It Takes Patience to be a Parent

We suspect that more than a few graduates -- from kindergarten through college -- received a copy of the 1990 book by Dr. Seuss (the late Theodor Seuss Geisel), Oh the Places You'll Go!, as a graduation gift. It's an inspiring rhyming promise of what lies ahead for a young person moving on in life, with the terrific Seuss illustrations that can't help but make you smile. And, of course, it's very silly while sending the sometimes serious message that life is not without its pitfalls. If you haven't gotten a copy as a gift or thumbed through it in a book store -- or online --  to mark a graduation or other milestone, it's worth doing.

We recently were reminded both of this book, and of the virtue of patience for parents, when we came across a copy of the book that we had bought not long after it was published and gave to a teenage boy we know to mark his 13th birthday. It was not the only gift he received, but it was the only one he complained about, noting how dumb it was to give a Dr. Seuss book to a teenager, and how it was even dumber that we inscribed the book with our heartfelt hopes for his future. Parents of teenagers know that they can sometimes do nothing right and wonder how long that state of affairs will last. We can't predict the timetable for every family, and we know that most teenagers gradually come to appreciate at least some aspects of their parents as they leave adolescence.

We had found the book while helping the young man who received it to move after completing graduate school. He picked it up and showed it to us and asked if we remembered giving it to him. "Of course," we replied. "And you weren't very happy about it."

He looked sheepish for just a fleeting moment, and then said, "Well, I guess I really am a grown-up. I found it while I was packing and re-read it, including the note you wrote in the beginning. It brought a tear to my eye. I guess I was too young to appreciate it, but I certainly do now."

Parenting takes patience.

Mobile Phone Dilemma

A new report from the Committee on the Environment, Agriculture and Local and Regional Affairs of the Council of Europe, an influential body representing 47 European countries, has raised significant concerns about the safety of cell phone use among children and teens.

The committee urged immediate action to ban all mobile phones and wireless networks in schools and to set thresholds for levels of microwaves emitted by mobile phones. The Committee noted that "waiting for high levels of scientific and clinical proof can lead to very high health and economic costs, as was the case in the past with asbestos, leaded petrol and tobacco." The report also raised concerns about such other common items as baby monitors and wireless internet networks. It makes clear that although "safe" exposure levels exist at the present time, preliminary research indicates that levels below these current thresholds have the potential for hazardous biologic impacts on humans, particularly among children.

Even assuming that parents can or would limit cell phone use by their children, Wi-Fi networks are ubiquitous, not just in schools, but in office buildings, train stations, buses, and parks, to name just a few locations. Here at The Yellin Center, we have a wireless network for both our staff and visitors and have no plans at the present time to disable it. But, as the technology we use every day becomes more sophisticated, all of us, especially parents and those working with children, need to stay on top the latest research on the long-term impact of this technology.

This alarming report adds one more dimension to a very practical issue that parents and schools have been grappling with for some time -- cell phone use by students. Most schools now ban cell phone use in their buildings, but more extensive bans, such as the one in New York City that bans students from having a cell phone on their person when they enter school, even if it is kept in a bag or their locker during the school day, raise some practical concerns for students, parents, and teachers.

As one New York City high school teacher explained to us, "I am really of two minds about the ban on phones. As a teacher, I know that even if the phones were in their backpacks, students would be using them during class and they would be a constant distraction. Teaching in a cell phone free environment is definitely the way to go. But my students come from all over the city, some traveling by bus or subway. I worry about them when they leave the building and I know their parents want to be able to monitor them as they travel to and from school. So the convenience store on the corner has set up a system to allow student to check their phones for $1 per day. That's $5 a week to allow the students to travel safely, and that's money my kids really can't afford. There has got to be a better system."


Photo used under Creative Commons by Dru Bloomfield

Anxiety and Gender Issues in Math Education

A survey of studies looking at math anxiety and how it relates to math learning appeared in a recent issue of Education Week. The article built on information from the Learning and the Brain Conference held in Chicago in early May of this year where Sian L. Beilock, a professor of psychology from the University of Chicago, was a featured speaker. Dr. Beilock and her colleagues look at how emotions, such as anxiety, affect complex cognitive skills, such as solving mathematical problems.

Like so much of learning, math anxiety has several different aspects. One is the social acceptability of math difficulties, since many people will readily confess to "being terrible at math" but would not make the same kind of admission about another academic skill, such as reading. There are also gender issues, with female elementary school students being more likely to have difficulties with math if their female teachers have some anxiety about math themselves. This is particularly important because the vast majority of elementary school teachers are female; of note, this finding does not apply to male students.

Other findings noted in the Education Week article include documented changes in the prefrontal cortex of the brain (which controls active working memory, a key function for math calculations) when students are faced with even such minor anxiety provoking stimuli as a picture of a frowning face. Math anxiety can also diminish a student's number sense, a part of sequencing, making the anxious student less likely to be able to quickly determine which of two numbers is larger.

As groups such as the STEM Education Coalition work to raise awareness about "the critical role that STEM  education [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] plays in enabling the U.S. to remain the economic and technological leader of the global marketplace of the 21st century," it is important to be aware of such barriers to math competence and enjoyment as anxiety and gender issues so that more students, boys and girls, can enjoy and succeed in math and related fields.

Helpful Tips for Students from Google Student Blog

Google Student Blog is a nice resource for mature, tech-savvy students in grades 8-12, college, grad school, and beyond. The blog, along with its corresponding Twitter feed, @googlestudents, is rich with interesting tips and content geared directly toward students.

Often, tips focus on how to leverage Google's array of products for educational purposes -- most of them completely free of charge for personal use; this week, however, @googlestudents has been sharing some of the best and most popular study tips they have collected from student readers of the feed and the blog for upcoming end-of-year exams and finals.

While some of these may seem obvious, we often forget that identifying and consistently utilizing simple strategies for studying can make a big difference in many instances. Here are a few of our recent favorites:

High School Diplomas

As graduations loom, the issue of high school diplomas has come up in several forums. Our colleagues at Wrightslaw have dedicated their latest newsletter to reminding families to be mindful of the kind of diploma their child is on track to receive. They discuss the importance of obtaining a regular high school diploma if a student will want to attend any level of college. They also include a link to a terrific review of national policy and practice on this issue which appeared in a recent issue of the National PTA Magazine.

Meanwhile, here in New York, the New York State Board of Regents, which sets the rules state-wide for education policy, has just issued new rules clarifying diploma options for students at all ability levels.

As far back as we can remember, New York has offered an academic high school diploma, the Regents diploma, which signified that a student graduating high school met particular standards in a specific roster of courses. Students who did not pass the required number of Regents examinations (and passing the exam was a required part of passing the Regents course itself) could still graduate with a local diploma, but would not be eligible for Regents scholarships, which could offset some of the tuition in colleges located within the State and which signified that the student met a high standard of academic performance.

For the past number of years, in a laudable effort to raise the academic standards of high school students throughout the State, a push has been on to require ALL high school graduates from New York State public schools to receive a Regents diploma in order to graduate. The problem is that such a "one size fits all" standard doesn't recognize the realities of the State's diverse student population. For high achieving students, the Regents curriculum and accompanying exams are secondary challenges to the Advanced Placement coursework and exams. These high achieving students can earn a Regents Diploma with Advanced Standing or Honors. For students with very profound cognitive or other disabilities, an IEP "diploma" -- in reality a certificate of completion of the goals set out on the student's IEP -- may be a reasonable goal. But for a number of students with mild to moderate learning challenges that make Regents level courses and exams a real barrier, needing to pass these exams has been a significant hurdle.

New York has responded by postponing the implementation of an across-the-board Regents exam requirement, and permitting Regents Competency Tests (RCTs) for students with disabilities who could not pass the regular Regents exams. Now, the New York State Board of Regents has just announced that "the option to take the RCTs will not be available for any student entering grade 9 beginning in September 2011 and thereafter." After this cut off date, students with disabilities who pass Regents exams with a grade of 55-64 can receive a local diploma and all students will have the option to appeal their Regents scores and re-take Regents exams, with some limits.

Families and students in all states need to start planning early to consider what kind of diploma a student will seek to obtain, and what the options are if some of the courses or exams required for such a diploma are problematic for such students. Since an IEP "diploma" can limit post high school options, like admission to colleges and some tuition loans, students need to work towards the highest level diploma that they are capable of reaching.

Protecting Children from Gun Violence

Our colleagues at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have been working for years to ensure the safety of children in countless ways -- by advocating for such fundamental safety issues as automobile car seats, bike helmets, prevention of sports injuries, and avoiding dog bites -- just to name a few issues. Now, they and the pediatricians and family physicians who care for children, are under fire (pun intentional!) from the State of Florida, for promoting gun safety.

Let's be very clear about what is going on here. There is no action proposed by the AAP or its gun safety partners to limit gun ownership. There is a strong move to have parents ASK if there is a gun present in a home where their children play. Think about it. Even if you can control what goes on in your own home, what about your child's friend down the street? Might there be a gun in that household? And, if so, is it properly secured so that it is impossible for children to find it, and use it? Wouldn't you want someone offering advice on that issue to other parents?

The Florida House of Representatives and Senate have both passed a bill that would prohibit physicians from asking parents about whether there are guns in their homes, if that could in any way be considered "harassment." The question, when asked by a pediatrician or family physician, can open the topic of gun safety and allow the doctor to counsel the parent about what is needed to make sure that their own and other people's children are kept safe. Proponents of the bill, which is expected to be signed shortly by Governor Rick Scott, believe it is needed to prohibit doctors from recording which of their patients own guns and from refusing to accept patients into their practices who won't discuss gun safety issues. The numerous opponents of the law, including the AAP and Pax, which partners with the AAP to raise awareness of gun safety concerns, point to limits on a physician's judgment, freedom of speech issues, and the appalling number of children injured or killed by playing with guns found in their home or another house at which they play.

The statistics are staggering. According to research from the last decade compiled by PAX:

• Nearly 1.7 million children, under the age of 18, live in homes with firearms that are both loaded and unlocked in the United States
• Over 40% of American households with children have guns
• 8 children and teens were killed by firearms every day in 2006

We are deeply concerned about this effort to keep doctors from doing their primary job -- keeping our children safe.

Life After High School Wins Bronze Medal at IPPY Awards

Congratulations to our own Susan Yellin on winning a bronze medal in the 2011 IPPY Awards.

We've just learned that Susan's recent book, Life After High School: A Guide for Students With Disabilities and Their Families (co-authored with Christina Cacioppo Bertsch) tied for bronze in the Education/Academic/Teaching category of the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Read more about the book here.