Smart Kids With LD

It’s not often that we hear an education professional advocating that children play video games, but that’s what David Williamson Shaffer is suggesting in his paper, Video Games and The Future of Learning. The assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison argues that video games can have tremendous educational value, and that the education sector is woefully behind government and business in tapping their potential.

According to an article in Medical Daily, Shaffer maintains that video games can be helpful in many ways:

Video games, he noted, can help kids work with planning and problem-solving. Games that require players to search, negotiate, plan various approaches in order to advance to a new level, and implement strategies can help improve children’s brain development. The process of understanding game rules and learning by doing provides children with essential decision-making skills. Even creatively, children frequently have the option to modify and select character personalities in video games, allowing them the opportunity of self-expression. Some video games also allow children to design and exchange maps or other custom content, helping them build creative and technical skills.

Dyslexia Connection

For students with dyslexia video games may be particularly helpful. The Medical Daily article points out that recent research shows that “action-oriented video games may increase reading comprehension in children with dyslexia.”

In a study published in the journal Current Biology, a team from the University of Padua found that children who played action video games for 12 hours saw more improvement in reading skills than the average amount of reading during one entire year would have given.

Children, aged 7-13, were divided into two groups. The first group played nine 80-minute sessions of an action-packed video game, while the second group played a more easy-going game. Following the game playing, the subject’s reading skills were tested. Results showed that children who played the action-oriented video game read faster and more accurately, and performed better on tests measuring attention span.

So what could explain the findings? Researchers suggest two things: 1) that an action video game hones a player’s visual attention, and 2) that the game teaches children to extract critical information from the environment – both skills that are essential to reading.

 Social Benefits

Still not convinced? Evidence also suggests that video games can help children develop socialization skills, an area of difficulty for many kids with learning disabilities. Research by Cheryl K. Olson from Massachusetts General Hospital found that children with mild LD were likely to choose “making new friends” as a primary reason for playing video games.

In contrast to the common adult perception that video games are isolating, Olson’s research found the opposite to be true: “Video games create a common ground for young kids to make friends; allow kids to hang out; and provide structured time with friends.”

A new report from the National Center for Learning Disabilities authored by Candace Cortiella, Director of The Advocacy Institute takes a critical look at high-school graduation rates, state by state, for students with learning disabilities—and what they find is alarming. According to Diplomas at Risk, of the 2.2 million students identified with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) in the U.S., only 68% graduate with a diploma; in three states more of these students drop out of school than finish.

For parents the message is clear: Your child with learning disabilities is at risk for not getting a high-school diploma, which, in turn, will impair his employment prospects and career options. Today, the unemployment rate for adults with learning disabilities is nearly 40%, well above the national average of 7.5%.

Other key findings from the report include:

• Schools make decisions as early as elementary school that can take students off track for a regular diploma.
• States with a policy offering multiple diplomas can result in fewer students with SLD graduating.
• The Four-Year Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate is a critical accountability tool for ensuring students with disabilities are on track to graduate with a regular diploma.
• The vast majority (88%) of students with SLD expect to graduate with a regular high school diploma. In contrast just 59% of parents expect their child to graduate with a diploma—a disturbing discrepancy as parental expectations are associated with student achievement and post high-school outcomes.

In addition, the report proposes several state and federal-level changes to improve graduation rates, including recommendations to “implement evidence-based early warning systems” in problematic high schools; study the impact of multiple diploma options, graduation requirements and exit exam policies; and incorporate monitoring and compliance of graduation rates in the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).

To read the full report, see Diplomas at Risk.

By Peg Dawson

A generation ago, children with ADHD went undiagnosed; they were often labeled “lazy” or “troublemaker,” and some dropped out of school while many struggled to get through. But today more children are at risk for school failure due to attention problems. Why? Because the skills we expect children to master and the work we expect them to perform are more complex than in the past. Homework is no longer a page of division problems or a spelling worksheet. Kids now are asked to carry out complicated projects with multiple steps and scoring rubrics that resemble procedures from a NASA engineer’s manual.

In addition, youngsters today are faced with more competing distractions than past generations of children. They have access to several video game systems, 100-plus cable television stations, and an Internet where they can visit countless websites or chat with friends from anywhere in the world. And that’s assuming they’re not involved in organized sports or other extracurricular activities, as so many are.

Having an attention disorder means that it’s difficult to set aside the fun activities to focus on what feels like “drudgery.” And, in recent years, the number of fun activities has increased exponentially while schoolwork has not evolved in a way that competes with all the more engaging alternatives.

As a result, the world is not only more challenging for kids with ADHD—it’s also more challenging for their parents. Not only do parents have to figure out how to get their kids to sustain attention long enough to finish what needs to get done, they also need to help develop more complex survival skills, such as time management, planning/ prioritization, organization, and goal directed persistence (executive skills), that will enable their kids to finish high school and be successful in college or in the workplace.

With the Common Core State Standards scheduled to launch in 2014, the 46 states that have signed on are scrambling to put in place online assessments to meet common core testing requirements. It’s not the actual assessments that are proving problematic—it’s the technological infrastructure that’s causing educators and policymakers to rethink their commitment.

A recent article in Education Week detailed the problems reported in several Midwestern states:

Thousands of students experienced slow loading times of test questions, students were closed out of testing in mid-answer, and some were unable to log in to the tests. Hundreds, if not thousands, of tests may be invalidated. The difficulties prompted [the] states’ education departments to extend testing windows, made some state lawmakers and policymakers reconsider the idea of online testing, and sent district officials into a tailspin.

Reassessing Assessments

The experience in Minnesota, one of the states most affected by the glitches, left Charlene Briner, a spokesperson for the state education department, to wonder if a return to paper might be preferable. In reference to a paper test option Briner said, “We believe in moving to a next-generation set of assessments, but we’re also believers in making sure people have confidence in the accuracy of the information we report.”

Indiana officials are also concerned about online assessments—and were even before their students experienced problems. Education Week reported that their state legislators sent the governor a bill that would put a hold on implementing the common core in that state.

Noting the lack of confidence in online testing, Ft. Wayne superintendent of community schools, Wendy Y. Robinson said, “Teacher pay, school evaluations, student grades … are all going to be tied to a system that none of us have any faith in anymore.”

With a year to go before full implementation of the common core, you can be sure the discussion is only beginning.

Finding the best educational apps for your child may just have become a lot easier. According to an article in TechCrunch, Appolicious has launched a new service for parents and educators aimed at helping them find the best learning apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android platforms.

The new service, appoLearning, allows users to search for apps using a common-sense approach—something that’s been conspicuously missing from the educational app world to date. Now, instead of scrolling through an endless swath of “educational apps,” users can search according to category (e.g. reading, life science, social interactions, etc.) and by stages (e.g. Early Childhood, Middle School, etc.).

Quality Counts

To ensure that quality apps rise to the top, reviewers rank each app according to uniform criteria designed by Appolicious. As explained in the TechCrunch article, here’s what happens when you look for Physical Science apps for Middle Schoolers:

Within a section, a selection of five apps are shown, each rated on a scale out of 100. These are meant to represent the five best applications within that particular category, as chosen by an educational expert whose bio appears on the site, detailing their experience. This section also includes an explanation about why these apps and the skills they teach are important, also written by the educator.

As with many entrepreneurial ventures, this one came about when Alan Warms, the founder of Appolicious, wanted to find apps for his seventh-grade daughter. “I wanted to find an app for her that would help her practice fractions, decimals, and reciprocals. It was a horrific experience,” Warms told TechCrunch, referring to how difficult it was to find the quality apps.

App development is like the Wild West, with rules and practices being forged reactively leaving the end user to muddle through a chaotic experience. But if appoLearning is as good as it sounds, parents and teachers alike will be flocking to it, grateful for an orderly experience in an otherwise chaotic environment.

Last month in this space we noted that changes in accommodations for students with learning and other disabilities were going to be proposed. (See Test Accommodations for Students with LD May Change). At that time, the topic was still under study by a group that was developing the assessments for the new State Common Core Standards.

The proposed accommodations are now available in full draft format, and are open for public comment.

A recent article in Education Week summarizes the suggested changes:

The manual outlines five categories of accommodations available to students with disabilities intended to provide “equitable access” to the tests:

• Presentation accommodations include allowable changes in the method or format in which the test or test questions are provided to the student. These may include, for example, the use of Braille or sign interpretation of test items.
• Response accommodations include allowable changes in the method used by the student to provide responses to test questions. These may include dictating responses to a scribe or using a Braille note-taker.
• Timing and scheduling accommodations include extending the duration of time allowed for testing, allowing a student to take frequent breaks, or [allowing a student] to take the test at a certain time of day.
• Setting accommodations include changes to the location or conditions in which the test is administered, including separate location or group size.
• Special-access accommodations include accommodations that expand access to the test for a small number of students with disabilities in the areas of reading, writing, and calculating who require additional supports and meet certain criteria, as noted by the IEP/504 plan teams.

There are also a number of universal design elements and accessibility features that will be available to all students, either by the student’s choice or at the discretion of a school. Those features include computerized pop-up glossaries, spell-checkers, or magnification.

Test Changes

The changes are an attempt to streamline the number of accommodations currently offered to students with LD and other disabilities and English-language learners. While cutting back on the increasing number of accommodations being offered—some experts suggest as many as 100 different accommodations are available nationwide— test developers are working to ensure that the assessments are designed to be accessible to as many students as possible regardless of their learning profiles.

But some disability advocates are concerned that before limiting accommodations, test developers should figure out if particular accommodations impact the test results. If not, the implication is, why should they be limited.

Take Action

To learn more about the proposed test accommodation changes access the PARCC Accommodations Manual and Frequently Asked Questions.

You can also weigh in with the developers who are accepting comments from the public until 5 p.m. on May 13^th by accessing Public Feedback on PARCC’s Draft Accommodations Manual

By Joan M. Azarva, Ms.ED

A greater percentage of students with learning disabilities are enrolled in two-year colleges than they are at four-year colleges. There’s no mystery to their allure:

• Community colleges have an open-admissions policy; anyone with a high-school diploma or GED may attend regardless of academic history.
• SAT and ACT exams are not required.
• Remedial classes are offered.
• Classes are often capped at around 25 students.
• Parents can continue to oversee teens not yet ready for a residential college experience.
• Community colleges offer certificate programs in various trades, as well as transferrable Associate degrees.
• Tuition at community college, subsidized by the state and often the county, is affordable.

Contrary Opinion

Having been on the inside for 13 years—as a Learning Specialist and adjunct instructor at a highly regarded community college in Pennsylvania—I’ve come to see these two-year colleges in a different light: I now view them as “failure tanks”—particularly for students with learning disabilities. Here’s why:

• While open enrollment does provide a fresh start, community college often attracts unmotivated students who attend by default. Unable to find full-time employment, they give college a shot, with no particular goal in mind. Without something to work toward, they drift aimlessly and apathetically, infecting classrooms with ennui as if it’s an airborne virus.
• Students attracted to community college because admission exams aren’t required either did poorly on them or never took them because college wasn’t in their plans. The former often have learning disabilities (diagnosed and not), while the latter are usually slackers. 
• One would think that because students with LD often graduate high school under-prepared for college-level work, they would benefit from remedial classes. However, it’s difficult to become proficient with 12 years worth of grammar and math concepts in a 15-week semester. The failure rate for these classes is exceedingly high.
• Small classes are a good thing. But there’s no benefit to them when students sit as far back as possible, slumping in their chairs, avoiding eye contact, and seeking little engagement with the instructor. (There’s that contagious apathy again.)
• Among students with LD, especially those with college-educated parents, trade programs still carry a stigma. These kids aim instead for a transferrable Associates Degree, yet are unable to attain it because of one or more factors:

-       They choose to be anonymous by not disclosing their disability to the college, thereby foregoing accommodations they relied on in high school.

-       They lack the study skills required for college-level work.

-       Community colleges don’t provide the level of support or appropriate personnel for students with LD to succeed.

• Because tuition at community college is considerably more affordable, parents consider it low cost/low risk. Students feel it’s a non-issue if they fail a course. I wish I could tell you how often I’ve heard students say, “It’s no big deal… my parents will just pay for it again.”

Few Winners

Some highly motivated students with LD find a way to rise above the malaise and chart a path to success—most likely with the consistent help of a private outside learning specialist or tutor. And to be sure, some community colleges are more  “disability-friendly” than others. By law, all must offer accommodations to qualified students who submit documentation. Some offer “services,” usually in the form of group or peer tutoring specifically for this cohort. Be forewarned, however, that these services are free of charge—and you get what you pay for. As a result, most community college students with LD find themselves in an environment more conducive to failure than success.

And when students fail, everyone loses: After years of struggling academically, students come away suffering yet another blow to their self-esteem; discouraged parents are left to pick up the pieces, and often pay the bill with nothing to show for it; even society pays a price when taxpayer dollars are wasted and young adults without college degrees are relegated to low-paying jobs, often with loans to repay. Worst of all, some discouraged teens turn to illegal activities as a means of support

Community college for students with LD?  In my opinion—not a good option.

Joan M. Azarva runs Conquer College with LD, a website for parents of college-bound students with learning differences. She also has a private practice in the Philadelphia suburbs that focuses on students making a successful transition from high school to college.

When the Common Core state assessment tests are rolled out in 2014-15, students with learning disabilities may have fewer accommodations available to them than they do currently.

In reaction to the growing number of test accommodations being used by students with LD and English-language learners in public schools today—some experts estimated up to 100 different accommodations—designers of the new assessments are hoping to curb the need for many of the special accommodations now requested.

As explained in an article in Education Week:

Test developers are aiming not only to streamline the types of testing supports offered to special education students and English-language learners, but also to make sure the tests are designed to be as broadly accessible as possible to all students, regardless of their profiles.

Daunting Task

Because states do not have consistent policies regarding test accommodations, a patchwork of supports exists throughout the country, including reading questions aloud, reading directions aloud, and allowing the use of dictionaries to name a few. The challenge is in reaching consensus among the 22 states involved in the development of the Common Core Standards, and the 24 states working on the assessments.

We’ll all be a lot smarter when both groups release details of their policies in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

Despite all that is known about learning disabilities today, students with LD and ADHD still often find themselves stigmatized by their condition, largely because others don’t understand the invisible disabilities.

But at certain schools in New Jersey, fifth grade students are getting a crash course in what it’s like to have dyslexia and other learning problems through a unique program called Project eMaze, created by Beth Fissel, a mother of three children, two of whom have LD.

In a recent article in the Madison Eagle Fissel explained what she’s trying to accomplish. “One of the goals is to show students why their classmates, who have a learning disability, need extra accommodations.”

Lessons Learned

Fissel does that through a series of simulations that enable non-LD students to experience the challenges faced by those with LD. For example, to show the kids how difficult it can be for some of their peers to write legibly, the children are “asked to hold a piece of paper on their foreheads and then try to write their names on it with their non-dominant hand. In another exercise, the directions for the game Simon Says were mixed up and the instructions didn‘t make sense.”

Does it work? According to the Madison Eagle article, students come away with a deeper appreciation for the challenges of their peers with LD:

“I learned how frustrated these kids could be and how it takes them longer to do homework,” said fifth grader Ben Klepper, 11.

“Learning is easier when you don’t have a disability,” said Jade Heenehan, 10. “It’s hard being dyslexic and becoming frustrated because it takes a while to do something.”

The program is sponsored by Parents and Professionals for Exceptional Children (PPEC), the Madison, NJ group that works with the school district’s Special Services Department to help inform and advise parents, faculty and professionals about issues surrounding students with special needs, and teaches students tolerance of differences through “hands-on” experiences.

To learn more about the program, email ppec@madisonpublicschools.org.

Despite the fact that adults and teens consider themselves well informed about ADHD, survey results suggest they may know less than they think.

In a recent survey, parents and teens who had been screened for ADHD were asked to respond to a number of questions to assess their knowledge and perceptions about the condition. Although the participants rated themselves relatively highly when it came to knowing about ADHD, a large number of them clearly had misperceptions. For example about one-quarter of parents and teens thought too much sugar in the diet caused ADHD. In addition, the majority perceived that ADHD medication was overused.

Information Gap

The study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, suggested a possible explanation for such common misconceptions. A large segment of the responders (49% of parents, and 51% of teens) expressed a preference for accessing their information from the Internet, which may include unreliable sites that perpetuate misinformation. In addition, the teens relied heavily on social networks for their information with only 27% saying they preferred to get their information from a doctor. The survey also found a significant racial disparity with African-Americans having more misconceptions than their Caucasian counterparts.

The study authors conclude that there’s a need to “combine doctor-provided ADHD information with reputable internet sources.” Despite limited time at medical appointments, the authors believe doctors should spend more time providing culturally sensitive information to ADHD patients and their families.

The study was undertaken to gain insights that will help with the long-term management of ADHD treatment. Currently as children with the disorder mature, many of them discontinue treatment despite the chronic nature of ADHD. Continuing to educate them as they move into adolescence and young adulthood is an important aspect of dealing with ongoing conditions such as ADHD.