Amen, Tom!

Woods wrote:


>I appreciate John Warrior's post. We find about 50% of our students in 

>corrections have a previous history of having received special education 

>services when they were in public school. The most frequent diagnoses 

>are emotional disturbance, learning disability and other health, which 

>usually denotes attention deficit disorder.

>

>Despite the high numbers of these disabilities, only a very few, those 

>with the most disabling conditions, are actually found to be eligible 

>for special education in our school. This is because our regular 

>education program offers small classes and individualized self-paced 

>instruction. There are no grades and no failure. Students just work at 

>something until they get it. Earning credit for a course is dependent on 

>what a student knows and is able to do, not on the time spent in class. 

>All students, save those with the most serious disabilities are able to 

>make progress in this model of education. The vast majority of those 

>with disabilities do not need special education.

>

>One vital ingredient in the recipe to correct our education system's 

>shortcomings is to stop viewing the student as being the one with the 

>problem. It is the school system that has the problem. We our bound by 

>educational practices and traditions that may well be impossible to 

>change, but if we could create schools that are self-paced and 

>individualized, the large numbers of special ed students would suddenly 

>drop to much more manageable numbers.

>

>I would have to concur with Mr. Warrior's observations about ridiculous 

>IEPs. They seem to be mostly irrelevent, a contrivance to satisfy 

>paperwork requirements rather than to actually try to help the student. 

>I would take it one step further than Mr. Warrior and argue that 

>evaluations, eligibility determinations, and possibly even some 

>diagnoses are also contrivances. They are contrived in order to explain 

>why a student doesn't learn in the same way that all the other students 

>learn. They conveniently make the case that there is something wrong 

>with the student that prevents him or her from progressing like all the 

>others. The student has a disability; the student needs treatment.

>

>Ungraded, self-paced, individualized instruction usually removes the 

>adverse effect caused by a disability an the need for special education. 

>If our present system could just stop its cookie-cutter approach and 

>trying to bang square pegs into round holes everyone would be a lot 

>better off. We could appreciate the differences in students rather than 

>label them as disabilities. The sad part is, I don't think public 

>education is willing or able to make this quantum leap.

>

>Tom Woods, Special Educator

>Community High School of Vermont

>.

>

>RKenyon721 at aol.com wrote:

>

>  

>

>>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:

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>> 

>>To read archived messages:

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>> 

>> 

>>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

>> 

>> 

>> 

>>

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>>

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>>

>>    

>>

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