I Speak of Dreams

Whingeing

It is a word more used in the UK than the US.  It seems to mean (in US parlance) to whine, but not to be in a position to do anything about the whining's cause, and to persist in whining

So I'm whingeing -- a head cold.  If I bend over, my head hurts.  Sneezing a lot, and that makes my head hurt, and some other things not to function properly.

And I'm cold. Cold, cold, cold.

Good News for Dyslexic Kids in Vernon Parish, Louisiana

Link: Beauregard Daily News.

In other school board business, the board voted unanimously in favor of allowing the Masonic Learning Center, Inc., a program aimed at providing extra training, free of charge to children suffering from dyslexia.

Sinning & MultiTasking

That Joey deVilla, he is all about the efficiency. Go check out his time-saving guide to combining the seven deadly sins..

"Guided Reading" and Students With Language-Based Learning Disabilities

Charles Fox of the Special Education Law Blog has asked Lisa Hannum to evaluate a popular early-reading technique, "guided reading".  The first of two parts:

The following post is from a colleague who is special education advocate, a trained mediator, and past President of the Illinois Chapter of the International Dsylexia Association. She has a great deal of expertise and experience in the area of reading methodologies and knowledge of needed remediations for reading-based disabilities. She has written this post on the subject of guided reading, at my request, since many schools [mis]represent that Guided Reading is appropriate to teach student struggling with a reading disability. I will post a second part tomorrow relating to research-based methods that are appropriate to address the issues that students with reading disabilities face in the classroom.

Tracking The Efficacy of Reading Programs

John Wills Lloyd at Teach Effectively pointed me to this new report from Louisa Cook Moats, published by the Fordham Institute:

"If this were medicine, the F.D.A. would never approve these reading nostrums as ‘safe and effective,'" commented Fordham Institute president Chester E. Finn, Jr. "Tort lawyers would be bringing class action suits against their vendors. The papers would be full of allegations of fraud, misrepresentation, and actual harm done by them. Education, alas, is not nearly so rigorous.

Patty Pacheco, Whistleblower at Royal Gorge Academy

Patty Pacheco, an executive secretary at Royal Gorge Academy,  filed a complaint with the Cañon City Police Department  because  “she cannot deal with the way the students are treated by [Randall] Hinton any longer,” according to a report by an investigating officer who interviewed her.

Hinton may be facing additional charges.

Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse (CAICA) Blogs

Isabelle Zehnder maintains the website Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse (CAICA).

She became involved in opposing behavior modification programs when a son's friend, who was living with the Zehnder family, was forcibly removed to a program in Samoa.

She has now started several issue-oriented blogs.  Descriptions below the fold.

Pediatric Grand Rounds

Clark Bartram is a pediatrician's nom de blogue. He is posting Pediatric Grand Rounds this time, and it is a doozy.  Recommended.

Every Person Above The Age of Reason Should Know CPR and First Ai.

Frank pointed me the way to this story:

Digital Common Sense � Why it’s been quiet here.

Whether you know me personally or not, and whether this badly written tale of my recent experience touches you in some way or not, I urge you, every one of you who ever reads this, to get in a class. Learn CPR. Learn how to give mouth-to-mouth. Learn the basics. In the most frightening and desparate of times, you may need them. Take care of yourselves, your family, and your friends.

Read the post.  He saved his wife's life, because he knew what to do.

Would you?

Horse Show/Embassy Suites Report

So I think I figured out Embassy Suites' wireless lameness...too many tabs loading at once blow something or other.  This is a problem for me because I tend to open a lot of tabs at once while I am roaming about.