Issues of Education

From the Washington Post.

In Maryland, teachers in Montgomery County, are having “so much trouble administering an alternative version of the Maryland School Assessment to severely disabled students that nearly one-fifth of students tested last year failed solely because of errors committed by the teachers.”

The report that was issued, reviewed how the Alternate Maryland School Assessment, […]

A program at Georgian College allows students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, short-term memory processing issues, non-verbal learning disabilities and dyscalculia (math-learning disability), is allowing them to succeed by taking an academic skills/lifestyle management course. Student, Keven Gapp, an 18 year old electrical engineering student says, ” I have grammar issues, and I can’t […]

Source:AssociatedPress
With the increasing numbers of students having labels of a variety of learning and other disabilities the numbers of students facing difficulties after graduation from high school is increasing.
During school, students are provided a myriad of assistance (extra time on tests, assistants in the classroom and a variety of therapies) usually authorized to children under […]

University of Hull for dyslexia charity Xtraordinary
Researchers studied over 1300 students in years 3 and 7 and found that “55 percent of children who failed their SATs (standard assessment tests) have dyslexia or specific learning disabilities.”
They estimate that more than two million children in Britain have a disability but there are only 76,000 students registered […]

DailyIndia
Researchers have found that boys and girls rely on different parts of the brain when performing language tasks. This study was performed by researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Haifa.
“Our findings - which suggest that language processing is more sensory in boys and more abstract in girls — could have major implications […]

ScienceDaily
Researchers have just produced a tool to test working memory capacity in the classroom. The tool is a checklist called the Working Memory Rating Scale (WMRS) and “will enable teachers to identify children who they think might have a problem with working memory without subjecting them to a test.” If there are further concerns […]

University of Minnesota researchers found in an online nationwide study that due to graduation policies, students with disabilities may not be able to pursue some of the same educational life and education opportunities as their non-disabled peers. The researchers highly recommend that “students with disabilities are given sufficient opportunities to learn the material that […]

In the February issue of Archives of Neurology, researchers found that a small group of people who suffer from dyslexia are more prone to aphasia later in life.

The researchers found that older individuals with a neurodegenerative condition that affects language were more likely to have had a history of learning disabilities.  Primary progressive aphasia […]

A lawsuit by two Illinois school districts and four families was rejected by the 7th Circuit. The school district and families said that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act was in conflict with the federal special education law. In the Board of Education of Ottawa Township High School District 140 v. Spellings, […]

Researchers studying one form of disylexia found a possible cause of this disorder: misplaced nerve cells.  The scientists were able to investigate the altered brain structure for those who suffer from dyslexia. The researchers focused on a genetic mutation of developmental dyslexia and found the organization of nervous tissue scrambled, with support cells underdeveloped and […]