PLUK News feed

Teen With Cerebral Palsy Reaches New Heights

Link: Teen  Nick Betsoleiman gripped the knobs on the 30-foot-high climbing wall with the few fingers he could control as a team of teachers guided him toward every edge and toehold, propelling his slight frame upward. He was pouring sweat, but wasn't about to quit. For an 18-year-old with cerebral palsy who downhill skis and once flipped his power chair playing soccer, the wall at Glenbrook South High School was one more hurdle, one more step toward redefining what he's capable of.

Senate To Consider Changes To Medicaid Waiver

Link: Options  Health care policy options released this week by the Senate Finance Committee include ideas to change the way people become eligible for and utilize the Medicaid Home and Community Based Services Waiver. The waiver is a federal program administered by the states, which provides funding for people with disabilities to live in the community and obtain support services. There are currently long waiting lists for the waiver in many states. The Senate Finance Committee is creating policy options as part of President Barack Obama’s efforts to reform the American health care system. The committee will discuss options related to Medicaid during a meeting on Thursday.

Brain Injury Can Haunt Children For Years With Variety Of Functional Problems

Link: Study  Children who suffer traumatic brain injuries can experience lasting or late-appearing neuropsychological problems, highlighting the need for careful watching over time, according to two studies published by the American Psychological Association.

Reading and Math Software Study: Few Effects Found

Link: Study  For the second year in a row, a large federal study designed to test whether the use of computer software produced significant learning differences yielded few results that show improvement in student scores. Researchers studied 10 software programs; only one, LeapTrack, produced significant improvements in students' test scores across both years of the study.

Study Finds Special-Needs Kids More Often Victimized

Link: Study  Children with special needs are more often the subject of bullying and exclusion, an area study found. Researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina and The Citadel surveyed nearly 300 children aged 8-17 at clinics in the Charleston region. "Parents often under- reported bullying and ostracism concerns," said lead author, Dr. Kimberly Twyman, a researcher in MUSC's Department of Pediatrics. She stressed the importance of asking children directly about these problems. Children with learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, behavioral health problems and cystic fibrosis were compared with a control group of children with no diagnoses. Nearly a quarter of elementary school students with behavioral health problems reported significant victimization, compared to 4 percent of the control group. In middle and high school, 41 percent of the autism group reported significant victimization, as did nearly 25 percent of the attention deficit/hyperactivity group, compared to 4 percent of the control group.

Rap Boosting Kids' Academics

Link: Rap  Math is not Koran Ray's best subject, but the 13-year-old student at Wyatt-Edison has figured out a trick to help him master his multiplication tables: He raps them. "I can rap about social studies, language, even Shakespeare," he said, launching into a quick one that he learned from a video about Shakespeare being a mellow fellow who wrote "Othello." He's part of a pilot program called Rap to Roots that debuted this month in Colorado after success in cities such as Chicago and Cleveland. The after-school series — sponsored by Swallow Hill Music Association and Open Door Youth Gang Alternatives — teaches kids to use rap's rhythm, rhymes and even its history to boost their academics.

iPod Helps Students Learn English Through Songs, Audio Books, and More

Link: iPod  As school leaders ponder the implications of new technologies for their classrooms, one dedicated New Jersey educator has turned theory into practice, using the iPod to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) students. During an International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) webinar titled "iPods as Teaching Tools for Language Learners," Grace Poli, media specialist at Jose Marti Middle School in Union City, N.J., and an Apple distinguished educator, discussed how the iPod is transforming learning in her school.

Special Olympics Volunteers Make A Difference

Link: Special Olympics  When 17-year-old Aleshia Monforton began her junior year at Manhattan High School last fall, she had no idea she’d be helping a first-grader achieve Special Olympic greatness. As part of a mentoring program for kids with special needs, Monforton visits Joe Vander Vos twice a week at Manhattan Elementary School. “I work with him learning signs and numbers,” Monforton said Sunday afternoon. “He gets really excited when I come. When we play games, he gets so excited for winning.” Joe has apraxia of speech, a condition that makes forming words and communicating difficult for him, but that hasn’t stopped him from qualifying for the Special Olympics this year.

Tuscaloosa Teacher Values Autistic Students

Link: Teacher  At the start of her day at Sprayberry Education Center, Pam Miller pulls out picture cue cards for her students. Because seven of her eight students can't communicate verbally, Miller, the autism K-5 teacher at Sprayberry, relies on the picture cards and sign language to interpret her students' needs. This is Miller's second year at Sprayberry, but throughout her 18 years in teaching-previously she worked with special education students at Holt Elementary School-she has worked with a number of autistic children. "I love working with children with autism because everyone is so different," Miller said. "They all have such unique and wonderful personalities. There are no two that are the same. They're each a mystery, and you have to figure out what makes each one work." In teaching children with severe autism, Miller deals with students who may experience difficulty communicating, often exhibit repetitive behavior and can be easily upset by small changes in their environment. So, before she can teach her students their ABCs and 123s, Miller has to first learn about her students' lives and what makes them tick.

Mother Helps Sons Overcome Learning Disabilities

Link: Full Story  Kimberly Goss taught her sons how to crawl their way to success -- literally. Benjamin Goss, 26, and Christopher Goss, 23, suffer from learning disabilities. When the two were children, Kimberly and her husband, Bill, took them to be tested at an area learning center and were told that neither boy would ever develop the intellectual capacity to attend college. Refusing to accept that assessment, Kimberly took her sons out of public school, where they were in special education classes, and taught them at home. "What I did was pull them out of a situation that was damaging to their self-esteem," Kimberly said. "We did a lot of praying, let them know they were smart and just believed in them." Ben suffers from dyslexia and an auditory processing affliction that inhibits his ability to recall instructions. Christopher has dyslexia and dysgraphia, which is a deficiency in his ability to write. Ben and Christopher credit their mother for putting them on a path to academic excellence.