Reading Fluency

Our colleagues at the nonprofit Center for Learning Differences just sent out their Winter newsletter, which features an article by Yellin Center Learning Specialist Valarie Algee, M.Ed. on Reading Fluency.

Mrs. Algee shares tips from  her extensive experience as a reading resource teacher, a literacy coach, and a writing instructor to explain how fluency is the link between decoding and comprehension and how parents can help their child become more fluent readers.

While we are mentioning the Center for Learning Differences, we think educators will find their website section with resources for teachers to be full of helpful books and websites to help teach children with learning difficulties.

Educating Parents

Whether you are just beginning the process of seeking services for your child who learns differently, or whether you are an old hand, with drawers full of files, reports, and IEPs, you may find that you wished you knew more about how to advocate for your child. There are a number of resources that provide programs aimed at helping parents understand the laws that apply to their children and to advocate for their childrens' educational needs.

The Technical Assistance ALLIANCE for Parent Centers is by the funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). It includes state-by-state listings of Parent Training and Information Centers . To give you an idea of some of the resources these Centers provide, take a look at the offerings from two New York City organizations we have mentioned before -- Advocates for Children (which will offer their workshops to schools and community groups) and Resources for Children with Special Needs (which has scheduled programs on different topics throughout New York City). There is no charge for these programs.

Other parent training programs are available, for a fee, through private companies. These include Wrightslaw, which is a resource we have mentioned before for helpful information on special education and related issues. The more you know, the better you will be prepared to deal with issues surrounding your child's education.

Financial Aid Resources

It's the season when high school seniors have completed their college applications and (except for those who have their next few years set via early acceptance) are anxiously awaiting for word from their chosen schools. For many students, the thick envelope with enrollment forms is not going to be enough; they will also need substantial financial aid to pay their way through their college education.

For any student even considering applying for financial aid, the first stop after submitting your applications for admission should be the website of FAFSA - the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Since FAFSA forms can be submitted any time after January 1st, you should waste no time in getting moving on your financial aid application. Families should be aware that the form requests information that may not be fully available to you -- or fully calculated -- until you prepare your 2009 tax returns, for submission by April, 2010. Try to pull your financial information together as soon as possible. Even when parents will not be paying for college, students will generally need to include information on their parents' income and assets.

For students with learning differences, there is another important stop on the web. The Heath Resource Center at George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development, in Washington, D.C. is a rich source of information for students with disabilities moving from high school to college. Their work extends to all kinds of disabilities, not just learning difficulties, but their depth of information on transition, financial aid, and other issues makes them a valuable resource for all students. They explain all different kinds of financial aid and include lists of scholarship resources. It's definitely worth a visit.

National Handwriting Day

Tomorrow, January 23, 2010, is National Handwriting Day. While the "holiday" may have been created in the 1970's by the writing-instrument manufacturing community, National Handwriting Day remains a great opportunity to remind students and parents about the importance and value of strengthening penmanship skills.

According to the American Federation of Teachers, “students’ sentence-writing skills, the amount they write, and the quality of their writing all improve along with their handwriting.”

Here are a few links to interesting Handwriting Day activity ideas:

• How to Celebrate National Handwriting Day
• Templates and Activity Ideas from Crayola
• Pentel's National Handwriting Day Contest
• Activity Handouts from TeacherVision

Happy National Handwriting Day!

(Photo credit: Caitlinator via Flickr) 

Have You Met ERIC?

Parents, educators, and clinicians are all aware that the world of education is in a state of enormous experimention and change. New technologies, new kinds of schools (think charter schools, for example) and new understandings of how the brain develops and works are all areas where scientists, educators, and researchers have been working and writing about their innovations and findings.

Some of these innovations and findings are well publicized. Others appear in niche journals or even less accessible forms such as papers published by universities. Finding the latest and best information is not always an easy task, even with the amazing tools available on the internet.

This is where ERIC can help. ERIC stands for Education Resources Information Center. It is sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. ERIC contains innumerable articles, reports, and journals relating to education and educational practices. Most articles are available for immediate download in pdf format. For those that are not available in that format, the site gives information as to where to get the full article. For those who are interested in reading about what is going on in the world of education, ERIC is a valuable resource.

The Wheels on the Bus....

A recent conversation about the threatened budget cuts that would eliminate free transit passes for New York City school children this coming spring reminded us about the broader issue of student transportation. Whether New York City gets its fiscal act together to continue the long standing practice of providing school children with Metrocards that allow students to travel between home and school, or whether parents will be hit with the substantial expense of paying for their childrens' rides, remains unresolved at the present.

But another transportation issue comes up from time to time with the families we see. Students who learn differently sometimes benefit from attending a private school with specfic supports for their learning issues. Whether students are placed in a private school by their district, which has determined that the public school system cannot provide an appropriate education, or whether the student has been enrolled by his parents, who are seeking a better educational setting than they believe the public school can provide, the rules for transportation are the same. If a student needs transportation to access the private school, it should be provided as a "related service" under the IDEA (The Individuals with Disabilties Education Act). In New York State outside of city districts, schools are generally not required to provide transportation for a regular nonpublic school  that is more than 15 miles from a student's residence. For students with disabilities, transportation is generally provided for attendence at private schools within 50 miles of a student's residence. Families seeking transportation to private schools are required to give notice by April 1st of the year preceding the one in which transport will be required.

Even parents who unilaterally place their children in private, special education settings which they intend to pay for out of their own pocket may want to consider obtaining an IEP under the IDEA that provides for transportation services. It can be a real benefit to families to have the public school district provide this expensive and important service. And remember, for students in private schools it is the district where the school is located, rather than the district where the student resides, which is the district responsible for developing the IEP.

Friday Links

Assistive Technology Effective as a Special Education Intervention, Study Says (On Special Education)
Disconnect Between Brain Regions in ADHD (U.C.-Davis)
Special-Ed Funds Redirected (Wall St. Journal)
Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Set Children's Reading Skills on Negative Course (Science Daily)
Do You Overestimate Your Child’s Activity? (NY Times)
(Photo: bonnie-brown via Flickr)