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Visual Learners Convert Words To Pictures in the Brain and Vice Versa

Link: Brain Study A University of Pennsylvania psychology study, using functional magnetic resonance imaging technology to scan the brain, reveals that people who consider themselves visual learners, as opposed to verbal learners, have a tendency to convert linguistically presented information into a visual mental representation. The more strongly an individual identified with the visual cognitive style, the more that individual activated the visual cortex when reading words. The opposite also appears to be true from the study’s results.

Helping Children with Learning Disabilities Understand What They Read

Link: Reading
A student struggling to understand what he reads often misinterprets assignments and fails to grasp concepts. This is very frustrating for a student who is otherwise capable of interpreting the information.

Wired.com: The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know

Link: Truth about Autism

The YouTube clip opens with a woman facing away from the camera, rocking back and forth, flapping her hands awkwardly, and emitting an eerie hum. She then performs strange repetitive behaviors: slapping a piece of paper against a window, running a hand lengthwise over a computer keyboard, twisting the knob of a drawer. She bats a necklace with her hand and nuzzles her face against the pages of a book. And you find yourself thinking: Who's shooting this footage of the handicapped lady, and why do I always get sucked into watching the latest viral video?

MLive.com: Daughter receiving special education services in school needs practice and time to hone her math and reading skills

Link: MLive.com

In this advice column, a special education administrator explains to a parent that the "gift of time" can help a struggling learner practice a given skill, organize their thoughts, or recall necessary information — in short, put their best foot forward.

Traumatic Brain Injury Accommodations: Individual Process Essential to Solution

Job Accommodation Network (JAN)
JAN E-News Volume 6, Issue 1, First Quarter, 2008
-Laura K. Artman, MS, CRC, JAN Graduate Research Assistant
http://www.jan.wvu.edu/ENews/2008/Enews-V6-I1.htm#5

According to the Brain Injury Association (2005), a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be caused by a hard hit or jolting impact to the head (closed head injury) or by a penetrating object, such as a bullet (open head injury). Specific statistics of interest include:

* Although not all insults to the head result in a TBI, approximately 1.4 million people experience a TBI every year;
* The majority of individuals affected by TBIs, 79%, receives medical attention and is subsequently discharged from the emergency department;
* Seventeen percent of individuals with TBIs are hospitalized for further treatment and rehabilitation, while the remaining four percent (about 50,000) do not survive;
* The most common causes of TBI include falls, motor vehicle accidents, motor vehicle/pedestrian accidents, and assaults;
* Children from birth to age four and adolescents aged 15-19 are most at risk, with males being more likely than females to sustain a TBI;
* African Americans suffer more deaths from TBI than any other group; and
* Military personnel frequently experience TBI from blast injuries inflicted by Improvised Explosive Devices (IED's) (Brain Injury Association, 2005).

Depending on the severity of the injury, a TBI survivor may not have any limitations, while another may struggle with daily living. Even if two people have the same type of brain injury, their outcomes may differ based on physical health and cognitive ability prior to the injury, the quality and duration of rehabilitation services, and family support.

Specific limitations hinge on what part of the brain was damaged by the injury, and any bodily system may be impaired as a result. Some survivors may have impairments related to gross motor limitations (walking, balancing, coordination); fine motor limitations (handling, fingering); sensory limitations (seeing, hearing); bowel and bladder control; handling stress and emotions; and speech impairments. Cognitive limitations may involve difficulty with memory, problem solving, math, reading, or executive functions, such as planning/organizing/prioritizing/decision-making. In some cases, because the parts of the brain that process auditory and visual information were damaged in a TBI, a person may have trouble comprehending what is seen or heard despite intact vision and hearing.

Accommodations for employees with TBI depend on the nature of their limitations, what bodily systems are affected, and essential job functions. Suggestions for accommodating cognitive deficits, psychological issues, motor impairments, sensory deficits, and speech difficulties due to TBI can be accessed at http://www.jan.wvu.edu/media/brai.htm or by using the Searchable Online Accommodation Resource (SOAR) at http://www.jan.wvu.edu/soar/.

References:
Brain Injury Association. (2005, August). Facts about traumatic brain injury. Retrieved January 17, 2008, from
http://www.biausa.org/elements/aboutbi/factsheets/factsaboutBI.8.29.05.pdf

ScienceDaily.com: Animated Computer Tutors Help Remedial Readers, Language Learners, Autistic Children

Link: Science Daily

Tools developed by researchers exploring language and speech comprehension can be powerful aids for remedial readers, children with language challenges, and anyone learning a second language, according to psychology professor Dominic Massaro of the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Daily News Transcript: Cafe 21: A unique method of teaching students

Link: DailyNewsTranscript.com

A Massachusetts elementary school is offering a new classroom experience to its special education students: Cafe 21. Cafe 21 began last year as a way for teachers to meet and discuss teaching strategies, but has burgeoned into a way for special education students to learn lessons in a unique way and raise money for charity.

Cafe 21, named for the room it takes place in, really begins on Thursdays, Dunne said. Students take part in a cooking class that helps them learn how to sequence, follow directions and take measurements as well as basic living skills, Dunne said.

WSJ.com: Studies Cite Head Injuries

Link: WSJ.com

Researchers studying brain injury believe they've found a common thread running through many cases of seemingly unrelated social problems: a long-forgotten blow to the head. They've found that providing therapy for an underlying brain injury often helps people with a variety of ills ranging from learning disabilities to chronic homelessness and alcoholism. If broadly verified, the findings could have a significant impact in dealing with such intractable difficulties.

My Son's Disability, and My Own Inability to See It

Link: LD Online

Read My Son's Disability and My Own Inability to See It, the story of a school system that did the right thing for one of their students — and the mother's experience. Read her thoughts after she found out her teenager had a learning disability, how he reacted to the news — and their journey to the moment when he showed her the honor roll report card he received in college.

ClickOnDetroit.com: Family Says Innovative Program Helped Their Son Learn To Read

Link: ClickOnDetroit.com

For 12 year-old J.T. Mestdagh, reading was a mystery he couldn't solve. Diagnosed with dyslexia in fourth grade, J.T. struggled to read even the most basic words. J.T.'s parents Kristine and Jim Mestdagh were told their son would never read, but they refused to give up hope. The Mestdaghs had tried various programs designed to help children struggling with reading and writing, but nothing helped until they tried the F.A.S.T. Reading System, a program developed by an educator at the Denver Academy in Colorado. After six months using the program, J.T., who had begun essentially as a non-reader, was reading at a fifth-grade level.