Category: Updates

Insufficient sleep leads to health consequences including a higher risk for cancer, heart disease and diabetes. But a sleep shortfall can also seriously impair your happiness — and that impact is no less great. The human brain gets accustomed to being sleep-deprived. We notice the effect on mood and alertness, but before long, we adjust to that state as normal. So you may feel fine, but if you got more sleep, you might feel even better.  READ MORE

Until data reporting on teacher shortages improves, teacher candidates will have “false impressions” about their job prospects, and policymakers will create broad solutions that fail to address states’ and districts’ specific needs, says a Bellwether Education Partners report. “The misalignment between teacher supply and demand is where the teacher shortage crisis is born and lives,” write authors and analysts Kaitlin Pennington McVey and Justin Trinidad, arguing that there is no “national, generic teaching shortage.”  READ MORE

The high school graduation rate for students with disabilities across the nation is on the rise again, new federal figures indicate. For the 2016-2017 school year, the graduation rate for those with disabilities reached 67.1 percent. That’s up from 65.5 percent the previous year and represents the sixth year in a row that the rate has increased.  READ MORE

This national trend replicates what is happening in the State of Washington. READ MORE

I have been living with learning disabilities for most of my life. It’s who I am. My parents have never tried to protect me from the harshness of life. I learned at a pretty young age that there are going to be some people who are going to take one look at you and just instantly reject you, especially if you are learning-disabled. As accepting as I am about my learning disabilities, I went through a very long period where I sought other people’s approval.  READ MORE

Last October, the National Association of State Directors of Special Education issued new guidelines for educating deaf and hard of hearing students titled: “Optimizing Outcomes for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Educational Service Guidelines.” The Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf is collaborating with the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center (the Clerc Center) to offer a free all-day summit on the new guidelines as well as other salient topics related to the education of deaf and hard of hearing students in all educational settings. The summit will be held at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 26.

This summit is for special education directors and deaf education administrators/professionals in the areas of policy, best practices, and innovation related to educating deaf and hard of hearing students.

The summit is an opportunity to engage in discussion with school administrators from around the country whose schools serve large number of deaf and hard of hearing students about federally implemented programs based on laws impacting the education of deaf and hard of hearing students ages 0-21. The summit will also explore broader questions relating to early hearing detection and language acquisition and STEM programs at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

The summit is offered free of cost through a collaboration with CEASD and the Clerc Center. It will be conducted in American Sign Language and spoken English. Hotel accommodations are available on the campus of Gallaudet University. Please click here to view the flyer for details. Click here to register.

What is it like to be a kid with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder? Children with ADHD often struggle academically, socially and emotionally. They may be disorganized, forgetful, easily distracted and impulsive. And like all kids, they want to feel normal, says Dr. Sharon Saline, author of What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew. Saline, a psychotherapist who works with ADHD children and their families, argues that an informed empathy for ADHD children — for what they experience on a daily basis — can inspire parents and teachers to work with these children in ways that will help them grow into responsible and happy adults.  READ MORE

As soon as my nine-year-old daughter gets home from school, she tells me about her day. Even though she talks a mile a minute, it can take her 30 minutes to tell me a story that most neurotypical kids could tell in five minutes. But I always smile and listen. One of her stories had a big impact on me, not the story itself but my reaction to it.  READ MORE

New research finds that while youths with disabilities, mental health diagnoses and special education services experience peer harassment or bullying at similar rates as other youth, understanding differences in how they experience it may lead to solutions that minimize risk to all youth.  READ MORE

The parents of children with autism and other developmental disabilities are suing the state of Oregon over claims that the children are being deprived of an education through shortened school days. The plaintiffs, parents of four children, represent hundreds of students in Oregon who are removed from classrooms and schools because of their disability-related behaviors, according to Joel Greenberg, lead attorney for Disability Rights Oregon, one of four advocacy groups that filed the federal class action lawsuit.  READ MORE