Special Education Law Blog

Dyscalculia Research Reveals Possible Cause by Amanda Windom

Current Biology recently published a study on the math disability, dyscalculia.  Dyscalculia, according to the National Center for Learning Disabilities, is a term referring to a wide range of life-long learning disabilities involving math.  Dyscalculia affects a person's ability to understand and manipulate numbers and may be caused by visual-spatial disability (difficulty processing what the eye sees) or language processing difficulty (difficulty processing what the ear hears).  Some symptoms of the disability include inability to balance a checkbook, difficulty estimating time and/or costs, and poor sense of direction.  In young children symptoms include difficulty learning to count or understanding how numbers relate to things in the world (ex. 4 dogs, 6 cats).

The researchers found, as reported by Time,  the exact part of the brain that is responsible for human's sense of magnitude, or more specifically stated by Dr. Roi Cohen Kadosh of  the UCL institute "...This provides strong evidence that dyscalculia is caused by malformations in the right parietal lobe..."  This gives hope that someday scientists may be able to develop a diagnostic tool for diagnosing and/or treating the disorder.

In the meantime there are many things parents and teachers can do to help children with the disorder. Some ideas include explaining ideas and problems clearly, ensuring student comprehends the problem, providing a quiet place to study, allowing extra time for problem solving, encouraging the student to ask questions, encouraging visualizations, and providing multiple real life examples.  As with other "invisible disabilities" it is critical to insist on in-depth evaluations to identify the issues and then write a good measurable IEP. 

Health Literacy A Serious Educational Issue

A recent article in the Washington Post reveals that the level of reading and math literacy is having a significant effect on the ability of patients to participate and understand medical decisions, and to carry out doctor's directions. A significant number of patients could not understand the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon.

There are efforts to simplify the jargon that only makes this literacy deficit worse. In addition, the drug company Pfizer has sponsored a program called Ask Me 3 which:

" Designed by the Partnership for Clear Health Communication, a coalition of national health and literacy groups, the program encourages patients to ask three simple questions and to be sure they understand the answers: What is my main problem? What do I need to do? Why is that important?"

For many students with special needs this article should be brought to your next IEP meeting. Issues relating to understanding the body, expressing pain and symptoms, and other necessary skills (e.g. tablespoon vs. teaspoon) can and should be made goals both in the IEP and definitely in transition plans.  The Ask Me 3 reads like benchmarks under a health-related goal.  Moreover, the key fact here is that being behind in reading and math literacy is more than an educational issue, it can be a matter of life and death.

A Structured Language Program to Address Reading Disabilities By Lisa Hannum

This is the second post from my colleague Lisa Hannum addressing the essential elements of Structured Language as the primary means of reading remediation, in contrast with Guided Reading which was discussed in the post from the previous day.

Guided Reading: Is It Really Appropriate for Students with a Reading Disability? by Lisa Hannum

The following post is from a colleague who is special education advocate, a trained mediator, and past President of the Illinois Chapter of the International Dyslexia Association. She has a great deal of expertise and experience in the area of reading methodologies and knowledge of needed remediations for reading-based disabilities. She has written this post on the subject of guided reading, at my request, since many schools [mis]represent that Guided Reading is appropriate to teach students struggling with a reading disability. I will post a second part tomorrow relating to research-based methods that are appropriate to address the issues that students with reading disabilities face in the classroom.

LDOnline Recognized for Excellence

LDOnline which is one of the most comprehensive websites for resources on learning disabilities has been given the national award of excellence from the National Association Of Special Education Teachers.  This award recognizes LDOnline for its dedication and services to special educators and to families of children with learning disabilities.  So the next time you go to an IEP meeting with resources from LDOnline and the "team" acts as if these resources have no credibility, point out that NASET has recognized this website.

Megawords A Useful Language Supplement

For many of my clients whose children have gone through the 12 books of the Wilson program or other multi-sensory phonetically based systematic programs, the issue can become what to do after completing the program.  Given the nature of learning disabilities,  there is a need to reinforce skills and to further indoctrinate skills already learned. One program that fits the bill nicely is called Megawords.[Download Megawords_research.pdf ].