I Speak of Dreams

Please join me in signing the Basel Declaration Society's petition against animal rights extremism

The Basel Declaration is a statement by research scientists that animal experimentation is still necessary for the advancement of science, and that such research can and should be carried out ethically and in a transparent manner. The declaration is supported by the Basel Declaration Society. The Society has issued the following:

Call for Solidarity with Scientists in Milan affected by Animal Rights Extremism

On April 20, 2013 a group of animal rights extremists invaded laboratories at the University of Milan, illegally removed about 100 animals and destroyed numerous highly valuable research projects. The attack was covered in national and international media.

I have signed. Will you?

Research scientist Orac has more at Fighting back against animal rights extremists

No, a typeface won't "fix" dyslexia....but readability helps

On April 24, 2013, The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia's Facebook page asked

Question Wednesday: Anna asks, "Does anyone have experience with "dyslexie" font? I'm curious if it really helps..."

I wrote about this almost two years ago,

There's been a lot of buzz re "a typeface for dyslexia", alleging that it was researched based, can help, etc. 

The research was in Dutch. There's no data on the degree of dyslexia of the 21 research subjects, their base reading level, etc. The research found that they "made fewer reading errors" compared to another font. No information is available on the contrasting font, or how the research was carried out.

Dyslexia is a language-based issue (discerning sounds in words, rapidly matching sounds to symbols (letters) and rapidly matching symbols to sounds).

This is not a cure or treatment for dyslexia, people, and in my view is nothing to get excited about.

A Barton colleague, Pamela Taylor from Kansas City's Lexability, gave what I think was the best answer for the Facebook Question

An attractive, well-designed readable font is important for ALL readers; but, a font change won't help those with dyslexia specifically in a sustainable, long-term, and meaningful way. Simply changing the font won't improve the phonemic awareness and processing issues involved with dyslexia and it is a disservice to those with dyslexia to say that it is an answer.

There was a study done that Dyslexie helped in readability; however, it was flawed, statistically insignificant, and not that conclusive (even though it was administered by those involved in marketing the font).

So, nice fonts for EVERYONE! It does make reading easier for all. But it won't help with the fundamental, underlying, and problematic issues of dyslexia.

At the last IDA conference in Baltimore, dyslexia specialists--myself included--were quite discouraged by the misleading premise that a font change would be helpful. It's a cheap out and a red herring.

One of the other commentators suggested looking into the free, open-sources faces, Open Dyslexic, pictured to the left.

If you feel that having such a font might help with reading fluency, go ahead, just as long as you are aware that nothing substitutes for direct, explicit, multisensory instruction, delivered with sufficient intensity and fidelity.  

dyslexie image source: http://www.studiostudio.nl/en/information/

Open Dyslexic image source: http://opendyslexic.org/

Misinformation about students with disabilities, one-on-one aides, and Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)

New from NICHCY, the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, on aides and LRE.

Question: Is having a one-on-one assistant the “most restrictive” setting for a student with a disability?
Answer: No. The type of support that a student requires has nothing to do with the degree to which her educational placement is considered to be “restrictive” under IDEA, the Federal special education law.

Whoever wrote the NICHCY FAQ is a lot more generous than I would be

The truth about LRE
Some parents who ask about a one-on-one assistant for their child are told that this kind of individual support would be the most restrictive setting for their child, and that moving the child into a separate classroom or separate school would actually be less restrictive. This is simply not true, and probably reflects a lack of information on the part of the person making that statement.

Parents of students in special education must educate themselves about their students' rights, as so often the special education director or the district are misinformed -- if not downright dissembling -- about students' rights

I Speak of Dreams celebrates 1000 Ausome Things #AutismPositivity2013

What is this all about? Autism Positivity explains

Last year hundreds of bloggers came together in a show of support and solidarity in response to an anonymous person’s Google search “I wish I didn’t have Aspergers”. The posts that came flooding in from all over the world were a beautiful example of the power of strength in numbers. With so much negativity still surrounding Autism and the misinformation and misconceptions that continue to abound, we invite each of you to share one, or two, or more “Ausome” things!

I've been turning this over in my mind for the last month. I hear many adult autistics writing about how April is a hard month, like Karla Fisher on Facebook

IRL Status: I have come to the conclusion that April is not a month for me to do Autism stuff. ;) I am not strong enough. The good news is that there are significantly more of us autistics speaking against the flood of crappy Autism messaging and they are strong enough. The parent allies are also increasing in numbers. The bad news is there is still a flood of crappy messaging and we are in a place as a people where acceptance is so far away. It makes life for those of us living it, so hard every day and still it continues...

I thought I would focus on gratitude. Here is a sampling (not a complete list by any means!)

I am grateful to (say) Judy Endow for waking me up, and making me see the many, many assumptions I have about social skills and the "hidden curriculum".

I am grateful to (say) Rachel Cohen-Rottenberg for many things, but this month, for her sense of humor

Image source: http://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/2013/04/10/they-need-your-help/

I am grateful to Landon Bryce and all the work that he does for autism advocacy at  ThAutCast.  For we neurotypical folk, it isn't always easy to read, but I am still grateful.

I am grateful to Brian R. King for his words of wisdom on relationships, and his shattering honesty, like this post http://brianraymondking.com/2013/04/we-all-fall-apart-sometimes/

I am grateful to Kassiane S. for sharing her joy and fierceness, all over the internet but especially at Radical Neurodivergence

I am grateful to Steve Summers for sharing with me what "eye gaze demand" feels like for him: https://www.facebook.com/notes/steve-summers/eye-contact-and-autism/589026277774684

That is my short list.  What about you? 

Read more at

• The blog: http://autismpositivity.wordpress.com/
  • Facebook: like Autism Positivity on facebook
  • Follow Autism Positivity on Twitter
  • Follow Autism Positivity on Tumblr
• Also read http://autismacceptanceday.blogspot.com/

FYI Webinar Teaching Written Expression to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders May 16 2013

Teaching Written Expression to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Non-Member $114.00
Other Member Fees $89.00
Retired $69.00
Student $69.00
Thursday, May 16, 2013
4-5 p.m. ET


Register

This webinar will address the difficulties that many individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders have in acquiring the writing skills necessary for success in the classroom and on the job. Evidence-based interventions for teaching writing to students across the autism spectrum will be reviewed, to enable participants to identify the practices that will be effective with their students. Drs. Delano and Pennington also will present instructional strategies shown to improve writing skills, including response-prompting procedures and computer-assisted instruction. They will discuss evidence based practices for assisting students in developing basic writing skills (e.g., labeling, sentence writing), as well as strategies for developing more complex writing skills, such as composing stories and writing essays. In addition, they will discuss the process and techniques involved in monitoring student progress.

Wonderful post on math failure and anxiety

By the author of the blog,  Math with Bad Drawings, What it feels like to be bad at math

It’s surprisingly hard to write about this, even now. Mathematical failure – much like romantic failure – leaves us raw and vulnerable. It demands excuses.

I tell my story to illustrate that failure isn’t about a lack of “natural intelligence,” whatever that is. Instead, failure is born from a messy combination of bad circumstances: high anxiety, low motivation, gaps in background knowledge. Most of all, we fail because, when the moment comes to confront our shortcomings and open ourselves up to teachers and peers, we panic and deploy our defenses instead. For the same reason that I pushed away Topology, struggling students push me away now.

 

I think I'm about to read a whole new blog

Total Trivia: Lunching at the Cheesecake Factory

OK, total trivia.

I had lunch on April 27 with my darling oldest granddaughter, Drummer Girl #1, who is now EIGHT!! Eight, I tell you. It was her birthday, celebrated with her parents, her younger sister, her wee brother (who slept the whole time) her Tia (my Jumper Girl) & Wruee (JG's beloved), DG#1's Buie Janet and me, Buie Liz. Happy Birthday, darling girl

The trivia part is that we ate at The Cheesecake Factory. The first time I had ever, ever, darkened the door of that establishment.

I had never seen a menu that...extensive. Or a menu with advertisements for other enterprises.

Wruee, being a manly man, choked at ordering items from the SkinnyLicious® menu, but then he manned up.

JG & I shared a SkinnyLicious® Grilled Artichoke, which was about the best grilled artichoke I'd ever had, to my surprise. I wondered if they'd soaked it in a herb brine.

Then I had the Seared Tuna Tataki Salad -- again from the SkinnyLicious® (urk) menu, which was pretty darned good. The wasabi vinagrette gave me ideas for future salads.

I have to say, the service was excellent.  The only one to have dessert was the Birthday Girl, who was served a mini hot fudge sundae, with "Happy Birthday" written out on the service plate with hot fudge.  A nice touch. 

EdRev 2013: My City School, San Francisco

My City School (San Francisco) is a brand-new start-up.  I believe it is set to open in Fall, 2013.  It's a middle-school program for students with learning disabilities.  I gathered from the woman I talked to at EdRev that there were students with unmet needs, so a group of parents decided to start a program.

EdRev 2013: Stellar Academy, Newark, CA

There were a number of schools for students who learn differently exhibiting at EdRev 2013 that were new to me.

One is Stellar Academy for Dyslexics, which is located a few miles south of the Dumbarton Bridge on the east side of the San Francisco Bay. (In other words, might be within commute distance for students from Palo Alto and Menlo Park, as well as East Bay communities

The mission of Stellar Academy, located in Alameda County, is to assist children with dyslexia overcome academic challenges through the Slingerland® approach.

The school is evidently rather new, and small (37 students, according to this Great Schools review).

Celebrate Health! It is National Infant Immunization Week

From Shot of Prevention

State health departments, health care professionals, immunization partners across the country and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are all working together this week to  promote National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW).  From April 20th through April 27th various efforts will be made to highlight the positive impact of vaccination and bring attention to our many immunization achievements.  The ultimate goal is to continue to reduce infant death and disability caused by preventable diseases in the United States, and to emphasize the ways in which immunizations provide the power to protect.

While there may be specific actions to highlight immunizations throughout the week, we want to begin by acknowledging the important accomplishments we’ve already achieved.  For instance,

• Immunization advances currently enable us to protect infants and children from 14 different vaccine-preventable diseases before they reach age two.
• Routine childhood immunization of all children born in just one year in the U.S. prevents about 20 million cases of disease and about 42,000 deaths.
• Immunization saves our nation about $13.6 billion in direct costs each year.
• The National Immunization Survey has consistently shown that childhood immunization rates for routinely recommended vaccines remain at or near record levels.

Every immunization advocate should be proud to know that their hard work contributes to these important milestones.  But of course, this doesn’t mean we can rest easy.  There is always room for improvement.  Children in the United States can—and  do—still suffer and sometimes even die from vaccine preventable diseases.   For example, in 2012, more than 50 people were reported to have measles.  In addition, preliminary data from the CDC reports more than 41,000 cases of whooping cough (pertussis) in the United States alone last year - the highest number of pertussis cases in any one year in the U.S. since 1955.  Sadly, these cases resulted in 18 deaths, most of which were among children younger than a year old. Read more…

I remain a staunch advocate of public health and immunizations