Check out the eye-catching activities described online at www.pbskidsgo.org/cyberchase including number puzzles, keeping track of summer earnings (and developing a budget to help with money math), charting progress in self-designed exercise programs such as swimming or biking, or learning about estimating – and when an answer that is close to the right answer is good enough for the question at hand.

Strengthen your kids’ math skills over the summer? It may be as simple as engaging your kids in the activities on Cyberchase on your local PBS station – including “sneak peeks” at new episodes, photos, and behind-the-scenes videos.

When Smart Kids asked a group of middle school kids how their learning disabilities impacted them, we were impressed—and sometimes surprised—by their thoughtful responses. During the course of the wide-ranging discussion, students were not shy about expressing their views. In most cases, their comments were initially positive; however, as they began to reflect on their experiences, a far different picture emerged.

We knew we’d hear how challenging it is to travel between the resource room and their mainstream classes, but we never expected to hear how teachers frequently added to the burden. We thought we knew how beneficial accommodations could be—after all, they’re put in place to help students achieve their potential—but we were amazed to learn that students often don’t understand the reasons behind their special treatment, leaving them to assume the worst. While opinions differed on some topics, one thing they all agreed on was that they often feel put upon to succeed, or as they said, “No pressure, please!”

For the full rundown see Living with LD: A Kids’ Eye View. Their comments are likely to cause you to take a second look at your child’s school program and to listen differently when she speaks.

For years health advocates have warned the public about the evils of lead, particularly for young children. High levels of the mineral have been linked to a wide range of physical ailments and, more recently, to an alarming number of learning difficulties. But conventional wisdom suggested that with vigilance we could protect our children from the harmful effects, primarily by keeping them away from toys, furniture and other products that contained lead-based paint.

Now, however, a new source of lead contamination has been uncovered, one potentially more difficult for parents to monitor. Last month, the Environmental Law Foundation (ELF) filed notice alleging that lead levels exceeding .5 micrograms were found in a variety of children’s foods and baby foods. The products included a number of popular juices and packaged fruit products. A complete list of the products tested, and whether or not they exceeded the standard, is available at the ELF website at www.envirolaw.org

The notices filed by ELF claim that the foods contain enough lead in a single serving that they require a warning under California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65). Toxicologist Barbara G. Callahan, PhD, DABT, termed the findings “alarming.” As Dr. Callahan explained, “Lead exposure among children is a particular concern because their developing bodies absorb lead at a higher rate and because children are particularly sensitive to lead’s toxic effects, including decreased I.Q.”

What Happens Next?

Notification has been sent to appropriate law enforcement officials, and to the affected manufacturers, retailers and distributors, alerting them that these products require a warning label. If, within 60 days of notification, the companies have not brought themselves into compliance by either (a) reducing or eliminating the lead or (b) placing “clear and reasonable warnings” on the food packages, then ELF will file suit if no other law enforcement prosecutes the violation.

There are many reasons for the huge academic gap between students with disabilities and other students. The least understood but most important reason, however, is the low level of goals and services established in most Individual Education Programs (IEP). All too often they are vague and ill-defined, leaving them open to interpretation, which usually translates into expectations for academic progress that are far below students’ abilities.

Take John, for example. He’s a fifth-grade student with dyslexia (who has probably been retained once). He has an IEP goal to raise his reading from the current second-grade level to the third-grade level. But because services are inadequate, John—and the overwhelming majority of such students—will fail to make one year’s progress. Many do not even come close. And even if John gains twelve months, he will not close the gap between his performance level and his grade level—he will still be three years behind.

One Year Plus

In the Baltimore City public school system, where I work pro bono for students with disabilities, there is an unprecedented, exciting effort underway to address this issue and raise the academic achievement of students with LD and other disabilities.

The starting point for reform in Baltimore, under the leadership of the system’s CEO Andres Alonso, is to direct that students receive goals that entitle them not only to twelve months’ progress but to reasonable additional progress that closes the gap between their performance level and their grade level. The directive is called “One Year Plus.”

Of course, just setting the goal doesn’t guarantee progress. But if implemented as intended, the school system will be forced to provide more and better instructional and support services so that students attain progress of one year plus. In short, raising the bar on goals raises the bar for the quality of services.

Back to John. At best he has been making six months’ progress in reading each year (for the two or three years that he has been receiving special education), which accounts for why he is so far behind. So if he is going to make one year plus progress—say two years’ progress in one year—the services he receives will have to be substantially increased and improved. It will almost surely require many additional hours of instruction in a small group of no more than four students, using research-based reading intervention taught by a well-trained teacher.

System-Wide Changes

This is a steep incline for special education systems that are short of resources. For one thing, money to pay for teacher training and expensive small group instruction is scarce. But even more important, educators have not been trained to recognize or apply research on the most effective instructional programs for students with disabilities.

The academic potential of most special education students is underestimated: low expectations underlie low goals.

Retraining staff to replace old misconceptions with research-based IEPs will be slow and arduous. And a fresh supply of trained reading teachers must be found to deliver the services. Nothing less than a transformation of the system is necessary, but the payoffs could be enormous. Most students with LD could be lifted to new heights of academic achievement and post-school success.

I believe that Baltimore is on the cutting edge of this transformation, and hopefully it will become a model for the nation. I welcome feedback from others. Does the need for something like One Year Plus make sense to you? Could it be advocated for and undertaken in your school district?

Kalman Hettleman is a public-interest attorney who has played an important role in educational research and policy, in addition to serving as a Baltimore school board member and deputy mayor for education, and as the Maryland cabinet secretary for social welfare programs. He is the author most recently of “It’s the Classroom, Stupid: A Plan to Save America’s Schoolchildren.”

by Ken Magrath, Ph.D.

I remember doing it in junior high school (I know, I’m dating myself here) and high school. I don’t remember ever actually liking it, though.

I’m referring to homework of course. Today we take it for granted, but maybe we shouldn’t.

Students have access to well-trained, well-informed teachers throughout the day. At the end of the day, they’re given packets, assignments, and projects to complete at home, where they have no access to that well-trained, well-informed person who gave them the assignment. So who do they turn to for help and guidance? Parents. But when it comes to homework, parents are by definition lame helpers! They weren’t there for the instruction and they didn’t hear the assignments.

In some areas, most parents should be banned from helping! Take math for example. The models and approaches they learned as kids are very different from the models used in their child’s class. Jimmy can accurately learn old-school long division from Dad, but that approach will be different from the one that Jimmy is taught in the classroom.

Is homework helpful?

And that’s only one of the issues I have with homework. Here’s another:

If Meghan brings homework from school, what are the rules and expectations for parent involvement? What level of help is appropriate, and when does it turn into Mom’s work?

Why would any teacher ever grade homework? Are homework errors the child’s fault? Or might they represent a disconnect in understanding? Why would we punish homework errors with lost points or low grades rather than use those errors as opportunities for re-teaching?

Good athletic coaches know that practice doesn’t make perfect; practice makes permanent! How often is homework individually geared to a student’s actual, real-time understanding or skill development? Or so scientifically developed and matched to an individual student’s strengths and weaknesses that the work has a chance of enhancing learning? Not often, I think.

If homework is so important and helpful, why is it that Finland (consistently the global leader in academic skill development) limits homework to 30 minutes a night?

If an elementary school expects 40 minutes per day of homework time, why wouldn’t we grade what the student did in the 40 minutes rather than taking points off for not getting to all the items?

These are just some of the problems I see with homework. Do you agree or disagree? What issues do you have with this age-old institution? What, if anything, do you think should be done about it? And who do you think can and should take the lead?

Talk amongst yourselves—and with us.

It’s not uncommon to want to free your child from academic “labels” in the summer, and you may be reluctant to let the camp know about his learning difference. But with the right preparation, camps can match the right counselors or activity schedule to your child’s needs, creating a summer experience that is relaxed, fun, and productive.

Kids with LD often have trouble in social situations, with fine or gross motor skills, or with attention issues that can make transitioning from a well-structured school environment to a more relaxed camp environment a bit of a challenge. Informing the camp director about your child’s strengths and challenges can make the summer more successful than you or your child ever hoped.  Read how one parent told her son’s camp about her child’s NLD in “Dear Camp Director.”

In addition, CNN will offer complementary programming for adults, accompanied by public service ads and an online curriculum. As Susan Limber of the Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life at Clemson University states, “Kids alone can’t address bullying. They need adults to take the issue seriously and be there to help.”

Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100525/ap_en_ot/us_cartoons_vs_bullies

Kids with LD and other disabilities are often the victim of bullies. Check Smart Kids’ Call to Action on bullying.

It’s that time of year when many school systems give end-of-year tests. Don’t be surprised if your child with LD suddenly finds a million excuses to stay home from school.

Test taking is inherently nerve wracking. Having to perform on the spot is stressful for all students, but for children with LD, anticipating that they won’t do well is one more reason to dread this annual rite of spring.

What aspects of test taking are most difficult for your child and does he have the tools or strategies to handle them?

Taking standardized tests is an art. Visual scanning, graphomotor precision, and spatial organization are needed for tracking and marking the answers on bubble sheets. Reading fluency and processing speed are critical to working within the time provided. Children need to be comfortable with the multiple-choice format and know the “tricks of the trade,” (e.g., some items can be eliminated automatically). Math fluency, rapid recall of math facts, and familiarity with operations presented in novel ways are among the demands of math sections.

Some standardized tests have a writing component with strict marking guidelines. Many students with LD struggle with word finding, writing fluency, writing mechanics, and rapid production and elaboration.

Leveling the Playing Field

Hopefully, children with problems in these areas will have accommodations and extra time to ensure that they perform as well as they can.  Following are some strategies that may prove helpful:

1. Some children benefit from a separate test setting to minimize distractions and quell anxiety if they’re still working when others have finished.
2. Like training for a big event, practice tests can lower anxiety by helping a child become used to the testing format and the extended stamina needed.
3. Doing a “post mortem” on classroom tests may provide important insights into areas of difficulty with test taking that can be applied to standardized testing: What went wrong? Did the child know what to study? Was a study guide broken down into enough detail? Did the child read, understand, and follow all directions? Does the child have trouble understanding open ended directions and focus on less important details or miss directions that are not stated, such as the extent of elaboration required or the need for a certain structural format? Are editing skills lowering the grade?
4. Some children need to take tests orally; others might need a rubric to demonstrate what they know.
5. Children with LD may benefit from relaxation techniques. Tests can feel like psychological emergencies. A child who has practiced body relaxation and breathing daily can use breathing to calm himself down, which will allow him to use self talk: “I’ll do the best I can do, and it will be fine.”
6. Finally, and most important, kids with LD need to understand that their performance on standardized tests is not a referendum on who they are or what they’re capable of achieving in the real world. Make sure you let them know that!

U.S. Representative Carolyn McCarthy

4th Congressional District of New York

Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Healthy Families & Communities

Diagnosed with dyslexia at age 30

David Neeleman

Founder JetBlue Airways

Former Honorary Chairman

Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities