Greetings!
| Topic of the Month: Learning
Disabilities |
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What Are the Early Warning Signs of Learning
Disabilities?
Children with learning disabilities
exhibit a wide range of symptoms. These include problems with
reading, mathematics, comprehension, writing, spoken language,
or reasoning abilities. Hyperactivity, inattention and
perceptual coordination also may be associated with learning
disabilities but are not learning disabilities themselves. The
primary characteristic of a learning disability is a
significant difference between a child's achievement in some
areas and his or her overall intelligence. Learning
disabilities typically affect five general areas:
To read
more go to: http://www.ricklavoie.com/earlyart.html
Learning Disorders A Common Thread: Teens Meet With
Peers To Share Stories And Notes About Their Disabilities
It had the feel of a teenage support group. One by
one, the dozen students in the circle listed their names,
their hometowns, and then something else they don't usually
talk about much.
"I'm Mat from Millburn and I have
dyspraxia and ADD," said Mat Fern, a senior at Millburn High
School.
In a rare look into the world and minds of
teenagers classified with learning and other disorders, more
than 100 students from seven high schools came yesterday to
Millburn High School to talk about their lives, challenges and
strategies for navigating the maze of obstacles they call
school.
To read more go to: http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-
18/1100238983319790.xml#continue
Learning Disabilities Not Permanent?
A
stunning turnaround in developmental neuroscience is the new
idea that the brain continues to develop throughout life and
that there are ways to alter and strengthen brain circuit
connections.
Dr. Jay Giedd and colleagues at the
National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md., have
been scanning the brains of children over years and have
documented, for the first time how the brain's higher-thinking
circuits continue to change throughout childhood. In addition
to confirming a tremendous growth of connections in early
childhood, they identified a second growth period of cells and
connections at puberty. One of the last circuits sculpted is
the frontal lobe, the brain's executive secretary, which helps
with judgment, planning and organization. This sculpting
continues into young adulthood.
Use it or lose
it
What neuroscience has also learned is that
cellular connections that are used will survive and flourish,
Giedd said. When unused, they are lost.
It is in this
period of brain plasticity, or growth, that clinicians are
attempting to help young people strengthen brain connections.
To read more go to: http://www.nynewsday.com/news/health/ny-
dshealth4034512nov09,0,2558243.story?coll=ny-health-
headlines
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| Your JSkyway Community |
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Special RAVSAK Teachers to Take
Teaching Hebrew Course
Fifteen RAVSAK teachers from
across the United States have been identified as outstanding
educators based on their demonstrated commitment to quality
Jewish education. Their prize: the opportunity to participate
in Teaching Hebrew, a new course from JSkyway.
Participating educators will benefit from their newly
acquired skills and ultimately be able to prepare lessons and
larger curricular units that engage the four different
language skills (speaking, writing, reading and listening) as
well as culture. Participating schools will be enriched by
educators who have successfully pursued professional
development and who will bring this expertise back to their
classroom.
For more information on how you can organize
and customize a course for educators in your area please
contact Lindsey Fieldman at: (617) 581-6847 or lfieldman@jflmedia.com
Special Late Rate for BabagaNewz
Could you
use additional copies of BabagaNewz? Is there a teacher you
know who would also like to subscribe? Now is a great time to
sign up for BabagaNewz because they are offering a special
Rest-of-the-Year Rate on new subscriptions: Just $3 per
student for the remainder of the 2004-2005 school year!
Minimum 5 students. To order, call 1-800-434-3934, e-mail mimi@babaganewz.com, or
subscribe online at www.babaganewz.com/orders.
Want your teachers to be informed of upcoming
professional development events and news? Subscribe them
to this Eletter by sending their names and email addresses to
Emily at: emyerson@jflmedia.com
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| A Better You |
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Check out JBooks.com for a
new department, Split Decision, in which two writers give
reviews of the same book. In this issue, take a look at Joy
Comes in the Morning, a new novel by Jonathan Rosen
(pictured at right), the former arts editor of the Forward.
Hampshire College professor Rachel Rubinstein calls
Joy "an engaging novel, unabashedly spiritual-minded and at
the same time mischievously irreverent: in short, thoroughly
and self-confidently Jewish."
Writer Bezalel Stern
lays out his opposing view by complaining that Rosen's heroine
is a less-than-round character.
Click on the link below to
read both reviews in full
http://www.jbooks.com/fiction/index/FI_Rubinstein_Ros
en.htm
IDEAS???
We would love to hear your feedback on
our current E-letter and requests for future issue topics!
What do you want to see in the next JSkyway E-letter? Email
your ideas to Emily Myerson at: emyerson@jflmedia.com
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2004 Biennial Conference of the Solomon Schechter
Day School Association
