I Speak of Dreams

Action Item: Ask Your Representative to Join The Congressional Dyslexia Caucus

ANNOUNCEMENT FROM DR. SHAYWITZ:

There is a newly-formed US Congressional Dyslexia Caucus. It is very important that parents in every state contact their US Congressional Representative NOW and encourage them to join the caucus by contacting Rep. Peter Stark (D-CA) and/or Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).

Steps:

1. Find your zip +4 code by going to https://tools.usps.com/go/ZipLookupAction!input.action
2. Go to https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
3. Put in your state and your zip +4 
4. The utility will automatically take you to your representative's contact form.
5. Compose a message and send.  The message I sent is at the bottom of this post; you might talk about how dyslexia has affected you or a family member.

Please take action now. Dr. Shawitz talked about how important it is to get a discussion about dyslexia going at the national level. 

Dyslexia is real and US Public Schools are moving too slow to address it properly.

Date Approved: 1/18/2012
Chair(s): Rep. Bill Cassidy; Rep. Pete Stark
Staff Contact Information:
David Pulliam (Cassidy) 202.225.3901, david.pulliam@mail.house.g​ov 
Jeff Hild (Stark) 202.225.5065, jeff.hild@mail.house.gov

Here's the message I sent to David Pulliam and Jeff Hild:

Thanks to Reps. Cassidy and Stark for forming the US Congressional Dyslexia Caucus.

I wrote to Rep. Eshoo and asked her to join the caucus, using data from our local elementary district (Redwood City Elementary).

From this website, I found data for my county (San Mateo)

http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/SpecEd/SpecEd2.asp?cChoice=SpecEd2&cYear=2010-11&TheCounty=41%2CSAN%5EMATEO&cLevel=County&cTopic=SpecEd&myTimeFrame=S&submit1=Submit&ReptCycle=December

I see that the total number of students with Specific Learning Disability (as dyslexia is identified in IDEA) is 3,815.

Looking at the change by age, many students aren't identified until after third or fourth grade. This is too late; we can screen for phonemic awareness issues as soon as the second half of kindergarten.


From this website,

http://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us/App_Resx/EdDataClassic/fsTwoPanel.aspx?#!bottom=/_layouts/EdDataClassic/profile.asp?level=05&reportnumber=16


I see that there are 92,097 total students in San Mateo County

3,815/92,097 = 4.1% of the total number of students in San Mateo County are identified as having Specific Learning Disability.  That percentage is far too small.

Dr. Shaywitz estimates the percentage of students with dyslexia (or specific learning disability: reading) is at least 10%; the International Dyslexia Association has the view that 15-20% of the population has a language-based learning disability, including dyslexia.

I would also like to know about the effects of untreated dyslexia and reading failure on the drop-out rate. Students don't start to fail just before they drop out; the failure has been going on for years.

 

Update on Voucher Fraud in Florida

I am not a fan of vouchers for private schooling, for a lot of reasons.  One is the lack of oversight of private schools set up specifically to take advantage of voucher funds.

The Miami New Times has published an extensive expose of on-going fraud in an article by Gus Garcia-Roberts McKay scholarship program sparks a cottage industry of fraud and chaos (published Thursday, Jun 23 2011).

It's like a perverse science experiment, using disabled school kids as lab rats and funded by nine figures in taxpayer cash: Dole out millions to anybody calling himself an educator. Don't regulate curriculum or even visit campuses to see where the money is going.

For optimal results, do this in Florida, America's fraud capital.

Now watch all the different ways the flimflam men scramble for the cash.

Once a niche scholarship fund, the McKay program has boomed exponentially in the 12 years since it was introduced under Gov. Jeb Bush, with $148.6 million handed out in the past 12 months, a 38 percent increase from just more than five years ago.

There are 1,013 schools — 65 percent of them religious — collecting McKay vouchers from 22,198 children at an average of $7,144 per year.

 

Previously here:

• June 14, 2004 Dyslexia School Scandal in Florida
• July 3, 2004  Florida Voucher Trainwreck 
• August 4 2004 Latest in Florida Voucher Trainwreck
• August 24, 2006 McKay Voucher Fraud in Florida
• August 27, 2006 Another Florida Voucher Trainwreck

Waldorf School Supporter In US Uses Copyright Bullying to Silence Swedish Waldof Critic

I am not a fan of Waldorf education, and particularly not a fan of Waldorf charter schools. (another post from a person expressingA similar view)

One of my online friends is a Swedish woman, Alicia H.,  who goes by the handle zzzoey on Twitter.  Another online friend goes by the twitter handle ThetisMercurio.

Zooey was educated in a Swedish Waldorf school, which was (to put it mildly) not a happy experience for her. She is an active participant in the  Yahoo group Waldorf Critics, which is an open list (anyone may see the messages), and also blogs in Swedish and English at http://zooey.wordpress.com/

The Waldorf-Critics list was founded in 2007 and has (among others) the following advisories and rules:

A free-speech public forum operated by PLANS, Inc., as an information resource for anyone interested in Waldorf education who wants to hear views from outside the cult of Rudolf Steiner. Subscription is open to the public, and postings are not reviewed in advance. Not for the overly sensitive.

The postings and archives are public information but copyright remains with the writers. By submitting a message to the list, you agree to allow the inclusion of that message in the list archives at yahoo.com and waldorfcritics.org, and the quoting of that message in other messages to the list. We assume that by posting on a public list you want your ideas disseminated, and we do not object to the quoting of this list elsewhere.

There was an odd, short saga on the Waldorf-Critics list recently  A US woman, JennSW, joined the group on May 16, and proceeded to post identifying details about herself and details about her childrens' mental-health issues.  She proceded to lecture and patronize group members, all the while defending the Waldorf school where one of her children had been enrolled for less than a full academic year.  There was, as usual, vigorous discussion. 

JennSW claimed to have been "online since 1996", but seemed curiously naive about many things: blithely posting intimate family details to an open forum, coming into a well-established forum and complaining about the forum's mission and tone of discussion,  condescending to the decades of experience that many of the forum participants have, and so on.

JennSW joined the forum on May 16.  By May 20, she had filed a "Cease & Desist" legal action against another forum member.  I wonder if that's a land-speed record for taking offense and responding with legal action.

On May 18,Alicia H. posted a response to some of JennSW's points to her blog, http://zooey.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/discussion-boring-mindless-stupid-on-repeat-forever/including quoting some of the personal details JennSW had revealed about her children.   The post has been removed following the C&D order, but  I have a copy of the post.

On May 20, On May 20, JennSW set Alicia an email entitled, "Sick, Sick individual", which Alicia reposted to the Waldorf Critics link,  and she also  posted a response on her blog:  http://zooey.wordpress.com/2011/05/20/waldorf-bliss-ninny-not-quite-so-blissful-after-all/  with a link to the group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorf-critics/message/19241,again quoting matter that Jenn herself had posted about her children. The post has been removed following the C&D order, but  I have a copy of the post.

By the afternoon of May 20, JennSW had hired an attorney in the US and had forwarded a "Cease & Desist" letter to Alicia (who lives in Sweden) and to her blog's host, Wordpress.

On May 22 and 23, JennSW appeared at Alicia's blog to defend her actions.  Not once, but one two three four five six seven a href="http://zooey.wordpress.com/201eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen times.  She has apologized for sending the email, while continuing to defend her actions. Added: she also still doesn't get the deep racism and anti-semitism embedded in Waldorf pedagogy.

JennSW has not offered to lift the Cease & Desist order, which while in force, continues to hamper Alicia's ability to use her blog.  The C&D order is in the process of being resolved I find this curious. I continue to find it curious that JennSW's responses to the dissemination that she herself had revealed was (1) a vituperative email to someone she had been in contact with for less than 96 hours (2) legal action.

 

The Ideal Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) Curriculum for Middle School

Check updates at the bottom

Let's imagine a middle school (for non USians, that is the 7th, 8th & 9th year of schooling, and students typically are between 11 and 15 years of age, depending on how old were when they started kindergarten).

What would the ideal STEM curriculum cover? Not just knowledge, but skills?

KNOWLEDGE

SKILLS

Let's say you, as curriculum designer, have the freedom to ignore state standards, and don't really have to worry about what the follow-on institutions (high schools) expect, either.

I asked a version of this question previously on twitter and got the following:

Lab skills? Can read a meter stick, balance, graduated cylinder, force meter, graph, figure slope + more!

What else?

More responses:

• http://twitter.com/AmoebaMike/ scientific method. measurements. metric system. lab safety.
• http://twitter.com/polarisdotca/ How to measure w a ruler
• http://twitter.com/PhysicsChris/ Encourage to observe and ask why. Making things is also useful #scienceskills

Also see the science-skills survey

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEtrdkltRDVPNEs4QnRNSkczR09CbkE6MQ

Big private school chain settles disabilities case

Big private school chain settles disabilities case.

The Associated Press Friday, January 14, 2011; 4:19 PM WASHINGTON -- A chain of more than 180 private schools in 15 states and the District of Columbia has settled government accusations it turned away or refused to accommodate disabled children.

The Justice Department says Nobel Learning Communities, Inc., discriminated against children with autism, Down Syndrome, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and global developmental delays. The company which runs preschools and elementary and secondary schools. Under the settlement, it agreed to adopt a new non-discrimination policy, scrap eligibility criteria that screened out the disabled and help accommodate disabled students. It will pay $215,000 to 13 children who complained.

The company operates in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Its names include Chesterbrook Academy, Merryhill School and Evergreen Academy.

Everyday Health on ADHD Issues: Seeking Reader Feedback

In 2010 Everyday Health published  in-depth group interviews with a panel of 23 ADHD doctors and coaches.   These experts covered twenty of the most pressing ADHD issues related to children,  including diagnosis and treatment, medication, and behavior.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/adhd/expert-answers-on-adhd.aspx

 

ADHD, Part One: Exploring Causes and Treatment

ADHD, Part One: Exploring Causes and Treatment adhd experts causes and treatments Nearly one in 10 kids is diagnosed with ADHD — so it's not surprising that parents, medical professionals, and educators alike are debating these rising rates. From potential causes to non-drug treatment strategies, experts tackle some of the hot-button issues surrounding ADHD today.

• Why are so many more kids being diagnosed with ADHD?
• What are the causes of ADHD?
• How do you explain the value of ADHD treatment to resistant parents?
• How can school systems help ADHD kids?
• Which non-drug strategies work best?
• Can lax parenting cause ADHD?
• Does TV and video games cause ADHD?
• What role does diet play?

ADHD, Part 2: Diagnosing, Medicating, and More

Medicating kids for ADHD is a controversial topic among medical professionals and parents. Naysayers believe that children today are simply overdiagnosed and overmedicated, while advocates endorse these meds as a child's best chance at normalcy. Get the facts from our ADHD experts:

• How Is ADHD diagnosed?
• Is ADHD even a real disorder?
• If a child has ADHD, should parents be evaluated too?
• What is ADHD without the hyperactivity?
• Are ADHD meds overprescribed?
• Are ADHD drugs safe for children?
• What are the most common side effects?
• What are the long-term side effects?
• How fast does ADHD medication work?
• How young is too young for medication?
• Can ADHD drugs stunt a child’s growth?
• Are "drug holidays" a good idea?

The ADHD specialists interviewed:

Linda Aber
L. Eugene Arnold, MD, MEd
Frank Barnhill, MD
Eric Beam, PhD
Monte W. Davenport, PhD
Robert F. De Maria, DC, NHD
Lawrence Diller, MD
Jacquelyn F. Gamino, PhD
Kim Kendall, PhD
Erin N. King
Barry Lessin, MEd
Will Meek, PhD
Charles Parker, DO
Rhonda Pawlan, MS
David Pomeroy, MD
Patricia O. Quinn, MD
Steven Richfield, PsyD
Stephanie Sarkis, PhD
Rory Stern, PsyD
Jodi Sleeper-Triplett
Ari Tuckman, PsyD, MBA
F. Allen Walker, MD
Lara Honos-Webb, PhD

 Now Everyday Health is seeking reader response.  You can leave a comment here or respond directly to

julia@everydayhealth.com

via e-mail

 

Publicly Funded Waldorf Education Update

The writer known as Thetis Mercurio has been writing a series on publicly-funded Steiner-Waldorf education in the UK at David Colquon's blog, DC's Improbable Science.  Part 3 has just been published.

 

• Part 1 The true nature of Steiner (Waldorf) education. Mystical barmpottery at taxpayers’ expense.
• Part 2 The Steiner Waldorf cult uses bait and switch to get state funding
• Part 3 Steiner Waldorf Schools  The problem of racism 

Recommended if a Waldorf charter is planned for your area.

Previously: Publicly-Funded Waldorf Education

Rally the Team, But Wait: Girls in Sport Doesn't Require Team Sports

The National Women's Law Center has organized  "Blog for Girls' Sports Day" on December 8, 2010. You can sign up to join the rally at http://action.nwlc.org/site/PageNavigator/Blog_to_Rally_Girls_Sports

I wasn't much of a team sports player as a girl, but my  high school soccer team participation meant a lot to me.  Back in the day, soccer was relatively new, and both the girls' team and the boys' team was coached by Munzer Afifi, an ardent soccer enthusiast.  Mr. Afifi would come running into the girls' dorm at the crack of dawn, and off we would go to practice.  The important thing was to try. 

Team sports aren't for everyone, but some sort of participation in sport is.

My daughter's participation in sports changed her life, too, in several ways.

Early on, she was in a community tumbling program, and one move was impossible for her.  Her coach didn't let her give up, but patiently coached her over months until she could perform the move.  His patience and understanding contributed to her later capacity for persistence.

Later, she competed in two non-school, non-team sports, equestrian and martial arts.  When things were not going well for her socially at school, she still had her friends at the barn and at the dojo. 

Horseback riding in one sense is a team sport -- the horse and the rider.  When things didn't go as planned, her coach always three things:

1. (Before entering the arena) What is your plan for riding this particular set of obstacles?
2. (After leaving the arena) Did you ride your plan?
3. (When things didn't go well) Rider error or horse error?  (Actually, since she started riding ponies, it was "Pilot error or pony error?")

This set of questions, again and again, modeled two things: have a plan, and analyze after the fact.

My daughter's martial arts program taught her many, many things, but I'd choose two to talk about:  participating in martial arts gave her permission to develop an appropriate kind of aggressiveness, and it developed in her a toughness of mind.

I wish I had had that advantage as a girl.

Read more first-person stories about the benefits of sports for girls at http://www.nwlc.org/our-blog/blog-rally-girls%E2%80%99-sports-day-2010-posts

On Twitter: http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23rally4girls

 

Publicly Funded Waldorf Education

Personally, I am not a fan of Waldorf / Steiner education.  My sense is that the entire philosophy is founded on principles that are irrational and anti-science.  However, if the Waldorf approach resonates with your family's values, feel free to pay private school tuition for a Waldorf education.

However, the deal is different when "Waldorf-inspired" charter schools are proposed.  I'm very much opposed them, for (at least) two reasons.

The first is on First Amendment principles.  The Waldorf philosophy is based on a religion, anthroposophy.

People for Legal And Nonsectarian Schools (PLANS) advance the arguments

1. Waldorf Schools are Religious Schools
2. Waldorf Is Based on Occult Theory
3. Publicly Funded Waldorf Programs Violate the First Amendment in the United States

The second is that the Waldorf/Steiner particularly pernicious for children with educational special needs such as dyslexia, ADHD, and autism. Because of the underlying beliefs in karma and reincarnation, teachers at Waldorf/Steiner tend to believe that such educational challenges are part of child's destiny to "work out".   The Waldorf/Steiner attitude does not satisfy US laws relative to educating students (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).)

Early in 2010, the Oakland School District turned down a "Waldorf-influenced" charter school, the Community School for Creative Education (CSCE) The charter organization then (as was their right) petitioned the county Board of Education to grant the charter, which they did.  CSCE will open in the fall of 2011.  Yes, I'm disappointed, but time will tell.

Twitter has many vocal Waldorf/Steiner critics. Two notable ones are a UK-based former Waldorf/Steiner parent, ThetisMecurio, and Lovelyhorse_, who I believe is a former Waldorf/Steiner student.

In the UK, there is a movement to expand the number of publicly funded Waldorf/Steiner schools.  

David Colquhoun is a senior British pharmacologist and Fellow of at University College London.  He is also a long-time blogger, running the site DC's Improbable Science, in which he criticizes alternative medicine and pseudoscience.  Earlier this month, he wrote:

I have to admit that until a few years ago I had thought of Steiner schools as being rather cuddly experiments in progressive education. Perhaps a bit like Montessori schools or A.S. Neill’s Summerhill School.

But then I discovered that they advocate "biodynamic farming". That includes utterly barmy doctrines about how the phase of the moon affects crops and such like astrological baloney (as well as some possibly sensible stuff about compost). Then I had a series of mails from a correspondent that made me realise that Steiner schools have some much more unpleasant ideas than a bit of astrological baloney, including the dangerous ideas about anthroposophical medicine.

The matter has acquired new urgency now that Steiner schools are seeking government support via the Tory’s "free schools" programme. It is important that both ministers and parents should know what goes on in these schools.

I’ve wanted to write about it for a while, but was deterred by the sheer amount of information. My only contribution so far was to add Rudolf Steiner to my Patients’ Guide.

"Anthroposophical medicine: followers of the mystic barmpot, Rudolf Steiner, for whom nothing whatsoever seems to strain credulity"

 

Luckily I became acquainted with two of the most knowledgeable people on the topic. They are known on Twitter as @thetismercurio and @lovelyhorse_. After meeting them it occurred to me that I should ask them to write a guest post or two.

The true nature of Steiner (Waldorf) education. Mystical barmpottery at taxpayers’ expense. Part 1 http://www.dcscience.net/?p=3595


The Steiner Waldorf cult uses bait and switch to get state funding. Part 2
http://www.dcscience.net/?p=3595

 I do hope that the good people of Oakland will ask pointed questions of the Community School For Creative Education (CSCE), specifically:

1. Will CSCE teach science from an evidence-based approach, or will they teach Steinerian "science"? As Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education observed: If schools follow Steiner's views on science, education will suffer. Steiner believed that materialism was insufficient for the understanding of nature. He believed that science needs to "go beyond" the empirical and consider vitalistic, unobservable forces, a perspective also common in 20th century New Age healing approaches. Anthroposophical medicine, similar to homeopathy but even less scientific, claims that disease is caused only secondarily by malfunctions of chemistry and biology, and primarily by a disturbance of the "vital essence." Anatomy and physiology a la Steiner are unrecognizable by modern scientists: the heart does not pump blood; there are 12 senses ("touch, life, movement, equilibrium, warmth, smell," etc.) corresponding to signs of the zodiac; there is a "rhythmic" system that mediates between the "nerve-sense" and "metabolic-muscular" systems. Physics and chemistry are just as bad: the "elements" are earth, air, fire, and water. The four "kingdoms of nature" are mineral, plant, animal and man. Color is said to be the result of the conflict of light and darkness. Typical geological stages are Post-Atlantis, Atlantis, Mid-Lemuria, and Lemuria.
2. What are the faculty and staff's position on karma and reincarnation? As Thetis Mercurio and LovelyHorse_write: The pedagogy of Waldorf schools is informed by Steiner’s esoteric scheme of karma and reincarnation. The child ‘incarnates’ in 7 year cycles: the ‘etheric’ body is born at 7, the astral body at 14 and the ‘ego’ or the individuality that returns from past lives, at 21. Abstract reasoning is discouraged too early (before 14) because it interferes with the anthroposophical – spiritual – vision of human development.
3. Will the CSCE curriculum begin teaching reading and writing in kindergarten, or will it follow Steiner's prescription of waiting until the child begins losing baby teeth?  Steiner wrote: ‘'People will object that the children then learn to read and write too late. That is said only because it is not known today how harmful it is when the children learn to read and write too soon. It is a very bad thing to be able to write early. Reading and writing as we have them today are really not suited to the human being till a later age - the eleventh or twelfth year - and the more a child is blessed with not being able to read and write well before this age, the better it is for the later years of life. A child who cannot write properly at thirteen or fourteen (I can speak out of my own experience because I could not do it at that age) is not so hindered for later spiritual development as one who early, at seven or eight years can already read and write perfectly’.
4. Will CSCE police students' out-of-school experiences dress code? From Carol Wyatt, a former Waldorf parent in California:  I received a call from [my daughter's] kindergarten teacher alerting me to the fact that parents were upset about my daughter's singing. Not only was she corrupting the other children with music, but it was pop music. The teacher told me that parents were complaining because their children were coming home singing pop songs. In addition, could we put a stop to her wearing sparkles to school. No sparkly tennis shoes, headbands, or shirts of any kind. She was 5 and 6 at the time.
5. Can a school influenced by Steiner escape Steiner's racist ideas? As Roger Rawlings writes at Waldorf Watch:  Steiner made many more such statements [see "Steiner's Bile"], and teachers at my school echoed them in my presence. Today my old school, like most Waldorf and Steiner schools, says that it is guided by the " insights" of Rudolf Steiner. Until these schools explicitly cite and renounce Steiner's racist teachings, nothing they say or do concerning race can have any moral standing.

End the Bullying: Grassroots Activism

There are two groups of students who are routinely bullied in k-12 classrooms: children with learning disabilities (including autism and ADHD) and students who do not conform to gender norms (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (GLBTQ).

There's a new effort, End the Bullying

End the Bullying uses this blog, a Facebook page, and Twitter to build a grassroots base of a grassroots base of people who are willing to provide support and insight for children who experience bullying and for their parents. Our hope is to provide resources via the Internet and, when needed, locally, for children and families who are experiencing bullying, especially when the authorities are not handling the situation as they should.

In news stories about bullying, especially when it has led to suicide, parents note that they repeatedly tried to contact school administrators or other authorities, only to be ignored. Many families whose stories do not make the news also attest to this cycle of nonresponsiveness. End the Bullying focuses on identifying people across the United States who can serve as contacts and facilitators for parents and children whose complaints are not being heard.

If you use twitter, you can follow @endbullying1 for updates.