Learning Disabilities
I hope that this page is a useful resource for learning disabilities. I differentiate instruction to try and accommodate every student and to support them as a life long learner. Though some students need additional support this will aid them to be the best that they can be. I am here as a resource as well, if you have any questions or need more information I would love to help.
While getting my degree at ISU, I had many inspiring teachers and motivational speakers come to visit our lectures. One of my favorite teachers is the mother of a child with special needs and she wanted the class to try to understand what it is like. She is a very influential special needs advocate and I was moved by this story she shared with my class called Welcome to Holland which is posted further down on this page.
On January 2nd, 2013 my youngest son, Tyler was diagnosed with 10 disorders (now 14), one being Autism. This was a whirl wind of different emotions and a journey that would make my family stronger and a new adventure. Thus began the research about Autism and joining support groups that allowed us to talk and meet other families with a child with special needs. We have learned so much and embrace Tyler's challenges everyday with a new attitude in life and a need to advocate. A BIG thank you for all the support of friendship and love! Welcome to Holland means even more to me now as an Autism Warrior Mom.
Welcome to Holland
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability, to try and help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It is like this: When you are going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy (Fiji..=)) You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans--The Coliseum, The Michalangelo, David and Gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting. After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plan lands. The stewardess comes on and says "Welcome to Holland". "Holland? What do you mean Holland" I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy!" But there has been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It is just a different place. So, you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It is just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around and begin to notice that Holland has windmills. Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will always say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned". And the pain of that will never, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss. But, if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to go to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland."
Author Unknown
Kids Who Are Different
Here’s to the kids who are different, Kids who don’t always get As, Kids who have ears Twice the size of their peers, And noses that go on for days. Here’s to the kids who are different, Kids they call crazy or dumb, Kids who don’t fit, With the guts and the grit, Who dance to a different drum. Here’s to the kids who are different, Kids with a mischievous streak. For when they have grown, As history has shown, It’s their difference that makes them unique.
Digby Wolfe
LD Online
The world's leading website on learning disabilities
http://www.ldonline.org/
The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)
An international organization that is dedicated to improving educational outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities, students with disabilities, and/or the gifted.
http://www.cec.sped.org
DREAMMS for kids
This site offers many assistive technology solutions.
http://www.dreamms.org/
Inclusive Education
"Children who learn together, learn to live together."
http://www.uni.edu/coe/inclusion/
SERI- Special Education Resources on the Internet
This resource includes lots of updated information.
http://seriweb.com/serihome.htm
Kids Health
This is a great site for kids to learn about feelings.
http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/index.html
ROE #11
http://www.roe11.k12.il.us/
The Regional Office of Education is the intermediate agency between the Illinois State Board of Education and the local school districts in the region. The Regional Superintendent is the chief school officer for the region, and is required by law to “act as the official advisor and assistant of the school officers and teachers in his county. In the performance of this duty they shall carry out the advice of the State Superintendent of Education.”
In education, Response To Intervention (commonly abbreviated RTI or RtI) is a method of academic intervention used in the United States designed to provide early, effective assistance to children who are having difficulty learning. Response to intervention was also designed to function as a data-based process of diagnosing learning disabilities. This method can be used at the group and individual level. The RTI method has been developed by researchers as an alternative to identifying learning disabilities with the ability-achievement discrepancy model, which requires children to exhibit a severe discrepancy between their IQ and academic achievement as measured by standardized tests. Further, the RTI process brings more clarity to the Specific Learning Disability (SLD) category of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004), which has been referred to as a residual category for children with moderate learning problems.