How tablets helped unlock one girl's voice. Helping students with special needs succeed in academics and in life. For some children, success can’t be measured by grades on a report card or the final score of a football game.
And that’s where the specialists with the Paul Bunyan Education Cooperative step in, to meet children with special needs where they are and help them to become as independent as they can be by the time they reach adulthood. “We have found many times if we catch a child early, we can minimize their disability,” explained Keith Olson, an occupational therapist with the Paul Bunyan Co-op. Some people may not realize that students receive free health care services at school and, in some cases, at home. School districts are under state and federal mandates requiring them to provide all children ages birth to 21 years access to education. The districts must modify and adapt the school environment for children with special needs and provide resources for them. The number of students with special needs continues to grow. Guide Highlights Effective Social-Emotional Programs for PreK, Beyond - Early Years. From guest blogger Nirvi Shah: A new review of social and emotional learning programs for schools looked at dozens of programs for pre-K and elementary students, highlighting 23 that promote students' self-control, relationship building, and problem solving, among other skills.
The review, by the Chicago-based Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, rated programs based on whether they provide opportunities for students to practice their social and emotional skills, the contexts in which those skills are promoted and reinforced, and whether there is evidence of the programs' effectiveness. However the report notes that the outcomes of each program—which have been studied by researchers—varied. Most demonstrated an effect on students' behavior, with outcomes such as positive social behavior and a reduction in behavior problems, but only some showed an effect on emotional distress and academic performance. Edcamps: The New Professional Development - Finding Common Ground. Conferences are really great venues to get new ideas, share best practices and meet with colleagues from near or far.
They are planned a year ahead of time and educators can plan ahead and choose from a menu of great presenters or workshops. Unfortunately, conferences can be very expensive although many of them are worth the money. • What can schools do to fill the void between great conferences? • How can schools substitute for the fact that they may not have the money to send teachers or administrators to conferences? Stifling the special education stigma in Verona, Cedar Grove. Steep Cuts To Special Education, Disability Programs Loom. The White House is warning that special education will face more than $1 billion in cuts and millions more will be trimmed from other federal programs for people with disabilities next year unless lawmakers act.
In a report sent to Congress Friday, the Obama administration painted a stark picture of what’s to come, detailing the impact of more than $100 billion in automatic spending cuts that are scheduled to take effect Jan. 2. The funding reductions were triggered after lawmakers failed to reach a budget deal last year. As a result, most federal programs will be slashed by at least 8.2 percent. That means that more than $1 billion will be chopped from special education, the White House said. How technology is helping people with speech impairments to talk. I am sitting staring at a computer screen.
So far so banal, except that this screen features a red dot that, by some technological magic, tracks the movement of my eyes: I can place it where I want on the screen just by looking. The bottom of the screen portrays a keyboard, although I could, if I chose, select other screens made up of various vocabulary, grammar and expression-based menus, which, for experienced users, would doubtless speed things up. Elaine Gavalas: Yoga May Help Benefit Kids With Autism. September is National Yoga Month, featuring yoga health benefits and resources.
Numerous studies suggest that yoga can help relieve health problems such as back pain, high blood pressure, breast cancer, obesity, sleep problems, sexual dysfunction, and mental illness. Now research reports that yoga may help benefit kids with autism. Autism is a developmental disability due to a neurological disorder that appears during the first three years of life. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), autism affects 1 in every 88 children in the U.S., a 78 percent increase since 2007. A study published in the August online issue of the journal Nature suggests autism may be linked to genetic changes in older fathers.
Yoga May Help School Kids With Autism A 2012 study published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy found yoga helped improve school performance and sustained attention in children with autism. Yoga Relaxation May Help Improve Autism Symptoms. NEISD to pilot Down syndrome reading program. Marie Livingston, the mother of an 8-year-old with Down syndrome, was at a conference in Austin about three years ago when she first heard about the research she hopes will pave the way for her daughter to learn to read.
“I was listening to these people speak about the progress children can make,” Livingston said. “If you have a child with Down syndrome, you know what a big deal that is.” Now, thanks in large part to her efforts, the British-born program will be replicated in the North East Independent School District — its first such attempt outside the United Kingdom. The program is based on the work of Kelly Burgoyne, a researcher with Down Syndrome Education International, whose U.K. study found that children who received 20 weeks of specially-designed intervention for 40 minutes a day could significantly improve their reading and language skills. Teachers' Expectations Can Influence How Students Perform : Shots - Health Blog. Hide captionTeachers interact differently with students expected to succeed.
But they can be trained to change those classroom behaviors. iStockphoto.com Teachers interact differently with students expected to succeed. Where Are Students With Disabilities Going to School? - On Special Education. Tablets, laptops and mobiles in the classroom: top tips from teachers. This week we've been exploring how technology is being used to educate and engage in the classroom and our piece on using mobile phones in the classroom caused quite the stir, attracting comments from enthusiasts, skeptics and those teachers in between.
It's obvious that while many remain to be convinced of the potential, others are really excited about using one to one devices in their lessons. We brought together teachers and education experts on the topic, to share their thoughts, tips and advice in a live discussion. Outcomes for Students With Severe Disabilities Can, Must Improve - On Special Education. Students who have the most severe disabilities aren't often enough being prepared well for work or more education beyond high school, and Congress has an opportunity to change that when it gets around to renewing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
The Collaboration to Promote Self-Determination today shared a set of recommendations that target reform of the tests taken by students with severe cognitive disabilities and the instruction these students receive. Mary Grett School helps special needs students transition from school to work.