tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post3873694059601183819..comments2024-03-17T04:09:26.074-04:00Comments on SpeEdChange: Not getting to Universal Designirasocolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01412837280249622430noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-65738717422549965702014-12-29T00:03:20.577-05:002014-12-29T00:03:20.577-05:00All very true, but you didn't mention one thin...All very true, but you didn't mention one thing. Kids wouldn't have to go to all of these schools using oppressive "education" if not for forceful legislation telling them it's mandatory. <br /><br />They could study at their own pace, their own time, with their own mentors, the only problem being money (which is certainly not helped by today's regime-like schooling). But the law says they have too under punishment to them and their kids in many states. Homeschoolers evade this as well as several notable schools with no enforced teaching, but for most of America and perhaps the western world, laws exist to *make* children of the none elite compelled to attend these degratory lower-class marking procedures. This isn't right, and instead of letting the government and those in power to decide who study in what method, it should be a free endeavor. That way no one can mark our children as failures. Amarihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15476262565297238693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-85638398938692541232008-05-21T12:46:00.000-04:002008-05-21T12:46:00.000-04:00anonymous:I know you don't see a conspiracy. I don...anonymous:<BR/><BR/>I know you don't see a conspiracy. I don't see one either the way you define that word. I believe that there are cultural assumptions which support certain conclusions, and so I don't think - as I think I've said here - that there is any incentive for most of those in education to create real change. I think if there was incentive, we'd see change. Because I am that kind of optimist, I think that when people want change it happens.irasocolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01412837280249622430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-25888795892946847472008-05-21T12:18:00.000-04:002008-05-21T12:18:00.000-04:00To Ira- I was going to cut and paste to reference ...To Ira- I was going to cut and paste to reference your specific quotes, but it got too complicated for me. My main point is that I don't believe there is a vast conspiracy perpatrated by 'society' or the 'elites' to hold down students who don't learn in traditional ways. I think you do believe in this conspiracy. You also assume that based on my Taiwan example I don't want the USeducational system to improve. It seems you are predisposed to thinking the worst of people. Anyway, I believe in UDL, so to the extent that you draw more people into that, you are a positive force despite your prejudices and assumptions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-30829870066516710982008-05-15T11:58:00.000-04:002008-05-15T11:58:00.000-04:00Jeri sent me this on the new computer SHE just set...Jeri sent me this on the new computer SHE just set up for me!!! Excellent. As an erstwhile children's librarian, I can't agree with you more. I work in an incredibly wealthy, privileged suburb in Westchester county, where I give our old, used, out-of-date volumes to those communities which can't afford to buy what "we" can afford to throw away.<BR/>Ray MessingUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03199061695556268285noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-32778655700776153972008-05-12T07:37:00.000-04:002008-05-12T07:37:00.000-04:00Anonymous:Your husband's story is unfortunate, but...Anonymous:<BR/><BR/>Your husband's story is unfortunate, but would not be unknown in the US at all - the mechanics would just be more subtle. Huge numbers of students with 'invisible' disabilities are forced out of US schools every year, and unlike in the classic European model, there is nowhere for them to really go. This trend has accelerated under NCLB because of testing pressures for this group. So, while I know almost nothing about Taiwan schools (except that told to me by my friends from there) so I won't comment directly, I'll say two things: First - the US neither takes the Brit/German model of extensive and well-supported special schools, nor the Full Inclusion model, and it thus leaves kids (and teachers) caught in a twilight zone. Second - comparing a system to something much worse is an old political excuse for bad behavior. Robert Mugabe may not be Saddam Hussein but that does not excuse Robert Mugabe. The US voting system may be better than Russia's, but that does not excuse what's wrong about the way America conducts its own elections. If I were to accept your argument (not the assumptive slur about travel, but your point), then US schools need not try to improve at all as long as any nation on earth has a worse education system. But I can't accept that. Under that theory only one place (the worst) would ever be expected to get better, and that's no path for human progress.<BR/><BR/>- Ira Socolirasocolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01412837280249622430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-7831907269402653372008-05-12T06:49:00.000-04:002008-05-12T06:49:00.000-04:00I don't see society as purposely trying to keep sp...I don't see society as purposely trying to keep spec ed students down- I do think it is a matter of incompetence. We used to have really good jobs in this country for people who were not book smart. We're just catching up to the reality in America where young people are going to be highly educated or else be relegated to a Wal-Mart job. <BR/><BR/>Also most people don't understand that we don't all process information the same way- the public is still caught up in the 'they're just lazy kids and/or the product of bad parenting', so the public doesn't care if the kids sink instead of swim because they feel its the kids' own fault anyway.<BR/><BR/>In Taiwan where my husband is from the dividing into groups is even more ruthless. When he was going to school, kids' destinies were set at 14. If you didn't pass a test you were kicked out of school and went to work. My husband has an LD, but LD's at that time (my husband is 45) were not even recognized in Taiwan. Maybe it's still that way. The Taiwan government wasn't purposely trying to keep a group of students down, they simply wanted the best students to invest time and money in. They thought the rest were just lazy trouble makers. And my husband was a troublemaker, but then again he also has Tourette's. <BR/><BR/>I remember once my husband saw a PBS documentary on autism and how one woman (who was always carrying around spoons) found a way to communicate with her family. It was about how she reached out to other autistics so they could all hep each other and make their lives better. My husband is always criticizing America, but the way that woman was struggling to reach her potential, how her family supported her, how she was helping strangers, was something he thought rare and wonderful. Something that he thought wouldn't happen in Taiwan. He thought it revealed something great about America. You need to travel more, Ira.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-1901517909729102602008-05-11T09:38:00.000-04:002008-05-11T09:38:00.000-04:00Anonymous:I'm not an expert on New Jersey and I've...Anonymous:<BR/><BR/>I'm not an expert on New Jersey and I've never been much of a fan of the NEA nor any of its affiliates - which too often resist the professionalization of teaching. And, sure New Jersey seems to be "above average" - that is, in last report, only 61% of New Jersey 8th Graders fail to demonstrate themselves as proficient readers, only 34% of African-American students drop out of high school and 40% of Latinos drop out (in self-report, other studies show these rates much higher). <BR/><BR/>Anyway, you may think my thesis is absurd, but then, I'll ask you: What is your explanation for the motivation to not solve these problems? Americans really, really care but are completely incompetent? <BR/><BR/>You've revealed the answer yourself in your third paragraph - "society" (as run by its elites) divide those struggling into 2 groups, those who "might be useful" and those who are assumed will never be. On this I'll recommend Peter Hoeg's brilliant novel "Borderliners" (it isn't necessarily just an American thing) - the original Danish title of which is, "Those Who Might be Useful."<BR/><BR/>On teaching reading - Don't know. My expertise lies in offering students access to content. I will say that people from Freedom Scientific have demonstrated a really effective use of SQR3 strategies combined with the kind of high-level literacy supports provided by products such as their WYNN software (as well as Kurzweil3000 and Read-and-Write), and I have seen dramatic results from this. I've also seen that in about 50% of students I work with, extensive use of text-to-speech systems - those with word-as-it-is-read highlighting - significantly improves reading (seemingly by improving sight-word recognition, and with the best software - WYNN, etc - which 'sub-highlights' sentences, improving an understanding of the grammar of English). But in the other half of students these systems remain pure accommodation, and have little remedial impact.<BR/><BR/>But then, I think of "teaching reading" as something very different than Orton-Gillingham folks do. They see reading as a decoding skill set - fair enough. I see reading as a comprehension and analytical art, and I'm not so desperate to have everyone base their reading in alphabetical code-breaking. It is a nice trick to know, but after a certain point, I'm not going to waste student time on decoding. There are more important things to learn.<BR/><BR/>- Ira Socolirasocolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01412837280249622430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-9759140532106479682008-05-11T08:25:00.000-04:002008-05-11T08:25:00.000-04:00What do you mean 'dumping kids out of school'? No...What do you mean 'dumping kids out of school'? Not letting them graduate? In NJ the crux of the NJEA's argument that teachers are doing a good job, and (thus entitled to a good salary and good benefits) is NJ's high graduation rate. So I can't buy what you are saying. <BR/><BR/>And I was responding to a major thesis of your post which is that the elites and society are purposely trying to keep kids who learn differently down because these elites/society (you bounce between the two terms) are afraid of competition from them. That's absurd.<BR/><BR/>I do believe that NCLB has created pressure on districts who used to let students who weren't being reached just slide along with greater failure and frustration every year. Our district has seen more grant money because of NCLB, but I have also seen state test tutoring only offered to students who are on the borderline of passing the test, and so who have a real chance to bring up test scores, while students who are in the most crisis, and probably don<BR/>'t have a good chance of bringing up test scores, are not offered that same tutoring. So there have definitely been bad side effects, but in my district I see the good out-weighing the bad.<BR/><BR/>On another note, do you know of any websites that teach dyslexics to read without them having to pay? I have developed my own way, and I will be posting it free on youtube, but I'm wondering if anything else like Orton-Gillingham or the Wilson Method is out there for free.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-37015594505651344792008-05-09T15:06:00.000-04:002008-05-09T15:06:00.000-04:00anonymous (directly above):I think you are missing...anonymous (directly above):<BR/><BR/>I think you are missing a key component. you are not discussing universal design, you are discussing prescriptive solutions, handed out by those in power, to those deemed "unable to help themselves." That is not creating independence, and it will never help the mass of students who get much less out of school than they need, because the idea of diagnosis means that people must be treated as categories, not individuals, and that certain people will always fall not-quite-over-the-line and will thus not get help.<BR/><BR/>So Yale, and every other university, will give AT to "dyslexics" who can afford to be diagnosed, but won't let students choose the medium of information exchange most useful for them.<BR/><BR/>One other note - all evidence beginning to finally arrive at the end of this NCLB decade indicates that the drop out rate among "Special Needs" and "non-conforming" students has skyrocketed. Yes, schools are paying attention - and they're dumping kids out of school if they might otherwise bring test scores down.<BR/><BR/>- Ira Socolirasocolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01412837280249622430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-77649214546904651462008-05-09T13:43:00.000-04:002008-05-09T13:43:00.000-04:00Sure there are legacies at the Ivy leagues- those ...Sure there are legacies at the Ivy leagues- those colleges depend on that alumnae money in part to fund all the full/partial scholarships that the other kids get. When I went to Yale it was 40% of students receiving financial aid. <BR/><BR/>Sally Shaywitz out of Yale University,an expert on dyslexia, talks of colleges beginning to accept the use of assistive technologies for dyslexics as they better understand the disability itself.<BR/><BR/>I'm an ESL/ELL teacher and pre-NCLB our students were just passed from grade to grade. Now we have gotten more ELL teachers and more grant money to bring their achievement up. Hallelujah! <BR/><BR/> I grant that the standards we are expected to eventually reach under NCLB are unrealistic for certain kids, but I understand the thinking behind it. It used to be that ELLs and Learning Disabled students weren't required to be grouped in with other students when accountability testing first was being implemented. Districts with large numbers of poorly performing students put them into the LD category so these students wouldn't be counted (dragging down the reputation of the district). We can still see this today in the use of the SRA to graduate large numbers of students (sometimes up to 20% in a single district). The SRA was originally developed for use by the small minority of students who have test-taking anxiety. Now the SRA gives an easy diploma and keeps local and state graduation rates high. NCLB has given more resources to my students- it has made them matter in a way they didn't before.<BR/><BR/>And as for 'society' not wanting to help diverse learners use technology in the classroom- our district has not seen any negative reactions that I know of to the grant we received for doing just that. We rise or fall as a nation. All must succeed to their god-given potential.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-1704188225320894592008-05-09T13:40:00.000-04:002008-05-09T13:40:00.000-04:00It is shocking to realize how politics in America ...It is shocking to realize how politics in America can influence the degree at which students are successful in school, and which is most important in life. I genuinely believe that every student deserves the opportunity to be successful, and if UDL can help us bridge the gap, government should be more serious about. Instead of being so concerned about testing students, they should put more resources to implement UDL nationwide.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-24237251749282669572008-05-06T23:23:00.000-04:002008-05-06T23:23:00.000-04:00Great focus on education and the early imprints th...Great focus on education and the early imprints that are created at that time in life. I understand just how long these imprints last; as a middle age adult, I look forward every day and have those imprints wanting to contradict any vision that I am stepping into. As I look at the future of UD, I also see an economic concern that will be a crises if we wait. Simply put, past cultures that didn't have the means to support their less abled populations devised methods to abandon (or eat) them. If we won't create an environment of UD where all people are better able to care for themselves, we will see quite some hardship. I am very much supporting taking action now. I invite you to have a look at my blog and website and to look at ways to impact this great country in partnership. Thanks for your energy and enthusiasm. - Konrad<BR/>http://www.universaldesignresource.com/<BR/>http://universaldesignresource.blogspot.com/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-76066612137328601102008-04-29T14:21:00.000-04:002008-04-29T14:21:00.000-04:00Using sailboat racing as an analagy to handicappin...Using sailboat racing as an analagy to handicapping was very dear to me as I used to race on a 30' out of RYC in Perth Amboy, NJ.<BR/>As a teacher of self contained classroom, my students have various handicaps which lead to differentiated instruction. We need to be able to use assistive technology to help all students.<BR/>Pushing for change must come from the people in the classroom, as I have approached different poloticians running for office, and generally, they do not have a clue about NCLB.<BR/>Thank youAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-37952113044362226542008-04-29T14:10:00.000-04:002008-04-29T14:10:00.000-04:00Ira,I was amazed with the section that mentioned t...Ira,<BR/><BR/>I was amazed with the section that mentioned that European Countries can recognize the use of Universal Design and the states shy away from it. It seems they have the mentality that if it is not broke don't fix it. But they are not looking close enough, because where I stand it needs to be fixed. Thank you.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-30085044740727902172008-04-22T16:16:00.000-04:002008-04-22T16:16:00.000-04:00I agree.Since we know that those who are in power ...I agree.<BR/><BR/>Since we know that those who are in power don't want the "system" to change...the push for change must come from those who are being oppressed by the system. How do we take this first step?<BR/><BR/>http://unlockingtheclassroom.blogspot.com/2008/04/stronger-communities-stronger-schools.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-894056774515088832008-04-20T17:33:00.000-04:002008-04-20T17:33:00.000-04:00Dear Lisa,Bravo! This is the most interesting blog...Dear Lisa,<BR/>Bravo! This is the most interesting blog about what is really wrong with education in this country. It is is unfair. The kids in my 90% poverty school has not chance to my own two middle class kids who use assistive technology every day- not for school mainly, but for real learning and figuring things out. My 8 and 12 year old know that Wikipedia and google are full of answers and they can make movies and write well because of their parent and grammar and spell check. I look forward to visiting your blog more often.<BR/><BR/>BillBill Gaskinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08976413420234430560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-17051591903823230762008-04-20T09:28:00.000-04:002008-04-20T09:28:00.000-04:00Paul sent me the link to your post. Thank you, THA...Paul sent me the link to your post. Thank you, THANK YOU for writing it. <BR/><BR/>I will be sharing your post with the teachers I am working with in New Jersey on Universal Design for Learning and will encourage them to also leave comments.<BR/><BR/>Lisa Thumann<BR/>Senior Specialist in Technology Education<BR/>Rutgers University<BR/>Center for Mathematics, Science and Computer Education<BR/><BR/>Visit us on the web at http://cmsce.rutgers.eduAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19457872.post-27481248311690555372008-04-19T14:24:00.000-04:002008-04-19T14:24:00.000-04:00Ira, this is one of the most insightful blog posts...Ira, this is one of the most insightful blog posts I've read anywhere. We educators are indeed part of an elite who stand to lose power, prestige, and economic clout if we were to successfully address the learning needs of ALL learners in our classrooms.<BR/><BR/>I probably shouldn't be surprised that after 10 days, this is the first comment here. I hope you don't feel too much like a "voice crying in the wilderness". The odds are stacked mightily against widespread adoption of universal design and real universal access, but it's essential to soldier on. The battles have to be fought because this war is definitely worth winning.Paul Hamiltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01594007631592685010noreply@blogger.com