The Kildonan School

The Kildonan School, a day and boarding school for students with dyslexia and language based learning differences, located about two hours north of New York City, welcomed Dr. Paul Yellin and Susan Yellin, Esq. (who directs the Yellin Center Advocacy and Transition Services) for a day-long visit yesterday.

Our team had a chance to meet with several members of the school's leadership, from the Headmaster to the heads of the middle and elementary programs, and to sit in on a number of one-on-one instructional sessions in which students worked intensively with skilled instructors, who employed Orton-Gillingham methodology as well as amazingly creative visual and computer based tools to assist students who clearly had significant issues with reading and language. The Yellin Center visitors also got to sit in on a middle school math class and watch how the school's seventh graders were taught about decimals.

The beautiful rural setting of the school includes stables (horseback riding is part of the program from the earliest grades) and views of rolling hills and trees. A new athletic facility greets visitors entering the grounds, and separate buildings house each level of the school -- elementary, middle, and upper.

The students our team met were most impressive. They were mature for their years, serious about learning, and enthusiastic about their school and all it had done for them. Over a delicious lunch in the school dining room, a group of juniors and seniors talked about their difficult experiences before they came to Kildonan and how  their Kildonan education had helped bring about a transformation in their academics, their self-esteem, and their confidence about their future. The Kildonan staff believes that by focusing on students with dyslexia and language based learning issues, they can best serve those students who will benefit from their approach. They actively seek sources of scholarships to help offset tuition for those who need it but remain concerned that the cost of a Kildonan education is an issue for many families.

The day finished with a terrific dinner with the heads of the middle and elementary divisions, as well as the Academic Dean and one of the teachers. Much of the school's leadership and staff reside on the school grounds, and the dedication of the staff was clear, both throughout the day and into the evening discussions about ways to assist Kildonan graduates with their transition to college and the adult world.

Focusing on College Issues

Yesterday's New York Times was a rich source of information for college bound students and their families.

An essay by Caren Osten Gerszberg, originally appearing in the Times Choice Blog, an ongoing feature dedicated to college admissions and financial aid, was included in the print edition along with comments from readers. Gerszberg wrote about the problems with the Common Application and the difficulty uploading essays and fitting them into the strict format and limits of the online forms. Her daughter had neglected to take all necessary steps to make sure her information was accepted by the Common Application and it went out to a college with part of her short essay missing. Commentators included the Director of Outreach of The Common Application, who noted that the difficulty could have been avoided by using the "preview" feature before pushing the "send" button. Both the essay and the comments provide important guidance to any student working on applications -- online or on paper -- this fall.

Even more informative was an entire special section of Sunday's paper -- which appears regularly several times a year -- called Education Life. This issue included a terrific piece by Abigail Sullivan Moore, titled Accommodations Angst which looked at an issue that we often encounter with the students with whom we work -- when and how to apply for accommodations, particularly extended time, on SAT and ACT exams. The article includes information from a number of experts in the field of education and disabilities, including our esteemed colleagues Matt Cohen, Esq. and Jo Anne Simon, Esq. Matt Cohen is the author of the excellent book, A Guide to Special Education Advocacy, from Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Jo Anne Simon is nationally recognized as an expert in disability discrimination in high stakes standardized testing and higher education. She was also a generous source of guidance for your blogger's new book, with Christina Bertsch, Life After High School: A Guide for Students with Disabilities and Their Families, which contains a complete explanation of the history and administration of the SAT and ACT tests and the laws governing the accommodation process.

Some of the issues covered in the article by Abigail Moore include differences between the College Board, which administers the SAT exam, and the ACT exam, both of which are accepted by virtually all colleges as part of their admissions process. The article notes something we find all the time in practice: students who have been diagnosed or first received accommodations only a year or two before first taking the SAT or ACT exams have a far more difficult time making their case to the testing companies.

It's prime time for applying to college. Most high school seniors have pretty much decided where to apply and are (or should be!) working on applications. Sophomores are watching their older classmates engage in the process of application preparation and juniors are thinking about ways to burnish their records and considering issues relating to standardized tests. Students with and without learning and attention difficulties should find the Education Life section of the Times helpful -- and will also find much information applicable to all students in your blogger's new book.

This is also a good time to remind our readers that consultations with Susan Yellin, Esq. to assist students with learning and other challenges to navigate the college process, are available at The Yellin Center. Contact Mrs. Yellin directly at syellin@yellincenter.com or call our office at 646-775-6646.

Link Roundup

Teens are Still Reading for Fun (Washington Post)
Death to the SAT (Fortune)
White House Takes Stand Against School Bullying (NPR)
Skip Parent-Teacher Conference, Go to Jail? (Time Healthland)
How to Raise a Creative Genius (CNN)



Photo Credit

Vocabulary in Middle School

Researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education have looked at the teaching of vocabulary in middle schools and have noted what parents have also observed -- that while elementary students routinely learn vocabulary words as part of their spelling lessons, and high school students drill intensively in vocabulary as part of their preparation for standardized tests, like the SAT and ACT, there is not much direct vocabulary instruction given to middle school students.

The authors of an article in the October issue of the journal Educational Leadership look at existing research and conclude that " a system of cross-content, whole-school vocabulary instruction can result in better reading comprehension." What do they mean by that? Words that students encounter frequently, in various academic settings, and in somewhat different formats, need to be not just familiar to students, but thoroughly understood. They recommend The Academic Word List as one source of these words - such words as "distribute," "perceive" and "contrast," which students may encounter in such diverse subjects as literature, science, and history. They go on to note that it is important to consider the difficulty and frequency of specific words in an academic context and suggest such online tools as Word Count to help select those words which students might most benefit from studying and understanding. The authors found that students need multiple exposures in these important words, across content areas, to fully understand their meaning. They suggest that vocabulary instruction be limited to only a few words each week, with teachers of different subject matters using the same words (hence the "whole school" aspect of this instruction) and demonstrating that they can take on different meaning from one area of academic study to another.

 For situations where teachers may have difficulty with defining specfic words in a clear enough manner to instruct their classes, the authors suggest such resources as the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. The authors conclude their article with lists of resources to support the instruction of vocabulary in middle schools. Even where schools may not adopt this type of program, parents can implement some of its elements at home.

Friday News

The annual Life After High School Conference sponsored by our colleagues at The Center for Learning Differences, will be held this coming Sunday, October 31st, on the campus of C.W. Post College in Brookville, New York. Representatives from local colleges and national schools such as American University, the University of Arizona SALT Center, and Mitchell College, all with strong supports for students who learn differently, will speak to the audience and be available for individual consultations with students and families. Our own Susan Yellin, Esq. will speak about financial issues for students headed to college and their families, and Dr. Lynda Geller will discuss executive function and organizational issues. More details and registration information are available in the program brochure.

Both Dr. Paul Yellin and Susan Yellin, Esq. (who serves as Director of Advocacy and Transition Services at the Yellin Center) have had proposals accepted by the New York Branch of the International Dyslexia Association for presentation at 38^th Annual Conference on Dyslexia and Related Learning Disabilities to be held in March, 2011 in New York City. Dr. Yellin will be speaking on Learning Differences in High Achieving Students. Mrs. Yellin will be speaking with Christina Bertsch, her co-author of  the new book, Life After High School: A Guide for Students with Disabilities and Their Families. They will be discussing some of the topics covered in their book. 


Apple fans -- the computer kind, not the fall fruit -- might want to check out the new applications for its products that focus on skills for special education. These range from programs on Mac Computers to new applications for iPods and iPhones.

Tomorrow is the wedding day of our Clinic Manager, Jeremy, and former Yellin Center Learning Specialist Meghan, (now a school Principal in New York City). We are delighted to have two of our favorite people getting married and wish them both a lifetime of happiness together!

Teens and Driving

There is no easy way to discuss this topic. Auto accidents are the leading cause of death of American teenagers, killing nearly 6,000 each year. Anything that can reduce this number, and the anguish it represents, is welcome news for parents.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) has long been concerned with the dangers posed by new drivers, who often lack both  judgment and experience. Making things even more difficult is the social aspect of driving, which prompts teens to want to drive with friends in the car, sometimes with music blasting and with other distractions that add to the inherent dangers of operating an almost two ton machine on a road with other vehicles. The AAA has recently launched a new website to provide information to parents to help their children through every step of the driving process, from pre-permit education, through getting a learner's permit, to becoming ready to drive solo. The website is state specific; when you go to the web address it will provide the specific information on the state you are searching from and let you look at information from other states as well. This is particularly useful, because states have taken many steps to make teen driving safer, including graduated licensing and restrictions on when and with whom teens may drive. Of course, state laws are only a minimum standard. Parents can always impose their own rules and restrictions. We know parents who won't give their teens the car keys until they pass Mom's (or Dad's) Road Test, a far tougher test than any state examiner will provide.

By using interactive features and including sections for both parents (on teaching teens to drive) and young people (with lots of bells and whistles to keep the information on driving safely interesting), the website is one more tool in  helping to keep our children safe. 

Implementing RTI - One District's Experience

This past Saturday, Dr. Paul Yellin and two representatives from the Hamilton Central School District in upstate New York, presented to attendees of the New York State School Boards Association Annual Convention in New York City.

Diana Bowers, Superintendent of the Hamilton Schools, outlined the steps her district took together with The Yellin Center and our colleagues at All Kinds of Minds, to move to a Response to Intervention model of addressing students' learning needs well in advance of the New York State deadline for implementing such a program. Response to Intervention, often called RTI, is one way that states such as New York are moving away from such concepts as "normal learner" vs. "learning disabled" and from offering support services only to students whose academic performance is not in line with their scores on standardized tests, such as IQ tests. Instead of the older model of intervention, often called the discrepency or "wait to fail" model, RTI looks at how children who are struggling respond to various academic interventions. If an initial array of classroom supports (Tier I) is shown to be insufficient, the student will move up to Tier II, small group instruction in the areas in which he or she is struggling. If that does not work, the student will be evaluated for a more complete understanding of his or her learning needs and implementation of additional supports and services (Tier III) .

Although many of the initial steps in determining which children are not responding to the general classroom curriculum and differentiating instruction for these children "are what good teachers are doing all the time," Dr. Bowers noted, she also spoke about the need for a unifying approach throughout each school and the entire district. That led her to seek training for her staff from All Kinds of Minds, and eventually led her to inviting Dr. Yellin to work with some of the most complex students in the district, first at our New York City offices and later in Hamilton as part of a week long training of Hamilton staff by The Yellin Center. Dr. Bower's presentation was followed by remarks by Peggy O'Connor, District Coordinator of Special Education, and by a discussion by Dr. Yellin of how the use of the shared vocabulary of learning and an understanding of the ability of the brain to change with appropriate interventions made early recognition of learning challenges so important.

The audience of school superintendents, building principals, and guidance staff was deeply engaged, with lots of discussion, questions and follow-up, many of which were focused on how they can bring the same effective techniques to their own districts.