Month: March 2024

Interview with Betty B. Osman, Author: “No One to Play With: The Social Side of Learning Disabilities”

by | Mar 29, 2024 |

A number of years ago – time does fly by – I was the host of a podcast show that was a part of The Coffee Klatch Network, Special Needs Talk Radio.  In that role, I had the honor of interviewing some of the top names in the field.

I thought it would be fun to revisit the interviews and break out some of the ones that have held up in terms of the content discussed.  (The interviews are pretty short, typically about 30 minutes.)

This interview is with Betty Osman, author of “No One to Play With:  The Social Side of Learning Disabilities” i

Here’s the link:  Podcast Interview: Betty B. Osman

Hope you enjoy.  Would love your feedback if you would like more of these.

Feel free to make comment below. 

To receive future blog posts, register your email: https://shutdownlearner.com.

To Contact Dr. Richard Selznick for advice, consultation or other information, email: shutdownlearner1@gmail.com. 

Copyright, Richard Selznick, Ph.D.  2023, www.shutdownlearner.com.

“Ongoing Themes: #Dyslexia #ADHD #LD Discrepancy #504 #Parenting”

by | Mar 22, 2024 | , , , ,

Those of you following this blog for some time know there are some recurring themes in these posts (that mostly irritate me).

For others  newer to these posts, I will help to bring you up to speed with some of the predominant ones.

  1. The LD-Discrepancy Model: Easily the number one issue that gets under my skin is the LD-Discrepancy model used in many states (New Jersey being one) to classify children in special education as learning disabled.  I discussed it in my recent blog post  (https://shutdownlearner.com/ineffective-inefficient-irrational-immoral-and-indefensible/), but if If you need a primer on the LD-Discrepancy model, this is a great overview: (https://www.understood.org/en/articles/the-discrepancy-model-what-you-need-to-know). 
  2. Pathologizing Childhood: Not all child problems are neurobiological (i.e., “brain-based”) disabilities.   Some issues are just kids being kids. (Please see my blog on boy executive function deficits: https://shutdownlearner.com/?s=hypothetical ).  Also, sometimes the material being given to them is inappropriate to their level of reading ability.  That is not an “in the head” problem.  It’s a curriculum issue.
  3. “Diagnosing” ADHD Based on Small Data: Checking a few items (e.g., “Easily distractible….Inattentive, etc.”) on a rating scale like the Vanderbilt given in the pediatrician’s office is not enough.   There are a multitude of factors that could be producing the distractibility.  Many of these factors should be understood before putting a child on medication for ADHD.
  1. “We can’t diagnose dyslexia – you need to see a neurologist.” Parents are reflexively told this by the school when they raise concerns of dyslexia.   Seriously, how many neurologists or pediatricians that you know give a battery of reading, spelling and writing tests that are necessary to assess dyslexia?  At its core, dyslexia is a reading disability.  How can this be determined without a battery of reading measures?  Stop telling parents it is a medical condition.
  2. “This or That Thinking:” “I just want to get to the bottom of it,” parents will say.  “I just don’t know if it’s ADD or laziness.”   The problem as I see it is that there rarely is a bottom.  The truth is it’s almost never,  “this or that.”  With most kids it’s almost always, “this and that and that.”
  3. Overplaying 504 Plans: Listen up, gang. The reality of 504 Plans is that they do not do that much.  504s do not offer services, but basic accommodations (e.g., extended time).
  4. “Hey, Bud” Parenting: I hate to break the news to parents out there, but they are your children.  You don’t set limits with your buddies.  You set limits with children.
  5. Screen Addicts: I get it.  Times change.  I don’t get the newspaper delivered any more.  I have my phone with me most of the time and am in a froth when I can’t locate it.  With that said, kids care about little else than their screen time.   They are becoming addicted.   We’re not facing it.

 Takeaway Point:  I understand that some may think that I am just saying these things because I am at the “get off my lawn” stage of life.  Maybe it’s compounded by that fact, but I have been repeating these theme to parents for many years.

Perhaps getting it off my chest helps –  it’s still cheaper than real therapy!!!

Feel free to make comment below. 

To receive future blog posts, register your email: https://shutdownlearner.com.

To Contact Dr. Richard Selznick for advice, consultation or other information, email: shutdownlearner1@gmail.com. 

Copyright, Richard Selznick, Ph.D.  2023, www.shutdownlearner.com.

 

“Ineffective, Inefficient, Irrational, Immoral and Indefensible”

by | Mar 8, 2024 | ,

Most of you understand the concept of standard error of measurement (SEM).

In a nutshell, SEM tells us that on any given day that you can be within an interval of confidence that an obtained score is accurate.

For example, if the obtained IQ score is 100, you can have about 99% confidence that with repeated administrations the score would fall within a range, say between 95 – 105.

For standardized tests such as the WISC-V (the gold standard cognitive measure used in special education assessments), there is no such thing as a “true score” as there is always the standard error of measurement to consider.

That explains the fury when a parent was told that her clearly struggling child was not eligible to receive services because the child missed eligibility by one point.

This is what occurred with 10-year-old, fourth- grader, Charles,  who has been struggling greatly with his reading, spelling and writing since kindergarten.  Some months before his special education assessment, I  had conducted a dyslexia screening with Charles,  which showed clear indicators of concern.

The school conducted a comprehensive special education evaluation that also identified significant issues with word identification, phonemic awareness, reading fluency, spelling and writing, which are the typical academic indicators for a learning disability, such as dyslexia.

When the school met with the mother to review the findings, stunningly she was told that the child was ineligible for services. That is, he would not be classified as eligible for an IEP.

As told to the mom, Charles fell short by one point, which did not meet the very strict standards of the discrepancy model utilized to determine eligibility.

Along with a few other states in the country,  New Jersey uses and outmoded model that often leaves children like Charles struggling without any support or direct remediation.

This model requires there be a statistically significant difference between the child’s Full-Scale IQ and an overall score in reading.

When a pure quantitative discrepancy model is used, as it is in New Jersey, many kids are left completely in the lurch.

In an article written by Emerson Dickman, a special education attorney and former president of the International Dyslexia Association, he quoted leading experts regarding the use of a discrepancy model.

Here are a few choice ones:

“For 25 years we have used  the IQ-achievement discrepancy model, a wait-to-fail model that is known to be ineffective, inefficient, irrational, immoral and indefensible.”  (Dr. Douglas Carmine presentation during testimony to Congress on reauthorization of IDEA.)

“The formula is a “wait and fail” model and is immoral.”  (Dr. Thomas Hehir, Director of Special Education Programs during Clinton Presidency.)

“IQ-Achievement discrepancy is not a valid means for identifying individuals with learning disabilities Robert Pasternack, Assistant Secretary for Office of Special Education)

Not only is the model unfair and immoral often offering no support to struggling children,  it also leaves everything entirely up to parents to try and find outside services like tutoring that are never covered by insurance.

Basically, the unstated message given to parents  with a struggling ineligible child is something like this, “Sorry, we’re done.  Maybe you should talk to your pediatrician.”

As you can imagine, this is infuriating to parents.

(In next week’s post, we will elaborate on this point.)

Feel free to make comment below. 

To receive future blog posts, register your email: https://shutdownlearner.com.

To Contact Dr. Richard Selznick for advice, consultation or other information, email: shutdownlearner1@gmail.com. 

Copyright, Richard Selznick, Ph.D.  2023, www.shutdownlearner.com.

“Homework??? That’s So Yesterday.”

by | Mar 1, 2024 | , ,

More and more, parents tell me that their children never get homework.

When there is homework, it is often a battleground.  Refrains such as, “It’s stupid,”  “I hate it,”  “It’s not fun,” and variations on these themes occur across the country starting in the afternoon, continuing through until about 8:00 at night.

Of course, there are the dutiful soldiers who don’t complain (rarely the boys), getting started on their own, completing the assignment (putting a check next to the completed task in their assignment book) and even putting it  back in their backpack so it can be found the next day in school.

I never have known whether homework has legitimate value as a learning tool for reinforcing or broadening skills. However beyond the potential reinforcement of skills, I do think homework has symbolic value.

Without stating it directly to children, the symbolic value can be summed up quite simply.   It goes something like this:

“In order to be a functioning member of society you need to learn a few things, like getting out of bed and showing up on time.  As adults you will probably have deadlines for different tasks doing this thing we call a ‘job’ and it is in your interest to meet the deadlines.  Just going on YouTube, TikTok or playing video games for hours on end is not going to cut it.”

If kids are given a message like this directly it would likely  be tuned out, with the child staring into the attention-deficit ether, not hearing a word of it.

Homework conveys this message indirectly, starting in first grade continuing through high school and even into college.

With the current trend that homework has no value and is seen as purposeless, how will this message be delivered?

Probably not through TikTok or Fortnite.

Feel free to make comment below. 

To receive future blog posts, register your email: https://shutdownlearner.com.

To Contact Dr. Richard Selznick for advice, consultation or other information, email: shutdownlearner1@gmail.com. 

Copyright, Richard Selznick, Ph.D.  2023, www.shutdownlearner.com.

 

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