Running for Tourette's

For my son, who is anxiously awaiting better treatment or a cure, I am running the Philadelphia half marathon in September to raise money for Tourette's research. To donate or help, go to this link: http://www.active.com/donate/08pdc/runforts

Another story for the "Why we homeschool" file

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/23/st-lucie-teacher-has-class-vote-whether-5-year-old/

A kindergarten teacher in Florida is getting more attention than she anticipated when she decided to have her students share, publicly, what they did not like about their classmate, and then vote on whether or not he should be allowed to stay in class.

The boy was voted out of class, 14-2.

The child is in the process of being evaluated for special needs and subsequent (we hope!) accommodation, although it is suspected that he has Asperger Syndrome and ADHD. Why that evaluation process, which was begun in February, has not yet been completed is anyone's guess.

This story reminded me of when my son was in Montessori preschool, and the other children were taught that he was "the bad boy." The teachers liked to joke, to me and to other parents, about how they sent my son out of the classroom whenever there were visitors, so he would not reflect badly on the school. Just think, I was paying good money to have people like that care for my child....

Adults and ADHD

A new study suggests ADHD can cost adults twenty workdays per year or more:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080526/ap_on_he_me/attention_deficit_disorder_work

I thought the list of supporters of this study was interesting.

TS "webinar" update

The complete TS "webinar" featuring Dr. Lawrence Brown from Children's Hospital in Philadelphia can be found/downloaded here: http://njcts.org/wordpress/?p=7

Note also that the above link includes a large number of questions that were asked and answered after the conclusion of the webinar.

Off-topic but worth sharing

Irena Sendler died Monday, at age 98. She is credited with smuggling nearly 2500 children out of the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080512/ap_on_re_eu/obit_sendler

From the story:

"Every child saved with my help and the help of all the wonderful secret messengers, who today are no longer living, is the justification of my existence on this earth, and not a title to glory," Sendler said in 2007 in a letter to the Polish Senate after lawmakers honored her efforts in 2007.

Something to share

Maybe it is a bit silly, but I really liked this passage from Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. I stumbled upon it again this evening, and I just wanted to share:

A great deal of what we know about surviving at extremes is owed to the extraordinary father-and-son team of John Scott and J.B.S. Haldane. Even by the demanding standards of British intellectuals, the Haldanes were outstandingly eccentric. The senior Haldane was born in 1860 to an aristocratic Scottish family but spent most of his career in comparative modesty as a professor of physiology at Oxford. He was famously absent-minded. Once after his wife had sent him upstairs to change for a dinner party he failed to return and was discovered asleep in bed in his pajamas. When roused, Haldane explained that he had found himself disrobing and assumed it was bedtime. His idea of a vacation was to travel to Cornwall to study hookworm in miners.

"Adopted Teens Face Higher Risk for ADHD"

Courtesy of NPR. The story actually discusses ADHD and ODD:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90184184

Use of anti-psychotic drugs by children is rising in UK and US

Posted without comment:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_he_me/psych_drugs_children

Dyslexia and language

Thanks to Corin for bringing this article to my attention. It is interesting, if unsurprising:

"How the Brain Learns to Read Can Depend on the Language"
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120965705088459637-yQaBdgYCbcVDimmKII6QpiuAgME_20090502.html?mod=rss_free