Smart Kids With LD

While nearly all states currently have laws that prohibit bullying, there is still much work to be done to ensure the safety of all children in the school environment. That’s the conclusion in the Analysis of State Bullying Laws and Policies, the U.S. Department of Education’s report of a yearlong study to assess the status of current state legislation regarding this important issue.

According to the report, only 16 states have enacted legislation specifically aimed at protecting children with disabilities, a segment of the student population that is at high risk for being bullied.

Other key findings as stated in the report’s Executive Summary are:

• Forty-six states have bullying laws and 45 of those laws direct school districts to adopt bullying policies. However, three of the 46 states prohibit bullying without defining the behavior that is prohibited.
• Thirty-six states include provisions in their education codes prohibiting cyberbullying or bullying using electronic media. Thirteen states specify that schools have jurisdiction over off-campus behavior if it creates a hostile school environment.
• Forty-one states have created model bullying policies, 12 of which were not mandated to do so under law. Three other states, including Hawaii, Montana, and Michigan also developed model policies in the absence of state bullying legislation.
• Among the 20 school district bullying policies reviewed in this study, districts located in states with more expansive legislation produced the most expansive school district policies. However, several school districts in states with less expansive laws also substantially expanded the scope and content of their policies beyond the minimum legal expectations.

For more information, access the full report at http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/bullying/state-bullying-laws/state-bullying-laws.pdf

For years we’ve known that there is a genetic component to ADHD, but recent research findings have clarified the connection for a subset of children with the diagnosis. A study by researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found that variations in genes that impact signaling pathways in the brain appear to be linked to ADHD in at least 10 percent of the ADHD patients studied.

In a news release, lead researcher Dr. Hakon Hakonarson said, “Our findings get to the cause of the ADHD symptoms in a subset of children with the disease.”

The findings suggest the potential for developing drug therapies as a treatment option for ADHD patients with these gene variants.

The study was published online in Nature Genetics.

Results of a study published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine show that ADHD medications do not increase the risk for heart attack or stroke in children and young adults.

The findings from this study of more than 1 million participants, ages 2 to 24, may allay the fears of parents and providers alike who have been concerned about possible links between the use of ADHD medications and heart-related problems.

Concerns increased in 2007 when the FDA mandated makers of ADHD medications to alert users of possible cardiac risks. The following year the American Heart Association followed suit, suggesting it was “reasonable” for children and young adults to undergo electrocardiograms prior to prescribing the drugs.

“It was a source of concern and confusion among parents and providers about what the risk might be,” lead researcher William O. Cooper, MD, MPH told WebMD. “We set out to do the new study to try to do our best to answer what I considered to be a critical question. We do know that ADHD drugs increase heart rate and blood pressure, but we don’t know what effect that has in children.”

To find out, the research team reviewed data collected from 1986-2002 from four health plans in various parts of the country. Participants on ADHD medications were matched with non-drug participants.  The results showed that there was no significant increase in risk for those on the drugs compared with those who were not.

Despite the positive findings, WebMD reports that some experts remain skeptical:

“This paper does not settle the question about the safety of ADHD drugs,” says Steven Nissen, MD, chair of cardiovascular medicine at Cleveland Clinic.

The researchers only looked at the most serious problems, Nissen says. He worries about the long-term effects of the drugs. He suggests parents ask for the lowest dose possible if their children need the medications.

To learn more read the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine at http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa111021

By Marcia Brown Rubinstien, MA, CEP

Let’s face it: for most kids gift-getting is the best part of the holidays, while for their parents, the joy of giving brings ultimate pleasure. There’s nothing more fun than watching your child’s face light up as she rips through glittery wrapping to find that special something she absolutely can’t live without—or at least since she saw it advertised on TV last week.

But for those of you who want to augment this year’s must-have item with gifts that will keep on giving, we recommend you take a moment to reflect on ways you can help your child with learning disability or ADHD succeed in school and in life. Here are a few “gift” suggestions to get you started:

1. Time

Don’t get so caught up doing for your child that you forfeit being with your child. Dedicate time to talking, playing, or just being goofy together

2. Advocacy

Make sure he understands and can explain his learning disability—including both his assets and deficits—to those he comes in contact with regularly in school and at extracurricular activities.

3. Safety & Security

Ensure that your child feels protected and not threatened by school, teachers, peers, bullies, or things she can’t describe.

4. Respect

Don’t mollycoddle or treat him like a baby. Praise what he does well, and help him improve the rest. Listen to what he says and respect his insights.

5. Relaxation

Recognize how hard she works every day to compensate for her learning differences. Make sure she has an outlet for R & R, whether it is intellectual, athletic, or both.

6. Independence

Teach him how to perform the basic activities of daily living without you when he’s in a less supervised environment.

7. Self-Esteem

While you’re proud of everything she can do, she probably is focusing on what she can’t do. You can never give too much earned praise to children with learning differences.

8. The Gift of Love

This goes without saying. That’s just the problem—too often it does. Children with LD and ADHD often wonder how parents could love anyone with such obvious flaws.
Tell them. Show them. Love them. You’ll be delighted when this gift is returned in full.

For those of you who have tuned out the mind-numbing political ruckus emanating from our nation’s capital over the past several months, it may be time to tune back in. Your child’s education is at stake, thanks to the failure of the so-called Supercommittee to come to terms on how to reduce the federal budget.

Lack of action from the congressional group tasked with coming up with a plan to cut 1.2 trillion dollars from the budget by late November triggers across-the board cuts due to go into effect in 2013. The Congressional Budget Office projects the education cuts will amount to 7.8% or $3.54 billion.

What does that mean to your child? As Valerie Strauss writes in the Washington Post blog, The Answer Sheet the cuts would include:

• $1.1 billion from Title I, a federal program that provides additional resources to disadvantaged students. This would impact almost 1.5 million students

• $896 million from the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, affecting more than a half-million students, and

• $590 million from Head Start, affecting more than 75,000 young children.

Coupled with deep cuts to education that have already occurred in states throughout the country, the situation is dire. Strauss cites the recent report released by the White House, called “Teacher Jobs at Risk,” that claims “nearly 300,000 educator jobs have been lost since 2008, which accounts for 54% of all job losses in local governments. That is a 7.2 percent drop between 2007-08 and 2010-11. It also warns that some 227,000 more education jobs will be lost next year.”

Maybe it’s time to start paying attention again, and let your representatives know that their inability to compromise has serious, real-life implications for your child’s education.

By Lynn Eastman Rider, M.S.W., M. Div.

For every parent, educator, or student grappling with dyslexia, a vital new book has been added to the toolbox. The Dyslexic Advantage: Unlocking the Hidden Potential of the Dyslexic Brain is the work of Brock and Fernette Eide, both MDs and experts in neuroscience and learning disabilities who have worked with hundreds of individuals with dyslexia and their families. In the process they’ve seen patterns emerge across generations. People with dyslexia who struggle in school are often late bloomers who excel in distinctive fields later in life. The authors attribute this pattern to the dyslexic brain that is now understood by science as simply different, and not defective.

The Eides take that difference one step further and assert that dyslexia is rightfully understood as an advantage.

By detailing the strengths and benefits of this advantage, they hope to shift our attention from fixing problems to unleashing the potential of brains that they assert aren’t supposed to be like everyone else’s. They want to “show you what the dyslexic mind looks like when it opens its wings and begins to soar.”

This is heady stuff for anyone trying to build a bright future for someone with dyslexia. The very readable book contains chapters full of studies, anecdotes, and examples describing the four core strengths the Eides have observed. But most compelling are the excerpts from dyslexic individuals themselves explaining their minds at work. For example, geologist and mystery novelist Sarah Andrews once wrote,

“We are great sponges for observed patterns… Repeated patterns become ideas, and new patterns lead to new paradigms… We can, using the barest shreds, ‘see’ through solid rock, back through time, and into future events.”

In addition to the excitement of identifying specific strengths in your child (or yourself), there are helpful chapters on how to access, train, and put those strengths to use from elementary school through college and into the workplace.

In this book, the Eides have articulated the essence of a paradigm shift that’s taking root within the LD community. Research scientists, educators, diagnosticians, students, and parents are recognizing that people with dyslexia bring more than puzzling challenges to the table—they also bring an array of unique strengths that, when tapped, position them for success.

If you are wondering where to go once your dyslexia paradigm has shifted, look no further. The Dyslexic Advantage is a must-read brainstorming aid and source of concrete hope that you will refer to again and again.

According to the independent news source, Gotham Schools, the NY State Education Department (SED) has proposed changes that would “reduce or eliminate the roles of people that serve on a committee that supports students with disabilities.” Under the proposal the school psychologist would play a reduced role and the parent member—a parent other than the student being discussed—would be eliminated. Two New York City Regents, Betty Rosa and Kathleen Cashin, oppose the moves because of their potential impact on children with Individual Education Plans:

Cashin was particularly concerned with the decision to eliminate the “parent member” role on the committee. The role, an unpaid position, is meant to provide additional support for parents whose students have disabilities.

But SED Deputy Commissioner Becky Cort, who presented the recommendations to the [NYC] Regents, said the “parent member” role was duplicated by the school psychologist and other school staff who sit in on the meetings. In addition, she said, because the parent member wasn’t always available for meetings, finding a time when the entire committee could meet was frequently tricky…

The proposals come six months after state education officials first offered up a framework for mandate relief. After May’s meeting, in which they opened up the conversation to the public, Cort said they received over 700 comments. One of the “major changes” that were made from the original framework was to reinstate the school psychologist back onto the committee. The first proposal recommended that the psychologist be eliminated.

The proposals are the first in a series of reforms expected to be made in coming years that will curtail mandated spending on special education services.

For parents of children with ADHD, it may come as no surprise that kids with the disorder are more accident prone than kids without it. In fact, findings from a study published in the September/October issue of the Journal of Pediatrics showed that kids with ADHD are twice as likely as their peers to experience injuries that require medical attention.

The study analyzed data gathered from questionnaires filled out by parents of 4,745 fifth graders in Houston, Los Angeles, and Birmingham, AL. Although the study did not consider official ADHD diagnoses, parents were asked to rate their child on a list of symptoms associated with ADHD. Those whose children scored high (90^th percentile) were twice as likely to report injuries than parents whose children scored low (10^th percentile). In addition, boys were more likely than girls to suffer injuries.

According to the study’s author, Davie Schwebel, director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Youth Safety Laboratory, “ADHD is a disorder that’s associated with impulsive behaviors—children do things without thinking. It’s associated with inattention—they’re not really paying attention to risks in their environment. And it’s associated with executive function—planning ahead, thinking ahead and having inhibition when you need it. Children with ADHD are poor at those skills, and that combination of things is leading them to take risks and behave impulsively, which leads to getting hurt.”

The most common types of injuries reported were broken bones, sprains, strains, cuts, and bruises. While such injuries are not life-threatening, it is worth noting that unintended injury is the leading cause of death among children.

As University of Miami professor of pediatrics Alan Delamater told USA Today, “You’re supposed to look before you leap. Kids with ADHD are leaping before they look.”

If your child struggles with reading, you must check out Bookshare, the free service that provides electronic audible versions of books to students with reading disabilities and vision problems.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, this member-based service turns traditional books from print into speech allowing children to access the content via listening. In addition, Bookshare can reformat text to increase the font size and adjust spacing for easier reading.

In an article appearing in the Nov 1 online edition of Education Week, Bookshares’s V.P. of Literacy and General Manager, Betsy Beaumon, explained that the 10-year-old service has agreements with approximately 160 publishers. “We get an electronic feed from our publishers the same time a book is hitting Amazon, the same time it’s hitting iTunes.”

In addition to receiving books from their stable of publishers, Bookshare also gets electronic copies of textbooks from the National Instructional Materials Access Center, a federal repository created under special education law. To date the company has more than 125,000 titles and is open to suggestions for others

To learn more about Bookshare go to http://www.bookshare.org.