialneedstalkradio.com/maximizing-your-childs-potential).

Tonight, Monday, October 3^rd, our guest will be Dr. John Pellitteri of the City University of New York. Dr. Pellitteri will discuss, Strengthening Your Child’s Emotional Intelligence.

Over the next few months, our guests will include:

• October 10^th —Dr. J. Richard Gentry, Educational Consultant, Raising Confident Readers: Birth and Beyond
• October 17^th —Dr. Tim Rasinski, Kent State University, Overcoming Problems of Reading Fluency
• October 24^th —Susan Orloff, OTR/L, Occupational Therapist, Learning Re-Enabled
• October 31^st —Dr. Nancy Padak, Kent State University, Helping Your Children Overcome Reading Problems
• Dr. Richard Boon, University of Georgia, Helping Teenagers Improve Their Reading
• Dr. Erica Lembke, University of Missouri, Monitoring Your Child’s Progress
• Dr. Patrick McCabe, Mercy College, Developing the Confidence of Struggling Learners
• Staci Greenwald, Special Education Attorney, The Pro’s and Con’s of Public and Private School Programs
• Dr. Annmarie Urso, State University of New York at Geneseo, How Response-To-Intervention ( RTI) Can Unlock Your Child’s Potential

If possible, look at the Special Needs Talk Radio’s website (http://specialneedstalkradio.com/). See how its many experts can help you help the children and youth you care about.

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

Whatever your child’s academic achievement, he’s unlikely to get a quality college education unless you have limitless buckets of $100 bills. Why? Like public schools, public community colleges and universities are financially starving. Soaring tuition cannot compensate for decades of moribund state funding.  This will hurt your child and add to America’s soaring poverty. As Tamar Lewin wrote in the New York Times:

While tuition has risen at public and private institutions alike, the inequality between the two sectors has grown, as the public colleges’ increased tuition revenues have not been nearly enough to make up for their loss of state and local appropriations. …

‘If you’re trying to explain to a parent where the money’s going, it’s going into a big hole,’ Ms. Wellman said. ‘Tuition increases are making up for less than half, on average, of what institutions lost in state funds’ ….

Experts in higher education say it is difficult to imagine the nation’s returning to its former position of having the best-educated work force as long as the community colleges that educate the largest share of the population are the worst-financed sector.

The headline of Tamar Lewin’s other story helped to complete the picture: Student Loan Default Rates Rise Sharply in Past Year.

Because Abraham Lincoln saw the need for universal education and great public universities, he signed what his predecessor vetoed, the College Land Grant Act of 1862. As he had previously written:

Upon the subject of education, [I] … can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in. (Burton)

Seeing how America has abandoned education—in all but bumper stickers, mindless political rhetoric, and draconian budget cuts—he would shudder at its disregard for its children and its future. Even during the carnage of the Civil War, he understood that without strong, ongoing investment in education, American and its people would suffer irreparably.

So here are  two questions for you: Will you take political action to rectify America’s abandonment of public education? If so, what action? Your child’s future may well depend on it.

Please feel free to comment on this post. We welcome disagreement that’s civil and factual.

References

Butron, V. (undated). Lincoln and the Founding of “Democracy Colleges.”  Retrieved 9/15/2011, from http://www.las.illinois.edu/news/lincoln/landgrant/

Lewin, T. (2011 September 14). Spending Inequity in Colleges Has Risen. Retrieved 9/15/2011, from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/education/14delta.html?_r=1&ref=education

Lewin, T. (2011 September 13). Student Loan Default Rates Rise Sharply in Past Year. Retrieved 9/15/2011, from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/education/13loans.html?ref=education.

Howard Margolis © Reading2008 & Beyond

Howard@reading2008.com

www.reading2008.com

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The Special Needs Talk Radio Network: It’s On The Air

The new Special Needs Talk Radio network (http://specialneedstalkradio.com/ ) is on the air. Each of its six shows is dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth with special needs and their families.

Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and I host Maximizing Your Child’s Potential (Mondays, 9 PM – 9:30 PM EST, http://specialneedstalkradio.com/maximizing-your-childs-potential).

This coming Monday, September 19^th, our guest will be Dr. Steven Lange, Child and Adolescent Psychologist. He’ll discuss how to solve a problem that schools and learning experts often ignore, but shouldn’t, a problem that can hurt learning, hurt potential, hurt families. He’ll discuss Helping Children Overcome Sleep Problems.

Over the next few months, our guests will include:

• Dr. Richard Selznick, Cooper University Hospital, Helping the Shut-Down Learner
• Dr. John Pellitteri, City University of New York, Strengthening Your Child’s Emotional Intelligence
• Dr. Tim Rasinski, Kent State University, Overcoming Problems of Reading Fluency
• Dr. Nancy Padak, Kent State University, Helping Your Children Overcome Reading Problems
• Dr. Richard Boon, University of Georgia, Helping Teenagers Improve Their Reading
• Dr. Erica Lembke, University of Missouri, Monitoring Your Child’s Progress
• Dr. Patrick McCabe, Mercy College, Developing the Confidence of Struggling Learners
• Staci Greenwald, Special Education Attorney, The Pro’s and Con’s of Public and Private School Programs
• Dr. J. Richard Gentry, Educational Consultant, Raising Confident Readers: Birth and Beyond

If possible, look at the Special Needs Talk Radio’s website (http://specialneedstalkradio.com/). See how its lineup of experts can help you help the children and youth you care about.

A Blog by Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and Dr. Howard Margolis

 Cheri wrote

This morning, Cheri wrote: “Is there anything for Adults with LD? I hear so much about children, children, children, but those children with LD are going to grow up to Adults with LD and in my opinion it gets harder as an adult with LD. By no means am I saying it’s not hard for children/teens/college students with LD I’ve been there, but now it’s EVEN harder, and there is really less support (if any at all) support for ADULTS with LD.”

My Response

Your comments are insightful and troubling. Insightful because the issues you raise are real and important. Troubling because few services exist for adults with learning disabilities. This year, Republicans in the House of Representatives worked to cut the few-cents-per-person the nation spends on adult literacy and learning disabilities. Most services, when they exist, are offered by underfunded volunteer and charity organizations, such as the Literacy Volunteers of America and Learning Ally (previously named Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic).

Learning how to use technology is one strategy that can help many adults with learning disabilities. For example, inexpensive software programs like Text Aloud can read electronic files aloud; several free programs do the same. Audio books can help, as long as the concepts are not too complex. E-readers and Kindle can help, as long as the books and files allow the reader to read the file aloud.  Speech-to-text software, like the software I’m using to write this response, can help with spelling, handwriting, muscle fatigue, and spinal problems. (I use the basic version of NaturallySpeaking 11; it’s a good program with terrible support from Nuance, the manufacturer.)

Another strategy is for adults with learning disabilities to have friends who understand their needs, who don’t feel sorry for them, who respect them, and will help them. This requires adults with learning disabilities to first explain their needs to their friends and then explain how to meet them. Sometimes, the adult with learning disabilities may have to repeat this conversation several times and provide feedback, as well as get and discuss feedback from friends. The process takes time, but can yield great benefit and strengthen friendships.

Unfortunately, many adults with learning disabilities try to hide their disabilities, which often results in their being blamed, not supported, for their inability to do what other people expect them to do. If they don’t do what others expect, they’re often thought of as malingerers. To prevent this, it’s important for adults with learning disabilities to identify their disabilities, rather than trying to hide them. Trying to hide a disability usually backfires.

In just about every case I can remember, it’s important for children and adults with learning disabilities to get a highly competent, insightful diagnosis of their disabilities and to selectively share it with empathetic people who want to understand and help. In any case, having a disability is a difficult journey that can leave scars, but can also create feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment. For some adults with learning disabilities, one key to satisfaction and accomplishment is to understand their abilities and their joys, and use this knowledge to help other people. For example, a person with learning disabilities might be an excellent listener and problem solver, who could listen to their friends in ways that help them solve their problems. Or an adult with learning disabilities might read at a fifth grade level, which is enough to help a struggling first grader become a proficient reader.

Another key to developing feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment is not to define yourself by your disability, but to understand that it’s part—a small part—of who you are. How do I know this? For almost seven decades (yes, seven), I’ve stuttered. For all of my public school life, I had intensive speech therapy, sometimes five days a week. And yet, for most of my adult life, I’ve made my living as a speaker. Do I still stutter? Yes. Does it sometimes bother me? Yes. Will I let it define me or stop me? No. Why? It’s only a small part of me. And I need to focus on what I can do, and what I can offer, not on what I struggle with.

Long term, the answer is focused, persistent political action to get the services and supports that adults with learning disabilities need. This is not selfish. It helps people, it helps the economy, it helps the country.

A Request

If you have ideas on how to help adults with learning disabilities, please share your ideas. No doubt many people share Cheri’s concerns and no doubt may people have greater understanding of how to help adults with learning disabilities than  I do.

Howard Margolis © Reading2008 & Beyond

www.reading2008.com

howard@reading2008.com

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Special Needs Talk Radio Network: Launching Tomorrow, September 6th

On Tuesday, September 6, the new Special Needs Talk Radio network (http://specialneedstalkradio.com/ ) will launch six new radio shows.  Each show is dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth with special needs and their families.

On Monday evenings, staring September 12, Dr. Gary G. Brannigan and I will host Maximizing Your Child’s Potential (9 PM – 9:30 PM EST, http://specialneedstalkradio.com/maximizing-your-childs-potential).

Future guests on our show will include:

• Dr. Steven Lange, Child and Adolescent Psychologist, Helping Children Overcome Sleep Problems
• Dr. Richard Selznick, Cooper University Hospital, Helping the Shut-Down Learner
• Dr. John Pellitteri, City University of New York, Strengthening Your Child’s Emotional Intelligence
• Dr. Tim Rasinski, Kent State University, Overcoming Problems of Reading Fluency
• Dr. Nancy Padak, Kent State University, Helping Your Children Overcome Reading Problems
• Dr. Richard Boon, University of Georgia, Helping Teenagers Improve Their Reading
• Dr. Erica Lembke, University of Missouri, Monitoring Your Child’s Progress
• Dr. Patrick McCabe, Mercy College, Developing the Confidence of Struggling Learners
• Staci Greenwald, Special Education Attorney, The Pro’s and Con’s of Public and Private School Programs
• Dr. J. Richard Gentry, Educational Consultant, Raising Confident Readers: Birth and Beyond

If possible, look at the Special Needs Talk Radio’s website (http://specialneedstalkradio.com/). See how its lineup of experts can help you help the children and youth you care about