New Show on Gallaudet students, and, Part I of Deaf as Disability Series

I just discovered that MTV will be airing a new show focused on the lives of college kids at Gallaudet University, which, as you may or may not know, is the only college for the deaf and hard of hearing.  It's called "Quiet Campus" and will be aired on mtvU, which apparently is a MTV channel focused on college students (which confuses me - isn't regular MTV focused on college students?)  Anyway, here's the press release, and here's a blog post in the NY Times with some quotes from some of the students featured in Quiet Campus.

I think this will be cool to watch.  The premise of the show is apparently that deaf kids aren't that different from "typical" kids - they're wrestling with the same issues, have many of the same concerns.  I think it will attract viewers who want insight into a world that they're likely unfamiliar with.  And if Switched at Birth is any indication, the series could attract quite a number of viewers.

HOWEVER, my next set of thoughts about this show (Quiet Campus) is that inescapably, this is going to highlight differences between deaf kids and hearing kids.  Inevitably!  Deaf kids use ASL, and have alternate ways of using technology.  Alarms clocks in Gallaudet, I'll just bet, involve flashing lights and vibrations - not songs or musical sounds from your iPhone.  Being deaf is different, in the sense that being any kind of minority is different from the way the majority of people deal with the world.

This gets to something that I see as a big tension in the deaf/Deaf community.  One set of people who have no hearing ("Deaf") view being Deaf as being part of a separate cultural community, one with its own language (ASL), history, and current culture.  Another set of people who have no hearing ("deaf") do not wish to participate in a Deaf community - they learn to speak and read lips, they rely on cochlear implants, and they attempt to integrate into mainstream US culture as much as possible.  So, I suppose it's like any minority community - there are those who emphasize the differences from the majority culture, and are those who integrate.

And yet for the Deaf, there is another issue that doesn't face other minorities - there is something more to the difference between Deaf and hearing.  There is in fact, some kind of dis-ability; Deaf people cannot use the communication modality - hearing and speaking - that the majority uses.  And this is why we as a society have chosen to support the Deaf by (a) recognizing that Deaf people need technical accommodations, like TTY systems, and better access to the 911 system and (b) providing educational services, in the form of IDEA supports and publicly funded schools for the Deaf.

But a lot of Deaf people seem really uncomfortable with the idea that they are "disabled".  Their view is "hey, there's nothing wrong with me, I can do anything that typical people can, I don't need to be fixed".  I certainly sympathize with this view - I have trouble labeling my own daughter as "disabled".  However, in order for my daughter to receive special ed services, she must fall within one of the legally defined categories of disability - that's just how we as a society have organized these programs.  So, too, with deafness - it's one of the categories defined under the ADA, the IDEA, and all the other laws as a disability.

So, what do you think?  Is being Deaf a disability?  Is it not?  Is the issue actually one where we need to throw out the disability/ability categories entirely?  What should replace it?

I plan to keep talking about these issues, so check back soon!

Online School Management Systems, or, will you ever talk to your kid's teacher in person again?

As you know, I'm quite interested in the intersection between technology and education: what are the positives?  what are the negatives?  I recently read an article that highlights how the same technology can be both good and bad.

In the WSJ last week (sorry, I am perpetually behind the times), there was an article about how schools are increasingly using online tools to communicate with parents and students - grades, class info, contact information, and upcoming events are increasingly being communicated via online platforms accessible to parents and students.  Picture a facebook page for your kid's classroom - events, other participants, and specific information about how your kid is doing.  You can check out the article here. 

So, the upside, in this increasingly digital world, you can use these systems to (a) communicate with your kid's teacher more regularly - no more waiting for a parent-teacher conference to address a concern, (b) monitor your kid's homework/grades, so that you can intervene if something's going off track, and (c) be able to communicate with other parents.  I certainly know how hard it is to keep in touch with your kid's teachers, and more ways to do it seems better than the alternative.  Working parents may rarely actually see their kid's teachers, and being able to stay in the loop via emails is nice. 

But...on the other hand, is this just another piece of technology that's going to get lost in the noise of all the emails/facebooks/other sites we deal with on a daily basis?  One mom in the article basically abstained from the online school platform, saying it was just one thing too many to deal with.  (I understand that too!  I have, at last count, 7 email accounts).  And despite our texting/virtual world, there is still something to in-person conversations, and building actual personal connections with the people that your child spends the most time with.

And, just to throw another iron into the fire, are these online school systems accessible to people with disabilities?  Recall earlier conversations on this point, on accessibility of digital educational materials and accessibility of communication systems.  If a student is blind, or has vision difficulties, are these online school systems accessible to screen readers?  And what about the parents?  What if a parent is deaf, blind, or has another disability where using online systems requires alternative technologies (like screen readers, or switch systems).  Hmmmm?

I don't have an answer, and I'd be happy to hear what your experiences are with these portals.  Honestly, these systems aren't going away - but we do need to make sure that they are appropriate to all students and their families.

Semi-Annual News Round-Up

Just kidding!  I hope to summarize recent news more frequently than that.  But admittedly, it's been a while.  So let's plunge in:

1. Earlier this week, the WSJ published an article about the increased prevalence of certain diseases and conditions - like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome - in school aged children, and the ability (or lack thereof) of schools to provide them with FAPE.  The particular challenge with these conditions is that often, the student struggles to attend any classes at all; home and online tutoring are often necessary (but expensive).  Add to that general skepticism that CFS and fibromyalgia are "real" conditions, and you have a situation where schools are pushing back and challenging requested accommodations.

I thought the article was reasonably balanced, weighing the truly difficult issues of how to educate kids with such draining conditions.  However, there were a few statistics thrown around that I thought were a little disingenuous.  One special ed consultant (guess whose side he's on) estimated that in 1970, special education's share of school budgets was 4%  - in 2005, it increased to 21%.  He also cited the figure that the average cost for special ed students is $17,500, roughly double the figure for typical students.

Now, I don't know if the numbers are at all accurate.  For one thing, I really doubt that the $17,500 figure is true nation-wide.  But regardless, these figures are misleading.  Special ed students are not stealing from typical students' education.  States receive extra funding from the federal government under the IDEA to support special ed students - so comparing the cost to educate special ed students vs. typical students is apples to oranges.  So I worry that a parent of a typical kid who's reading this article says to herself, "Wow, those valiant school districts doing so much for these ungrateful kids and parents.  The cost of the special ed kids must be the reason that our middle school cut the art program."    And if you think I'm worrying for no reason, I've quoted an actual comment to the article below:

"Made-up diseases: Chronic fatigue syndrome, learning disability, and marginal personality disorder.  Whatever happened to words like lazy, stupid, and jerk?"

Sigh.

2. A few days ago, the US House of Representatives  approved H.R. Bill 2218 - Empowering Parents through Quality Charter Schools Act (who comes up with these names??).  Here's a 3 page summary, here's the full monty, and here's a policy slant on it.

This is one of a number of bills that will be reauthorizing ESEA.  It's certainly good news that students with disabilities were expressly mentioned, but I'm not sure what, if anything, will end up changing.  Charter schools seem to be a total crap shoot when it comes to educating kids with disabilities.

And that's all for now folks!  Want to try to end on a semi-positive note!

It's Back to School/IEP Season!!!

I'm a little bit late on this topic (since I was dealing with my own Back to School/IEP Season), but as parents of special needs know, September is not just about buying a new backpack and the long list of school supplies.  It's also about evaluating your child's IEP, and making sure that it's still appropriate for him and her.

Hopefully, you've already had your pre-school IEP meeting.  I think it's always a good idea to bring the team together before school starts, and discuss what's happened over the summer (good and bad) that may impact the IEP goals.

I'm going to repost some excellent thoughts from my colleague Charmaine Thayer (who has a great website of her own - Visions and Voices Together).  I think Charmaine has a really balanced perspective on parent/school collaborations - optimistic, and still realistic.  Here you go from Charmaine:

Your Back-to-School IEP Check:

1. I understand the goals my child is working on this year and these are still appropriate for my child.

2. Teachers and related service providers are working on the goals, and I know this because ______________________.

3. My child is receiving all the services and supports written on his/her IEP, and I know this because ______________.

4. I do not agree to any amendments to my child’s IEP without considering all of the possible repercussions of an amendment. 

* CAUTION: some parents have been receiving proposed amendments to their child’s IEP to decrease amount of time for services, or change services from direct (actually working with your child) to indirect (consulting with school staff) and asked to “Sign here and send back to school.”

5. I have a communication plan in place to receive daily/weekly communication from people working with my child.

6. I share with school staff what strategies work well with my child.

7. I consider not signing a release (or revoking if I already have) of information between the school and private providers.  Instead, I provide written reports to each party when I think it is appropriate.  If school staff and private providers want to speak to each other, I am on the phone with them, or meeting with them.

8. I thank school staff and recognize when things are going well.

9. I celebrate my child’s successes!

And given the time of the year, it seems like a good time to post some general IEP resources, relevant to any time you're considering an IEP meeting.

IEP Guide: This is a pretty basic primer on your, and your child's rights under IDEA, and how to navigate the IEP process.

NCLD on IEP Teams:  This is a parent-advocate's perspective on the "dream" IEP team....and what is often the ugly reality.  So this is not what I'd call a balanced perspective, but it's certainly one that parents are quite familiar with, and speaks to the frustration and anger that many parents feel. 

As always, Wrightslaw has a variety of really helpful resources, including an email newsletter, the Special Ed Advocate and their website full of archived materials and analyses.

Good luck!

LiveScribe Pens, Round II: Illegal to use in the Classroom?

I remain bemused (saddened?  not surprised?) by stories in which schools actively reject new technologies on spurious premises.  Why can't they see the value of these new tools?  Why is there such a lack of creativity?

This week's tale of bureaucracy comes from a colleague of mine in the special education legal world.  One of her clients is a 10th grader with auditory processing dysfunctions.  On the recommendation of a neuropsych, his parents bought him a LiveScribe pen and he brought it to school to assist with notetaking and reviewing the lectures later on at home.  (This, by the way, is precisely one of the ways that the LiveScribe pen is SO AWESOME.  This is EXACTLY in line with best practices).

The teacher, however, told him he couldn't use it because it was "illegal".  Now, there is one potential legal issue at hand.  Some states prohibit you from recording conversations without the other party's consent (these are "two party" states).  Other states have no such restriction, and you can record away (these are "one party" states).  Apparently, this kid was in a one-party state, so the teacher was flat wrong. I love how people make these things up. 

Now, turn your legal brain on to the next logical question: would use of the LiveScribe pen be illegal in a two party state?  After all, you'd need the other party's consent to record.  Well, really, what thinking teacher would refuse consent to the student's recording?  What about the other students - would schools need to get consent from each and every student, if one student wanted to record a lecture (in which the other students are presumably participating)?  I would argue no.  Students don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy in what they say in a classroom, vis a vis the other people in the class.  Now, maybe you'd want the student doing the recording to agree to only use the recording for educational purposes, and that seems reasonable.  But again, nothing about the use of the LiveScribe pen is illegal.

So, back to the example.  What was the teacher's real concern?  Well, maybe the teacher was nervous that if the kid recorded her lectures, his parents would find that that she really couldn't teach!  Or maybe the teacher just didn't understand the potential of the LiveScribe pen to really help the student learn.  I really have no idea, but this really reinforces the principles I posted about earlier.  In sum, the coolest and best technologies for learning will be entirely useless if teachers don't know how to use them and if schools don't support their inclusion in the classroom.

What's the value of an online education?

 Happy return to the school year!  After a little summer break, we are back in action.  And, talking about education again.

I've talked about online education before - I generally think it presents some interesting new options, but it's fairly untested.  And you certainly know I'm not anti-technology or anti-choice.  So I read with interest a set of surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center.  One survey was a telephone survey to 2,000+ random adults (the "public") and the other was a online survey to over 1,000 college presidents (2 and 4 year, private and public).  You can find the link to the study here - but here are some interesting highlights:

1. The general public doesn't value online learning very highly.  Only 29% of the public says online courses offer an equal value compared with courses taken in a classroom. Half (51%) of the college presidents surveyed say online courses provide the same value.  What's the difference?  Perception.  A Harvard education is viewed to be superior to most other undergraduate colleges - but it's not necessarily true.  It might be the best for some students, but other students might do better in a college with smaller class sizes and a different choice of majors.  But Harvard remains "on the top" because of perception.  The issue of perception arises after you've graduated, when you're trying to get a job on the basis of your academics.  Online education is new, and mostly unproven.  It will need to prove that it's not a fluffy option for people trying to do minimal work. 

2. ....and yet,  Roughly one-in-four college graduates (23%) report that they have taken a class online. Not surprisingly, the share doubles to 46% among those who have graduated in the past ten years (I mean, really, 10 years ago there wasn't even Google). Among all adults who have taken a class online, 39% say the format’s educational value is equal to that of a course taken in a classroom.  But on this point, how would they know?  I would argue that the value depends on the course and the curriculum - is it a topic that can be easily (or best?) taught online?  Compare a law school lecture - where minimal student input is expected or required - with a class on teaching methods, where presumably you need to try your methods out on other students.

3.  Despite recent evidence to the contrary, digital textbooks may well conquer.  Nearly two-thirds of college presidents (62%) anticipate that 10 years from now, more than half of the textbooks used by their undergraduate students will be entirely digital.  I believe this.  Tablet computing is taking over, and it's replacing the 15 pounds of textbooks I carried in high school.

There are some other interesting factoids, like, how plagiarism is on the rise due to the Internet.  I find this fascinating - this was simply not an option when I was in high school.  Perhaps we'll explore this issue in a future post, because I think this is definitely a downside to technology, and I'd like to research what teachers and schools are doing to combat the problem.  (Part of the solution might be to flip the classroom a la the Khan Academy - do lectures at home and homework at school).  Another interesting point is that colleges have yet to figure out how to regulate the use of smartphones, tablets, and laptops in the classroom.  Do you permit wireless?  Do you require wireless?  How do you keep students engaged if they can access Angry Birds at any time?

Worth some thinking!

How to Integrate Technology in the Classroom

Let's get back to the technology people!  I encountered this fabulous list of ideas of how to effectively integrate technology into the classroom.  The author, Adam Bellow, is an advocate for technology in education, and his website ( http://edutecher.net/ ) promotes new and effective technologies.  He recently wrote a post on Mind/Shift, itself an interesting website on education, policy, and technology.  You can see his full post on Mind/Shift, but here are his 7 Golden Rules for Using Technology in Schools:

1.  Don't trap technology in a room.  Remember "the computer lab"?  As Bellow says, technology should be like oxygen - ubiquitous, necessary, and invisible.

2.  Technology is worthless without professional development.  It's more than just "how-to".  It's "why" and "why this is worth your time".

3.  Mobile technology stretches a long way.  So why are cellphones banned from most classrooms?  Why not harass the power of smartphones and apps for the sake of learning (not just texting)?

4.  The new "F word" is fear.  Schools block access to websites, teachers are afraid that kids know more about technology than they do.  So perhaps it's our responsibility to teach kids how to use technology responsibly - to know about copyright laws and licenses, for one thing - and how to be good "digital citizens", as Bellow puts it.



5.  Tech tools are not just a passing fad.  Sorry folks, smartphones and tablets are here to stay.  And given how inexpensive some of these tools are (the iPod Touch, LiveScribe pen, etc.) and the countless uses they have, it's worth investing, and training people NOW.

6.  Money is not the problem.  See Khan Academy.


7. Invite every stakeholder to the conversation.  And yes, that includes students too.  Heck, throw in parents!

No Child Left Behind: 101

This is another post providing some background on education laws, so that I can discuss some very recent developments.

So, No Child Left Behind is widely viewed to have been originally enacted by Bush II in 2002.  The basic idea was to create standards-based accountability for K-12 nationwide.  The act mandated student testing every year from 3rd to 8th grade, and once in high school, to measure student progress.  Each year, a certain percentage of a state's schools must make annual yearly progress (AYP).  AYP means that this year's 5th graders, for example, test better than last year's fifth graders.  If a school doesn't make AYP, it is labeled "needs improvement"

The schedule of progress was defined as well - by the 2013-2014, all schools, in all states, are to be at "proficient" level.  If a school doesn't, then that school faces an escalating set of sanctions - tutoring, offering students school choice, etc. (each of which costs the states money) - and also puts federal funding at risk.

A couple of points about all that: First, NCLB was simply a reauthorization of an existing law - the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which was first enacted in 1965 (So sometimes, you'll see NCLB referred to as ESEA.  Another example of ed law alphabet soup).  So, it wasn't something that Bush II just created out of thin air.

Update! Douglas County Voucher Program Halted!

I've lost the "breaking news" aspect of this, since it happened last Friday, BUT a Denver district court judge issued an injunction to stop the implementation of the Douglas County voucher program.  I think this is the correct result, based on the legal arguments. Interestingly, even though the plaintiffs only asked for a preliminary injunction (meaning, a temporary halt to the program while its legal implications were sorted out), the judge issued a permanent injunction.  That means that the program is over, unless Douglas County decides to appeal.

Here's a link to the judge's ruling (pretty much a home run for the plaintiffs).  I don't expect you to read it because it's 68 pages, but it's a thorough explanation of why this program violates the Colorado state constitution.  And it also includes some fascinating details about some of the actions taken by the private schools - like how one school reduced the financial aid package for a student in the exact amount of the voucher.  How nice.  How helpful to lower-income families.

And here's some information about the implications of the decision from EdNewsColorado, a great website about educational issues, but it is focused primarily on Colorado. Since it's so close to the start of the school year, a number of families already planned to use the vouchers to attend the private schools.  So, what those families will now do is murky.

Congrats to the ACLU, but really, I still think the better argument lies with the Legal Center.

School Vouchers: the Discrimination Problem

This is Part III of my attempt to catch folks up on the pluses and minuses of school voucher programs, especially as they impact minorities and kids with disabilities.  As I've mentioned, there's a new school voucher program here in Colorado (in Douglas County).  The school district, obviously, thinks this is a good idea.

Again, the ACLU does not agree.  See earlier discussion here.

Plus, as discussed in this WSJ article about the voucher program, this looks like the classic case of vouchers "skimming off the top" - since the vouchers won't actually cover the entire cost of the typical private school, low income families really can't take advantage of them.  In essence, it looks like the vouches are subsidies to middle and upper class families, who can now leave public schools in favor of something they think is better.

Now, some states have actively tried to address concerns with school voucher programs by offering additional assistance to low-income families, and ancillary supports (like transportation).  Some have even enacted scholarship programs (another way to describe school vouchers) for kids with disabilities - Ohio, North Carolina, Arizona, Utah, and Florida, just to name a few.  (The 12 year old Florida McKay Scholarship, a leader in this movement, will be the subject of another post). This is a great development (check out this interesting piece in the NY Times.)

But, not so in this case here in Colorado!

Dyslexie, or, Technology Rocks!

This video has been around for a while, but it is so cool and such a great example, again, of how technology can help kids with special needs - in this case, specifically dyslexia.

If you go to this YouTube video, you will see a demonstration of a new typeface called "dyslexie", which was designed by a guy with dyslexia to be more readable and cause fewer errors for people with dyslexia.  (You can also go to the guy's website, but it's mostly in Dutch and I don't speak Dutch).

The idea is to have the font itself be a tool for reducing errors.  So, as the video explains, the English alphabet was not designed with dyslexia in mind!  There are only 26 letters, and many of them look alike - v and w, i and j, d and b and p and q.  The problem is ascerbated by sans serif fonts that are widely used (like Arial, and Helvetica, and ones that like.)  So, "dyslexie" emphasizes differences between letters, weights the letters on the bottom so that it's easier to see a "d" instead of a "p", angles some letters to make them look different, and emphasizes punctuation and the capital letters at sentence beginnings (so that it's easier to know when the sentence ends and a new sentence starts).

According to one study at the University of Twente, this actually works.  Now, it wouldn't hurt to have a few more studies verifying it, but hey, the essential points are still there: (1) make letters look more distinct from each other and; (2) make it easier to know when sentences begin and end.

I think it's so awesome when people use technology in creative ways to solve problems like this.  Practically speaking, I'm not sure how to get dyslexie across the pond and into books for kids (or onto computer screens).  But I appreciate now knowing that a couple of simple changes in the way words are presented could make life easier for a kid with dyslexia.

More on School Vouchers: the Religion Red Herring

As promised/threatened, there's a lot more to say about private school vouchers and whether or not state methods of implementing them work for students with special needs.

Just some quick background: school vouchers permit students to basically go to private schools on "scholarship", using public funds designated for each child's education.  The public school district pays the private school an allocation of funds per student enrolled via voucher, usually dependent on a formula concocted by dividing the number of enrolled public school students into the general education fund.

A lot of folks like the idea because it promotes competition between public and private schools, and provides choices and opportunities to kids who might not have very many options.  If you think about the problems of underperforming public schools in poor, urban areas, vouchers could allow kids in such areas (often, minorities) to access better education.  There's been quite a bit of research in this area, much of which supports the idea that competition breeds improvement, and better educational choices for underprivileged kids.  (See, for example, the wikipedia on school vouchers, which is actually very good and fairly balanced.)

Now, a lot of folks do not like school vouchers because they do muddle the line between public and private schools. And these folks have their own research arguing that vouchers lead to a lack of accountability, and not necessarily even improvement in test scores.  Furthermore, when the private schools are also religious schools, questions arise about whether public funds ought to be spent on religious education (the whole minor issue of separation of church and state, you know). 

Special Ed Basics - Parentally Placed Private Placements

You might be getting the sense that special education law and policy is more complicated than you originally thought.  Boy has it been a learning curve for me, and I am still on that curve.  One of the interesting little wrinkles that we need to cover (so that I can post about some recent developments) is the situation where a parent is unhappy with the public school services that her kid is receiving.  Maybe she disagrees with the amount of services, or doesn't think the service providers are effective.  She finds a local private school, enrolls her kid in the school, and then notifies the public school of her decision.

Assuming the simplest case (the school had provided FAPE, and there's no due process hearing, no litigation about that issue), the public school system is basically done with this kid.  The LEA has no obligation to provide special ed services to the child, and no obligation to pay the tuition for the private school.  On the side of the private school, the private school has no obligation to provide any special ed services because they're not a public school, and not subject to the requirements of IDEA.  (Charter schools are tricky.  They are usually public schools, and so are legally subject to IDEA, but the fact of the matter is is that they rarely offer adequate special ed services to students, even though they receive funds from the LEA to do so.)

So this situation can put parents in a difficult position.  On the one hand, they might feel their child's education is suffering in the public school - but at least the kid is getting some kind of special ed services, at no cost to the parent.  On the other hand, if they want a (presumably) better education at a private school, there are no included special ed services, and all this is coming out of the parents' pockets.

The IDEA does provide an outlet, but one that's a hard road to travel.  In order to get the public school system to reimburse for a parentally-placed private placement, the parent must prove that (a) the public school did not provide FAPE, and (b) the parents provided notice of their intent to remove their child.  To do this, the parent generally needs to file for due process (in order to prove the first prong).  This is hard - due process hearings can be long and drawn out, and meanwhile, the parent is paying for this private placement.  A lot of parents simply can't take on this financial and emotional burden.

So, some states have tried to offer alternatives.  In Florida, the McKay scholarships are offered to students on IEPs that want to attend private schools.  In Colorado, Douglas County is offering school vouchers on a pilot basis to kids that want to attend private schools.  In Wisconsin, the Milwaukee school district had a similar voucher program - that became the subject of a complaint filed with the DOJ.   Sadly, in all of these cases, there have been serious flaws in the implementation, and how the programs support (or, more accurately, don't support) kids with disabilities.  And that, my friends, will be covered in my next post on this topic.

Digital Textbooks Round II - Not what they're cracked up to be?

You know that I'm impressed by schools using iPads in the classroom, and hopeful about the potential of e-textbooks to radically change the delivery of educational content.  But lately, I've been reading a string of articles that are pointing out some of the real challenges to actual adoption of e-textbooks in our classrooms.  And it's worth considering some of these issues - better now than later.

Online Education - An Introduction

I've been following the growth of online education for awhile.  As you (faithful readers of my blog) well know, I definitely support the use of technology in the classroom to support varied learning styles and varied levels of development.  But online education has been a mystery to me.  On the one hand, it seems like the ultimate in individualized education.  But on the other hand, isn't some kind of general education, in a general classroom, with peers, the whole point of public education in the United States, and the entire idea behind IDEA?? (forgive the pun!)

Let's discuss. 

12 Years after Olmstead

Twelve years ago, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Olmstead v. L.C., a case about two women in Georgia who were institutionalized despite their preference for community-based living.  The Court held that the ADA prohibits the unjustified segregation of individuals with disabilities (meaning, public entities have an obligation to provide community-based living, not institutions, for individuals with disabilities wherever possible.) 

Just this past week, the Department of Justice - charged with enforcing the ADA - issued a statement re-enforcing its position on Olmstead's requirements that individuals with disabilities be integrated into community living as fully as possible.  You can read the report here, and I've summarized some of the key points below:

Does your child have dyslexia? Teach him Japanese!

I just read an article in the WSJ on this fascinating topic called Unlocking Dyslexia in Japanese.  In case you can't read it (I know it's subscription only), here's the gist:

A mom noticed that her 12-year old son, who had spent the past two years at a specialized school for kids with learning disabilities, was excelling in one class in particular at his new, mainstream school - Japanese.  Even though he could barely write legible English words, his Japanese characters were sharp and distinct.

Researchers have hypothesized that Japanese and Chinese - both languages where single characters represent entire words or ideas - may be easier for kids with dyslexia to learn.  Kids with dyslexia tend to think visually, and to rely on memorization to get through reading challenges - both skills that serve them well in decoding Japanese and Chinese.  Now, there's no getting around the fact that English-speaking kids with dyslexia are going to need to learn to read in English.  But teachers and developers of curriculum could design reading and writing programs to help develop methodologies that are more effective - working on repetition, memorization, pattern recognition, etc.

I love this story for several reasons.  First, I love that his mom didn't give up on him.  Yes, he was having difficulties in school, but she didn't assume that was irreversible, or somehow his fault.  She kept trying different ideas, and kept believing in him.  Second, the fact that a child with dyslexia may have an advantage in learning Japanese or Chinese characters is just yet another example of how we need to support a variety of brains!  Our kids learn differently because their brains are literally wired differently.  Let's support them, not try to change them.  Third, I'm fascinated by this school that offers instruction in Japanese.  Maybe instead of teaching kids French or Spanish (French being really only useful in restaurants, sorry Parisians), we should be focusing on Japanese or Mandarin Chinese.

And perhaps most importantly, this story shows just how far we have yet to go in understanding neuropsych disorders like dyslexia.  We need more research dollars, we need more creative thinking, and we need to raise awareness that these kids have amazing untapped potential.

Web Accessibility: Advanced Topics II - Copyright

Copyright!  My favorite!  It is the most commonly relied upon, and least understood, intellectual property right that we have in the US.  Everyone thinks that copyright law defends any and all uses of digital media, and that once you buy something (or, heck, rip it online), it's yours.

(Sidebar:  NO!  It's not!  You cannot "borrow" music files from ZenMaster201!  You cannot rip your own ringtones!  Fair use is a BAD defense!!!)

Ok, let's back up, now that I've gotten that out of my system.  For our purposes, here's a very brief summary of copyright law: The author of a original work is entitled to the copyright rights for that work - the right to reproduce, modify, create derivative works, distribute, and publicly perform the work.  These rights arise from the creation of the work (you don't necessarily have to register the work, or file it, like you would for a patent or federal trademark).  No one can modify your work without a license from you, unless they have a defense.  "Fair use" is such a defense - this is essentially the right to quote an article, or to parody a song, or to make scholarly comment on a book.  It helps your case if you're not commercially profiting from your use of the copyrighted work, and if your use of the work is small in comparison to the work as a whole.

Weekly News Roundup - Frontier flight gone wrong

Hey folks,

Last week's news roundup was pretty weighty, with the Arc's disability supports report, and the WHO's report on international incidence of disability (still plowing through that one myself!).  Nothing quite as big this week, but just one story that reminds me of how much further we have to go in our collective respect for those with disabilities.

Frontier Flight Gone Wrong. This past Sunday, a young man named John Morris who is quadriplegic was not permitted to stay on a Frontier flight from Dallas to Denver because the pilot thought it "unsafe" to permit him to stay.  The excuse was that since he had limited upper body control, it would be unsafe for him to fly.  Nevermind that there was no problem with his flight from Denver to Dallas two days earlier - John had simply used the seat belt extension that the airline carries to secure his chest, and he was traveling with two companions who were quite familiar with his needs.

In the discussion that followed, several passengers overheard Frontier employees saying that company products couldn't be used as medical devices.  (Wha?)  And so these passengers volunteered their own belts or whatever they could to help John.  That was rejected.  Instead, the pilot called the local police!  No really!  The police talked to everyone, concluded it was not a police matter, and told the pilot.  Pilot still refused to take off with John on the plane.   Finally, John and his family left the plane and boarded a later flight.

Repercussions for the pilot?  Zero.  Repercussions for Frontier (so far)?  Zero.

This kind of intolerance is unacceptable.  If you agree, let Frontier know, and vote with your feet.  You can file a complaint here.

Why Attorneys are Helpful (sometimes!)

I recently discovered a study that analyzed outcomes in due process hearings in Illinois, and whether or not outcomes were correlated with the parent having an attorney (the school board always has an attorney).

Dr. Melanie Archer looked at approximately 350 due process hearings in Illinois between 1997-2002.  The first thing to note is the relatively low rate of due process hearings compared to the overall number of children receiving special education services (about 300,000) - that's less than 0.2%.  So the next time a school district attorney complains about how special education is the "next big litigation explosion", take it with a grain of salt.

And then there's the question of outcomes - who wins?  Not the parents!  Parents lose 70% of the time. Twenty hearing officers made between 4 and 28 decisions during this time, with some officers never finding in favor of parents.