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

Recently I was doing a workshop on multiple intelligences for a group of teachers, and I started talking excitedly about the educator John Holt, who leaped to fame in the 1960’s with the publication of his best-selling book How Children Fail, and who later became one of the founders of the homeschooling movement in the...Read More

On May 19, 2013 I attended graduation ceremonies at Berkshire Hills Music Academy (BHMA) in South Hadley, Massachusetts.  BHMA provides post-secondary education to young adults with developmental disabilities who have special interests and abilities in music. This year there were eight graduates of BHMA’s  two-year certificate program (they also have summer programs, and an extended learning community program).  Students take...Read More

A New York Times article that appeared April 12, 2013 reported that a high school teacher in Albany, New York recently gave an assignment to students asking them, presumably as a lesson on the Holocaust, to write a persuasive essay arguing from the Nazi point of view that Jews were the source of their problems.  The assignment...Read More

The use of Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences (MI theory) has been increasing by leaps and bounds in countries across the globe.  In many countries, it has become part of national policy.  In India, for example, as part of its National Curriculum Framework for School Education teachers are required to have familiarity with the...Read More