I Speak of Dreams

How Average are You?

American Snapshot
According to the book, a majority of Americans:

• Eats peanut butter at least once a week
• Prefers smooth peanut butter over chunky
• Can name all Three Stooges (well, all 5 if you count Curly Joe and Shemp)
• Lives within a 20-minute drive of a Wal-Mart (the closest one is about 30 minutes away)
• Eats at McDonald’s at least once a year (haven't been in MickeyD's for at least two years)
• Takes a shower for approximately 10.4 minutes a day
• Never sings in the shower
• Lives in a house, not an apartment or condominium
• Has a home valued between $100,000 and $300,000 (hey, it's Silicon Valley, I think the average home price is north of $700,000)
• Has fired a gun
• Is between 5 feet and 6 feet tall
• Weighs 135 to 205 pounds
• Is between the ages of 18 and 53 (well, as of my last birthday I aged out)
• Believes gambling is an acceptable entertainment option (you have the right to gamble, I just find it rather silly)
• Grew up within 50 miles of current home

Strikes indicate the ones that I do not meet or fulfill. ... .

Other responses:

Kara Hardy on the average Afro-American;
Patty Mitchell,
Careful Thought
Hokule'a
Spinning Out of Control
Nightwriter
Cake Eater Chronicles

average american

My Kid Isn't Learning to Read, Now What?

John Wills Lloyd, writing at Teach Effectively, has a rejoinder to a parenting question with some great advice for parents.

I found myself wishing that Ms. Slade had advised the parent to confront the school more directly. Parents are allies in pressing schools to teach effectively. They have the clout to promote teaching effectively.

The American Federation of Teachers evaluated research on many remedial programs and produced a report describing five of them; download a PDF of the report by clicking the link below.

Download remedial_reading.pdf

Resource for Families With An Autistic Child

Karen Siff Exkorn's son was diagnosed with a form of autism (Pervasive Developmental Delay Not Otherwise Specified--PDDNOS) five years ago.  She has just published the book she wished she'd had at the time.  A long review here, the Amazon link here.

The Autism Sourcebook: Everything You Need to Know About Diagnosis, Treatment, Coping and Healing" (ReganBooks/HarperCollins 2005, $27.95) is Siff Exkorn's answer for parents reeling from a diagnosis of autism. Using her child as an example as well as the stories of other children at other points on the autism spectrum, she explains what the diagnosis means and dispenses practical information about treatments without preaching about particular methods. She also advises on how to cope in this strange new world, from eating in a restaurant to managing well-meaning family and friends to shoring up a marriage.

News from Montana

One of my favorite blogging reads is Sarpy Sam's  Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere.  Sam is a cattle rancher, a military veteran, a husband and father. 

This post on gifts for the rancher's wife tickled me,




one wife I know got a new cattle guard. It was to be placed where she had to open and close a gate 15 times a day coming and going. She would not have been happier if she had gotten big blue diamonds.

(that's a cattle guard, a series of rails or pipes set in the ground that the cattle won't walk on, but are good to drive over.  Artist here)

as did the one on The Facts of Life

The 2 most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.

Thanks for sharing parts of your life with me, Sam.  I am the richer for it.

Vision and Learning Disabilities

Here's the dispute in a summary form:

• Are there  children with 20/20 vision who actually have other sorts of vision deficits that would affect learning or classroom conduct?
  • If there are such children, what is the incidence (the percentage)?
• Are there children diagnosed with learning disabilities (LDs) or  attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who do not have LD or ADHD, but actually have uncorrected vision deficits? 
  
  • If there are such children, what is the incidence (percentage)?
• Are there forms of vision deficits that can be corrected with eye exercises and balance training ("vision therapy")?
  • If there are, what is the incidence (percentage)?
• Which members of the eye care team should provide diagnosis and care for learning disabilities and ADHD?

The eye care team consists of:

• Ophthalmologists are medical doctors who have specialized in the care of the eye--

In addition to four years of medical school and one year of internship, every Eye M.D. spends a minimum of three years of residency (hospital-based training) in ophthalmology.

• Optometrists are not medical doctors and have a lower level of education and licensure.   They must have at least three years of undergraduate coursework, and then four years at an accredited college of optometry. 

• Opticians are technicians

trained to design, verify and fit eyeglass lenses and frames, contact lenses, and other devices to correct eyesight. They use prescriptions supplied by Eye M.D.s or optometrists, but do not test vision or write prescriptions for visual corrections

 

The dispute over the role of undiagnosed vision disorders, and the role of the eyecare professionals,  in learning disabilities is between ophthamology and optometry. 

In broad terms, ophthamologists do not believe that subtle vision deficits are a great contributor to learning difficulties, and do not believe that vision therapy is useful.  Optometrists, on the other hand, do promote the notion that subtle vision deficits are prevalent, underdiagnosed, and undertreated, and do support the utility of vision therapy.

Paul Sanchez's Bright Futures Tour

I've told you about the Dyslexia Awareness and Resource Center before (DARC and Joan Esposito ).  John Wills Lloyd's LDBlog let me know about a remarkable young man, Paul Sanchez, who biked around the perimeter of the United States to raise awareness about undiagnosed learning disabilities. 

Now it has sponsored a record-breaking bicycle tour in 2004

Paul Sanchez, a recent Santa Barbara City College graduate, will attempt to break a world record by pedaling around the country in less than 180 days, while raising funds for educational programs for low-income and at-risk children with dyslexia. The Dyslexia Awareness and Resource Center and state chapters of the Learning Disabilities Association of America will benefit from Paul's tour....

No stranger to learning disabilities, Paul struggled silently with dyslexia for many years, until his condition was diagnosed when he was in college. "I always had trouble in school," he says. "I would turn letters around when I spelled . . . Years of living with my undiagnosed learning disorder left me both frustrated and with very little hope."

Paul hopes to increase awareness of the devastating effects of undiagnosed learning disabilities on children, to encourage educational leaders to implement early intervention strategies and, not least, to give hope and inspiration to the growing numbers of children who suffer from dyslexia.

Press release here,  news article on the tour's completion here.   A video blog (vlog) here and here.  The Cycling Dude's report. 

Darn, I wished I'd known about it sooner.

Presentation Tips

I'm going to have to do some presentations in the coming year, and I'm worried -- haven't done them in years.  The Great Good of the Internets dropped 43 Folders open thread in my lap:  Great Tips for Presentations.

Seven Deadly Sins of Blogging

Pinyo at The Great Nexus Webmaster Blog says there are seven deadly sins of blogging.

1. Using Free Blog Hosting Services
2. Ignoring the Basic Principles of Good Web Site Design and Usability
3. Being the Jack Of All Trades
4. Not Posting Regularly
5. Publishing Badly Written Posts
6. Spamming and Stealing
7. Failing to Establish a Personality

Why Teaching Reading Is Still In Whole-Land

Update: Please read the essay by Lisa Fischler, which addresses from a classroom teacher's perspective the barriers to change

From a speech by Michael J. Petrilli on February 10, 2005

In thousands of communities across this   country, school systems continue to resist putting in place scientifically-based   reading programs....The reasons usually boil down to two factors: ideology, and resistance from   teachers"

Some Other Views of KIPP

I was intrigued  by the extreme negativity ("mind-numbing and cultish") about KIPP expressed by Liza Featherstone--a view from the left-- and thought I'd look around to see other views.

The Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) has fans and detractors. 

KIPP is a network of free open-enrollment college-preparatory public schools in under-resourced communities throughout the United States. At KIPP, there are no shortcuts: outstanding educators, more time in school, a rigorous college-preparatory curriculum, and a strong culture of achievement and support help our students make significant academic gains and continue to excel in high school and college. Join us and reach more children with a high quality public education.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution  published an article on KIPP's culture, with comments from readers, both pro and con.

"At first, everyone mistook us for a gimmick," said KIPP co-founder Mike Feinberg. "Our society continues to look for microwave solutions to education and there aren't any."

What follows is a grab-bag -- what I find as I go.  It's not closely reasoned, and I'm comparing apples to artichokes.