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However every time we embarked on reading he would be done reading a
whole book in as few as thirty minutes while I would be struggling to
finish reading my first page. Of course I did not believe him so I would
take the book from him and ask him questions to test if he really read
the book. He answered all my questions correctly each time. I then
wondered why our cognitive abilities were so different. Yet we were
friends. Why did it take me longer to read through a book and why did he
do it with such ease?
We need to change the public attitude toward education. In the
not-too-distant past, schools and their teachers were protected by the
widespread belief that students who had not learned had not paid
attention. In the first half of the 20th century, crowded homes, hunger,
family chores, illness, national origin, and religious backgrounds were
also suggested as explanations for lack of academic progress. But those
were the days before educators had learned to use IQ, socioeconomic
status, or insufficient environmental stimulation as reasons for the
failures of many students.
During the past decade, however, the public has gradually undergone a
complete reversal, and today, low achievement is blamed on the schools,
their teachers, and the instructional programs or methods used.
Improving cognitive function among the cognitively impaired should
involve understanding learning styles and the need for individual
diagnosis and prescription. It should involve redesigning the
educational environment, designing small group instructional techniques,
designing multisensory instructional packages to correspond to
individual learning styles, designing tactual and kinesthetic resources
to respond to individual learning styles and matching individual
learning style characteristics with instructional programs, methods and
resources (Dunn & Dunn 1978).
People with disabilities have a fundamental right to live and
participate fully in settings and programs -- in school, home, in the
work place, and in the community. Individuals with disabilities have the
right to as much independence as we can help them achieve. Special
educators have the important task of helping children and adults with
disabilities to learn how to increase the level of decision making and
control over their own lives. Self management and self advocacy should
be significant curriculum components for students with disabilities (Heward,
1996).
The importance of early intervention cannot be overstated. During the
past decade there has been a steady increase in scientific evidence that
establishes the undeniable importance of the early years in human
development (Shonkoff, & Phillips, 2000). This evidence is particularly
strong with respect to school readiness for children from families with
limited education and low income.
A series of experimental trials using early childhood education, family
support, academic and social and pediatric care has demonstrated that
high risk children can be prepared for initial success in school. When
this increased school readiness is coupled with adequate school
programs, the initial positive effects persist into adolescence and
adulthood. The magnitude of the effects produced by various preschool
interventions is systematically related to characteristics of the
preschool programs themselves (Ramey & Ramey, 1998). Important program
characteristics include having a) well specified curriculum, b) having
programs of a half-day or longer, c) beginning early in the child's life
and developing a strong communication pattern between school and home
and d) focusing on cognitive development as well as linguistic and
social competence.
Each year tens of thousands of children enter kindergarten unprepared to
meet the intellectual demands of school. Lack of cognitive readiness
bodes ill for future school performance. Poor school readiness predicts
increased likelihood of low levels of academic achievement and high
levels of retention in grade, special education placement, and
ultimately school dropout. In turn, school dropouts are at much elevated
risk for unemployment, teen pregnancy, juvenile delinquency, social
dependency, and poor parenting practices. Their children all too
frequently repeat this pattern. (cf., Carnegie Report, 1995).
Poor school performance is foreshadowed by sub average performance on
cognitive, linguistic and social functioning during the years prior to
kindergarten. Because of these factors, remedial special education to
improve cognitive development and academic achievement that is begun in
the elementary school years faces an enormous challenge. In essence, the
rate of cognitive development must be altered if the progressive gap
between normal and sub average cognitive development is to be arrested
and intellectual development is to be returned to normative
trajectories. If genuine catch-up is to occur, the rate of development
must actually exceed the normative rate. The shorter the period of
intervention the more powerful it must be.
A policy alternative to remedial and special education is primary
prevention. Primary prevention entails the identification of high-risk
individuals in the general population and the provision of the
hypothesized missing essential experiences for normative development.
A large body of observational research suggests that children who
evidence delayed cognitive development have insufficient frequency of
exposure to particular adult-child transactional experiences (e.g.,
Bradley et al, 1989). These transactional experiences are particularly
lacking in low socioeconomic status families and are reliably missing
beginning in the second year of life and sometimes earlier (Yeates et
al, 1983).
Because this problem weighs so heavily upon individuals their families,
and their communities, it behooves us to demand greater early
intervention. We know how to proceed. As a society, let’s get on with
the job!
Resources for developmental disabilities
Understanding the Roles of Teachers and Therapists in Early Childhood
Special Education Movement Settings (PDF)
... understanding of the child's cognitive, communication, and emotional
... 5 who are developmentally delayed (DD). ECSE may ... cardio-
respiratory function, joint flexibility, muscle strength ...
www.education.umn.edu/ceed/projects/movement/ALM3.pdf
Predictors of Success and Failure in Reading
... many such cases, delayed language development is the first ... a
child's general cognitive abilities or therapeutic history ... the
composite measure did not improve accuracy. Although not ...
www.nap.edu/html/prdyc/ch4.html
Students With Traumatic Brain Injury: Identification, Assessment And
Classroom Accommodations
... in changes in cognitive function. ( The same is ... always
immediately apparent. Developmentally, sensory systems and the frontal
lobes ... to think about a delayed answer to the question ...
www.ncddr.org/rr/tbi/F14.html
Computer Based Assistive Technology
This page addresses the rationale, educational application and
legislation for assistive technology and more: North Carolina
Exceptional Children Categories and Other; NC Resources; Web
Accessibility Issues, and Bibliography. ... that is used to increase,
maintain, or improve the functional capabilities ... 2000). Computer and
Web Resources for People With ...
www.ceap.wcu.edu/houghton/edelcompeduc/themes/assistive.html
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