How to Learn a Lot

Sometimes classes are boring: really boring. Sometimes you thought you were signing up for a class that was going to really interest you. It was going to cover a topic that you know enough about to be excited about learning more and when you show up for that first day of class you’re the only one with a smile on your face. Then you get the syllabus. After half of an hour talking about the schools policy on tardiness and reading ahead to the actual content you’ve started to become worried about the course. If you’re anything like me you … Continue reading →

When the Student is Smarter than the Teacher

Or in this case, smarter than standardized test designers. Seventeen-year-old Geoffrey Stanford royally schooled some test makers in Kansas recently, and his efforts not only sent him to the head of the class, but he also got a free ride to Hollywood to appear on various talk shows. It all started when the high school junior saw something that didn’t make sense while taking his state writing test earlier this month: The word “emission” — as in “the emission of greenhouse gases” — was spelled “omission.” Remembering a lesson about test-taking that his teacher drilled into him years ago-—”Read every … Continue reading →

More Signs that Your Child May be Gifted

Previously I had discussed how many parents feel that their child is gifted. They may comment on how far ahead their child is in class or even that their child is so intelligent that he or she is bored in class. Some parents will even have their child tested for a gifted program. However in some cases, this giftedness is simply the blindness of a proud parent. Feeling that your child is special is a sign of a good parent. However when it comes to truly labeling a child as gifted, it often takes much more than a parent’s opinion. … Continue reading →

Signs of a Gifted Child

If you are or have ever met a proud parent, he or she will likely comment that his or her child is gifted. Most parents feel that their child is developing at a faster rate that would label the child as gifted. They feel that their child is functioning above the level of the peers of the same age. While some of the children may possibly be gifted, many are just products of proud parents. In some cases children may accomplish a task ahead of the age at which is expected. However, in other areas the child is probably on … Continue reading →

Personal Assistants for Students

The public school system provides many services for its students. Some of these services are academic related and some are not. Some services provided by the public school system are home related. Others are health related. The public schools can provide free lunch for students, hearing and vision exams, and in some cases even medication. In addition to having different services in the public school system, there are also different levels of students. Some students are in a regular classroom and receive a regular education. Other students receive what we normally call “special services”. In most cases, people think of … Continue reading →

Grouping Special Education Students for Scheduling Purposes

Scheduling is always a big task for schools. Many schedules have to be created at the beginning of each school year. The task is even more complicated when new positions are added or old positions are taken away. Cafeteria schedules must be created. A schedule for the teachers’ plan periods is also a must. In addition, special people such as instructional assistants and special education teachers require a schedule to follow. With a limited number of hours in the day and many people to accommodate, some schools find themselves in a jam when it comes to creating a schedule for … Continue reading →

Educating Twice-Exceptional Students

Since the No Child Left Behind act five years ago, there has been much talk about various groups of children being “left behind”. As society and as educators, we group children into categories by learning abilities, race, economical status, gender, and so on. We then examine the different groups and track to see which groups are succeeding or falling behind. The latest group of children to be evaluated is a group that I never had really thought about. This group is the twice-exceptional students. They are high-ability children with learning disabilities or differences. These children are academically gifted but also … Continue reading →

The Movement to Inclusion

When I was in elementary school we all knew that the students taken out of the class each day were special education students. We knew that the students were going to receive extra help from the special teachers. We knew that those students were falling behind in class and did not do the “normal” work that we did. This was the assumption among the majority of the class. The children taken from my class were not necessarily physically or mentally handicapped. Some did not even have a learning disability. Some of the children simply struggled academically. However, all children “labeled” … Continue reading →

Asperger’s and School Accommodations

I was reading another of Kristyn’s blogs the other day. This blog’s topic was why one mother chose to homeschool her son who happened to have Asperger’s. You can read it here if you would like. One thing that specifically stood out in my mind as I was reading this blog was that one of the reasons this mom chose to homeschool her son was because even after a diagnosis of Asperger’s, several teachers in his school didn’t believe that he actually had it. This floored me! As a former special-education teacher who has taught children with Asperger’s, I would … Continue reading →

Dyslexia and School Accommodations

In my previous blogs I have been discussing the specific types of learning disabilities and what schools should be doing to accommodate the student that has them. I have touched on dysgraphia and dyscalculia. Today I want to talk about school accommodations for the student with dyslexia, perhaps the most well known of the types of learning disabilities. If you read another blog, written by Kristyn, in the special needs parenting section, you can get a brief overview of what dyslexia is. My job is to inform you of some of the expectations of the school for a child with … Continue reading →