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Click here to download the registration form for this event (DOC) Untangling the Dots  September 23-24, 2010 MSDB campus - Great Falls Topics this year include: Direct observations of braille students reading and writing braille at MSDB Pre-braille for the young learner Pre-braille for the adventitiously blind or MIVI student Formatting using Literary braille and the Perkins braille writer Transcribing and the use of Technology Functional Braille Creating Efficient braille readers Complex braille issues Review of the Braille Bill Concept Development The Use of Braille Curricula Please return form by September 13, 2010 to: Kerri Norick 145 N. Pheasant Dr. Bozeman, MT 59718 or knorick@msdb.mt.gov

Click here to download the brochure with registration information (PDF) What: Language for Learning (2008 Edition) is a language program designed to teach young pre-readers language, concepts, information, and knowledge that will be beneficial to them in a classroom setting as they are learning to read. It was written to teach oral language skills to five and six-year-old children whose language is inadequately developed, to four-year-old preschoolers, to primary students for whom English is their second language, to Title 1 and special education students, and to children in speech/language classes. The program uses an explicit instructional approach, entailing scripted lessons, signaled responses, immediate error correction, cumulative review, and mastery learning. Initial and ongoing assessments are used to determine where to begin the instruction and learning over time as an excellent progress monitoring tool used in an Response to Intervention (RtI) process. When: January 12, 2011 8:30 AM - 4:00 PM Where: First Presbyterian Church 535 N. Ewing Street Helena, MT 59601

Scientists studying the anatomy of children's brains during reading discovered something rather unexpected: Remedial training for poor readers results in a growth of white matter tracts in the brain, and the increase correlates with the level of improvement in sounding out words.

Telling stories by building comic strips is a way to strengthen struggling students' emerging English-language skills and make the difficult job of language learning a much more enjoyable experience. Comic strips are a perfect vehicle for learning a language. Each strip's three or four panels provide a finite, accessible world in which funny or compelling characters live and go about their lives. And readers with limited reading skills are not as overwhelmed in dealing with the size of a comic strip as they can be with a book of many pages.

Amazon is making some enhancements to its Kindle electronic reader, aimed at improving the reading experience for people who are blind, visually impaired, or dyslexic.

Writing is difficult. Most writers could relate to the frustration expressed by this student. Writing is a complex process that draws on: our knowledge of the topic our ability to anticipate what readers will need our ability to logically organize information our skill at finding the right words our ability to evaluate our efforts the perseverance to keep working

I once received an e-mail from a woman, a reader of my blog, wanting to know what sort of advice I could give to her nine-year-old daughter recently diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. She gave me a very thoughtful suggestion, which was to write a blog entry in the form of a letter to my younger self, which could then also serve as advice for current parents of children with autism and Asperger’s Syndrome.

There have been a lot of articles on a lot of websites about accessibility and the iPad since the specifications were first released. Now that our USA readers and bloggers have begun to get their hands on the devices there are even more articles being written, and I’m sure more will follow as the 3G enabled devices are released in the USA and both models become available in other countries starting on May 28th. As an assistive technology enthusiast and disabled blogger, it’s fantastic to see so much interest in the non-mainstream uses of these devices!

As the Technology Coach for Educational Vision Services, the program in the NYC Department of Education that serves students in our school system with visual impairments, I have been looking for a way to provide students with low-vision access to large print using the iPad. Our students are registered with Bookshare.org but it has been a stumbling block converting the DAISY formatted books into the epub format that can be read on the iPad. While there are numerous options for our students who are auditory or Braille readers, there has been a large disconnect in taking advantage of technology for our students who require large print and alternate contrast for visual reading.

Response to intervention has exploded into one of the most popular school initiatives in the country, but experts caution that RTI's use is far outstripping its research base. While the heightened interest has spurred research advances in key aspects of RTI, such as universal screening tools and initial interventions, other areas have little or no research support. Moreover, experts worry the historically piecemeal approach to studying RTI can give educators a skewed view of how to employ it effectively, and for what purpose.

While bullying is known to leave physical and emotional scars, a new study finds that victims may suffer long-lasting academic effects, and high-achieving black and Latino students are especially vulnerable.

Click here to download full flyer with registration information (PDF) What: The Northern Rockies Association for the Education and Rehabilitation for the Blind & Visually Impaired is holding its annual conference. Presentations include: Teaching Braille though Arts and Games ~ Jan Zollinger, Distinguished Educators of Blind Children Award, 2004 Stress and the Deaf-Blind Student: Enhancing the Work Environment ~ Robin Greenfield, Coordinator of the Idaho DeafBlind Project Using the Low Vision Assessment Effectively ~ a panel (O&M Specialist; Teacher of the Visually Impaired; etc.) Options for Driving with Optical Devices ~ Dr. Dwight Hansen, Low Vision Specialist Transition and Beyond ~ Dana Ard, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor for the Blind Assistive Technology for Students with Multiply Impairments-Visual Impairments ~ Nora Jehn, Director of the Idaho Center for Assistive Technology Update on Accessible Technology for the Consumer (IPAD, Magnifiers, Notetaking Devices, Auditory Readers, etc.) Low Vision and Low Vision Devices American Printing House: new math and tactual graphics products Dog Guide Issues Where: Sun Valley Inn Ketchum, Idaho When: October 19-21, 2011

Chelsea Eubank has such severe learning disabilities that her mother resigned herself long ago to the fact that her daughter would never be a reader. In spite of that, Chelsea, 20, is in college, has started her own business, and was recently named a national finalist for the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards

Three minutes is all it takes to find out if a student needs extra help with reading.

Long-awaited legislation to replace three federal reading programs—Early Reading First, Reading First, and Striving Readers—was introduced Nov. 5 by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and would authorize $2.35 billion in funding to improve reading and writing in kindergarten to 12th grade.

At the Henderson school, where up to 35 percent of the 228 students have a disability, there are two certified teachers in every classroom — one in general, elementary education and one in special education. The school’s academic philosophy is that “it’s not the students who are disabled, but the curriculum,’’ and that it is the job of teachers and administrators to help students learn through digital textbook readers, visual arts, or movement.