Here’s an interesting tidbit regarding reading.
LONDON (Reuters) – The common genetic variation linked to dyslexia may also help explain why some people without the learning difficulty are not good readers, researchers said on Wednesday.
If we can do a biometric check for reading ability, does that mean we need to have a new class of Special Ed?
October 1st, 2008 at 9:44 pm
I don’t know that it would neccessarily be a new class, but if it is a biometric check we can be exactly, precisely sure what is wrong with EVERYONE, not just the few that we suspect may have some problems. Some mask potential disabilities well and remain undiscovered. We would not have a new class of special ed, just a more easily defined and quantifiable group to designate.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:03 pm
I don’t think that we would have a new class of special education. We would simply learn to adapt our teaching to chidren with this “disability”.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:23 pm
This could be covered with a 504 modifications instead of special education. Accommodations have always been made for students with dyslexia and some are as simple as laying a colored transparency over the reading material. I do like the fact that the door is left open for other explanations to this problem. Too often when suspected genes are identify (like the so called “fat gene”) people see it as a predestined event and do not try to correct the problem. We definitely do not want to go there with this.
October 1st, 2008 at 11:30 pm
I think accomodations should be made for students. I don’t think a special education class should be made. I would like to see more research and look at other factors that could be contributed. I would like to know how they would determine if the child has this gene or not. Would there be tests and would the school have to pay for it?
October 2nd, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Interesting article. I have had two students in the past who struggle with reading to this day. One is now in 3rd and the other in 4th. No matter what I tried or other teachers nothing seems to work for them. They have a major reading disability, but neither of them tested into special education and they both do fine in math. I do not think that we need to have a new class of special education, I just think that we need to figure out how to help these students. We need more intervention teachers that can pull students to work individually or in small groups or even to come into the classroom and team teach. Since both of the students that I mentioned were not identified from special education testing as needing any services, neither of them have any modifications which is absolutely horrible. I do believe that students with reading problems should get some accomodations.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Students with reading problems were reported to have benefited from oral reading practice in a recent article. Sorry – just winging it. The citation is not at hand.
October 6th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
OK we have a possible etiology….how does that change the presentation of the student in the classroom, or the interventions that we would use as teachers? The cost of knowing, both in dollars and to a child’s future would be a hindrance. Unless there is some remedy for the defect (I’m thinking invitro gene therapy) what is the real benefit of having an etiology?