A new study at Michigan State suggests that there is limited vocabulary instruction in kindergarten classes across the U.S., particularly for those students living at the poverty level.  The is problematic because numerous studies have noted how building a good vocabulary right from start of schooling is directly related to later academic achievement and to success in a...Read More

The American Institute for Learning and Human Development has just produced five short videos that take up the concept of neurodiversity (the idea that disabilities should be regarded instead as diversities), and apply it to the following diagnoses:  learning disabilities, autism, ADHD, intellectual disabilities, and emotional and behavioral disorders.  In each video, the executive director...Read More

The October, 2012 issue of Educational Leadership, the flagship journal of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), in an issue dedicated to “Students Who Challenge Us,” features my article “First, Discover Their Strengths,” which highlights many of the ideas discussed in my forthcoming book Neurodiversity in the Classroom:  Strength-Based Strategies to Help Students with Special Needs...Read More

I was just reading an article on the website “Disability Scoop” about inclusion of kids with intellectual disabilities in Connecticut’s public schools.  Connecticut ranks second in the country in terms of the percentage of intellectually disabled kids mainstreamed in regular classrooms.  So one might view the state’s efforts as exemplary.  However, the article indicates that many of these students sit...Read More

In response to news reports that it may be possible in the future to “cure” Down syndrome by intervening early in development using psychoactive medication, Jenn Power, the mother of identical twins with Down syndrome, responded on the blog Contrarian: “As you know, I have many years of history supporting people with intellectual disabilities. Through...Read More