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Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury VOLUME 7, I SSUE 2 - F EBRUARY 2010 Celebrating Rising Stars Mission Going for Gold! Statement Your Personal Olympics for 2010 To support all This Olympic Edition of and positive resolutions. Set goals high-strive to succeed. individuals with our “Working Together for your sights on reaching your Remember you are not learning disabilities in reaching their full Rising Stars” newsletter, is full potential. alone-you have a lot of potential in a about being the best you can Going for Gold doesn't fans cheering you on to community be. For students, it's about just happen! You being the success (team mates, that values their building self-esteem, self- best you can be will not parents, teachers, family and unique abilities and confidence and self respect. happen by chance. Play the friends). Like Olympic contributions. It's about knowing yourself right game-use your athletes, aim for your and setting yourself up for strengths. Practice hard-you personal best. You don't success. will get out of it what you have to reach the podium; Make some personal put into it! Play on a winning just be the best that you can decisions about yourself! team-pick good supporters be. Make some commitments and team mates. Set your One of the Olympic Venues: The Classroom Inside this issue: This year in the • Increased public • differentiated Do You Believe? 2 classroom, the new rule confidence in publicly instruction and universal I Believe book has been drafted by funded education. design are effective and Get the Right Gear 2 the Ministry of Education. an interconnected ‘Learning for All K – 12’ is (Learning for All K-12 draft means of meeting the Bullies are Not Team 3 based on the 2008 Ontario June 2009) learning needs of Players Government release of: students. Reach Every Student: The following rules and Taking Your Place at 4 the Podium Energizing Ontario principles were identified as Education, in which the essential in order to improve Supporting a 5 Ministry articulated its achievement for all students Champion commitment to ‘raise the from Kindergarten to Grade Top Ten Things 5 bar’ for all students in 12 and to close the Ontario schools and to achievement gap: • On the Road to 5 ‘close the gap’ in student all students can succeed To view the document visit Success achievement. It identified • fairness is not sameness www.ontariodirectors.ca the following three core • Restricted Educator each student has his or 6 priorities in its efforts to Workshop her own unique patterns Thought for the Day meet that commitment: • of learning Coaching a Winning 7 • High levels of student successful instructional “Teaching may be the Team achievement practices are founded on greatest of the arts, since the • Reduced gaps in student Training for Victory 7 evidence-based research medium is the human mind achievement and spirit”. LDAS 8 John Steinbeck PAGE 2 LEARNING D ISABILITIES A SSOCIATION OF S UDBURY YOUTH AND STUDENTS Do You Believe? http:// http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/ parenting.quiz.kaboose.com/25-what-s- general/elemsec/speced/guide/resource/ I Believe! your-child-s-learning-style iepresguid.pdf Like all students and Olympic Once you know your learning style http://www.centreforliteracy.qc.ca/ athletes, students with learning and the accommodations that will help courses/Free_AT_Wkshp.pdf disabilities need to prepare and train for you succeed, you're on your way to Step # 3: Know how to get success. The focus is on you and one of success. No one is good at what you need to succeed. the best exercises is to develop self everything. You need to know your In many ways you are no different advocacy skills. Remember, you're no strengths. An Olympic gold medal than Olympians. You need to self different than all the other students winner in alpine skiing won't do very advocate in a positive way to get what when it comes to self advocacy. well in curling or figure skating. You you need as you strive for success. Talk Everyone needs to know how to self have your strengths and interests, so to your teachers to help them advocate in order to build self- pick your games where you can do your understand your strengths and learning confidence, self-esteem, self-awareness best. style and ask for their support. Work on and self appreciation. Step # 2: Know what you communicating those things that you Step # 1: Know yourself. need to succeed. need. Write down and practice what You have great abilities because you Like an Olympic athlete, you need you're going to say until you’re have average to above average the right equipment to allow you to do comfortable with communicating intelligence. A different way of learning your best. Maybe it is a specific type of verbally. Try sending them an e-mail can lead to success. Like everyone else, assistive technology? You need to outlining how they can help you you have your personal learning style. If practice to be good at what you do. Do succeed. you don't know what it is, ask your you need support to get organized? parents or teachers to help you figure it Maybe you need a little more time and You need to take responsibility for out. Check out these websites for support in the areas that are more getting all of those things that will learning styles. challenging. Check out your Individual lead you to success, just like www.studysuccess.co.uk/ Education Plan (IEP) for some specific Olympic competitors. learning_questionnaire.htm (Grade 9-12) accommodations to support your Adapted from www.wrightslaw.com/ www.educationinsite.com Grade (5-8) learning style. info/sec504.self Get the Right Gear - Assistive Technology: Scanned Books & Kurzweil 3000 By Marlene McIntosh, Cambrian College however, we find it extremely difficult the Kurzweil 3000 program. There may Eighty percent (80%) of students to get this from them. Thus, we have to be errors – text is read out of order or with learning disabilities have difficulty scan the books into the computer may be unreadable. If we need to edit with reading. Since 10% of our ourselves. At our college, we have the book, we hire a student to “zone population is said to have a learning approximately 800 students registered at edit” – put text in the right order and disability, this number has a high impact The Glenn Crombie Centre for correct most of the scanning errors, this on students in our education system disability services. Each term, we get a takes about 1-2 days per book. Finally, (Hasselbring & Bausch, 2005). request for about 250 books to be we are able to burn an edited copy for Consequently, these students will scanned into an electronic format. students, so they can read a much require the use of books in electronic Scanning is not quite as simple as cleaner copy in Kurzweil 3000. format. So, what happens now? you may think. Here’s what happens, a Why would we go through this Kurzweil 3000 is a program that student will drop off a book, we then much trouble? Can’t the student just allows students to scan books and read send it to our print shop where they cut read the book if they took their time and them aloud with the computer. This the bindings and send it back to us. read it slowly? The answer, quite simply, Kurzweil program also has an auditory Next, we separate the book into is no. When students read books with dictionary and thesaurus, word chapters, each chapter is fed into our the Kurzweil 3000 program, they can do prediction, and note taking features. high speed scanner, and it is scanned so quicker than normal. They also can Although it is not the only assistive into the computer. We then use a look up words that they don’t technology software that scans and program to convert these files into a understand with a simple click of the reads, I find it to be the best one that is Kurzweil 3000 format, this usually mouse – this helps with comprehension. available to my students. occurs overnight. Finally, we can burn In addition, students don’t have to waste It would be great if publishers an “unedited” copy for a student, this time trying to sound out words; provided text in electronic format; means the student can read the book in (Continued on page 3) FEBRUARY 2010 PAGE 3 Bullies are Not Team Players! What is Bullying? Myth : “If I tell someone, it will just Bullying is a conscious, wilful, make it worse.” deliberate, hostile and repeated Fact : Research shows that bullying behaviour by one or more people, will stop when adults in authority and which is intended to harm others. peers get involved . Bullying takes many forms, and can Myth : “Just stand up for yourself and include may different behaviours, such hit them back” as: Fact : While there are some times • physical violence and attacks when people can be forced to defend Ready Freddy: Don’t Sit on My Lunch • verbal taunts, name-calling and put- themselves, hitting back usually makes (Ready Freddy Series) by Abby Klein, downs the bullying worse and increases the illustrated by John Mckinley (Blue Sky • threats and intimidation risk for serious physical harm. Press, 2005) • extortion or stealing of money and Myth : “Bullying is a school problem, Children Ages 9 -12 possessions the teachers should handle it” Stop Bullying Bobby! Helping • exclusion from the peer group Fact : Bullying is a broader social Children Cope with Teasing and Bullying • cyber bullying problem that often happens outside of by Dana Smith-Mansell, illustrated by Suzanne Riggio (New Horizon Press, schools, on the street, at shopping centers, the local pool, summer camp 2004) Bullying is the assertion of power Bullies & Victims: Helping Your Child through aggression and/or exclusion.

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