Hi,
 
I wanted to share this very thought-provoking message that was  recently 
posted on the Poverty, Race, Women, and Literacy.  I welcome any  comments you 
might have that would be shared with the poster.
 
Thanks,
 
Rochelle
 
 
Rochelle Kenyon
Moderator, LINCS Learning Disabilities Discussion  List
Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee
_RKenyon721 at aol.com_ (mailto:RKenyon721 at aol.com)  

To  post a message: 
_Learningdisabilities at nifl.gov_ (mailto:Learningdisabilities at nifl.gov)   

To subscribe: 
_http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/LearningDisabilities_ 
(http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/LearningDisabilities)   

To read archived messages:
_http://www.nifl.gov/linc/discussions/list_archives.html_ 
(http://www.nifl.gov/linc/discussions/list_archives.html) 
 
 

Hello to everyone,

I wanted to add a few more comments  to this discussion after my original 
posting. There is no "silver bullet" and  there is no quick fix to many of the 
short-comings that we see in our classrooms  everyday. In countless seminars and 
classes, I have received that list of  successful people who had dyslexia or 
other learning disabilities. There are  usually about one hundred names on 
there. However, every year I see more than  that fail in our school systems 
because their problems are not diagnosed in the  first place or they are 
misdiagnosed. One article I recently read cites the  increasing number of
Hispanic prisoners in our penal system. Corresponding to  this it is 
estimated that 30% to 50% of them have at least one undiagnosed LD.  This is over 
three times the national average. Another study from the UK  estimates that over 
15,000 people would not be incarcerated every year if they  were correctly 
diagnosed and treated for their learning disabilities.  

Some will argue that our children are over-diagnosed and over-medicated  for
learning disabilities. However, the alternative to this can be found when  
you research UNESCO's statistics on learning disabilities around the world. Some 
 countries have no data, others put all LD students into one category and 
others  have detailed reports. 

So, what are our choices? As I see it we need to  screen everyone that we 
suspect of having a learning disability that is  affecting their behavior and/ or 
their academic performance. These students  should have complete access to 
treatment, to include medication, counseling and  remedial education. These 
diagnosis should also be reevaluated regularly.  Ineffective treatment methods can 
be replaced with alternatives and diagnosis  can be reassessed if new 
symptoms arise. However, our greatest failure to our  society is to ignore the 
problem or say, "It couldn't happen to you, you're  a..." 

One failure that we do have in the system is the IEP. It is  ridiculous. The 
comments are vague, generalized or in "teacher-speak" which h in  the end 
means little to nothing for the student. Instead of providing the  appropriate 
guidelines and adjustment which will help the student perform at  their best or 
at grade-level, they are often the new vehicle of social  promotion. I have not 
seen an IEP which is focused on the terminal learning  objectives that a high 
school graduate is expected to meet, this is one  of
the areas we seem to have failed in miserably. 

In my opinion,  over-diagnosing 1000 students is better than missing one 
student. It is  admirable that some famous people succeeded despite adversity, but 
we don't see  the list of names of those who failed. It can give us hope, but 
not a reason to  avoid taking action. Also, no stigma of being LD in school 
is worse than the  stigma of being an ex-con, which it looks like many of our 
undiagnosed students  are headed. Let's ere on the side of caution and use all 
of the resources   that are available, so that
the young student can realize their dreams and  learn to cope with their 
problems and not lead a life of characterized by  failure, crime and poverty.

"John steps down off of his soap  box"

Everyone have a happy day,

John Warrior
 
 
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/learningdisabilities/attachments/20070128/1dd50d8e/attachment.html