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Giftedness and Exceptionalities in the News

 

THE BIG LEGAL EVENT OF MAY. If you have a child with an LD and you need to go to court to challenge your school district over your child's IEP, you may represent yourself without a lawyer, according to a US Supreme Court decision on May 21 in the case of Winkleman v Parma City School District. Find more information at Wrightslaw or in the New York Times.

 

DYSLEXIA FRIENDLY. An article published at ic.Network.com.uk describes how the Stockton Primary School has gained the "Dyslexia Friendly Schools Quality Mark" from the British Dyslexia Association. According to the article, the school has made what we assume are AlphaSmart-type keyboards easily available to students for writing, along with other changes, which has led to more accomplishment and greater self-esteem in students.

 

SICKOS. USA Today reported on a study of American attitudes toward mental health problems in children illustrating what the study's author called "misconceptions." For example: 40 percent of those responding to the survey believe that children with depression are dangerous to others, and 31 percent believe that kids with AD/HD would be dangerous. Many respondents also believe that a child in treatment for mental illness would be stigmatized. And more than half think that psychiatric medications turn kids into zombies.

 

BUT YOU ALREADY KNEW THIS. A graduate student at Cornell University used data from the American Time Use Survey to determine that first-born children receive 20 to 30 minutes more quality time per day from parents than second-born children in the family at the same age. Read it.

 

LEARNING DIFFICULTIES IN COLLEGE. On May 9, EdNews interviewed an advocate for college students with special needs, including those with Asperger's, AD/HD, and vision and hearing problems. Louis Geigerman contends that students usually receive inadequate transition planning. He notes that rather than using IDEA (which has an age limit), college students must use Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He believes that college and university instructors should, at a minimum, "have a working knowledge of the disability to the extent that it affects the accommodations that have been approved." Article here. Geigerman's website here.

 

FEEL-GOOD STORY. The Kansas City Star reported the epilogue of a special needs teacher in her last days remembering Johnny, a student she had worked with in the 1960s, a "7-year-old who was brilliant with numbers and had intense awareness of his world but who couldn't read and could hardly speak." The teacher, Lois Mayes, was a pioneer in LD education. As it turned out, Johnny had graduated from college and worked for the postal service. Last month he showed up at the visitation for Lois Mayes' funeral after the Star had run an article featuring Mayes' work and recollections mentioning the long-ago Johnny whose last name she couldn't remember.

 

MEMORIES ARE MADE WITH THIS. Can a computer program help kids with AD/HD improve working memory? The Chicago Tribune reported on Cogmed Working Memory Training, which uses "video game software on an engaging robotic interface." The program is now available in the United States after being previously offered in Europe, where 80% of adults and children who completed the training improved attention, impulse control, problem-solving skills, and academic performance, according to the article. [David Rabiner also mentions the software in his current Attention Research Update.]

 

NIH STUDY. Yes, there are gender differences in cognitive function, but they're more limited than previously thought. And yes, income does affect cognitive performance -- but less than expected when only healthy children are considered. And while basic cognitive skills steadily improve in middle childhood, they then seem to level off -- questioning the idea of a burst of brain development in adolescence. These findings are the first data to emerge from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) MRI Study of Normal Brain Development, a large, population-based study that began in 1999 and is documenting structural brain development and behavior from birth to young adulthood. Read the rest of the press release from Children's Hospital Boston here.

 

FINGER IT OUT. Quick: A study at the University of Bath in the UK showed that the results of numeracy and literacy tests for seven-year-old children could be predicted by which of the following? Brain mass; parental IQ; household income; or finger length. Well, this particular study indicates that finger length, specifically the ratio of the length of the index and ring fingers, is predictive of higher performance. Furthermore, the study leaders hypothesize that levels of testosterone and estrogen in the womb may affect both finger length and brain development. Read what the U of Bath has to say.

 

RATE YOUR STATE. The United State Census Bureau announced spending on children's education by state on May 24. The highest spending state: New York, at $14,119 per student for 2005. The lowest: Utah, at $5,257. Information and details here.

 

Note: Some of these news items came to our attention through ScienceDaily and CEC SmartBriefs.

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Attention Research Update. The May issue reviews a study on the use of omega-3 fatty acid diet supplementation as a treatment for children with high levels of AD/HD symptoms, an approach Rabiner called "a promising intervention" and which led to improvement in parents' ratings of their children's behaviors (but not in teachers' ratings). Read it. (The article may not be posted yet.) Also in this issue: Rabiner comments on Cogmed's working memory training, recently introduced into the United States.

 

Duke Gifted Newsletter. One article in the May edition dealt with the transition from elementary to middle school and offered tips for parents on easing this transition.

Gifted Resources Newsletter. In May, Jo Freitag announced an addition to her website: an evolving collection of short biographies of people who have influenced understanding of or provided service in the field of giftedness. Called Biorama, the feature offers a list of names and pointers to bios, and Freitag encourages suggestions for others who should be listed.

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