What Works and Why 2008 IDL Conference

So many kids do things that seem odd or excessive at various points in their development. Though some clearly do need professional help, many of them are victims of a culture that’s far too quick to attach a label such as ADHD, social anxiety, or bipolar disorder to every child who’s hard to manage, hard to understand, or just doesn’t seem to fit in. In recent years, more and more children have been receiving psychiatric labels – and at younger and younger ages, for fewer and milder symptoms. In fact,hard as it may be to believe, nearly one-fifth of all American children currently meet the criteria for at least one mental disorder! We need to ask: Is there really something wrong with all these kids, or is there something wrong with the way they’re viewed, categorized, and treated? If so many kids are “disordered,” what’s happened to our concept of “normal”? Maybe it's time to reclaim "normal" as a spectrum condition! Instead of pathologizing every quirk and struggle -- ...

Let's start a new topic that I'd like you to 'weigh in' on. Please let me know what county or state you're writing from as I'd like to know where we stand in Howard County in terms of use of technology or really 'technology integration' in our system. While there is a lot of technology, i.e., computers available and many schools have a 'tech ed' class that they offer to students, I'm concerned that professional development for all teachers is not as comprehensive and on-going as it could be in this area. Technology can be a real 'break through' for a child with a learning disability. Programs such as SOLO, co-writer (from Don Johnston) or inspiration can truly help a child with a writing or executive function impairment overcome their blocks and get their ideas on paper in very independent ways. While there are other uses of technology such as those presented by Dr. Talaiver (game design) and Dr. Staudt (science and math instruction),...

Its been a few weeks since we saw each other at the What Works and Why Conference. We've had a chance to review your comments and sit back and evaluate our time together. So many of you were thrilled to be a part of a meeting of 'like-minds' but you wanted more of an opportunity to interact and discuss and interpret what you heard. I hope this space can be your opportunity. We're new at this but hope this community can grow and learn using this space for good discussions and positive learning and continue to do our best to make learning environments a better place for all children who learn differently. Many thanks to all of you who made this conference a success; speakers, parents, volunteers, exhibitors and participants. Let's hope the energy and learning can continue on these spaces. Please read our December Newsletter (see weblink to .pdf below) for a summary of our main presentations. Thanks to Julie Morrison (IDL's newsletter editor), Sarah Wayland, Donna ...