Test for Success: Assessment Accommodations
When a math assessment includes word problems, how can students with reading disabilities display their math skills? For assessments to be useful for teachers, students should be tested on their abilities, not their disabilities. No Child Left Behind: Determining Appropriate Assessment Accommodations has advice for both parents and teachers on how to ensure that students are tested fairly and accurately. Here are some accommodations that can help students' skills shine through:
- Large print texts
- Screen readers or talking computers
- Testing the student alone in a quiet room
- Tape recorders
- Extended time
- Frequent breaks
Watch a webcast on assessment and reading success
Reading Rockets, LD OnLine's sister site, is pleased to offer a brand new webcast: Assessment: On Track to Reading Success. The presenters, who have each authored many publications, are:
- Dr. Mary Ruth Coleman, President, Council for Exceptional Children; Senior Scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Dr. Roland Good, Associate Professor, School Psychology Program, University of Oregon
- Dr. Michael C. McKenna, Thomas G. Jewell Professor of Reading, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia
Dr. Coleman makes the following suggestions for assessing the reading skills of students with learning disabilities:
- Use timed tests only when you truly need to know how long it takes for a student to do a task, such as when you are evaluating reading fluency.
- Be very clear what you are assessing. Are we looking at reading comprehension, or is listening comprehension what we really care about?
- Use targeted error analysis to determine why the student is having trouble reading. Is it phonemic awareness, word recognition, or visual perception?
Enter the Teacher Appreciation Contest before April 23, 2007
Has a teacher helped you develop a strength? Or graciously given your child extra help? Teachers, do you have a colleague who is a model for teaching students with learning disabilities? Please share your stories of great teachers with the LD OnLine community in honor of Teacher Appreciation Day, May 8th. Post your story to the forums, and remember to enter the contest. You could win a $100.00 gift certificate for our online store!
New at Learning Store: Ennis' GiftMuch sought after but hard to find &#mdash; until now! Inspired by the late Ennis William Cosby, Ennis' Gift is a poignant show that encourages us to find the gifts and abilities present in every child. Special appearances by James Earl Jones, Henry Winkler, Charles Schwab, Danny Glover, Lindsay Wagner, Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Jenner, Jack Horner and other guests. |
New from Rick Lavoie
This month Rick presents Advice to Kids with Learning or Social Problems About Siblings. Come back in May for a new article: Improving Your Child's Social Behavior in Public Settings. It was written exclusively for LD OnLine, so you will be among the first to read it! We will also have instructions on how to do a social skills autopsy, which can help your child or student learn from misbehavior — and not do "it" again.
Featured articles
For all of our readers
- Dyspraxia
Dyspraxia refers to a disorder in motor skills development that affects both fine motor skills - such as writing - and gross motor skills - such as throwing a ball. Learn how dyspraxia impacts children, teenagers, and adults - and what you can do about it.
For parents
- Write letters that get results
Do you talk and talk to the teacher and administrators at your child's school but still feel that they aren't listening? Do you want to request an evaluation for services? To get your child's placement changed? Maybe you need to put it in writing. These templates provide a starting place for composing letters to the school about a variety of topics. Let your voice be heard.
For teachers
- Instruct students on social skills
Dr. Mac is back. Do your students have trouble getting along with others — to say nothing of getting along with you? Do you tell them to stop — but then they keep on going? Learn why they have social problems and how to teach them the skills they need to "get over it."
In the news
- MIT Researchers Offer Insights into How Brains Pay Attention
- Study May Help Develop ADD Treatments
- Is Dyslexia a Gift?
View more headlines in LD News >>
New in our Yellow Pages
Professionals
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- Encompass Learning Solutions
- Foundations Developmental House, LLC
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- Academy in Manayunk
- Charles Armstrong School
- Frostig Center
- The Learning Lab @ Lesley
- The Prentice School
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