It is part of federal law that students with special needs should have their strengths identified and described in their IEPs (IDEA 2004 Section 1414(d)(3)(A)).   And yet, when I search the special education literature online, I find virtually nothing dedicated to identifying strengths in these students. If a student is having difficulty in school,...Read More

When I was a special education teacher, most of my students had difficulty with academic tasks involving either words or numbers (or both).  However, many of these kids were gifted artists, cartoonists, Lego experts, mechanics, visualizers, and in other ways demonstrated competence in visual-spatial thinking.  Now, an exciting new article by a Duke researcher makes...Read More

Chalk up another strength for people who have been diagnosed with dyslexia.  A spokesperson for the U.K.’s top-secret electronic eavesdropping program reported that some of their most talented code-breakers are dyslexic. I was just alerted to this fascinating news item from Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide at their terrific web site Dyslexic Advantage. The piece...Read More

Yesterday there was a segment on MSNBC (part of NOW with Alex Wagner) that focused on neurodiversity as the next civil rights movement.  The focus was on one school in New York, The IDEAL School of Manhattan,which supports full inclusion of students with disabilities into the mainstream, and cultivates an attitude among all students of embracing...Read More

The rapid pace of new educational technologies has made it so that students with special needs can accomplish many things that were difficult or even impossible for them only a few years ago. The following list contains some of the best apps I’ve seen for kids with neurodiversities in communication, reading, sociability, attention, and behavior. Dragon...Read More