Student Guide Corner

When marketing guru Seth Godin enters the fray, people listen. His Textbook Rant blog post today focuses on the expense, impracticality, and lack of engagement textbooks provide and stresses how quickly they become outdated. He declares, "As far as I can tell, assigning a textbook to your college class is academic malpractice." And he concludes, This industry deserves to die. It has extracted too much time and too much money and wasted too much potential. We can do better. A lot better. What didn't he say? He never mentioned that textbooks are inaccessible to many students - those with physical, vision or other print disabilities. But he offers a digital solution that offers accessibility at no cost to the student. The solution seems simple to me. Professors should be spending their time devising pages or chapterettes or even entire chapters on topics that matter to them, then publishing them for free online. (it's part of their job, remember?) When you have a clas...

We have an unprecedented opportunity to wisely invest in "high-quality" assistive technology and the professional development necessary to ensure effective integration and implementation due to the ARRA funding for special education . The Ed.gov site includes this information in the fact sheet American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: IDEA Recovery Funds for Services to Children and Youths with Disabilities : Some possible uses of these limited-term IDEA ARRA funds that are allowable under IDEA and aligned with the core reform goals for which states must provide assurances under SFSF include: Obtain state-of-the art assistive technology devices and provide training in their use to enhance access to the general curriculum for students with disabilities. The Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd) has created a comprehensive resource to guide technology investment decisions using ARRA funds. They offer: Tech Matrix: Technology Supports for Learning - Ali...

A post that Paul Bogush wrote last week continues to resonate with me. How do we reach those kids who experience school as a daily struggle, who are challenged by traditional methods of instruction that utilize a "one size fits all" approach to learning? We spend a lot of time forcing kids to do things when they are not ready. Their first experience with a great many things is failure. I think teachers believe that it is just part of the process to fail something when you start, and slowly build up to success. He shared how he helped his daughter learn how to ride her bike, initially holding the bike tightly then gradually reducing the amount of support he provided until support was no longer necessary. Within a short period of time, she felt completely confident and successful. I can envision her beaming with pride at her accomplishment. Paul used that experience to wonder, Do teachers fall into two groups? One who never let go of their kids, and one that never holds on...

It's the weekend - time to catch up and take advantage of the opportunity to review what's in my reader. So many treasures to share with you, in no particular order! 1. Do you work with students who may benefit from speech recognition software ? This topic frequently pops up in IEP team discussions about students with written expression issues . Who are the ideal candidates? What are the necessary prerequisite skills? Use the Custom Typing comprehensive online form to guide your decision about the effectiveness of speech recognition for a student. (Explore their resources under the Special Needs tab for a wealth of additional information). 2. Facilitating Online Class Discussions : the Why and the How - Many struggling students fear participating in class discussions for a variety of reasons. Will they give the "right" answer? Do they have enough time to formulate a verbal response? Will they humiliate themselves in front of their peers? (My son told me he pr...

Borrowing a page from David Warlick today. He was recently asked by a retired educator to identify the most controversial issues facing education today. So he asked his readers: What do you think � in as few words as possible � are the greatest questions facing education in this digital age? Refer to the many comments to read what's on the minds of educators. My question to you is, what do you think are the greatest questions facing SPECIAL education in this digital age? (Do you believe it is necessary to differentiate between general education and special education or are the issues similar?) I look forward to reading your thoughts.

A distraught mother called me the other day. She wanted to know what she should do. Her third grade son is struggling in school, inconsistent performance, doesn't always "pay attention," not enjoying school at all. She's wondering, based upon conversations with the current teacher, if her son needs testing and has ADD. The only problems they see at home are related to homework completion. I asked her some questions - how did he do in first grade? There were some concerns but they got through it. Second grade? No problems at all. The red flags go up. What would you say to her? I'm interested in your thoughts before I share mine.

It is a federal mandate that every student on an Individualized Education Program (IEP) MUST be considered for Assistive Technology. Do you know when this was written into federal law? Based upon what I hear from special educators, some of you might answer, "Recently." Actually, this was added in IDEA '97 - TWELVE YEARS AGO! I know this is still not happening at all IEP team meetings. IDEA �97 added the requirement that each IEP Team consider the need for assistive technology as part of the Consideration of Special Factors. 300.346 (a)(2) Consideration of Special Factors. The IEP Team shall .... (v) consider whether the child requires assistive technology devices and services. Is it happening at every IEP meeting you attend? If not, choose to be the catalyst for compliance. And what conclusions are reached following AT consideration? There are only four possibilities: The first is that current interventions (what ever they may be) are working and nothing new is needed, i...