New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed,
without any other reason but because they are not already common."
~ John Locke, Philosopher
No school nurses left behind
"I was praying, 'Dear God, please help my daughter,'" McKenna says. "I found myself thinking, Is it going to take a death for this community to start taking children's health issues seriously?"
But even children's deaths may not be enough to expand nationwide funding for school nurses. A full nine years before McKenna's close call, fifth-grader Philip Hernandez, who had asthma, began having trouble breathing in class. He made his way to the nurse's office at Lee Richmond Elementary School in California's Central Valley: By the time he reached it, he was in the middle of a full-blown asthma attack, according to court documents. The nurse, however, was at another school. Paramedics arrived and found Phillip on the floor in her office, surrounded by school staffers, his face and lips a purplish hue and his pulse failing. The paramedics tried to revive him, to no avail. The youngster died on May 13, 1996, four months shy of his 12th birthday.
Mistakes are more than three times as likely to occur when an unlicensed person and not a nurse is responsible, according to a 2000 University of Iowa survey, whose results were reported in the Journal of School Health. Unfortunately, the vast majority of school employees handing out medications have no medical background, the report continued. The randomized national survey of 649 school nurses in 49 states showed that more than 75 percent of school nurses had to delegate medication administration to school staff lacking medical training, referred to as "an unlicensed assistive personnel." ...
We talk about how we have to have qualified teachers," Washington continues, his voice rising. "If I mess up on a lesson, I could have a negative impact on a child's future, but if we mess up their medical care or their medication, that child may not even have a future."
"No Child Left Behind is going to leave a lot of children behind if we don't start looking at the health needs of our students," ...
"But if kids' primary health concerns are being ignored, how safe are our schools?"
Commentary: How are kids supposed to feel safe when they can't even access their asthma inhalers? How are they supposed to learn or care about test scores if they are sick--physically, mentally, or emotionally?
30 September 2005
Lazy kids may have learning disability
"A huge number of people that are in jail or have substance abuse problems ... have learning disabilities that haven't been picked up when they were children," Dr. Gilmore said. (She's an educational psychologist in Australia.)
"Not only have they not educationally achieved, but they've also got low self-esteem. They feel bad about themselves because they try, and try at school and they end up giving up because it doesn't make a difference. They see themselves as dumb and worthless and that leads on to various kinds of problems, like criminality." ...
Helping parents, teachers and children understand their learning difficulties, and then introducing remedial work to help compensate for those problems, could make a marked difference, Dr. Gilmore said.
Comment: Dr. Gilmore also states that many teachers lack skills to identify developmental or learning problems and that more school psychologists are needed. She's right, but teachers should also be trained to identify learning problems instead of assuming that a student is lazy.
30 September 2005
BESE shelves LEAP pass rule
The state's top school board Tuesday temporarily shelved the rule that fourth- and eighth-grade public school students have to pass a key test to move to the next grade.
The new rules for the test known as LEAP were part of a series of far-reaching policy changes to cope with massive school problems caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Commentary: And there are more allowances ... Some common sense and empathy prevails for traumatized student evacuees.
30 September 2005
Training for a trade: Governor signs bill pouring $20 million into vocational education
Commentary: Good news for vocational education!
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who says his own vocational education experience in Austria helped teach him some of the sales skills he's used much of his adult life, signed legislation Tuesday that pumps $20 million into California's vocational education programs.
"There are so many high school students who are not interested in going to a four-year college to be a doctor or lawyer but who want to learn a trade," Schwarzenegger said in a telephone interview after signing the bill at Pasadena City College.
"Next year we will give more money. This is the first increase in career technical education in years, so this is a good beginning. We will create less dropouts because kids won't be discouraged." ...
"These kinds of programs need to be enriched," Scott said. "And sometimes in our pursuit of higher education we overlook those programs and have allowed them to wither. To get a certificate in, say, auto mechanics or construction, is just as important as getting a degree in psychology."
30 September 2005
Wearing PJs in public all the rage; Some schools unhappy with casual trend
Comment: Well, if you wouldn't make them go to school in the dark so early in the morning, perhaps they would not feel like pajamas were appropriate for school. Let it go, they'll soon think of a new fad to get adults' attention!
27 September 2005
Court settlement opens school doors for PA disabled children
"It should put school districts on notice that they've got to be more serious and work harder to include all children," said Marsha Blanco, CEO of Achieva, an South Side-based organization that advocates and provides services for people with mental retardation.
Comment: Inclusion is here to stay! I know that parents are behind the inclusion movement, and I think that inclusion works for some students with mild learning disabilities, but inclusion may be emotionally harmful for students with severe intellectual deficits. I do worry about how it must feel to be in a general education classroom and just not be able to process the academic information. I would feel buried alive.
26 September 2005
Special-education aides increasingly tough to find
"The nature of the work is not appealing to some. You have to want to do it. It can be stressful due to the challenges working with students with a variety of disabilities."
The disabilities range from autism to speech or language impairment and traumatic brain injury. The duties of a special-education paraprofessional can include helping certain students feed themselves and go to the bathroom in addition to assistance in academic instruction.
Audrey Castellanos, human resources manager for the Office of Education, said a special-education assistant needs to have a high school diploma or its equivalent plus fulfill one of three options -- have an associate degree, earn two years worth of college credits or pass a college-level proficiency test.
Comment: I have had mostly positive experiences with paraprofessionals, a few of whom went on to earn their teaching certificates and a few more who should have. In many cases because the special educator is tied up with paperwork, the paraprofessional teaches the students, so some academic instruction is necessary and post-secondary education is beneficial. But why must paraprofessionals who are essentially care-takers, feeding and toileting, have a college degree? In some school systems such as DNUSD in NoCA, most paraprofessional positions are only half-time with no benefits. For someone with an AA, that's not much incentive! Again, NCLB requirements make a one-size-fits-all mandate without considering that different jobs require different skills. Some good news in this article is that some school systems in CA are thinking about partnering with colleges to provide paid internships as paraprofessionals. On-the-job training is the best teaching-learning method for this kind of work.
26 September 2005
AYP Rules Miss Many in Spec.Ed., More Students Left Out of Accountability Ratings, by Lynn Olson, Vol. 25, Issue 04, Pages 1, 24-25
The federal law requires that all students be proficient on state reading and math tests by 2013-14.
“It defeats the whole point of No Child Left Behind not to have and report data on students with disabilities because states have defined sample size in such a way that most schools don’t show up on the radar screen,” said Jay P. Heubert, a professor of law and education at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Comment: So what is the whole point of NCLB? To keep tabs on all public schools and point to the failures so private schools can reap the benefits? To embarrass students with special needs? To coerce educators to cheat because they know some kids will never read or do math on grade level, ever? To make empty promises to parents allowing them to think that such an impossible goal is possible?
“The underlying problem, though,” he added, “is [that] for kids who have serious disabilities, it may take a full 12 or 13 years of high-quality instruction to be able to meet the kinds of standards states are increasingly adopting. And that’s simply not the political timetable.”
Comment: The timetable is not the problem. Some kids will NEVER pass college-prep classes even if you retain them until they are eligible for social security benefits!
Students with special needs who have the ability to learn general education curriculum should be included in general education classes and take tests on that content with appropriate accommodations. We should expect students to fulfill their potential. However, some students with special needs need different curriculum such as functional skills, vocational skills, and personal & social skills appropriate to their intellectual and developmental ability. Let's get back the individualization in the IEP. NCLB has overshadowed the Individualized Educational Plan. Presently, I worry that students with special needs will be targeted as the reason why schools don't make their AYP and will be pushed out of school so that they will not need to be included in the testing process. These students struggle to be included. Their parents have battled Congress for their inclusion. NCLB mandates on testing require educators to include them, but NCLB expects impossible academic goals of many of them. NCLB practices result in coercion, corruption, and class discrimination against students who cannot achieve college-bound academic content. The IEP must rule.
21 September 2005
Emotionally challenged students and their parents savor every victory by Halima Abadullah
The U.S. Surgeon General's office estimates that roughly 4 million children between 9 and 17 suffer from mental disorders that severely affect their ability to function at home, school and with peers. Nearly 80 percent of these children don't receive adequate mental health services and most don't receive any help at all.
Comment: So, is including students with mental illness in general education mandated by law? NO. IDEA requires inclusion in the least restrictive environment in which there is educational benefit. For some students, this may never be general education classes and those standardized tests on general education curriculum may never be appropriate. And so, the debate continues about mainstreaming, inclusion, and special schools. It seems to me that the power of the IEP Team and the IEP is weakening each day because school personnel are losing sight of the needs of individuals as TEST SCORES and AYP reports loom like huge thunderous dark clouds over their heads.
18 September 2005
Class divide: 'The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America'
by Jonathan Kozol; book review by Sandy Banks
Note: You may also access this book review without registering at Susan Ohanina's site.
IN the same way the searing images of New Orleans' post-Katrina dispossessed — poor, black, herded together in squalor and left by officialdom to fend for themselves — brought into focus hidden dimensions of poverty and its nexus with race, social critic Jonathan Kozol's latest book shines a spotlight on poor, minority children, sabotaged and isolated by an educational system tilted to slight them.
In "The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America," Kozol presents discouraged children, demoralized teachers and anxious principals to show how African American and Latino children suffer in what have become segregated inner-city schools, shortchanged by inequities in school funding, low academic expectations and pervasive neglect. ...
In fact, race and poverty are impossible to untangle. In schools that are more than 90% black or Latino, almost 9 of 10 children are from poor families. Schools built around middle-class assumptions — that every kid has a computer, a quiet place to do homework, access to libraries and cultural institutions — might not meet the needs of children growing up with poorly educated parents in the chaos and deprivation that poverty breeds. ...
Kozol blames official indifference and societal malaise for the deepening divide between America's Alliyahs and its Emilys, its Jeremys and Jamals. He is correct, and his outrage ought to infect us. But any real solution lies in convincing America's majority that it is in everyone's interest to bridge the gap, whether through more and better efforts at integration or increased funding and attention to minority schools.
Kozol's book engages the heart and mind. But the question is no longer: When will America value its black and Latino children enough to guarantee them access to white schools? Rather it is: When will we value them enough to guarantee them safe campuses, competent teachers and a curriculum that engages, challenging the mind and nourishing the spirit, so that the bounty of America is finally theirs to enjoy?
Comment: Hurricane Katrina destroyed much and harmed many, and our government's reaction to it clearly showed where its priorities lie, and where they don't. This is also true in our public schools.
18 September 2005
Learning English: It's a Complex Formula by Silvio Manno, Bilingual Teacher
Comment: Author speaks loudly and clearly on behalf of English language learners.
It is a linguistic truth that non-English-speaking students require, on the average, five to seven years to approach grade norms in English academic skills.
These same students, however, show peer-appropriate English conversational skills within about two years. Considerably less knowledge of English is required to function appropriately in conversational situations than in academic settings.
Failure to distinguish between these two crucial dimensions of language proficiency will inevitably produce vastly inaccurate academic assessments upon which costly but ineffective interventions will be enacted...
Language deficits are further compounded by residential segregation, which tends to reinforce the language dominant within the neighborhood. A child reared in the midst of an immigrant community experiences substantially fewer opportunities for exposure to standard English, greatly delaying its future acquisition.
Looking beyond the inflammatory rhetoric of test scores, the objective observer will discover that such assessments reflect more accurately the inequities of a divided community than true levels of educational achievement.
16 September 2005
The Seven Deadly Absurdities of No Child Left Behind by Gerald W. Bracey
Gerald W. Bracey is an Associate of the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, Ypsilanti, Michigan and a fellow of the Education Policy Studies Laboratory at Arizona State University. His most recent book is Setting the Record Straight: Responses to Misconceptions About Public Education in the U. S.: Second Edition (Heinemann, 2004).
Comment: In summary: testing becomes corrupt; punishment is used to enforce; many are punished for a few failures; getting 100% of the students proficient is an irrational goal; choosing a different school in some rural areas is only possible with an airplane & "bad apples" who transfer often cause trouble and principals rebel; and schools cannot possibly accomplish what NCLB demands because bigger issues like poverty impact learning. There's more, much more information in this essay...
Other absurdities exist--for instance, the contention that any student not “proficient” is “left behind” promotes a false dichotomy. If the threshold for “proficient” is, say, a test score of 80, then a child who scores 79 is “left behind.” In actuality, achievement is a continuum, not a dichotomy. ...
The current law mandates annual testing for all children in grades three through eight in reading and math with science to be added in 2007. It also requires testing in one high school grade, to be decided by each state. President Bush has proposed extending the testing through the high school years. Given the chaos that the current law is producing in the lower grades, Bush’s proposal constitutes the domestic equivalent of invading Iran.
16 September 2005
New tests urged for schoolchildren; Special education students need individual assessment, critics say
Comment: The argument about testing students with special needs continues ...
"Requiring special education kids to take the DSTP (Delaware standardized tests) is, quite frankly, asinine..."
Comment: I agree, mostly, but some students with mild learning disabilities can pass the tests given appropriate content instruction and accommodations.
"Every student who's legitimately special education should have an assessment that's appropriate for that student..."
Comment: I agree, except what's the "legitimately special education" about? I think that this person doesn't understand the continuum of special needs.
"It makes no educational sense to give all students with disabilities an alternate test. To exempt all kids, regardless of their type of disability, undercuts all we've been trying to accomplish for the last 30 to 40 years, which is to have people realize kids with disabilities count."
See above comment. Students should not be exempted or not allowed to take some tests if they can be successful taking them. We don't want to make excuses for kids not fulfilling their potential, and we don't want educators dismissing students as "non-educable" because they have learning differences. The discussion about alternative tests is also here. Alternative tests for severely disabled students has been a teacher's nightmare, too, requiring lots of paperwork and documentation without additional assistance. It's very clear that our government does not entrust student learning with professional teachers. Big brother is there at every level keeping an eye on teachers. Some "bad apples" in our profession have caused this concern, but most teachers do what they can with what they have where they are.
And, there's talk of a national standardized test ...
"There's no Delaware way to do addition," ... "There's no Delaware way to do the English language. The laws of physics are not different on the Long Island Sound than the Delaware River."
IF a national standardized test would save money, be time efficient, assess basic skills necessary to function in daily life, be given to students for whom such a test is appropriate, and the results would be received in enough time to be of educational value for both educators and students, then I might say go for it. But, that's a very big IF.
16 September 2005
Oldest elementary school pupil tours NYC
Comment: I was ready to be very depressed when reading this article. I expected to read about some 15-year-old kid who had been retained in first grade forever because he could not pass some standardized test somewhere. Instead, I read about a very courageous 85-year-old man from Kenya who was advocating for all children to have the opportunity to go to school.
"You are never too old to learn," Kimani said. "At no time ever say, 'It's too late to learn,' not until the day you die."
16 September 2005
Beyond the Herd Mentality, The Minds That We Truly Need in the Future, by Howard Gardner
*You may also access this article at Susan Ohanian's site without registration.
... And that is why the education ministers of the world remind me today of lemmings—marching confidently, but proudly and disastrously, into a sea of ignorance.
Comment: Howard Gardner refuses to march with the lemmings and asks, "What kinds of minds do we want in our future.?"
16 September 2005
Letter to the editor, from Robert E. Kay, MD
Submitted to Philadelphia Inquirer but not published (09/09/2005)
Comment: Now, here's a very good idea. Give parents minimal resources and they can teach reading, writing, math, and science while waiting in shelters for future services. This reminds me of the story, African Reading Stories, a story about a minimal school.
While we note "In Phila., shelter and uncertainty" (News. Sept. 9) a part solution to our storm-caused educational crisis is to provide each displaced family with one or two good story books to read aloud to the kids plus the daily newspaper -- especially the sports pages! -- as well as a pen, a pad of paper, and a pack of playing cards.
Parents could then do choral reading a.k.a. reading-in-unison --- the very-best method we have ---and then help the kids write letters of appeal to the powers-that-be, plus playing games in line with a National Science Foundation recommendation many years ago which suggested that all teaching of arithmetic at the elementary-school level be done with a pack of cards.
The end result - a meaningful role for the parents and an education for the children!
15 September 2005
Adult use of ADHD medicines surges
TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- Use of prescription drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is growing at a faster rate among adults than children, new research shows...
Those figures dispel earlier beliefs that children "grow out of the disorder," said Dr. Patricia Quinn, a developmental pediatrician at the National Center for Gender Issues and ADHD, and an adviser to Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, an advocacy group...
"We know that 50 percent of adults continue to have problems with attention that affect their functioning," and many now are staying on medication beyond adolescence, Quinn said.
Meanwhile, awareness of the disorder is growing among the public and doctors...
ADHD symptoms include impulsivity, trouble concentrating, disorganization, procrastination and hyperactivity.
The increased medication use is good because, along with behavioral therapy, it can improve adults' relationships, job performance, parenting skills, even their sex lives, said Dr. Edward Hallowell, author of a new ADHD book, "Delivered from Distraction." ...
Comment: Modern times have forced energetic folks indoors so they need medication to tolerate these environments. Many of today's offices are like public school classrooms: desks, cubicles, independent seatwork. My hunch is that the 50% of the kids who do not need medication have found compatible work environments that use their energy, skills, and talents. Read some of Thom Hartmann's work.
15 September 2005
Katrina evacuees involved in Texas school fight
HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A fight between a group of displaced New Orleans students and their new classmates at a Houston high school ended with three teenagers hospitalized and five under arrest Tuesday...
"The quickest way to earn a ticket out of Jones High School and into detention is to hurt one of those students from New Orleans," Abbott told the Houston Chronicle.
"They've made it very clear to the Jones High School students that the children from New Orleans are our guests. We must treat them with all the dignity and respect we can."
Comment: Students from different cultures clash. Students whose lives have been washed away with the storm surge are traumatized. Students forced into overcrowded classrooms fight for elbow room. Big issues make themselves known; perhaps, these are more important issues than test scores.
15 September 2005
Failure, escape and 'The Outsiders'
We are all so impressed with the book, 'The Outsiders' by S.E. Hinton, that a petition has been circulated asking that it be made into a movie. We have chosen you to send it to you. In hopes that you might also see the possibilities of a movie, we have enclosed a copy of the book."
"It was signed by like 110 little signatures," he recalled. "Who can ignore that?"
Comment: And so, Francis Ford Coppola made this young adult novel into a movie with some newcomers including Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Ralph Macchio, Diane Lane, Rob Lowe, Patraick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, and Tom Cruise. This little novel has turned many reluctant readers into life long readers and the movie spurred the careers of some now famous actors.
15 September 2005
Schools take in displaced students
Schools will play an important role in helping young Katrina victims cope with the disaster, according to the National Association of School Psychologists.
Those accepting displaced students should be prepared for students with specific mental health needs and other special needs that may be intensified by their recent experiences, the association's Web site said.
Comment: It's past time to focus on the mental health needs of students. Let's hope we have turned a corner away from impossible goals to face reality.
See Hurricane Help for Schools.
09 September 2005
Big Brother is Alive, Well and Bullying Teachers
I was treated like a child by the district. I had a rule slapped on my computer and no acknowledgement of my question. This seemingly trivial incident taught me that I don’t respond well to being treated like a scolded child by some nameless, voiceless rule enforcer of bureaucracy. But the incident, of course is bigger. I know this scene. It’s how troublemakers are born. I speak up against what I think is wrong and eventually, inevitably, I get labeled a troublemaker.
I doubt I will ever work in a public school again. I feel like a caged animal rather than a professional. Corporate looks better and better. Sure, it is 8-5, 12 months a year, but at least there you get treated like an adult.
Comment: Been there, felt that way, left the classroom, too.
08 September 2005
North Eugene to require AP English for all
In a bold attempt to boost student success by raising expectations for all, the school is requiring all 260 juniors this fall to take a rigorous, year-long AP language and composition class. No exceptions.
That means the straight-A, honors-track students will share their AP classes with students learning English as their second language, students on special education plans and students who, for a host of reasons, would rather have a tooth extracted than set foot in a college-level class.
Comment: How insane is this?
"There was a lot of worry on the part of our ELL (English language learner) and special education staff," Principal Peter Tromba said. "Some of them were mad."
Comment: And, they should be. They understand just how impossible this expectation is for kids with special needs and for kids who don't yet know the language that the test is in. That's why they have special classes to help them master basic English skills.
Amy Samson, who teaches remedial reading at North Eugene, ... continues to have misgivings about the AP requirement. More than 80 percent of last year's incoming freshmen struggled to read at grade level, and 60 percent read at or below a sixth-grade level, she said.
Comment: Kids who aren't reading at grade level should not be taking Advanced Placement classes. It's just that simple.
Willamette High School's Mike La Sage, while questioning how some students will fare, called the move admirable, and said it's another indication that North Eugene is ahead of the curve when it comes to providing education in a new way.
He recalled the movie "Stand and Deliver," based on the true story of a Los Angeles high school teacher who inspired poor minority students to succeed. "Jaime Escalante said students will rise to the level of expectations placed on them," he said. "This is a good opportunity to put that challenge to the North Eugene staff."
Comment: Do you believe in miracles? I do, but miracles are uncommon and not understood, that's why they are so miraculous. It's just common sense that many of these kids won't be successful in AP English, and that won't be miraculous, but sadistic, abusive, and just down right mean.
Bush faces growing revolt over education policy
More and more we are living in fear of the tests ... We are taking the child out of the equation.
He likened the White House to a bully in the playground. "Sometimes one person has to stand up to them," he said.
Comment: That's an accurate description, so ...
As schools open this week, 47 states are in some "stage of rebellion" against the 3-year-old policy, according to a study by the Civil Society Institute, a nonpartisan advocacy group. About 20 states may opt out and forego the funding.
"If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand for much. " ~ Marian Wright Edelman
05 September 2005
They Knew What to Expect
Comment: We knew this could happen, but we were not prepared. Why? Have we learned our lesson?
"No one cares about disasters until they happen. That is a political fact of life ... Emergency management is woefully underfunded in this nation. That covers not only first responders but also warning, evacuation, damage assessment, volunteer management, donation management and recovery and mitigation issues."
03 September 2005
More about Hurricane Katrina:
Comment: I heard a disaster specialist talking today to Dan Rather on CBS news. He made a great suggestion: Close the schools in the southern states and make them survival centers. Forget "school" for now and use those buildings to save lives.
02 September 2005
Mental Health in the United States: Prevalence of Diagnosis and Medication Treatment for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder --- United States, 2003
Comment: There's a new report about ADHD. I've highlighted important points and posted CHADD's response.
CHADD's Response: RATES OF AD/HD IN YOUTH AGES 4-17: NEW CDC REPORT CONFIRMS PREVIOUS STUDIES, RAISES NEW QUESTIONS
CHADD is pleased that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday, September 2, released the results of a national survey that documents that 4.4 million, or 7.8 percent, of 4-17 year old children have a parent-reported history of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) diagnosis and 2.5 million of that number (56.3%) were taking medication for it at the time of the survey. At the same time, CHADD encourages more federal government follow up studies to learn even more about prevalence, medication rates, and other treatment interventions.
“In an environment where so many throw around numbers with no basis, it is encouraging to see a leading federal agency of science publish such numbers on the population affected by AD/HD,” said CHADD CEO E. Clarke Ross, D.P.A. “This study will inform our efforts as we move forward educating the public and policy-makers about the disorder.”
The findings also showed that some racial and ethnic groups and the uninsured with a history of AD/HD diagnosis were less likely than others to be currently taking medication for it. Outreach to the African American and Hispanic/Latino communities continues to be an important part of CHADD’s current strategic activities. CHADD calls on the federal government to continue to research into these group differences.
The study is unique in that it also provides a glimpse into each state where diagnosis and treatment rates varied, sometimes greatly. For example, the rate of reported AD/HD diagnosis for Colorado was nearly 5 percent compared to 11 percent in Alabama. In May 2001, the Cleveland Plain Dealer published Drug Enforcement Administration data showing the use of methylphenidate in every county in the United States. That study also documented tremendous variation in the use of medication to treat AD/HD.
“The variation in rates of reported diagnosis and medication treatment from state-to-state underscores the need to educate professionals in the health care community about the guidelines set forth by the American Academy of Pediatrics,” said Dr. Ross. “Everyone, regardless of location, should have access to medical professionals who understand the disorder and respond to it using evidence-based treatment.”
Scientific findings, including those from the National Institute of Mental Health Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with AD/HD, show that treating AD/HD often requires a combination of medical, educational, behavioral, and psychological intervention, referred to in the mental health community as "multimodal treatment." CHADD’s Professional Advisory Board defines multimodal treatment for children and adolescents with AD/HD as parent and child education about diagnosis and treatment, behavior management techniques, medication, and school programming and supports. Treatment should be tailored to the unique needs of each child and family.
The survey findings come from the 2003 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH), which was a telephone survey of over 100,000 parents of non-institutionalized youth 17 years and younger conducted between January 2003 through July 2004. The parents were asked about the physical and emotional well-being of their children 17 years and younger.
For more information on the study, the full publication can be found at www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5434a2.htm or the CDC National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, ADHD Program at www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd
02 September 2005
Clark College, Vancouver, WA
Comment: I was shopping in a Hallmark card shop this afternoon in Jantzen Beach, Portland, OR. The young cashier and I were conversing. She mentioned that she would be going back to school soon. I asked her where she was in her level of education. She told me that she is completing her high school diploma while earning college credits at Clark College, a two-year college in Vancouver, WA. Clark College offers four high school completion programs. This young lady was in Running Start, a program that allows high school juniors and seniors to begin their college courses early while earning credits toward their high school diplomas. Now this is a very good idea for high school students who are bright enough to be successful in these college courses, who need to work, and/or who have just outgrown high school. This student works full-time and goes to school part-time. College class schedules offer day and evening classes accommodating her varying work schedule. Both of her parents dropped out of high school. Although she has not attended classes at her own high school since the end of her 10th grade year, she will earn her HS diploma at the same time that she earns her Associate in Arts (A. A.) degree in General Studies. There should be more such programs offering HS students alternative paths to completing their HS diplomas while getting on with their lives and post-HS studies. I was pleased to learn about this one.
01 September 2005
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