Week in Review Mar. 21, 2008

WEEK in REVIEW

 Articles of Interest in Special Education That Were Reported This Week

Welcome to NASET's WEEK in REVIEW.  Here, we provide you with some of the most interesting issues that have happened this week in the field of special education.  We hope you enjoy this publication.  Feel free to send us articles for this publication or let us know your thoughts about the WEEK in REVIEW at news@naset.org. Have a great weekend.

Sincerely,
NASET News Team

A War of Words: 'Mental Retardation' Has Become a Controversial Term 

Is the term "mental retardation" offensive? Some residents and politicians think so. In the Missouri General Assembly, Senate Bill 756 and House Bill 1627 seek to change the name of the state's Division of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities to the Division of Developmental Disabilities. The division is part of the Department of Mental Health. The idea of changing the name, however, has proved to be a divisive issue. One side contends the words create a stigma and are a relic of an older era; the other side believes the phrase is needed to maintain a focus for state funding.  To read more, click here

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Adolescent Girls With ADHD Are At Increased Risk For Eating Disorders, Study Shows

Girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder stand a substantially greater risk of developing eating disorders in adolescence than girls without ADHD, a new study has found. Adolescent girls with ADHD frequently develop body-image dissatisfaction and may go through repeating cycles of binge eating and purging behaviors that are common in bulimia nervosa," said University of Virginia psychologist Amori Yee Mikami, who led the study.  To read more, click here

National Foundation Launched to Provide Financial Assistance to Children with Autism, Allergies, Asthma and ADHD

Leading medical innovator Kenneth A. Bock, M.D., announced that he has formed. The 4-A Healing Foundation, Inc. to assist the financial needs of families of children who are affected by the 4-A Disorders: Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Allergies. Dr. Bock believes that these four childhood epidemics can be treated and even reversed through a combination of biomedical, clinical and educational interventions.  To read more, click here

Special Education Census in Oregon Release 

An annual census of special education students across Oregon released Wednesday showed about 13 percent of the state's school-age population is receiving special education services. The total number of Oregon children, aged 0 to 21, in special education programs increased to 80,826, a gain of about 500 from last year's count of 80,314. The number of school-aged children - from kindergarten through the age of 21 - grew from 71,834 to 72,068 in the 2007-2008 report. Nearly 70 percent of those special education students spend 80 percent or more of their school day in a regular classroom setting, according to the state report.  To read more, click here

Excessive Paperwork Makes Special Needs Teachers Reconsider Job 

One special education teacher was driven to retire, one is taking early retirement at the end of the year and one plans to move into a regular classroom. They all cited the same reason: There are just too many forms to fill out for special needs students. "Most of it was the paperwork," Barbara Bingham said of her decision to retire in May after spending more than three decades in the profession. "No matter how you go in that classroom in the morning, that paperwork is in the back of your mind, so you can't give 100 percent to your students," she said. In the past 10 years, there has been a big drop in the number of degrees conferred upon special education majors in the state, according to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.  To read more, click here

Physical Education Textbooks and Portrayals of Disability

Despite the increasing numbers of students with disabilities attending inclusive schools, many physical education teacher education programs still perpetuate a separate system in education by training adapted physical educators to focus on students with disabilities, while neglecting to train general physical educators to teach students with disabilities in inclusive settings. Textbooks are a staple in most college teacher education programs and often reflect the dominant and subversive messages of the current educational culture, including messages about inclusion and disability (Besser et al., 1999; Starck & Wyffels, 1990). Despite the prevalence of textbooks in the college classroom, relatively little critical attention has been paid to the power of texts (Apple, 1986).  To read more, click here

Students with Visual Impairments Counting on N.Y. Governor to Open Public's Eye

For those who cannot see, David A. Paterson's ascension to the governorship in New York tomorrow is a chance to open the public's eyes to what they themselves have known all along.  "It's really providing a whole opportunity to educate the public about the capabilities of blind people," said Kim Charlson, the Braille & Talking Book Library director at the Perkins School for the Blind. "He's in this position because he has huge abilities, not a disability."  Paterson, 53, will be the first legally blind politician in U.S. history to serve as governor for more than just a few days. He lost sight in his left eye and much of the sight in his right eye after an infection as an infant.  To read more, click here

Integration of Special-Needs Students Angers Some Parents 

Victoria Miresso cannot button a shirt, match a sock or tell one school bus from another. Yet at her Middle School, she is expected to function much like any other sixth-grader, coping with class changes, algebra quizzes and lunchroom bullies.  Victoria's parents say she is a victim of inclusion: a trend across the nation, toward shutting down traditional special education classes and placing special-needs students in regular classrooms at neighborhood schools.  To read more, click here

 

Study Finds Section 504 Rules a Source of Confusion

Students with health or cognitive problems who aren't eligible for services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act have protection under another federal law: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. But school administrators may be confused about evaluating students for Section 504 eligibility, research conducted by a Pennsylvania middle school principal and a law professor shows. To read more, click here

Food for Thought........

The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without a teacher.

Elbert Hubbard

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