Blog

The student branch of PEN has big plans this year. With their amazing debut speaking at EdRev last year, our phones have been ringing off the hook with requests for the students to present or MC events throughout the Bay Area! Still, many people haven't heard about the Student Advisors For Education, but they are out to change that! Hear what one of the members wrote about her experience in SAFE last year in an essay for her school:

In joining SAFE Voices, my goal was to educate people about Learning Differences, eliminate the ignorance and the stigmas. Every time I finish a panel, a member of the audience approaches me and tells me their story. There is nothing as rewarding as that. That gives the ultimate feeling of success and accomplishment-- knowing that I can and did make a difference.

I learned so much from both the people involved and from my own experiences. I lead and helped to plan meetings, participated in various panels, organized communication between members. In addition, I worked at and helped to plan our event of the year, Education Revolution. I learned about networking and communication. I initiated online communication between members, announcing events, etc. I learned about public speaking, a skill I will use for the rest of my life. And perhaps most importantly, at least to me, I learned what it means to be a leader. From my mentor and major source support and guidance, Eli, I learned so much. I learned the importance of knowing when to speak and when to listen, how to help others/newer members grow and feel comfortable participating. While working with these people, I learned how to inspire others and in turn, I have been inspired.

I became further aware of others' struggles with LD and how they deal with them. At first, I heard of the struggles my fellow members faced, mostly through panels they participated in. Overtime, I found some coming to me individually and telling me their stories. I heard about how each of them would, at some point, fall down, discouraged, only to pick themselves up again, refusing to give up. In hearing the stories of other members, I became further aware of the incompetency of our current educational system.

In participating in SAFE, I discovered a passion. I want to continue raising awareness around Learning Disabilities. I want to make it my goal to ensure that all student struggling in school with their LD know that they are not the problem. The problem is with the system. Those students deserve to know that they can succeed and that they are not alone. My next goal is to adjust our educational system. Students both with and without LD deserve to feel successful in school. I want to find a way to make that happen.

-Lilian Van Cleve (Sam)

The 2011-2012 Parents Education Network lecture series in San Francisco began with a powerful bang.  The lecturer, Dr. Leyla M. Bologlu, shared advice that made my heart sing.  She underscored the importance of good, thorough evaluation for both ADHD and learning difficulties stating that the faster the parents take action the better.   It is now proven that early intervention can impact neurological change. The goal is to ensure that the child has a healthy psychological life as he or she goes through the challenges of the learning process.

Some clues: a child exhibiting behavioral issues is a flag that the problem could generate from  a brain-based neurological issue  (a dyslexic has different neurological pathways).  Or a child exhibiting executive functioning shortcomings as a result of the brain's inability to manage learning activities may be experiencing ADHD.

Dr. Bologlu gave a graphic description of the brain's development. The infant brain is relatively smooth.  As the child grows and develops the complexity of bumps and squiggles on the brain increases from experience and exposure.  This description had me wondering how physically crisscrossed is my brain from my dyslexia and hyperlexia.  It wasn't until I was in my forties when I learned I am dyslexic and in my sixties when I discovered that my real issue is hyperlexia meaning I had trouble in imaging words which is essential for reading and aural comprehension.

The lecture moved on to many types of specialists.  At the outset is the need for parents to identify a competent evaluator who is comfortable embracing specialists in several different fields with discreet skills to address particular shortcomings.   Dr. Bologlu reminded us that kids want to do well.  The adult team needs to discover what is holding them back, what skill set they are missing and set in motion the steps necessary to improve the ability of the child to learn.

The path Dr. Bologlu recommends to identify the learning challenge includes.
1.       Obtaining a clear statement from the school with details of what seems to be     going on/what are their concerns?  If it is you, the parent, who is recognizing    there is an issue, ask for a meeting at the school to check out your hunch.
2.       The next step is identifying a highly qualified educational therapist (with a        masters degree) who knows and works with the battery of tests available and       has experience working with children of your child's age.  Tests include:

• Cognitive  (not an IQ test)
• Academic achievement
• Other screenings/tests including but not limited to: Slingerland,       Levine, language development/auditory processing, phonological      awareness, visual-motor integration etc.

3.       Specialized testing includes:

• Speech & Language Evaluation (be sure the tester has at least an    masters level education)
• Occupational Therapy:  These evaluations and treatments are specific      to motor development, sensory-motor integration and nonverbal         weaknesses.
• Psycho-educational Evaluation:  Be sure the consultant has a PhD in       clinical psychology.  The evaluations involve IQ testing, achievement         tests, behavioral questionnaires, social/emotional testing.
• Neuropsychological Evaluation:  This can include testing for intellectual skills (IQ testing), as well as cognitive functioning ability which may involve testing for skills in a) language (expressive/receptive, b)visio-spatial/visio-perceptual functioning, c) memory, d) attentional systems, e) executive functioning, f) fine and gross motor functioning, g) sensory integration and more.

The educational therapist oversees the testing process. When she/he receives the assessment from other specialists, she/he draws conclusion and makes recommendations to the parents. The educational therapist must provide the names of the suggested treatment providers, - more than one for each type of service.  In addition, the educational therapist should make contact with all of the treatment providers recommended to outline the reason for the referral, the treatment focus and the number of sessions per week needed.
Additional appropriate support may include:

• behavior support in the classroom and at home
• sensory motor support/handwriting
• executive functioning skill support (study skills, breaking down large assignments).
• medication management.  I found it interesting that Dr. Bologlu's point of view on medication is that it may help with behavior but not with the core issue.

At the conclusion of this lecture, the Founder of PEN, Dewey Rosetti, when thanking Dr. Bologlu for her remarks commented:  If only we had had this kind of information ten years ago, what a difference it would have made!!!  I agree and am just grateful that the PEN lectures exist and parents now have the information to take reasoned steps with their child's learning challenge.

Beatrice Amblard, master leather artisan and owner of April in Paris, is excited to offer a 6-month internship program as part of the Internships for New Learning program. The internship is open to candidates with learning and or attention difficulties who have a high school diploma. This program is focused on making dog beds using traditional leather crafting techniques. Beatrice, a Master leather craftswoman with over 25 years of experience, will personally train each student to work with alpaca fabric and calf leather to produce dog beds by hand. After the internship is completed, a permanent career opportunity to work at the April in Paris boutique may be offered to students pending further evaluation by Beatrice.

Beatrice, who is dyslexic and as a result went through a difficult time at school, hopes to offer this opportunity to other individuals who might be facing the same challenge. This program will allow students with learning differences to explore and hone their creative skills.

For more details and to apply for the internship, please visit the INL page on the PEN website. To read more about Beatrice, please visit this link.

Do parents, teachers and administrative staff at your child’s school know what PEN offers? Does the school regularly share information about PEN events? PEN is seeking volunteers to be liaisons to their schools so even more people know what we do.

Liaisons would establish initial school contact lists, share information about PEN and send notifications about upcoming events. PEN will provide sample letters and downloadable flyers and event listings that make this job easy for you to do from the comfort of your home. The time should not exceed 1 – 2 hours per month. If you are available to help, please contact Jo Cummins at jo@parentseducationnetwork.org.

An article in the US News Education section discusses the new measures colleges are taking to reach out to dyslexic students. It also features a photo and quote from Natalie Tamburello, a founding member of our SAFE Voices group:

Natalie Tamburello, now a senior at Whitman College, was attracted by the school's modest student population of about 1,500. "I knew my professors would understand me better at a smaller school, because they would have a chance to get to know me," says Tamburello, who currently posts a 4.0 GPA in her psychology major and is considering going on to medical school.

Read the whole article here: Colleges Step Up to Meet Dyslexia Challenge

Help PEN Spread the Word!!!

PEN needs volunteers to do Public Relations Outreach for EdRev 2012

Parents Education Network (PEN) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students with learning and attention difficulties.  We are seeking a volunteer, or team of volunteers, interested in collaborating with PEN staff to organize and implement a Public Relations campaign to expand the marketing of EdRev 2012 to boost attendance.  EdRev, an annual day of inspiration, resources and community building, will take place on Saturday, April 21, 2012 at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

The volunteers would assist with the following areas:

• Act as a central point of contact for the media for EdRev.
• Review the existing Public Relations/Media Outreach Plan and suggest changes, if appropriate.
• Generate buzz about EdRev using digital and social media strategies.
• Pinpoint newsworthy story angles for EdRev.
• Post events on online and print media calendars.

Please pass this along to anyone you know with expertise in this field.

Parents Education Network is please to announce that this summer we applied for and received a service grant from the Taproot Foundation. Unlike traditional foundations that make cash grants, the Taproot Foundation makes grants of professional consulting services, called Service Grants. Every Service Grant is delivered pro bono by a team of 5-6 business professionals who volunteer their time and expertise to help a nonprofit in their community.

This team will help us understand our position in the competitive landscape and our strengths and weaknesses relative to similar organizations. By the end of this 6 month-long process we hope to obtain understanding on how we can best collaborate with other organizations, and how we can avoid duplicating services to make the best use of all our resources. We are excited to be starting this process and would like to thank the team of consultants who have volunteered to guide us through this process.

Photojournalist Baptiste Lignel is seeking participants for an article on teenagers using 'behavior-modifying medication', including ADHD medications.

Here are some previous samples of his work:

New York Times: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/teenage-drug-use-by-prescription/

Marie Claire: MarieClaire-SouthAfrica.pdf

Baptiste will be in the Bay Area until October 3. If you think your child or another teenager you know might be interested (with parental permission), please contact PEN member Nina Grove: ninagrove@mac.com / (415) 269-7910.

News just in from Learning Ally:

Thanks to private donations, all of San Francisco Unified schools will now have access to Learning Ally's programs and services beginning this September, and continuing for two school years. These services include audio textbook downloads in all subject areas, specialized playback software, and customized live trainings for teachers and administrators. One hundred fifteen (115) school sites are currently enrolled, and can look forward to logging in to their online Learning Ally accounts, and getting started ordering audiobooks for their students with print disabilities! Learning Ally, the nation's largest educational audio textbook library, offers more than 65,000 downloadable titles in all K-12 curriculum areas from the top U.S. school publishers. Outreach to each school site is in progress, and an introductory training is being scheduled for October 13. For further information, please visit www.learningally.org/sanfrancisco!

University of California, San Francisco and University of California, Berkeley Child Life and Attention Skills Program: NIMH-funded research study on improving attention in children
This program is designed for children who have trouble paying attention, concentrating, completing homework or daily routine activities, and who may benefit from strategies to improve friendships. This program does not include medication.