An interesting video may change the way you look at your life

Some people are so negative it’s depressing just to be around them. No matter how hard you try to cheer them up and make them see the bright side of things, they insist that their lives are gone to pot and that there is nothing in their life that is right. It’s hard to tell what it is they’re trying to get out of life, or what they want from you.

Great Stuff

You offer them suggestions and they respond with a series of “buts.” You point out the really groovy stuff in their lives and they feel forced to tell you why those things aren’t really so groovy after all. You begin to feel that they prefer to be unhappy, dissatisfied, and negative.

There’s not much else to do at that point but give up before you lose your equanimity. You can’t force a person to change perspective. It’s got to come from within.

Raw Deal

On the other hand, kids with learning disabilities may become convinced that life has handed them some tough stuff to deal with. They did, to at least some extent, get a raw deal and deserve some understanding and patience. Sometimes you just need to offer them a different perspective. If you can get them to listen, try helping them break out of the blues by showing them this clip.

There’s a cute saying that when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. This clip is a good illustration of that. The words in the clip don’t change, but viewed from a different perspective, they have a whole different meaning.

That’s kind of like dyslexia, actually. A person with dyslexia may not see text the way other people do. That makes it hard to read.

Yes, it’s a disability. But with that disability comes a gift: the gift of learning to see outside the box. Because reading is difficult for someone with dyslexia, learning is done by other means.

Foreshortening (perspective)

The person with dyslexia has been handed a big problem at birth; but always having to get around the problem of reading forces the person with dyslexia to become a terrific problem solver. Maybe that’s why so many entrepreneurs and millionaires are dyslexic. When a big business problem arises, the dyslexic businessman or woman has already learned to stop and look at the problem from a different perspective. It takes some tenacity, but the solution is bound to make an appearance if only the problem-solver refuses to give up. A can-do attitude is the way to get to solutions, every time.

Related articles

• Techniques and Tips for the Dyslexic Student (community.cognibeat.com)
• Getting Kids to Read (community.cognibeat.com)
• The Problem with Percy Jackson (community.cognibeat.com)

Internet Addiction

Plugged In 24/7

Is your child’s internet usage increasing as his grades (and personal hygiene) slip? Could it be he has an Internet addiction?

Kids are digital natives, born into the world of ever-evolving technology. Kids’ lives exist online as much or more than they do in reality. Digital natives can’t conceive of a world without cellphones, iPods, and the Internet. That’s why it should come as no surprise to hear that some teens report spending 7-14 hours a day plugged into their computers—way beyond the recommended Canadian guideline of two hours max.

Addicted

Still, Facebook can be a good thing, insomuch as it fosters social interaction. The problems begin when teens go out on a limb and engage in risky behavior just so they’ll have a cool status update for their “walls.” That’s when you know things are getting out of hand. Recent studies tell us that the more time a teen spends on social networking venues, the higher the level of his narcissism climbs. That should send parental alarm bells a ’ringing.

One U.S. health-care advocacy group, the Kaiser Family Foundation, issued a report stating that kids aged 8-18 spend more time facing their computer monitors, game and television screens, than they spend on any other activity except for sleep. The report says that kids access technology on an average of 10 hours and 45 minutes a day. This certainly is a contrast to the recommendations of the Canadian Pediatric Society that this same age group spend no more than two hours a day parked in front of a screen.

Susan Lambert, president of the British Columbia Teachers Federation, was shocked to hear that many teens are spending over 10 hours a day on computers. Lambert asks, "If you were spending an average of 10 hours and 45 minutes a day doing any single thing, wouldn't we be concerned?"

Addicted to the Internet

ADHD Link

One expert has noticed a link between Internet overuse and certain disorders, in particular ADHD and depression. Dr. Susan Baer, of the BC Children’s Hospital, where she is a child and adolescent psychiatrist in the neuropsychiatry and mood and anxiety disorders clinic, conducted a study on the topic and found that teens with behavioral and emotional difficulties were spending most of their free time in front of monitors and screens, averaging 7 hours a day on gaming stations, televisions, and computers.

But Baer also discovered that kids who spent lots of time on computers or at gaming stations but did not manifest addictive behaviors were not among those with a coexisting link to depression. "This was surprising to us and suggests that even though terms such as Internet addiction are controversial, there is a real difference between youth who are simply filling their free time with the computer, and youth whose use is more driven and problematic," said Baer.

Addiction Symptoms

Consult your physician if your child:

* Loses interest in academic achievement

* Feels angry and frustrated when denied access

* Feels depression and anxiety—longs to return when away from the computer

* Has sleep difficulties and changes in sleep patterns

* Neglects personal hygiene

* Neglects important responsibilities

* Spends less time with loves ones and friends

* Loses real friends while increasing virtual friends

Related articles

• Social Network Addiction - A Scientific No Man's Land? (brainblogger.com)
• Do You Have Digital Natives at Your Organization? (hubspot.com)
• Video Games, ADHD and Time Management (psychcentral.com)

Percy Jackson - Getting Kids to Read

Creator of Percy Jackson Offers Tips for Getting Dyslexic Kids to Read

Rick Riordan created his book series to help his son battle learning disabilities.

When author Rick Riordan’s son Haley was 7, he hated school. Haley had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia. Reading and learning were serious challenges for him. Riordan relates that Haley used to hide under the family’s dining-room table to get out of doing his homework or to avoid reading.

Royal Blood

Percy Jackson - Image via Wikipedia

Riordan loved books and was desperate that Haley should love them, too. That’s why he started writing the Percy Jackson series, which began as Haley’s bedtime stories. Riordan gave Percy the same learning disabilities as Haley: ADHD and dyslexia; but the author depicted the learning deficits as indications of royal Olympian blood, medical conditions found only in demigods.

Today, Haley is 16 years-old. He walked into his father’s office not long ago, announcing that he’d just completed a 600-page manuscript. That would be a stunning accomplishment for any 16 year-old, but coming from Haley, the announcement was proof positive that the boy had turned the tide against dyslexia and had come to love the printed word. Riordan had won and Haley was the benefactor.

Long Journey

Over the course of the past nine years, Riordan’s protagonist became the main character of a five-book series. As Percy rose to stardom, Haley was taking his own journey. He came out from under the dining room table and instead of avoiding books, became an avid reader.

As Riordan looks back and reflects upon the success of the Percy Jackson series and Haley’s embrace of books and writing, he decided to share what he has learned about the process of turning children into bookworms. It boils down to four essential factors:

1. Provide an example. If you don’t take the time to read, it’s a good bet your children won’t, either. If your kids see you reading, they’ll follow your good example. Make reading a part of your family’s daily schedule. Declare the hour of 7-8 PM family reading hour. Have general book discussions. Discuss what makes a book or an author great.

Image via Wikipedia

2. Find books your children will want to read. A series is good because it will leave your child wanting to read more. Don’t worry about the caliber of the books your child seems to prefer. The main thing is to build a foundation—you want to get your child reading for pleasure. Make friends with the librarian at your local children's library and pick her brains about books your child might enjoy.

3. Think about your child’s reading environment. In general, you should offer your child a place to read where he won’t be distracted by noise. On the other hand, some children with ADHD find that fiddling makes it easier to concentrate. If squeezing a stress ball, for instance, makes it easier for your child to read, by all means, have him squeeze away.

4. Stay positive about the future. Children with ADHD and dyslexia can grow up to become successful. More millionaires than not have dyslexia. Adults with ADHD have the gift of hyperfocus and can stay focused on problems for as long as necessary, something the rest of us find difficult. People with learning disabilities have to learn to think outside the box because they have learning differences. As a result, they become excellent at problem-solving. The main thing is to get our kids through school so that they become free to find their niche.

Related articles

• Meet The Greek Gods Of Fantasy Film 'Percy Jackson' (screenrant.com)
• Kids With ADHD Often Have Other Problems (webmd.com)
• Documenting Dyslexia (community.cognibeat.com)

The Problem With Reading

Read To Learn

No one doubts that reading is an important skill to acquire. It seems obvious: we've got to learn how to read, otherwise, how will we read to learn? More to the point, what happens to the children who finds it hard to read? Are they doomed to be poor learners?

Adult Illiteracy

The rate of adult illiteracy has burgeoned to the point where it can no longer be ignored. That's why, in 1992, the United States government underwrote the National Adult Literacy Survey to the tune of $14 million to try to get a handle on the scale of the pervasiveness of literacy issues among adult Americans. The results were shocking: though most of those surveyed had graduated high school, 96% of them could not read, write, or do arithmetic on a level high enough to continue on to college. Worse yet, a full 25% just couldn't read at all.

No Change

A subsequent 2003 study, this time named the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, showed no significant change from the 1992 study in reading comprehension levels. Adults were still having the same difficulties in reading and understanding text, a decade later.

Equal Opportunity

The most remarkable thing about the study is that reading difficulties are an equal opportunity disaster. Difficulties in reading don't just happen to people from disadvantaged homes. Most of these people go to decent schools, have stable homes, and have average or even above average IQ scores. However, they are struggling to figure out reading , and some of them never do.

Common Issues

Kids who have trouble learning to read have a lot of issues in common. They have a tendency to transpose letters and words, or leave them out altogether. They lose their place on the page, cannot retain much of what they have just read, and do not understand the sense of the words they do manage to read. When these symptoms occur in clusters, kids are said to have a learning disability (LD) known as dyslexia.

Some Statistics

According to the International Dyslexia Association, a minimum of one in ten otherwise normal people has severe dyslexia. The National Center for Learning Disabilities states that 15 million American adults and children have learning disabilities. Some estimates state that 70%-80% of children with learning disabilities suffer from dyslexia.

The Upshot

The upshot? People with poor literacy skills are our co-workers, friends, family, and children and their numbers are too big to ignore. It's time to accommodate those among us with reading difficulties.

Related articles

• The Brain as Crystal Ball (community.cognibeat.com)
• Math Dyslexia (community.cognibeat.com)
• John Zickerfoose's Inspiring Struggle Against Dyslexia, Illiteracy (huffingtonpost.com)

Writing on the Wall

Handwriting Issues Persist in Autistic Teens

New research finds that handwriting issues persist into adolescence in autistic teens.

A recent study has found that handwriting issues affecting autistic children tend to persist into adolescence. The results of this research were published in the November 16, 2010 issue of Neurology, a publication put out by the American Academy of Neurology.

Study subjects included 2 dozen boys and girls aged 12-16 years. Half of them had been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, and all of them scored within normal range for perceptual reasoning on IQ tests.

Scrambled Sentence

The researchers had the teens take the Minnesota Handwriting Assessment Test, which makes use of a scrambled sentence to remove the possibility that fluent readers will gain an advantage in terms of speed. The teens were asked to copy the sentence, "the brown jumped lazy fox quick dogs over,” and were instructed to make the letters all the same sizes and shapes as those used in the sample. They were asked to use their best handwriting for this purpose.

The teens’ handwriting received scores in five different categories: spacing, size, alignment, form, and legibility. The teenagers were also examined to assess their motor skills and assigned ratings in categories such as timed movement and balance.

Out of a possible 204 points total for the handwriting assessment, the teens with autism scored an average of 167 points, while the teens without autism scored an average of 183 points. There is a statistical significance in the difference between these two averages. The teens with autism were also discovered to have impaired motor skills.

Possible Strategy

The researchers found that handwriting issues in autistic teens could be predicted by perceptual reasoning scores. Perceptual reasoning is the ability to use reason to solve problems in nonverbal material. "That reasoning skills can predict handwriting performance suggests a possible strategy by which adolescents with autism could learn and utilize compensatory strategies to overcome motor impairments," said study author Amy Bastian, PhD.

According to Bastion, while it’s true that autistic teens tend to have handwriting issues, there are a variety of techniques that can be used to improve the quality of their handwriting, for instance making adjustments to pencil grip, stabilizing a writing hand by holding it with the opposite hand, or taking more time to write the letters. “These therapies could help teens with autism to progress academically and develop socially," Bastion said.

Bastion is affiliated with the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, MD. The Autism Speaks Pre-Doctoral Fellowship and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) underwrote the study.

Related articles

• Handwriting Problems Hard to Outgrow With Autism (webmd.com)
• For Teens with Autism, Handwriting Problems May Persist (nlm.nih.gov)
• Autism and Handwriting: Part 2 (psychologytoday.com)

8 Tips on Getting Ready for College

If you have a learning disability and are thinking of going to college, here are some important tips that might help you realize your dream.

Many teens struggle with learning disabilities to a point that they give up any idea of going to college and may settle for a career that is less than fulfilling, and below their potential. So says the National Center for Learning Disabilities, after compiling statistics on the subject, but it doesn’t have to be this way.

Today, growing numbers of higher learning institutions are helping those with dyslexia, attention deficit disorder (ADD/ADHD) and other learning disabilities to gain admission to and matriculate from college.

Learning disability counselors and college admissions officers are advising learning-disabled students considering college to follow these 8 steps:

1) Start your preparations early

A great many high school officials, parents, and students believe that students who struggle should be transferred to less challenging classes. But if you’re aiming to go to college, stick with college preparatory courses. Choosing the lower-track classes means missing out on skills like high school algebra that are prerequisites for getting into 4-year colleges. Skipping those courses in high school now means wasting time in remedial studies in a community college later on.

2) Let technology give you a hand

Make use of spell-check, software calendar programs, screen readers, dictation software, and the new recording pens to help you retain information and get your homework completed within the allotted time.

3) Be creative

Can’t learn French? Take a course in American Sign Language. Be on the lookout for acceptable alternatives that prove what you can do instead of what you can’t.

Know Yourself

4) Know yourself and take responsibility

While high schools accommodate students with learning disabilities, colleges don’t provide special help unless students (and not their parents) know just what they need and can request that help in an adult manner. Jane Daigneault coordinator of disability services at Clark University in Worcester, Ma; says that, "Students have to be ready to have an adult conversation about what they need," for instance note-takers or unusual software. If parents have done their job, and allowed their children to experience natural consequences for not taking medication, for instance, during the high school years, their children will be ready to take care of their own needs by the time they reach college.

5) Do careful research on your college options

Be sure the college you’ve chosen fits with your unique learning style. Three books may be helpful with this task: Peterson's Colleges With Programs for Students With Learning Disabilities or Attention Deficit Disorders, Preparing Students With Disabilities for College Success, and The K & W Guide to Colleges for Students with Learning Disabilities.

6) Keep up to date with documentation on your learning disability

If you expect accommodations from colleges, you have to have documentation confirming your diagnosis that is no older than one or two years.

7) Don’t use your disability as an excuse for poor grades

Instead, use your application essay to emphasize how you’ve managed to overcome, compensated or utilized your disability.

8) Think about getting some extra assistance

Some colleges offer tutoring to learning-disabled students at no extra cost but most colleges charge hefty fees for this type of extra support. It’s not easy to get a grant or a scholarship to cover those costs, either. In some cases, however, students manage to persuade a state-run vocational rehabilitation office to pay for this type of extra help. Colleges can figure these additional fees into your tuition so that you or your parents can qualify for larger student loans.

Related articles

• Learning With Disabilities (nytimes.com)
• Labeling Students Learning Disabled (brighthub.com)
• Tips for Parents with a Child with a Learning Disability (healthmad.com)

Doctors with Attention Deficit

Students Claim ADHD to Get Drugs

Students who want to try ADHD medication for recreational purposes or to boost their grades find it all too easy to convince physicians they have ADHD

Though the U.S. government defines Adderall as a Schedule 2 drug, getting doctors to prescribe Adderall is a snap for college students looking for an easy way to ace their exams. One University of Massachusetts student reporter decided to interview her fellow students to investigate the matter. During one such interview, a fellow student claimed she held her primary health care doctor in the palm of her hand when she begged him to refer her to a psychiatrist who offers evaluations for attention deficit disorder (ADD).

Image via Wikipedia

Transparent Questions

During the psychiatrist’s assessment, the student responded to a series of transparent questions like, “Do you have a hard time concentrating or focusing?” The student said it took no mental gymnastics to figure out what responses would generate a diagnosis of ADD so that she would be entitled to the drugs she sought. However, the student was canny enough to only posit a certain number of symptoms so that she wouldn’t be too obvious in her quest to be diagnosed with a disorder she didn’t have.

The upshot was that the unwitting psychiatrist found she had nine out of nine signs of ADD without the addition of the nine signs that would have added the “H” of hyperactivity to the diagnosis (ADHD). Less than 30 minutes after the examination began, the student had a prescription for Adderall in her hot little hand.

Little Uniformity

The reporter discovered that there is little uniformity in the diagnostic criteria used by physicians to diagnose ADD. Therefore, speaking of a “test for ADD” is misleading. Of the three students the reporter interviewed, two answered a series of questions or were asked to describe their symptoms while the third student was given a more complex diagnostic test.

In the case of the student described above, there was some “prepping” of the patient: the psychiatrist told her that ADD has nine symptoms and that if someone had a certain number of these symptoms, they can be prescribed medications to help them concentrate.

Image via Wikipedia

The student who received the most rigorous testing was also diagnosed with ADD and given Concerta, a medication similar to Adderall.

The upshot is that a student need not undergo a standard test in order to get a prescription for Adderall, which is an amphetamine. It’s more about finding the doctor who doesn’t mind writing out a script for the student who complains of ADD/ADHD symptoms. In every case, the goal is a legal method for procuring drugs that can be used to help students stay awake for all-night cramming during the final exams period.

Diane Fedorchak, director of Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS), says that only some 5% of the study body suffers from ADHD while another 8% of U of M students report using stimulants like Ritalin, Adderall, or Concerta during the past 30 days without benefit of a prescription.

Related articles

• Ritalin and Adderall Abuse (community.cognibeat.com)
• Most Kids With ADHD Take Medication (webmd.com)
• Adderall Alters Brain, Claims a Young Life (abcnews.go.com)

Literacy Skills in the Making

Your children know a great deal about reading before they ever hold a book in their hands. What is the nature of these very early literacy skills and how can parents turn their children into bookworms?

A young child’s understanding of reading and other related skills in the days before he is ready to read is called emergent literacy. There are several reading-related concepts that a child must have under his belt before he can begin the actual process of learning to read. But to begin with, a child needs to acquire three main skills before beginning his reading education, or for that matter, his education in general.

* Communication—a child should become familiar with spoken language and be able to communicate through speech.

* Alphabet—a child should understand the concept of letters and have the ability to name the individual letters of the alphabet.

* Exposure to Written Words—a child should be exposed to many stories and books before he is of an age to attend school. This is the way toward motivating a child to learn to read.

Get Busy

If you’ve ever looked on in envy as you saw a neighbor’s child always with a book in hand, you can now curtail the jealousy and begin to get busy. It is in your hands to turn your child into a reader. But the process begins as soon as your child is born.

Spend time reading to your child each day. Take care to choose books with simple story lines and colorful illustrations that will excite your child’s mind. As you read aloud, inject lots of expression in your voice. Let him feel the emotions expressed in the text through the feeling you put into the reading.

Another way to help your child gain reading comprehension is to tell her the story in your own words. The story comes alive for your child as she hears it through the device of natural conversation and a parent’s voice.

After Napping

Most people choose to read to children only at night, just before kids go to sleep. But in terms of encouraging reading skills, you want your child well-rested. After a nap is the optimum time to read to your child. Both of you should be relaxed and calm.

Offering a baby a book to play with is another great way to give her a chance to interact with words, illustrations, and pages. There are cloth or plastic books and sturdier children’s books that are terrific for this purpose.

The main idea here is to expose your child to lots of language. This is the key to helping her develop her vocabulary and communication skills. When your baby reaches toddlerhood, start reciting nursery rhymes with her and hesitate here and there to allow her a chance to fill in the words. Participatory recitation of rhymes is a very big step toward reading readiness. Your child will also memorize the rhymes. Developing word memories is yet another crucial part of learning to read.

Take your child to the library and make it a regular special jaunt for the two of you. Read her favorite stories to her again and again. Ask open-ended questions like, “What do you think will happen next?”

Network with other parents and share techniques for honing your child’s pre-reading skills. If you give it your best effort, you may just end up with a bookworm for a child. What could be more wonderful?

This post has been copied in its entirety with the kind permission of www.cognibeat.com

Wakefield’s Fraud

BMJ says Autism/Vaccine Study Data was Falsified

British medical journal, BMJ, finds that the 1998 study linking autism with the MMR vaccine was based on falsified data.

An investigation published by the esteemed British medical journal BMJ has determined that a study authored by Dr. Andrew Wakefield was an “elaborate fraud” now believed to be responsible for wreaking long-term damage on public health. Wakefield’s study claimed that autism was linked to childhood vaccines.

Falsified Data

According to BMJ, Wakefield falsified the 12 patient medical histories used to support his contention of a link between vaccines and autism in a study he conducted in 1998.

"It's one thing to have a bad study, a study full of error, and for the authors then to admit that they made errors," said Fiona Godlee, editor-in-chief of BMJ, in an interview with CNN. "But in this case, we have a very different picture of what seems to be a deliberate attempt to create an impression that there was a link by falsifying the data."

Wakefield’s medical license was revoked in May. But according to an editorial accompanying the BMJ report, taking away Wakefield’s ability to practice medicine can’t stem the damage already done. “…the damage to public health continues, fueled by unbalanced media reporting and an ineffective response from government, researchers, journals and the medical profession."

Wakefield defended his work in an interview with CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” insisting that the fruit of his research had been, “grossly distorted,” and that he was the victim of, “a ruthless, pragmatic attempt to crush any attempt to investigate valid vaccine safety concerns.”

Parental Panic

Wakefield’s report on vaccines and autism sent parents into a panic that led to a significant decrease in the number of children receiving the MMR vaccine that protects against measles, mumps, and rubella. In Britain, vaccination rates took a sharp drop from the time the report was published, and fell to just 80% by 2004. At the same time, a sharp rise in measles cases has been observed.

The panic was not limited to residents of Britain, and in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 2008 saw more cases of measles than in any other year since 1997, a year prior to the publication of Wakefield’s report. The CDC reported that over 90% of those infected had either not received the vaccine or that their vaccination status was undetermined.

BMJ opines that the effect of the vaccination scare on the rate of infectious disease does not supersede the fact that so much effort, emotions, and resources were wasted on a bogus issue instead of finding the true causes of autism and ways to help children with autism and their families.

CNN Reporter: Autism study motivated by 'money'

Washington Post: Autism/vaccine link: Another nail in the coffin

Related articles

• Autism/MMR Vaccine Study Faked: FAQ (webmd.com)
• Doctor defends retracted austism study (cnn.com)
• Andrew Wakefield: Autism Vaccine Fraud or Conspiracy Victim? (cbsnews.com)

Gov. Christie's Vision

New Jersey Governor Calls for Change

Gov. Chris Christie has announced that he wants to change the system so that New Jersey teachers will have their performance reviewed every five years.

Last Thursday, on January 13, 2011, Chris Christie took the podium at a town hall meeting in Paramus N.J. to make the suggestion that teachers should be hired on the basis of five-year contracts. This would give schools the chance to review a teacher’s performance before choosing to renew contracts. Earlier in the week, the Republican governor had called for ending automatic tenure for teachers.

Enough Time

Governor Chris Christie, Photo Courtesy: CHRIS FAYTOK/The Star-Ledger

Christie feels that while teachers need to have enough time to get hands-on experience and learn how to teach the current system just makes it too hard to get rid of

poor teachers. Right now, the idea of having five-year teaching contracts is still just an idea. Christie’s office has yet to make an official proposal. The controversial governor, who is known to speak his mind, has not yet provided details on just how he will accomplish the abolition of teacher tenure. Furthermore, the teacher’s union has promised him a rousing fight.

The governor of New Jersey didn’t stop with teacher tenure when throwing out his creative ideas for improving the educational system, but also said he’s looking into a plan for the development of schools that would specialize in educating children with autism. These schools would be set up in each of 21 counties in New Jersey, if Christie has his way. During his speech at the town hall meeting, the governor said that his plan would provide a cost-effective alternative for those districts that were attempting to develop their own curriculums for educating special children.

Governor Christie of New Jersey Photo Courtesy: NYdailynews.com

“Visionary Concept”

Linda Meyer, the director of Autism New Jersey made a statement to the media to the effect that Christie is sincere about trying to provide both equality and access to education for every sector of society. She called his concepts, “visionary,” but other people are less convinced that the governor’s idea is such a good one. The director of one private school for children with autism said that the idea would put schools like his, which rely on referrals from the public school districts, out of business.

During the past ten years, the neurological disorder known as autism, which impairs social interaction, has proven a serious challenge that has driven New Jersey special education costs to an annual $3 billion. The number of students with autism has doubled over the past decade, to almost 12,000 students in the Garden State.

Related articles

• Gov. Chris Christie backs anti-abortion activists, says 'every life is precious and a gift from God' (nj.com)
• Gov. Christie reveals push for changes in N.J. school funding, return of property tax program (nj.com)
• Christie turned down SOTU response offer (hotair.com)

In Full Command

Good Readers are Conscious Strategists

What skills do “good readers” draw upon to make for successful reading sessions? How much of this process is conscious?

Experts have struggled to determine the difference between good and poor readers. One measure experts have used to study these differences it to ask readers to describe their thoughts, out loud, as they read. The result of these efforts is the idea that good reading consists of a number of complex skills that are automatic and well-coordinated in practiced readers.



The coordination of reading skills begins before the start of a reading session. Typical (good) readers set goals for their reading. They note the structure and organization of the text and may make mental outlines to help determine the text’s relevance to their goals. As they read, good readers make fast and accurate work of reading the text while processing the meanings of the words at the same time. They also manage to comprehend groupings of words: phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and so forth.

If good readers fail to understand the text on its surface level, they look to see if they can tie in the context of surrounding sentences to help them make sense of those words. They may dig deep into their own acquired knowledge to help them toward comprehending what is read.


Good readers may interact with the material by asking themselves questions on what they’ve read and may reflect on the ideas contained within the text. They use their background knowledge to predict what will happen next. They engage in constant assessment and revise their predictions as the need arises.
They’re Selective

Good readers are selective. They focus on parts of the text that are related to their reading goals. They may skip over parts of the text because they contain information they already know or because the information isn’t relevant to their goals. They may decide they don’t understand the content of what they’re reading or may find that content boring and decide to pass on reading that chapter or even skip an entire book.

If there are gaps in the writer’s descriptions of characters or events, good readers use textual cues to fill them in, or draw on their own background knowledge to make sense of the text. They can create mental images of characters, settings, or events described in text and use those images to help them better understand written passages.

Good readers monitor their own comprehension as they read. If they realize they haven’t understood what they’ve read, they’ll apply techniques to repair their lack of understanding. They may rephrase what they’ve read or look up a word in a dictionary. They may highlight a passage of text and stop and reflect on that passage.
Uses Metacognition

Good reading involves something called metacognition. Good readers are aware of their own mental processes; their thoughts about their own trains of thought. They review their own comprehension strategies and choose those most appropriate to the text.

When good readers are done with their reading sessions, they reflect on the text they’ve covered. They may summarize key points or find other reading materials to help flesh out the same topic.

Good readers apply strategy to their reading. They have numerous techniques they can use to glean the meaning of the texts they read. These are conscious strategies that are within the readers’ control. They decide when to apply which strategies. They are at all times, in full command of the process.


This article has been copied with kind permission from www.cognibeat.com and can be found here

Just Blame Mom

Bruno Bettelheim’s Refrigerator Mothers

At a time when perfect mothering was synonymous with all that was right in postwar America, mothers of autistic children were held accountable for their children’s disorder and reviled. A compelling film called Refrigerator Mothers tells their stories.

When we think of the 1950’s and 1960’s, an image of the late Barbara Billingsley comes to mind. Billingsley’s portrayal of June Cleaver, mother of Beaver in the television series ‘Leave it to Beaver’ epitomized the comforting postwar mom we all wanted to have. Mrs. Cleaver was always pristine and calm, as she set about her housework in sweater set, pearls, heels, and frilly little apron. Beaver was always getting into mischief and June always knew how to fix things and make them right.

No Choice

Back then, a mother’s prime purpose was delineated for her in black and white: she was meant to raise neat, clean, happy children. June never had a choice, not that we think she would have chosen a different path—that would be unthinkable. But for the mother whose child received a diagnosis of autism, things were very different.

Little was known about autism at that time and so the experts pretty much made things up, blaming it all on mom. Instead of receiving the help and support she needed, the mother of an autistic child found herself reviled by a medical establishment who insisted that the autistic child’s weird behaviors were due to detached and frigid mothering. They even gave mom a psychiatric label: “refrigerator mother.”



Sacrificed Humanity

In the 2003 film Refrigerator Mothers, David E. Simpson (Director) and JJ Hanley (Producer) set out to show us what it was like to be the mother of an autistic child in that faraway time. Through the medium of film, we feel the lonely burden of having a child with a profound disorder, and we feel a mother’s pain as she is labeled both culpable and inhuman.
Once upon a time, these mothers had no voice, but today have emerged with resilience and strength to share their tragic stories. In their poignant retelling of those times, we see what happens when authoritative experts are not questioned and we sacrifice humanity in the search for answers.

At the forefront of the refrigerator mother theory was Bruno Bettelheim. The Austrian-born Dr. Bettelheim was an art historian who metamorphosed as the director of the Orthogenic School, the University of Chicago-sponsored home for disturbed children. Bettelheim’s theory held that children developed autism as the direct result of cold and distant mothering dispensed by what he termed “refrigerator mothers.”



Now we know better. We know that autism is a neurological condition. But in the 50’s and 60’s, Bettelheim’s theories were the flavor of the day and it was accepted that the onus was on mom. Traces of this cruel stigma still remain.

Shrugging Off the Herd Mentality

Are original-thinking children being short-changed by the system? How can we enlist a child’s creativity and channel it for good?

In the following animation, one alien child’s differences rock the boat too much for the comfort of his peers, parents, and educators, and so he is evaluated, picked apart, and diagnosed as very, very ill; too ill to exist within societal norms. The alien child is sent away—banished and ostracized to outer space. His alien parents give a sigh of relief and move on with their lives, happy to be relieved of their burden: a child who is a creative and original thinker.

Alien Rejects

The child is put through a transformation/gestation process and sent to earth in a womb-like capsule, where it is presumed, he will be reborn a human. As the capsule nears its target, the planet earth, we see in the distance, other similar capsules containing the rejects of their former society, all meant to become earthlings due to their supposed inferiority.

It isn’t easy being an original thinker. Original thinking seems messy, disorganized and downright chaotic. Our compliance with the basic setup of things is, let’s face it: less work for the rest of the herd.

Take the classroom, for instance. The teacher has a curriculum she must cover within a certain amount of time. That’s her job. But not every student learns the same way.

Shushed And Shunted

What happens to the student who cannot make his personal learning style jibe with the state-mandated curriculum of the teacher? How many gifted students have their creative ideas shushed and shunted aside for the sake of order and covering educational ground?

Today the experts acknowledge that there are many different types of learning styles, for instance visual, audial, and kinesthetic. If a child is a kinesthetic learner, and can only learn through touching, moving, and doing, are we accommodating this child’s needs within the classroom? Are the child’s strengths acknowledged by the system?

Here are some tips teachers can use to foster rather than stunt their creative-thinking students:

* Integrate interesting media into assignments

* Have kids make book covers for their reports

* Students can act out historical events

* Have kids prepare and present speeches

* Use jingles as a musical memorization aid

* Use stories and analogies to get the point across

* Have kids use bright-colored highlighters in assorted colors to emphasize important text

* Student can make models to illustrate science principles—a model of an atom can be a candle with many wicks, or how about an atmosphere cake with different colored layers?

This post has been copied in its entirety with the kind permission of www.cognibeat.com and can be found at http://community.cognibeat.com/2010/12/encouragingcreativity/