Academic Remediation

Free, Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) Myths & Facts

From the always-reliable National Center for Learning Disabilities

FAPE is the acronym for a Free and Appropriate Public Education. It is one of the most misunderstood concepts of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA). And it often causes the greatest conflict between parents and schools. A required component of IDEA, FAPE mandates that school districts provide access to general education and specialized educational services. It also requires that children with disabilities receive support free of charge as is provided to non-disabled students. It also provides access to general education services for children with disabilities by encouraging that support and related services be provided to children in their general education settings as much as possible.

Over the years, the courts have helped define what FAPE is and is not. In short, it is vital for parents to understand that IDEA is not an entitlement program that provides disabled children with a better education than is provided to non-disabled students. Use the chart below to help you learn what FAPE can mean to you and your child, and to dispel the many myths about FAPE.

RtI and Identifying Disabilities: You Have Options

From the National Center for Learning Disabilities, always reliable: http://www.ncld.org/parents-child-disabilities/ld-testing/strategies-addressing-identification-issues?utm_source=LDOnLine.org&utm_medium=Twitter

If the school informs you that they are using Response to Intervention (RTI), you should go ahead and request an evaluation in writing as soon as you think your child may have a disability. Making this request is critical because your written consent puts a 60-day timeframe on both the completion of the RTI process and the evaluation. The process of determining whether your child has a disability such as a learning disability and needs special education cannot go on indefinitely. If your request for an evaluation is denied because your child’s school says they do not “suspect” a disability or because they are using RTI, you have the right to file either a due process complaint or a state complaint, discussed later.

What the gifted education field needs to learn about learning disabilities

The author makes some very good points http://mosaicofminds.blogspot.com/2012/08/what-gifted-education-field-needs-to.html

Another misconception is that when the same behavior occurs in gifted people and people with disabilities, it must occur for different reasons.  These writers seem to understand the reasons for gifted children's problem behavior rather well, but many researchers and most people with the disability in question would dispute their characterization of disabled people's reasoning.

Four myths about self-advocacy in the university setting

From the always-useful LDOnline, Self-advocacy for college students.  The article particularly

Given that self-advocacy is essential for prospective college students with learning disabilities to be successful, this article will present four myths about what self-advocacy is for these students as well as responses to these myths. They were chosen because of their prevalence among students with learning disabilities and their parents. Further, these myths often have had a decisively negative effect on these students' ability to meet needs critical to their success in a college setting. The responses presented address these myths and highlight some best practices for self-advocacy. 

False myth  #1. It's better to avoid the label "learning disability" because such labels are ultimately damaging to the student's self-esteem.

False myth #2. Now that there are programs or students with learning disabilities at many postsecondary settings, their existence guarantees that students' essential needs will be met.

False myth #3. Obtaining the highest grades possible is the major yardstick of effective self-advocacy. Better grades lead to increased options upon leaving a postsecondary setting.

False myth #4. When students encounter a very difficult academic situation, it's best to let their parents take over.

DSM 5 Approved, dyslexia out: What the experts thought

I'm waiting for official confirmation.  In the mean time, this report:

J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2012 May;53(5):593-607. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02495.x. Epub 2011 Dec 5.

Annual research review: the nature and classification of reading disorders--a commentary on proposals for DSM-5.

Snowling MJ, Hulme C.

Source

Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK. mjs19@york.ac.uk

Abstract

This article reviews our understanding of reading disorders in children and relates it to current proposals for their classification in DSM-5. There are two different, commonly occurring, forms of reading disorder in children which arise from different underlying language difficulties. Dyslexia (as defined in DSM-5), or decoding difficulty, refers to children who have difficulty in mastering the relationships between the spelling patterns of words and their pronunciations. These children typically read aloud inaccurately and slowly, and experience additional problems with spelling. Dyslexia appears to arise principally from a weakness in phonological (speech sound) skills, and there is good evidence that it can be ameliorated by systematic phonic teaching combined with phonological awareness training. The other major form of reading difficulty is reading comprehension impairment. These children read aloud accurately and fluently, but have difficulty understanding what they have read. Reading comprehension impairment appears to arise from weaknesses in a range of oral language skills including poor vocabulary knowledge, weak grammatical skills and difficulties in oral language comprehension. We suggest that the omission of reading comprehension impairment from DSM-5 is a serious one that should be remedied. Both dyslexia and reading comprehension impairment are dimensional in nature, and show strong continuities with other disorders of language. We argue that recognizing the continuities between reading and languagedisorders has important implications for assessment and treatment, and we note that the high rates of comorbidity between readingdisorders and other seemingly disparate disorders (including ADHD and motor disorders) raises important challenges for understanding these disorders.

 

Shaming Slow Readers: A Horror Story

In Declo, Idaho, shaming slow readers is acceptable to at least one fourth-grade teacher, Summer Larsen, at the Declo Elementary School.

Fourth-graders who failed to achieve reading goals had their faces scribbled on with permanent marker by other students last week at Declo Elementary School — under the supervision of their teacher....

When Cindy Hurst’s 10-year-old son arrived home from school Nov. 5, his entire face, hairline to chin, was scribbled on in red marker — including his eyelids. He also had green, red and purple scribble marks over the red, and his face was scratched by a marker that had a rough edge.

“He was humiliated, he hung his head and wanted to go wash his face,” said Hurst. “He knows he’s a slow reader. Now he thinks he should be punished for it.”

It gets worse. The face-scribbling took place in the morning, and the marks couldn't be washed off.  Some of the graffiti'd students -- nine and ten years old -- had to ride home on the bus with middle school and high school students, who humiliated them further.

Ms. Larson evidently has twenty-one students in her class. Of those, nine students failed to reach an Accelerated Reader (AR) points goal (more on AR later). The "failures" were given the choice of staying "inside at recess until the goal was met, or have their faces written on by their classmates who met their goals."   

What was Ms. Larson thinking, to allow some of her students to humiliate and shame others in the class?  These are nine and ten year olds! The Magic Valley Times News reported that some of the students have "learning problems" -- of unspecified type.  Are some of the nine children with identified disabilities that interfere with reading speed?  

I want you to pay attention: almost half of Ms. Larson's class did not meet Accelerated Reader goals.   Surely that is a commentary on Ms. Larson's teaching skills and classroom management, rather than the students' failure.

More on Accelerated Reader from SEDL

Accelerated Reader (AR) is a computer-based assessment system of student comprehension of some 25,000 books ranging in reading levels from grades one to twelve.

First, the AR computer assessment system (called STAR) determines a student's level of reading comprehension, yielding a norm-referenced score. Reliability and validity data for STAR are not provided. The student is placed in a "zone of proximal development" (ZPD) that represents the predicted upper and lower ends of independent reading level. Unlike the Vygotskian term ZPD, AR does not support readers in the construction of meaning.

 Students then self-select from books that have been coded by readability level. Readability is calculated through traditional formulas that count words and syllables. Once students have completed reading a book they take a 10-20-item literal-level comprehension test. The management system provides the percentage scores to students, as well as to teachers and librarians, who may then advise students on further choices for reading. 

 Students are rewarded for reading and performing well on tests by gaining points (determined by the readability level and length of a book). Students gaining many points may be rewarded with prizes. 

 

A teacher who allows her students to shame and embarrass each other is not behaving professionally. I wonder what help (if any) the slow readers in the class are getting. (cross-posted at I Speak of Dreams)

Confused about 504 plans? Here's an intro

The National Center for Learning Disabilities is a wonderful resource.  I suggest that you sign up for their newsletter here.

In this video, 

Laura Kaloi, Public Policy Director at the National Center for Learning Disabilities, explains what a 504 Plan is and how to become eligible for one. She also provides tips on how to develop your child's 504 Plan.

 

Top 10 Items that Should Be Listed in an IEP | Special Education & IEP Advisor

Top 10 Items that Should Be Listed in an IEP | Special Education & IEP Advisor.

We all know how important it is to have an IEP that addresses our child’s Academic, Developmental and Functional needs; to ensure they are appropriately prepared for an independent future.  Therefore, as parents, we have to make sure our child’s IEP includes the necessary information to prepare them for life after high school.  The results of your child’s most recent assessments, report cards, state tests, school personnel and parent input will assist the team in developing an appropriate IEP.

School Based Evaluations: Some Things Parents Need to Know, Part 1

This is from the psychologist Dr. Korner.

Do you have a student whose functional performance at school differs significantly from the results obtained from school based evaluations? If so, was your student denied eligibility for services under either 504 or IDEA?

Child Study Team (CST) evaluations customarily involve an intellectual measure used to gauge students’ abilities, and an educational instrument meant to capture students’ achievement.

When interpreting the results of a CST evaluation, it is important to keep several principles about testing in mind.

• First, comprehensive psycho-educational and neuropsychological evaluations are the most ideal because they do not rely on one particular instrument to assess one specific skill, and, instead, provide data from multiple sources.
• Second, no one instrument can assess a particular domain of functioning completely.

After reading Dr. Korner's essay, the next step is to go to Wrightslaw and read some of these:

• Assessments, Evaluations, and Tests
• My child is being evaluated.  Which tests should I request?
• How can I get the school to provide and appropriate program?

Early Identification of Struggling Children

Dr. Korner is a psychologist working with children. He has this to say about struggling children.

Sadly, some teachers are not trained in identifying differing learning styles and disabilities and assume that children who are not performing are unmotivated or just not very smart. Parents who depend on teachers to make judgments about their child’s academic strengths and weaknesses may either receive inaccurate information about their child or none at all.

In this context, I want to offer some hallmarks of learning style differences. Children are often better at learning information via auditory or visual channels.

• Auditory learners may do well when information is presented in the form of lectures 
• Visual learners do best when information is presented visually. 

While teachers use both kinds of presentations in the course of their teaching, education becomes more and more a verbal and auditory medium as children progress through school.

Thus, children whose verbal /language and auditory processing skills are less mature than their visual/nonverbal skills may be at a distinct disadvantage in “getting” much of what teachers present. They may not intake directions well or even understand them.

Similarly, children whose visual and visual organizational skills are less mature may have difficulty with information presented visually or data that needs to be manipulated visually. A good example of this is math computation where operations that require correct lining up of columns of numbers may prove to be challenging.

Remembering material that is presented verbally or visually may also be affected by processing difficulties. Memory for specific words or names may be a challenge for some learners. These children may be unable to recall specific names or words but can explain concepts in other terms if given the chance.

Children who have difficulty staying on-task, being organized and planful, activating themselves to work, or completing tasks in a timely manner may be experiencing executive functioning problems.

I am not a huge fan of "learning styles" because the theory has been thoroughly debunked. So what is the take-away? There are two. One, teachers really aren't prepared to be closely analytical about a child's progress (or lack thereof). Two, parents and teachers together need to be mindful of the need for different presentation and expression methods to ensure that the student is mastering the material. In this context, Universal Design for Learning needs to be in every teacher's toolbox.

Learning Disabilities Awareness Month: Emotional Impact

Another great site is the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD).  They are starting off the month with a campaign:

Are you or someone you know affected by learning disabilities (LD)? Our animation underlines the everyday struggles of students with LD and the power of kind words when it comes to overcoming obstacles. 

 Video: Down & Up: A Journey Through Dyslexia

 

The NCLD staff has created a series of e-cards based on the animation that you can send (free!) to a student or adult with learning disabilities. See the cards here.

You can follow NCLD on twitter at @LDorg, or Facebook or  Google+ 

October: Learning Disabilities Awareness Month

From LDOnline (a highly recommended site):

History and Future of LD Awareness Month

October was originally designated in the United States as LD Month in 1985 through a proclamation by President Ronald Reagan. Learning Disabilities Association of Canada has celebrated an LD Month since 1987 and provides a toolkit to help you celebrate. For many years, learning disabilities organizations in the United States used the month to inform the public about learning disabilities through events and proclamations.

Learning Disabilities Awareness Month is a time where people pay particular attention to children and adults with learning disabilities. During this month, LD OnLine asks each of you to teach one person something new about learning disabilities. 

I am using this month to spread awareness of the reality of LDs and that there are effective methods of remediation and accomodation.

How kids outsmart learning disabilities - The Globe and Mail

How kids outsmart learning disabilities - The Globe and Mail.

People with learning disabilities are more likely to thrive if they have ongoing support, Perry says. While early intervention is “absolutely necessary,” she says, “we need to take a lifespan view of learning disabilities.” Children who struggle with reading, writing and math may need intensive one-to-one teaching or support in small groups. But since they will spend most of their lives in the general population, they also need help in developing strategies to function in the mainstream, she says. 

Perry notes that researchers have identified six characteristics that distinguish people with learning disabilities who succeed from those who remain dependent throughout their lives. Many can be acquired in childhood, she adds. 

According to a 20-year study published in the journal Learning Disabilities Research and Practice in 2003, the six factors include the ability to anticipate difficulties and respond with positive action, and the skills to set realistic goals and reach them step by step. 

Successful individuals with learning disabilities not only refuse to give up but also know when to change gears when a strategy isn’t working.They find ways to cope with stress, such as planning ahead for tough situations, and eventually develop reciprocal relationships with family members and others who have offered support. Finally, they are able to see learning disabilities as just one aspect of themselves, researchers found.

Nine Rules of Thumb for Parents Of Special Education Students

This essay by attorney Robert Crabtree is loaded with invaluable advice.

Because the stakes are so high, it is very difficult for parents of children with special educational needs to advocate calmly and objectively for the educational and related services their children need. Nevertheless, calmness, objectivity, and a third quality -- patience for the long haul -- are the parents' most important tools in a complex and often frustrating process. In the course of that process, here are a few rules of thumb I have found to be helpful to parents.

1. Build a reliable team around your child: Your team should consist of strong and credible experts who know your child! 
2. Learn the rules: Every state has its own rules and regulations, but all must comply with the federal standards. 
3. Don't over-rely on the rules: The art of negotiation. 
4. Prioritize your issues: Understanding the importance of your child's needs.
5. Share information: The pros and cons. 
6. Document your communication with your school system. 
7. Understand 'least restrictive environment' (LRE) 
8. Personality conflicts: How to keep from being distracted from the real issues. Consider how each step would look to an impartial decision-maker: 
9. Steering the straight and narrow path in the special education process.

It’s started! Not just school…

It’s started! Not just school….

Is your school district or the IEP team quoting policy or regulation that you’ve never heard of before or don’t understand? Here are a few of the many that pour in this time of year.

Go read the whole post, and remember:

Asking to see a written copy of the school rule or policy or the “law” is not just a good idea. It can be one of your best practices for problem-solving.

In addition to asking, put your request in writing – in a letter to the school. Politely request a copy the “policy.”

You’ve heard us say this before.  Unwritten school policy is no policy at all.

And remember. School “policy” does not trump the law.

Homework Help for Students with LD « Smart Kids With LD

Homework Help for Students with LD « Smart Kids With LD.

Children who struggle to keep up with the daily rigors of school often come home exhausted from the physical and cognitive energy it takes to complete their day. By the time homework rolls around they have few resources left to deal with it, leaving their parents to act as the educator, cheerleader, and therapist—whatever it takes to get the job done. 

There is no magic wand, and no single technique that works for all. But there are some strategies that if used consistently over time may help your child become more successful with homework.

1. Build Meta-cognitive skills
2. Focus on Executive Function Skills 
3. Use Task Analysis 
4. Use Timers 

The goal is to have your child tackle homework independently, efficiently, and with confidence. You may need to scaffold your homework support, offering more modeling and strategies early on, before your child’s confidence begins to increase. By slowly removing the supports and allowing him to practice the strategies on his own, you can help guide your child toward independence. 

Parent Advocacy: What You Should Do . . . and Not Do

Wrightslaw is a wonderful resource for anyone involved in special education.  At the start of the school year, there is a lot to do.

 

What Parents Should Do

1. Prepare for Meetings You should treat the IEP meeting as if it is the first step towards a due process hearing by preparing for the meeting and building a record. If you do this, you make it less likely that you will end up at a due process hearing. If you do end up at a hearing, you will be in a stronger position.

 

Ten Obscure or Overlooked aspects of IDEA | Special Education & IEP Advisor

Ten Obscure or Overlooked aspects of IDEA | Special Education & IEP Advisor.

Aug 23 Ten Obscure or Overlooked aspects of IDEA By Doug Goldberg

1.  Medical Services can be paid for by the School District if it is for diagnostic or evaluation purposes.  As defined in the Individuals with Disabilities Act: “Medical Services means services provided by a licensed physician to determine a child’s medically related disability that results in the child’s need for special education and related services.” 

2.  The Child find mandate requires all children with disabilities residing in the State, including children with disabilities who are homeless children or are wards of the State, and children with disabilities attending private schools, regardless of the severity of their disability, and who are in need of special education and related services, to be identified, located, and evaluated.  The child find mandate also includes children who are suspected of being a child with a disability and in need of special education, even though they are advancing from grade to grade.  

3.  The School District must take steps to provide children with an IEP an equal opportunity to participate in nonacademic and extracurricular services and activities.  This must be accomplished by providing the appropriate support in the form of supplementary aids and services which allows the child “to be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum in accordance with subclause (I) and to participate in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities.”

Getting the Most out of Working With a Learning Disability - Eli Epstein - The Atlantic

Getting the Most out of Working With a Learning Disability - Eli Epstein - The Atlantic.

Landing a great job directly after college made 22-year-old Columbia graduate Tom Reed ecstatic. It was in the industry he wanted to be in (TV production), in the city he had grown to love (New York), and it came without the hassle of the long and tiresome job search that plagued many of his fellow graduates. Still, despite the tremendous relief of being gainfully employed, Reed was faced with the anxiety attached to one vital question: should he, or should he not, tell his superiors about his learning disability? 

Disclosure meant a number of different things for Reed. If he told his superiors about his affliction, described by Reed as a non-verbal processing disorder which makes sorting fragmented information especially difficult, then his bosses could possibly treat the situation as a positive and find areas where they could maximize Reed's above-average creative faculties and find ways to work around his organizational difficulties.

What a Zero Really Says | Teaching on Purpose

What a Zero Really Says | Teaching on Purpose.

 My response comes in four stages.  If you think this is a simple issue, it’s not.  It’s very complex.  And it’s about far more than giving a 0.  I wrote a blog post back in February about Lates, Deductions, and 0′s but I obviously need to elaborate in my response to this difficult issue.

Emotional issues may follow motor problems in kids

Emotional issues may follow motor problems in kids.

Coordination issues -- sometimes diagnosed as developmental coordination disorder (DCD) -- prevent people from accomplishing everyday tasks, such as using scissors or buttoning their shirts. The disorder can lead to frustration at school, at home and on the playground. 

"Traditionally it was believed that children would outgrow any motor problems but there is now much evidence that these difficulties may continue into adolescence and beyond," wrote Daniela Rigoli, the study's lead author and a researcher at Curtin University in Western Australia, in an email. 

For the new study, published in the journal Pediatrics, Rigoli and her colleagues decided to see if, and how, the link between coordination and emotional issues like anxiety and depression is influenced by the way children with DCD see themselves.

Ellen Galinsky: Executive Function Skills Are Essential to America's Present and Future

Ellen Galinsky: Executive Function Skills Are Essential to America's Present and Future.

Just what are executive functions skills? Executive function skills take place in the prefrontal cortex of the brain and other areas of the brain working in concert with it. We use these skills to manage our attention, our emotions, our intellect, and our behavior to reach our goals. They include: 

• Focus -- being able to pay attention; Working memory -- being able to keep information in mind in order to use it; Cognitive flexibility -- being able to adjust to shifting needs and demands; and Inhibitory control -- being able to resist the temptation to go on automatic and do what we need to do to achieve our goals. As children grow older, these skills include reflecting, analyzing, planning and evaluating. Executive function skills are always goal-driven.  
•   

  

•   

The State of Grade Inflation: 11 Unsettling Stats | Accredited Online Colleges.com

The State of Grade Inflation: 11 Unsettling Stats | Accredited Online Colleges.com.

If you’ve spent a Saturday morning driving around Suburbia, it’s entirely possible that you’ve seen hordes of children playing soccer in leagues that don’t keep score. Preferring to focus on "fun" and "positivity," the kids in these leagues don’t learn about winning and losing, but rather, the importance of simply showing up and participating. Certainly the kids are having fun, but some parents worry that a game without consideration of effort may be sending children the wrong message. 

It seems that the same concept is increasingly being applied to higher education, and especially at top schools like Harvard and Columbia, where making it through a stringent admissions process practically grants students the ticket to an Ivy League 3.0 GPA or higher. We’ve discovered 11 statistics that indicate grade inflation is a serious problem that may have today’s college students feeling like they’re playing a game without consequences.

KU researchers mapping out students’ learning processes / LJWorld.com

This sounds fascinating.  I will have to dig deeper into this project.

KU researchers mapping out students’ learning processes / LJWorld.com.

Those working on a project funded by the largest grant in Kansas University history are part of a larger national effort to change the way testing is done at elementary and secondary schools. 

Neal Kingston, director of KU’s Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation, leads the $22 million project that was announced in October 2010. 

To get to the new tests, KU researchers are working on what they call dynamic learning maps, which look like large, complicated flow charts that show how students get from knowing none of the skills they learn in school to knowing everything they know at graduation from high school. 

 These are, to say the least, large documents. Putting together a complete picture For an upcoming conference, Kingston said the group plans to print one of the learning maps in a font size that’s large enough to read. It will be 6 feet tall and about 30 feet long, he said.

Are You a Dyslexic Adult About to Take A Standardized Exam? DRA Wants to Hear From You!

Disability Rights Advocates (DRA), a non profit legal center located in Berkeley, CA is seeking stories from individuals concerning issues of retesting on high-stakes graduate tests. If you have taken or will take standardized tests (LSAT, GMAT, and MCAT), DRA is interested in speaking with you.

Watch the PSA below, featuring Ben Foss

The 2 1/2 minute film below introduces DRA and Ben Foss:

 

If you just want to cut to the chase: http://www.dralegal.org/cases/education_testing/exit_exam_surveys/lsat-sat/

Cross posted at I Speak of Dreams

Group Acts to Address Overidentification of Black Children as Disabled - On Special Education - Education Week

Group Acts to Address Overidentification of Black Children as Disabled - On Special Education - Education Week.

Group Acts to Address Overidentification of Black Children as Disabled By Nirvi Shah on January 12, 2012 10:00 AM 

A new initiative hopes to tackle one of special education's most persistent problems: the disproportionate identification of black children as having disabilities. 

Now, the National Association for the Education of African American Children with Learning Disabilities will use grant money from the Oak Foundation to train parents how to better advocate for their children and address this persistent disproportionality. 

How big is the problem? While African Americans make up approximately 17 percent of public school enrollment, they account for 31 percent of students identified as having mental retardation or intellectual disabilities, 28 percent of students labeled as having an emotional disturbance, and 21 percent of students who have learning disabilities. Some of these categories aren't pure medical diagnoses, calling judgment, and perhaps bias, into play.

An End To Homework! - etc : education, technology and culture

An End To Homework! - etc : education, technology and culture.

While no-one seems to be able to provide a really compelling reason for continuing with it, it's still a brave school leader who'll abandon homework, so much have we invested in this myth. In an era where we're all urged to implement 'evidence based policy' in education, we need to take a hard look at the evidence, and stop putting our kids through this cruel, pointless, nightly ordeal. Set aside the lack of evidence of improved outcomes for a minute - why do we put family harmony under such strain by fuelling endless rows between parent and child, when kids could be using the time to read, relax, play music or sports, or just be a kid?

And here's one final thought: if a parent comes back from a hard day's work, and is praised for refusing to bring work home, because time with the family is sacrosanct, how is it acceptable to ask a child to work 6 hours at school, and then forsake time with the family, to do another 2-3 hours at home?

Twenty-Two Reasons Why a Child Can’t Sit Still

Twenty-Two Reasons Why a Child Can’t Sit Still.

1. The child does not get enough exercise. Children require huge amounts of movement, preferably outside, every single day. Movement and exercise is as essential as food for children in order to stay organized, develop and mature their nervous systems, improve their coordination, strength and motor planning, and to be healthy! So many of us live in cities now and have just forgotten how vital it is for a child’s health and development to go outside and play. Have parents bring the child to the playground for half an hour before school starts, and let him play on the equipment, or have a game of touch football, statues, or tag. And if his teacher takes away recess as a punishment, you must insist that she find another way to help him manage his behavior. He is acting out because he needs to move more, not less!
2. The child has poor postural stability, low muscle tone, and a weak trunk and spine. This makes sitting physically exhausting, uncomfortable and painful. Circle time is especially grueling since sitting unsupported is such hard work.
3. The child’s chair/desk at school does not fit. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into classrooms and seen children whose desks literally come up to their necks while their chairs are so high that their feet are dangling on the floor. Could you sit and do your work like that?

go read the rest.  Recommended.

Our Concerns About Recent ESEA Reauthorization Bill

Our Concerns About Recent ESEA Reauthorization Bill.

Our Public Policy team released a letter this week expressing serious concerns about the impact of a recent Elementary & Secondary Education Act reauthorization bill proposed by Senators Isakson, Alexander, Kirk, Rubio, Roberts, and Wicker on students with disabilities.

While HELP Committee Chairman Tom Harkin and Ranking Member Mike Enzi continue to negotiate a bipartisan ESEA proposal, the bill introduced by the Members provides a key indication of Republican policy goals in an ESEA reauthorization.

The bill continues the current practice of alternate assessments and modified achievement standards for students with disabilities. This is harmful to children with learning disabilities and many other underserved populations, as it allowed for them to be placed on a different track for success and not held to the same standards.

NCLD does not support this practice and highlighted that fact in the letter to these Senators this week, while also thanking them for other inclusions in the bill, such as continued analysis of achievement by subgroups.

Also highlighted in the letter is the bill's limits on accountability to the bottom five percent in each State. This would leave millions of students with disabilities and their schools with little if any oversight on their achievement.

Human Factor: A bridge from dyslexia – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs

Human Factor: A bridge from dyslexia – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs.

People like to say that I have overcome dyslexia. Nothing could be further from the truth. What I have overcome is the mainstream world. A person in a wheelchair overcomes stairs with a ramp. In the same way, I have overcome people who think dyslexia equals lazy. This experience is why I am now the executive director of Disability Rights Advocates, a national legal center that tries to get people to do what they should have done in the first place, i.e., include people with disabilities in the mainstream.

Homework: What To Do Now | Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

Homework: What To Do Now | Reading & Other Learning Disabilities.

If your child is eligible for special education, make sure his Individualized Education Program (IEP) states that all homework will be at his independent level, meaning that with moderate effort, he’s likely to succeed without feeling frustrated or needing anyone’s help. Whether he’s eligible or ineligible, meet with his teachers to make sure they understand his independent levels and will assign him homework that matches these levels. Carefully monitor his homework to make sure assignments match his independent levels and immediately contact his teachers if they don’t. And if they do, thank his teachers. In all cases, advocate for homework that he’s successful with, that he finds satisfying, and that prevents feelings of inadequacy or embarrassment.

Reading Rockets: Spelling and Dyslexia

While poor spelling is a hallmark of dyslexia, it occurs in other students as well.  This excellent article should help parents and teachers understand how to teach spelling beyond the "write it 5 times" mantra.

Reading Rockets: Spelling and Dyslexia.

What are the implications for teaching? Spelling instruction that explores word structure, word origin, and word meaning is the most effective, even though students with dyslexia may still struggle with word recall. Emphasizing memorization by asking students to close their eyes and imagine the words, or asking them to write words multiple times until they "stick" are only useful after students are helped to understand why a word is spelled the way it is. Students who have learned the connections between speech sounds and written symbols, who perceive the recurring letter patterns in English syllables, and who know about meaningful word parts are better at remembering whole words. Classroom spelling programs should be organized to teach a progression of regular spelling patterns. After first grade, spelling instruction should follow and complement decoding instruction for reading. Children should be able to read the words in their spelling lesson; most learners can read many more words than they can spell.

Understanding correspondences between sounds and letters comes first. For example, before spelling a word, students can orally take the sounds of the word apart. Then, they can recall the letters that spell those sounds. Next, patterns such as the six basic syllable types of English should be taught because they represent vowel sounds in predictable ways. Third, students should be taught a few basic rules for adding endings to words, such as when letters should be doubled, when y is changed to i, and when the silent e is dropped.

How to request your child's cumulative file

In seeking more information about their child's progress in school, parents are sometimes advised to acquire their child's "cumulative file" -- all the records the school holds on the child. The following link will tell you exactly how to do that.

Letter Requesting Educational File | California Special Education Law & Advocacy.

This sample letter requests that the local education agency (school district, county office of education, etc.) provide you with copies of your child’s entire educational file under federal and California laws.

Parents may have to pay the cost of copying the file.

Education Week: Why Wrong Is Not Always Bad

Education Week: Why Wrong Is Not Always Bad.

says that in Japan a student can be asked to work out a math problem in front of the whole class for a healthy period of time—say, 12 minutes—even if he is doing it wrong. The teacher might ask him to explain why he came up with his answer and then might turn to the whole class and ask who made similar mistakes. And unlike in an American class, students are far more likely to acknowledge their own misunderstandings.

Why Is He Behaving “That Way?” The Answer: PEAT | Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

Why Is He Behaving “That Way?” The Answer: PEAT | Reading & Other Learning Disabilities.

Ever wonder why your child behaves “that way?” Wonder why he dawdles, why he won’t read, why he fights with David and Brian? We can’t tell you about his genes, his DNA, the chemicals in his body, each of his neurons, or David and Brian. We don’t know all the causes of troubling behaviors, especially for individual children. But we can tell you about PEAT. Using PEAT might help you learn what’s currently causing his troubling behavior, which is the third step in figuring out a solution. The first two steps are recognizing and defining the problem, but if you’ve read this far, you probably know it.

PEAT

PEAT stands for Physiology, Experience, Action, and Thought. First we’ll define the words and ask some questions that help explain them. Then we’ll show you how you might use PEAT to help your mythical 10-year old son, Charlie.

Podcast: The Future of Special Education from Council for Exceptional Childrren

This discussion on learning disabilities began as a Town Hall Meeting at the CEC 2010 Convention & Expo in Nashville. This podcast condenses presentations by Lou Danielson of the American Institutes for Research; Margaret McLaughlin of the University of Maryland; Mary Brownell of the University of Florida; and Doug Fuchs of Vanderbilt University.

You can also share your thoughts by e-mailing us at service@cec.sped.org with the subject line "LD Podcast." We will use your input to inform our future work.

Widening our perceptions of reading and writing difficulties

Widening our perceptions of reading and writing difficulties.

Learning to read and write are complex processes, which can be disrupted in various ways, leading to disorders known as dyslexia and dysgraphia. Two new studies, published in a recent special issue of Elsevier's Cortex provide evidence of this variety, suggesting that effective treatment needs to take it into account.

The first study was from Italy:

However, the new study showed that even in Italian, in which it is relatively straightforward to convert sounds into letters, children still have difficulties in spelling. Younger children with dyslexia generally performed worse than proficient readers; however, the older ones showed a more selective impairment when spelling words, suggesting that knowledge of vocabulary may be more important in spelling than previously thought.

The second study, from Israel:

the first systematic description of a type of reading disorder called "attentional dyslexia" in which children identify letters correctly, but the letters jump between words on the page, e.g., "kind wing" is read as "wind king." Teachers and neuropsychologists often notice that children substitute letters when reading, but in this type of dyslexia the substitutions are not caused by inability to identify letters or convert them to sounds; they result from migrations of letters between words. The findings showed that letters would mostly migrate to the same position in another word, so the first letter of one word would switch places with the first letter of another word. Awareness to the existence of this type of dyslexia is important, because it suggests a straightforward way to assist these children in reading -- by presenting a ‎single word at a time, e.g., with the help of a word-sized window cut in a piece of cardboard.

I am not sure that the Israeli study identified "a new kind of dyslexia" but it is interesting.

Poor behavior doesn't always lead to poor academics

Poor behavior doesn't always lead to poor academics.

{Researchers] followed 350 students in seven at-risk schools over a 5-year period. They assessed both teacher perceptions of student behavior and academic achievement, as well as actual performance. They found that teachers were more likely to report that well-behaved students did better academically and expected more of them -- even when some of these students were struggling with school-work. At the same time, students who acted out in school were seen as having more academic difficulties, even though this was not always the case.

 "Children are not well served when teachers believe that teaching behavior requires different skills than teaching academics," said lead author Algozzine. "Or that teaching academics will magically improve behavior."

The researchers concluded that it is important not to focus solely on improving academic or behavior problems in at-risk students, but to emphasize teaching both behavior and academic skills for these children.

"The take-away message in our work is that children have to be carefully taught academics and behavior if we want to see evidence of these accomplishments in school," said Algozzine.

Also see "Motivation, the Elusive Drive" by Kevin Washburne

Throwing Curves: Parents and Coaches -- an interesting interaction for education

Throwing Curves: Parents and Coaches -- an interesting interaction for education.

Each part must be ready before the kip will work. There really is no short-cut and kids will work on this one stunt for months before they get it. Contrast this with much of the discussion we see in public education -- when students aren't performing at grade level you almost never hear about the importance of foundation skills, the building of knowledge, the identification of weaknesses, the importance of hard work, persistence, and patience.


The post is about gymnastics, but the lesson there is patience, persistence and sound grasp of the fundamentals.

Reading Rockets: Questions + Answers

Reading Rockets is a wonderful site that I recommend to all parents in elementary school, whether or not your child is struggling.  This particular article has some great answers for common questions

Reading Rockets: Questions + Answers.

Special Education When you have a child in special education, the terms, acronyms, rules, and regulations can be complicated. Here are some answers to common questions about special education, and where to go to find more information.

Please go to the link above and click on the highlighted questions to find answers to the following questions:

* Question 1: What should I do if my child has an IEP but is not making any progress? * Question 2: I am considering moving to a different state. Can my child, with an active IEP, transfer into another program? Who do I need contact to make this transition? * Question 3: I am concerned my child's school is not really following her IEP. What can I do about this? * Question 4: How do I know when my child no longer needs an IEP? * Question 5: What does "adversely affecting educational performance" actually mean when considering speech services for a child? Does a child have to be failing to be considered eligible for speech services? * Question 6: If my son's therapist is absent, can a substitute with no special training fill in and work with students?

Once you have read the answers, I urge you to explore the rest of the site.

Using IEPs to Solve the Homework Problems of Struggling Readers | Reading & Other Learning Disabilities

Using IEPs to Solve the Homework Problems of Struggling Readers | Reading & Other Learning Disabilities.

If homework frustrates your child, answer these questions about his ability to handle typical homework assignments:

• Without help, can he accurately explain what his assignments require him to do?
• Without help, can he quickly and accurately recognize 99% of the words in his assignments? (Yes, ninety-nine percent.)
• Without help, can he understand 90% of the reading in his assignments? (Yes, ninety percent.)
• Without help, can he fully, clearly, and accurately meet the writing requirements?
• Without help, can he quickly and accurately complete 90% of the mathematics problems?
• Without help, can he complete all his assignments in reasonable time (or the time his teacher says is reasonable)?
• Without help, prodding, or encouragement, can he sufficiently organize his homework and focus on it?

You probably noticed that each question started with the phrase, without help. The reason is simple: children should do homework independently. Your child should do it without help; at most, with little help. If the challenge is moderate and he makes a moderate effort, he should succeed. If he needs help regularly, if he struggles, the work is too difficult. Teachers should modify his assignments so the work is moderately challenging, he expects success, experiences success, and

The #spedchat Project: Twitter as professional development

The #spedchat Project - home.

What is The #spedchat Project?

Core Values (via the Council for Exceptional Children)

• The dignity and worth of all individuals.
• Social justice, inclusiveness, and diversity.
• Professional excellence, integrity, and accountability.
• Rich and meaningful participation in society for all individuals with exceptionalities.
• Effective individualized education for all individuals with exceptionalities.
• The importance of families in the lives and education of all individuals with exceptionalities.
• Collaboration and community building to improve outcomes.

 Where can you find #spedchat? Well, we have two types of conversation. #spedchat is a twitter hashtag used for

1. daily, continuous research and resource sharing on issues related to and effecting students with disabilities, &
2.  a scheduled weekly twitter chat on Tuesday nights from 8:30-9:30 EST. Join us as you have time, and/or participate on Tuesday nights. Just include "#spedchat" in your tweets.

What I Do

Many families with elementary school children face daily homework battles -- which both parents and children dread.

A little-known cause of these battles is that many children struggle with handwriting -- their written work embarrasses them, handwriting is physically difficult for them, or producing handwritten work takes up so much mental effort that they aren't really showing what they know.

I can help.

I am trained in Handwriting Without Tears (HWT), and use the teaching principles from HWT and my own background in teaching various sports to help children whose schools use other handwriting systems (Zanner-Blosser, D'Nealian, and others) to develop fast and accurate handwriting.

If the child does not make significant progress in accuracy and speed after 15 hours of tutoring, the child's issues may be beyond my scope.  I have a referral list of local Occupational Therapists (OTs) who may be of further assistance.

Some children struggle with reading.

I can help.

Depending upon the child's needs, I use The Barton Method of Reading and Spelling, Funnix, and several fluency programs to help children achieve grade-level or above reading speeds and comprehension.

Some children struggle with math.

Some  of those children who struggle with math or arithmetic in the early grades have underlying handwriting issues.  Others need more practice with physical representations of math ("manipulatives") before moving on to abstract math problems (11+19=?).  I have the skills and tools to help such children.

Some children with attentional issues need more structured practice

Attentional issues are the core problem in ADHD and are also present in some people with autism.  Handwriting issues are also common in ADHD and autism.   Structured, direct practice can improve these students' handwriting. 

If you are interested in getting your child help, you can contact me directly via email: academic.remediation@gmail.com , through the tutor-matching service WyzAnt or through Thumbtack,  http://www.thumbtack.com/Handwriting,Reading, and Math Help for Grades K-5

An Essential Concept for Parents and Teachers: Toolbelt Theory

From Ira Socol, the Special Education Advisor

So the trick to tool use is to learn to evaluate tasks and environments and your skills and the tools themselves as they change and determine what works best for you. I call this the “TEST” – Task – Environment – Skills – Tools, a specifically ordered reframing of Joy Zabala‘s “SETT” protocol. A specifically ordered reframing designed for self-determination.

“Disability” has little or nothing to do with this. Everybody needs this skill set. Imagine your eyes getting weaker as you are faced with graduate school reading or long-distance truck driving – and you’ve never heard of eyeglasses and have no idea where to go for help. Imagine needing to rip up an old driveway and having never heard of a jackhammer, nor had any idea of how to get one. Imagine needing to get to your home’s roof with nothing but a step ladder. Imagine needing a book but being unable to use a map in order to find the library.

In every case you need the TEST idea. Whether you are choosing the right saw to cut that piece of wood in that location or whether you are trying to find the map that will get you to the hospital you need in Paris or whether you are trying to find the academic article you need.

Why do I call this an essential idea? Because we often get stuck on the small picture of what skills we want our children and students to master, rather than the big picture of what we want those skills to enable our children to do.

Education Week: Finding Efficiencies in Special Education Programs

Education Week: Finding Efficiencies in Special Education Programs.

Patricia Lillie, the president of the Learning Disabilities Association of America, a large advocacy organization of parents, people with disabilities, teachers, and supporters, based in Pittsburgh, says inclusion is overused. Inclusion “can be a good thing,” she says. But “there are so many kids who need that specialist or that one-to-one remediation. And they’re just not doing that anymore.”

Cortiella, of The Advocacy Institute, is in favor of inclusion done well. “If we tried harder to educate students in their neighborhood schools with their neighborhood teachers, clearly it couldn’t be more expensive,” she says. “It may not be a matter of spending more or less, but spending what you have differently.”

Learning Disabilities Group Releases State Scorecards - On Special Education - Education Week

Learning Disabilities Group Releases State Scorecards - On Special Education - Education Week.

he National Center for Learning Disabilities has released scorecards on the 50 states that include such information as student enrollment, funding levels, and how states are meeting federal standards in areas related to educating students with disabilities. The scorecards focus on students with specific learning disabilities. At 40 percent, students with disabilities are the largest of the 13 disability categories covered under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. These scorecards are intended to be a snapshot, not an exhaustive analysis of special education programs in the states. However, they're a nice central location for information about state performance plans and annual performance reports, a federally-mandated process that requires states to analyze their own special education performance. I've written extensively about the SPP/APR, including complaints from state officials that the process as currently enacted is too onerous and doesn't really measure important measures of student performance. Despite the perceived flaws of the SPP/APR process, it's nice to have a central location for this information, because some states don't do the best job making this information available and easy to understand.

How a Toddler Acquires Language

From the Forbes article by Philip DeCamp and Deb Roy

The MIT Media Lab's Human Speechome Project has collected more than 80,000 hours of video and 120,000 hours of audio recordings documenting the first two years of a child's life. The result is a massive database of parent-child interactions, illustrated in a graphic.

Data visualization page From MIT

The Human Speechome Project is an effort to observe and computationally model the longitudinal language development of a single child at an unprecedented scale. To achieve this, we are recording, storing, visualizing, and analyzing communication and behavior patterns in several hundred thousand hours of home video and speech recordings. The tools that are being developed for mining and learning from hundreds of terabytes of multimedia data offer potential for breaking open new opportunities for a broad range of areas - from security to personal memory augmentation. This project is supported in part through donations of hardware and other resources by Zetera Corporation, Bell Microproducts, Seagate Technology, and funding from the National Science Foundation.

Parents of students with disabilities and Individual Education Plans: Study and Survey

Cross-posted to I Speak of Dreams

Direct link to the study is here: https://redcap.vanderbilt.edu/surveys/index.php?hash=ec47a5de1ebd60f559fee4afd739d59b

Robert Hodapp, PhD  is a professor of Special Education at Vanderbilt University and is Director of Research,Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and  University Centers of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD)

He has a new, national survey seeking participants: Parents of students with disabilities between 3 to 21 years old

Description of the survey:

Parents are naturally interested in their child’s school experiences and services. For most students, academic and social achievements closely relate to the degree to which parents are involved with their child’s schools. In special education, however, we know little about these issues. Few studies have examined parent knowledge of the IEP process, parent advocacy skills, or parent-school relations, nor how each relates to parent stress. Similarly, we do not yet know the degree to which a parent’s ability to navigate the IEP process and collaborate with the school might be related to aspects of parents or of children with disabilities.

This study attempts to understand parent-school collaboration by asking about 5 distinct areas. After a first section in which we request basic demographic information, we then ask about characteristics of the child with disabilities; characteristics of the respondent; and characteristics of parent-school relations and services. We end this survey by inviting you to tell us—in your own words—about your overall experiences in dealing with the school and what advice you would give to parents and teachers.

All together, this survey should take about 25-30 minutes to complete. Your responses to this questionnaire are entirely voluntary and anonymous; they will be used in our ongoing studies of parent-school relations. In addition, you may withdraw your participation at any time and may choose to skip any questions that you wish.

Direct link to the study is here: https://redcap.vanderbilt.edu/surveys/index.php?hash=ec47a5de1ebd60f559fee4afd739d59b

Is Extended Time on Tests Like the SAT Fair or Not? Part I Literature Review

This is a perennial, and rather tiresome subject. Everyone has an opinion, often based on their own experience or their own opinons about other issues, such as "special education".  

These sort of discussions often turn into duelling opinions about accommodations for standardized entrance-exam tests such as the SAT.

Why should this issue be decided by duelling opinons? What does the research say about longer times (non-speeded) and performance, for students with and without disability?

It's irresponsible to rely upon "common sense" -- that extended time would also increase test scores for students without disabilities. If the experiment isn't done, you don't know

Here are two simple questions:

Hypothesis #1: Extra time (time-and-a-half or double time) will not improve SAT / AP scores for students who DO NOT have neurocognitive learning challenges (specific learning disability–reading (dyslexia in the common parlance); attentional and/or executive function issues (ADHD in the common parlance)

Hypothesis #2: Extra time (time-and-a-half or double time) will not improve SAT / AP scores for students who DO  have neurocognitive learning challenges (specific learning disability–reading (dyslexia in the common parlance); attentional and/or executive function issues (ADHD in the common parlance).

Here’s your challenge, class: find studies that tested: #1, #2, or both.

The literature review:

Alster EH (1007) The Effects of Extended Time on Algebra Test Scores for College Students With and Without Learning Disabilities Learn Disabil March/April 1997 vol. 30 no. 2 222-227

Camara, W. J., Copeland, T., & Rothschild, B. (1998). Effects of extended time on the SAT I: Reasoning test score growth for students with disabilities (College Board Report No. 98–7). New York: The College Board.

Elliott, S. N., & McKevitt, B. (2000, April). Experimental analysis of the effects of testing accommodations on the scores of students with disabilities: Design issues and initial results. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans.

Elliot SN & Marquart, AM (2004) Extended Time as a Testing Accommodation: Its Effects and Perceived Consequences Exceptional Children, Vol. 70, 2004

Halla, J. W. (1988). A psychological study of psychometric differences in graduate record examinations general test scores between learning disabled and non-learning disabled adults (Doctoral dissertation, Texas Tech University). Dissertation Abstracts International, 49, 3341A.

Hill, G. A. (1984). Learning disabled college students: The assessment of academic aptitude (Doctoral dissertation, Texas Tech University). Dissertation Abstracts International, 46, 642B.

Huesman, R. L. Jr., & Frisbie, D. A. (2000, April). The validity of ITBS reading comprehension test scores for learning disabled and non-learning disabled students under extended- time conditions. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education, New Orleans.

Lovett BG (2010)Extended Time Testing Accommodations for Students With Disabilities Answers to Five Fundamental Questions Lovett BG REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH December 2010 vol. 80 no. 4 611-638

Mandinach et al, (2005) The Impact of Extended Time on SAT Test Performance The College Board, New York, 2005 (pdf)

Mandinach, E. B., Cahalan, C., & Camara, W. J. (2002). The impact of flagging on the admission process: Policies, practices, and implications (ETS RR 02-03, College Board Report 2002- 2). New York and Princeton, NJ: The College Board and Educational Testing Service.

Marquart, A. M. (2000, June). The use of extended time as an accommodation on a standardized mathematics test: An investigation of effects on scores and perceived consequences for students of various skill levels. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Council of Chief State School Officers, Snowbird, UT. Retrieved December 12, 2001, from www.wcer.wisc.edu/ testacc/publications/marquart%20ccsso%20paper.htm.

Munger, G. F., & Loyd, B. H. (1991). Effect of speededness on test performance of handicapped and nonhandicapped examinees. Journal of Educational Research, 85(1), 53–57.

Phillips, S. E. (1994). High-stakes testing accommodations: Validity versus disabled rights. Applied Measurement in Zuriff, G. E. (2000). Extra examination time for students with learning disabilities: An examination of the maximum potential thesis. Applied Measurement in Education, 13(1), 99–117.

Pitoniak, M. J., & Royer, J. M. (2001). Testing accommodations for examinees with disabilities: A review of psychometric, legal, and social policy issues. Review of Educational Research, 71(1), 53–104.

Runyan, M. K. (1991). The effect of extra time on reading comprehension scores for university students with and without learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 24(2), 104–108.

Tindal G & Fuchs L A Summary of Research on Test Changes: An Empirical Basis for Defining Accommodations. www.specialed.us/discoveridea/topdocs/msrrc/Tindal&Fuchs.PDF

Weaver, S, M. (1993). The validity of the use of extended time and untimed testing for postsecondary students with learning disabilities. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Wild, C., & Durso, R. (1979). Effect of increased test-taking time on test scores by ethnic group, age, and sex (GREB No. 76-6R). Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service.

Phillips, S. E. (1994). High-stakes testing accommodations: Validity versus disabled rights. Applied Measurement in Zuriff, G. E. (2000). Extra examination time for students with learning disabilities: An examination of the maximum potential thesis. Applied Measurement in Education, 13(1), 99–117.

Zurcher RJ (2001) he Validity and Comparability of Entrance Examination Scores After Accommodations Are Made for Students with LD Learn Disabil September 1, 2001 34: 462-471

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, or 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.