Week in Review - June 17, 2011

WEEK IN REVIEW

New NASET Publications and Articles of Interest in Special Education and Disabilities That Were Reported This Week

June 17, 2011 - Vol 7, Issue 22

 

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In This Issue
New This Week on NASET
More Than One Billion People are Living with Disabilities
Education Secretary Arne Duncan Working on 'Plan B' for U.S. Schools
Abnormal Brain Growth in Pre-K Kids with ADHD Signs
Teens With Type 2 Diabetes Already Show Possible Signs of Impaired Heart Function
Disabilities Don't Stop College Dreams
China Plans to Provide 12-Year Free Education for Individuals with Disabilities
Subtle Changes in Two or More Genes May Cause Some Autism
Experts Recommend Screening for Vitamin D Deficiency in at-Risk Populations
TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Program Uses Horses to Help Children with Disabilities
Inclusiveness Benefits All Students
Large-Scale Early Education Linked to Higher Living Standards and Crime Prevention 25 Years Later
Childhood ADHD Tied to Substance Use Issues in Adults
We All Need Acceptance
Parents Still Wary About Childhood Vaccines
Mississippi School District Sued Over Use of Restraints on Students at Alternative School.
Disability Advocates Call for Federal Probe of School Vouchers
Childhood Trauma Linked to Higher Rates of Mental Health Problems
Changing How Gifted Students Think.
Texas Theme Park for Individuals with Disabilities Becomes Main Attraction
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 New This Week on NASET

JAASEP - Spring/Summer 2011

(Journal of the American Academy of Special Education Professionals)


Articles in this issue:

  • Attitudes among Vietnamese Educators Towards Students with Disabilities and Their Implications Relative to Inclusive Practices: The Findings of a Preliminary Investigation
  • An Exploration of Instructional Support Use in a Secondary Science Classroom
  • Students with Sickle Cell Anemia Participating in Recess
  • Who Does the Alternate Assessment Really Assess?
  • Exploring Transition Education and Community-Based Instruction for High School Students with Disabilities: A Practice in Taiwan
  • Correlates of Attitudes Toward Academic and Physical Inclusive Practices for Students with Disabilities and Selected Leadership Behaviors Among Middle School Principals in North Carolina
  • Study of Thai Language Oral Reading Problems for Students with Down Syndrome: Grade Range 1
  • Podcasting and Digital Video in the Classroom: A Call for Research
  • Teaching Singaporean Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders to Understand Science Concepts Through Autistic Logic Analysis/Synthesis (ALA/S)
  • Students with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Participating in Recess
  • Differentiating for Struggling Readers and Writers: Improving Motivation and Metacognition through Multisensory Methods & Explicit Strategy Instruction
  • Extracurricular Activities and 504 Plans
  • Using an Accountability Tool to Improve the Quality of Outcomes on Individual Family Service Plans

To read or download this issue - Click here  (login required)

___________________________________

Lesser Known Disorders

Disorders in this issue:
  • VI 2.00 Corneal Dystrophies of the Eye 
  • LD 10.00-Sensory Integration Disorders 

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______________________________________________________

Genetics in Special Education Series


Genetic Components Presented in this Issue:
  • Cri du Chat Syndrome
  •  Trimethylaminuria

    To read or download this issue - Click here  (login required)

 

More Than One Billion People are Living with Disabilities

More than 1 billion people in the world are living with some form of disability, and governments everywhere need to beef up efforts to help them, according to a new report. The report by the World Health Organization and the World Bank says almost 20% of people with disabilities, an estimated 110 million to190 million people, face significant problems that result in health, educational, and other difficulties. Few countries have adequate mechanisms in place to respond to the needs of these people, who often are victims of stigma and discrimination. Many people with disabilities are poor and have fewer opportunities to improve their financial situations. "Disability is part of the human condition," Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO, says in a news release. "Almost every one of us will be permanently or temporarily disabled at some point in life. We must do more to break the barriers which segregate people with disabilities, in many cases forcing them to the margins of society." To read more, click here

 

Education Secretary Arne Duncan Working on 'Plan B' for U.S. Schools

Frustrated by what he called a "slow motion train wreck" for U.S. schools, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said he will give schools relief from federal mandates under the No Child Left Behind law if Congress drags its feet on the law's long-awaited overhaul and reauthorization. That could mean everything from granting waivers on test score requirements to flexibility on how schools spend federal funding, though Duncan offered few details because he said the department is just beginning to work on its plan. The Obama administration has called for an overhaul of the 9-year-old federal education law by the fall, but lawmakers have indicated that won't be possible. Duncan told reporters Friday that his first goal is for Congress to rewrite the law but he wants to put other plans in place in case that doesn't happen this year. "This is absolutely plan B," Duncan said. "The prospect of doing nothing is what I'm fighting against." Duncan has warned that 82 percent of U.S. schools could be labeled failures next year if No Child Left Behind isn't changed. Education experts have questioned that estimate. To read more, click here

 

Abnormal Brain Growth in Pre-K Kids with ADHD Signs

 

New research using brain imaging has found a difference in brain development among very young preschool children with early symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD). ADHD is the most common pediatric behavioral diagnois, affecting approximately 2 million children. The disorder is characterized by inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsivity. According to the researchers, by age 4, as many as 40 percent of children have sufficient problems with attention to be of concern to parents and preschool teachers. Specialists say this observation is important as children whose symptoms begin in early childhood are at high risk for academic failure and grade repetition. Because of this risk, researchers believe identification of the disorder early in the course of the diagnosis will allow early intervention and aid long-term outcomes. To read more, click here

 

Did You Know That....

 

In 2005, President Bush's Commission on Excellence in Special Education recommended using skilled facilitators to guide IEP meetings in a situation where parties are having difficulty reaching agreement so that the process can result in win-win solutions for the child (New Mexico Public Education Department, Special Education Bureau, 2006).

 

Teens With Type 2 Diabetes Already Show Possible Signs of Impaired Heart Function

Heart function may be affected in people with Type 2 diabetes as early as adolescence, according to a new study that is being presented at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. "Past studies in adults with Type 2 diabetes show that their heart and blood vessels' ability to adapt to exercise may be impaired. Our study shows that these changes in heart function may begin to happen very early after Type 2 diabetes occurs," said the study's lead author, Teresa Pinto, MD, a pediatric endocrinologist at the Dalhousie University IWK Health Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. To read more, click here

 

Disabilities Don't Stop College Dreams

When Amanda Sattmann was in third grade, she was diagnosed with ADD. "At third grade, I didn't really understand the concept of it," said Sattmann, 18. "It was very overwhelming, especially for a kid who's in third grade." Sattmann also suffered from depression, anxiety attacks and nonverbal learning disorder. Yet on Friday, the once-troubled girl stood in her green cap and gown, smiling on stage at Eton Academy as she received her high school diploma. "I'm just glad that I can function like a normal person," she said. This fall, she and eight classmates - Eton's entire class of 2011 - will begin college. It's a coup for the graduates and for Eton, a private school dedicated to helping students with learning disabilities. "The first difficulty to address and to overcome is simply for a student to achieve a high school diploma, whether it's in a public or a private school," said James Wendorf, executive director of the National Center for Learning Disabilities in New York. "That is not an easy thing with students with a learning disability." To read more, click here

 

China Plans to Provide 12-Year Free Education for Individuals with Disabilities

The government plans to offer the country's 83 million disabled citizens 12 years of free education in the next five years, bolster public services, and offer more benefits to improve their quality of life. The State Council on Wednesday unveiled details of a five-year development plan for the disabled that passed last month. The government will provide disabled students more financial subsidies to meet their special needs and gradually institute free education from primary school to high school, the plan said. Currently, the government is making efforts to ensure all students enjoy nine years of free education -- six years of primary school and three years of junior high. To read more, click here

 

Did You Know That....

IEP meeting facilitation is quickly becoming the most recognized strategy for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of IEP meetings. The purpose of the facilitation process is to develop and sustain collaborative relationships between team members and to preserve and maintain a productive relationship between families and schools (Conflict Resolution Program, 2011).  

 

Subtle Changes in Two or More Genes May Cause Some Autism

Autism is often described as a spectrum - varying from severe syndromes in which the symptoms of autism are only part of the problem to the more classic autism characterized by impaired social skills, delayed language development, and repetitive or stereotyped behaviors. The genetic origin of the disorder may also occur along a spectrum. On one hand, a severe mutation affecting a particular gene gives rise to syndromic autism, a form of the disorder that occurs along with other problems including physical and facial abnormalities, including Rett, Angelman and Fragile X syndromes. On the other hand, a new study from researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) at Texas Children's Hospital proposes that several subtle mutations in different genes are associated with patients with near-normal or normal IQs and non-syndromic autism defined only by the behavioral characteristics. A report on the work appears in the current issue of Human Molecular GeneticsTo read more, click here

 

Experts Recommend Screening for Vitamin D Deficiency in at-Risk Populations

The Endocrine Society has released "Evaluation, Treatment, and Prevention of Vitamin D Deficiency: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline." The clinical practice guideline (CPG) is published in the July 2011 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), a publication of The Endocrine Society. The major source of vitamin D for children and adults is exposure to natural sunlight as very few foods naturally contain or are fortified with vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency is common throughout the world and results in abnormalities of calcium, phosphorus and bone metabolism which can lead to muscle weakness, osteomalacia, osteopenia and osteoporosis. In children, vitamin D deficiency can result in skeletal deformities known as rickets. To read more, click here

 

 

TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Guess the answer to this week's trivia question and we'll recognize you in next week's Week in Review.

 
Congratulations to: MaryLouise Torre, Lois Nembhard, Deanna Krieg, Bonnie Geisen, Laura Hayes, Joan Kuhn, Tracy Austin, Debra Meuller, Gloria Ortiz, Christie Miller, Francis Savetria, Pattie Komons, Dawn Cox, & Jessica Ulmer who all knew the correct answer to last week's trivia question was "10 days".
 

THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION: 

Before a due process hearing can occur, the parents and the school district must participate in a meeting.   

IDEA makes the purpose of this meeting very clear: The meeting provides an opportunity "for the parent of the child to discuss their due process complaint, and the facts that form the basis of the due process complaint, so that the LEA has the opportunity to resolve the dispute that is the basis for the due process complaint" [34 C.F.R. 300.510(a)(2)].

What is the name of this meeting?

 
If you know the answer, send an email to contactus@naset.org 
All answers must be submitted no later than Monday, June 20, 2011 at 12:00 p.m.

 

Program Uses Horses to Help Children with Disabilities

On early Saturday mornings, Paula Korey waits outside the Essex Equestrian Club for a very special group of young students to arrive. At Rocking Horse Rehab, West Orange's Footsteps program is able to connect special kids with their love of horses. The equestrian class is one of many hosted by the West Orange Footsteps program, which is a year round program of recreational activities for children with disabilities. The program also includes a peer-mentoring program of "big buddies," who are fifth to 12th grade volunteers. In the summer of 2006, Recreation Director Bill Kehoe created the Footsteps program as an expansion of the Mayor's program. Two years later, Korey became the Coordinator for Footsteps. To read more, click here

 

Inclusiveness Benefits All Students

Students in the main program at Duniway Middle School have been making efforts to get to know their Life Skills program peers and include them in everyday life at the school.

Students from both programs have been greeting one another in the halls as well as classroom settings. "Socializing makes a huge difference to both sides," said Life Skills teacher Erin O'Connor. "Whenever they get a chance for inclusion, they respond so well." Life Skills had always been housed at Duniway, but had been operated as a separate program by the Willamette Education Service District. The students, who have a variety of medical needs, physical challenges and/or learning disabilities, had stayed mostly in a single room they claimed as their own. Although they studied the same subjects, their schedule for lunch and activities didn't coincide with that of the rest of the school. To read more, click here

 

Large-Scale Early Education Linked to Higher Living Standards and Crime Prevention 25 Years Later

High-quality early education has a strong, positive impact well into adulthood, according to research led by Arthur Reynolds, co-director of the Human Capital Research Collaborative and professor of child development, and Judy Temple, a professor in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. The study is the longest follow-up ever of an established large-scale early childhood program. In the study published June 9 in the journalScience, Reynolds and Temple (with co-authors Suh-Ruu Ou, Irma Arteaga, and Barry White) report on more than 1,400 individuals whose well-being has been tracked for as much as 25 years. Those who had participated in an early childhood program beginning at age 3 showed higher levels of educational attainment, socioeconomic status, job skills, and health insurance coverage as well as lower rates of substance abuse, felony arrest, and incarceration than those who received the usual early childhood services. To read more, click here

 

Childhood ADHD Tied to Substance Use Issues in Adults

Childhood attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a significant risk factor for the development of substance use disorder (SUD) in adulthood, irrespective of gender, according to a study published in the June issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Timothy E. Wilens, M.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues investigated the characteristics of children that could lead to the development of SUDs, and whether these characteristics were affected by gender. Participants included 268 children and adolescents of average age 10.9 years with ADHD classified according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III and 229 participants of average age 11.9 years without ADHD. Psychopathology and SUD were assessed using structured interviews at a 10-year follow-up. To read more, click here

 

We All Need Acceptance

Caitlynn Cantrell has been working all year to promote acceptance and inclusiveness at Duniway Middle School. The eighth-grader gave up her chance to take electives like art and music in order to focus on her passion. She serves as an aide in the Life Skills program, which accommodates students with special medical needs or learning disabilities. She helped organize a recent school assembly aimed at ending the use of the "R" word - "retarded" and other negative labels. By treating others right, she's also tried to serve as a suitable role model for her cause. "I've been raised to be accepting of everyone," Caitlynn said. "I want others to be, too. I want them to see how people really are, not just see the disability." To read more, click here

 
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NASET MEMBER'S BENEFIT -

Board Certification in Special Education Available to NASET Members

As Through an agreement with The American Academy of Special Education Professionals(AASEP), NASET members now have the opportunity to achieve AASEP Board Certification in Special Education - (B.C.S.E.) at a reduced fee.  AASEP Board Certification in Special Education - (B.C.S.E.) is a voluntary choice on the part of the candidate. The candidate for Board Certification wishes to demonstrate a commitment to excellence to employers, peers, administrators, other professionals, and parents. From the standpoint of the Academy, board certification will demonstrate the highest professional competency in the area of special education. Board Certification in Special Educationestablishes a much needed standard for professionals, across disciplines, who work with exceptional children.  
 
For more information on Board Certification in Special Education, click here

 

Parents Still Wary About Childhood Vaccines

About one-third of parents of young children worry that vaccines may cause learning disabilities such as autism, while more than 40 percent question whether they are safe, according to a new survey published in Health Affairs. The survey, analyzed by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services National Vaccine Program Office, found that the vast majority of children in the U.S. are getting regularly scheduled immunizations for infant and childhood diseases. But only 23 percent of parents reported having no concerns about childhood vaccines, suggesting that health care providers need to do more to build confidence in the safety and value of vaccines, the authors said. "The good news is that almost all parents are getting their children vaccinated. But that doesn't necessarily mean all parents have a high level of confidence in those vaccines," said lead author Allison Kennedy, an epidemiologist in CDC's Immunization Services Division. "These findings point us toward what we need to focus on to better answer questions and concerns parents have about why immunization is important." To read more, click here

 

Mississippi School District Sued Over Use of Restraints on Students at Alternative School

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has filed suit in federal court against Jackson Public Schools (JPS) alleging that students at Capital City Alternative are handcuffed or restrained for up to six hours at a time for minor infractions, such as not wearing a belt or talking back, says the Jackson Clarion Ledger. JPS released a statement saying the allegations are serious, but it did not address them. "The JPS legal department will respond to the lawsuit in the appropriate legal manner," the statement read. "JPS is totally and fully committed to providing a safe learning environment for all of its students." In April 2011, SPLC sent JPS officials a letter notifying them that the allegations were being investigated and that Capital City administrators had been told to comply with the school board policy on student restraint. According to that policy, physical restraints should be used only when students display "physically violent behavior." To read more, click here

 

Did You Know That....

IEP facilitation is not mentioned in IDEA and is not one of the dispute resolution options described in the law's procedural safeguards. Since IDEIA does not address IEP facilitation, there is no requirement for school systems to provide an impartial facilitator for IEP team meetings (The Consortium for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education, 2011).

 

Disability Advocates Call for Federal Probe of School Vouchers

As lawmakers seek to expand a 20-year-old school voucher program, advocates are crying foul, saying the program discriminates against students with disabilities. In a complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Justice this week, officials at the American Civil Liberties Union and Disability Rights Wisconsin as well as two parents of children with disabilities claim that private schools participating in a Milwaukee school voucher program are not accepting students with disabilities. The voucher program provides public funds for low-income Milwaukee students to attend private schools in the area. However, the complaint naming the state of Wisconsin, the state Department of Public Instruction and two private schools alleges that in practice most students with disabilities are not given the option to enroll and are instead restricted to public schools in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. To read more, click here

 

Childhood Trauma Linked to Higher Rates of Mental Health Problems

New research has shown that children's risk for learning and behavior problems and obesity rises in correlation to their level of trauma exposure, says the psychiatrist at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital who oversaw the study. The findings could encourage physicians to consider diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder rather than attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, which has similar symptoms to PTSD but very different treatment. The study examined children living in a violent, low-income neighborhood and documented an unexpectedly strong link between abuse, trauma and neglect and the children's mental and physical health: It reported, for instance, that children experiencing four types of trauma were 30 times more likely to have behavior and learning problems than those not exposed to trauma. To read more, click here

 

Changing How Gifted Students Think

The Loudoun Academy of Science, a six-year-old public magnet school in Sterling inspired in part by the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, already matches that famous school in one vital statistic: Like Jefferson, the Academy of Science each year rejects about 85 percent of applicants. With 240 students, the academy is one-seventh the size of Jefferson and takes only Loudoun County residents (Jefferson draws from most of Northern Virginia), but it has won glowing reviews from students and has created a research curriculum rare in U.S. secondary education. "It was completely unlike the standard classroom procedure that I was used to, and I absolutely loved it," said Carter Huffman, an academy graduate now at MIT. "I have yet to hear of another school that so encourages all of its students to pursue major independent research." To read more, click here

 

Texas Theme Park for Individuals with Disabilities Becomes Main Attraction

It stared as a dream four years ago and today it's the only park of its kind in the U.S. Morgan's Wonderland in San Antonio, Tex., is giving special needs children and their families a reason to smile. "We don't want to have limitations to what we can and can't do," said Crystal Brown, the mother of a special needs child. "Coming here, we're happy." The park has more than 20 attractions, including a carousel made for wheelchairs. All of the rides were designed to accommodate children with wide-ranging disabilities. "This is a park that allows people to do things they never thought they could do before," said Gordon Hartman, the parks founder. "We brought in doctors, therapists, teachers and parents of special needs individuals and said we're thinking about doing this, if we built one, what would you put in one?" To read more, click here

 

 

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Food For Thought..........

Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.

                                                                                     Mark Twain

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