It might not be Dyslexia

Photo credit: Eyes on main vision therapy

One of my children started having great difficulty with comprehension, organization, keeping track of her homework, finishing homework and prioritizing and planning her work when she entered high school. Prior to the public high school she attended a Waldorf school for most of her education. There she created her own lesson books and was afforded sufficient time to complete her studies. The teaching staff knew she struggled with some organizational issues but for the most part she did not struggle with her studies, which were typically hands-on.

 

When she entered high school it was suggested our child might have ADHD. It is a condition I don’t really believe exists on its own. From my research I have concluded more often than not it is a subset of behavioral symptoms, typically related to either environmental issues or underlying learning disabilities or both. I knew she was struggling so my daughter and I agreed she would have a developmental screening. Her testing concluded that she did not in fact have ADHD or any other learning disability.

The testing didn’t provide any diagnosis, which we were thankful for on one hand, but we still did not have a strategy to help her in school. We began to research organizational tools for teens and had her pick ideas she thought would work. After a few months she was getting further behind despite her best efforts. Then a progress report came home. I noticed that on her homework she was passing with high marks and on un-timed tests and group tests she passed with high marks. She was failing timed tests, which are a large percentage of the grade. I asked her to bring home all her timed tests. As I looked them over for clues, I realized she had several math questions where the numbers were backwards or where there should have been a 5 there was a 2. The first thing that popped into my mind was dyslexia, although from what I knew about that condition kids struggled to read. My daughter liked to read and she knocked down a few books every couple of days in summer so that didn’t seem like a likely. We were looking for solutions so we decided to take her in for dyslexia testing and found out she had reading and math dyslexia. I had a hunch this was not right.

 In the meantime, with the initial dyslexia diagnosis I set out to make things at school a bit easier for her. Within a month I helped her receive a 504 plan so we could get her basic accommodations. She continued free tutoring two days a week after school and used every organizational tool we could find that was geared toward dyslexia. We also worked with the school to find her a peer mentor that would help her with organization and accountability to remember to turn work in on time. I wanted her to be responsible for her week so we agreed I would check her work once a week and she would use her own systems to check her work weekly.

 I started to research conditions that get mistaken for dyslexia since I learned it is a catch all for a number of symptoms. The first nine conditions I came across we would have known she had, but then one stood out to me. Convergence Insufficiency Disorder—a problem where the eyes have a hard time working in tandem. Symptoms included blurred vision, double vision and severe headaches to name a few. The disorder mimics symptoms of dyslexia and ADHD. My daughter often suffered from headaches and with flipping numbers and problems spelling I thought that perhaps she had an eye disorder, although I was skeptical because she had 20/20 vision.

 I started looking into where I could get her tested and found a facility specializing in vision disorders. To my surprise and my daughter’s, she failed almost every vision test. Not even small fails, severely clinically deficient in several eye convergence tests. This disorder has tremendous impact on learning. My daughter’s depth perception was off, symbols like numbers and words never make it to the brain correctly making spelling and comprehension practically impossible, not to mention the severe migraine headaches that she would get from the eye strain to perform typical school work. The doctor couldn't believe she had done as well as she had in school. All they symptoms my daughter had she thought was normal for everybody! Thirty-six weeks of vision therapy is what we were assigned and it made all the difference.

It took persistence and intensive research to find our daughter solutions. The interesting thing we learned too was that because of her convergence disorder she is a hands-on and visual-spatial learner. Oddly it is precisely what her Waldorf schooling was providing her, probably the reason she struggled less there and we never caught it sooner!  If your child has been diagnosed with dyslexia a simple test might prove its not what you think it is and provide you powerful solutions that could make a world of difference for your child as they did for our daughter.

Self-Organized Learning Models

Education reform is a nice pair of buzzwords. What do they mean exactly? First we need to explore education development and the idea of how we learn. Language in the Declaration of Independence is as inapplicable to unforeseen modern day rights issues as our founding education methodologies are to today’s needs for innovation in education.

Back when men were traveling horseback from town to town championing the benefits of education in the 1600’s it was innovative to provide education in classrooms.

Now that we have all the kids wrangled up for compulsory education it’s time to rethink what it means to get educated.

You have probably had the experience when you were so engrossed in a book you could not stop reading. When you are interested in a topic so much you are compelled to devour every article on the subject. Or you have seen a toddler manipulate a new toy for extensive periods of time learning its every use without any instruction.

Inquisitiveness is the drive behind the emergent learning we are naturally prone to, and it is how we can learn without being taught what to learn. It is the very model of learning that some experts are saying is the only type of true learning.

Continuing from the early 90’s, Professor Sugata Mitra has experimented on how people learn by leaving a few computers embedded in walls of offices throughout slums in India. His experiments centered on whether children could figure out how to use computers and educate themselves on the downloaded subject matter. To his surprise typically within hours children had gathered in groups and worked with each other to figure out how to use the computers and within months worked collaboratively to learn complex subject matter.

His experiments have been replicated throughout the world proving time and again children can teach themselves complex subject matter with little supervision. At a recent TED Global talk he said, "I think we have stumbled across a self-organizing system with learning as an emergent behavior,"

Schools that support the idea of self-organized learning that Professor Mitra is promoting are Waldorf Schools, Sunny Hill Schools and Montessori Schools to name a few. Technology provides children  access to limitless subject matter and freedom in small group structure achieves the added benefit of brainstorming new approaches to problems. Perhaps using technology within collaborative groups will be the answer to our innovation quandary and will define what it means to receive an education.

Education is not received it is achieved. ~ Albert Einstein

 

 

Cashing In On Aging Convicts

Did you hear about the guy that got sentenced to life for stealing socks? If you didn’t then you might not be aware of the three strikes law in our country. It is the driving force behind our burgeoning prison system and why we waste tax dollars on non-violent criminals that could otherwise shed their stigma and contribute to society.

   photo from Charlotte Criminal Lawyer

A few days ago Douglas Walker the man who inspired the three strikes law was released in Fresno, California.

Walker was involved in a fatal shooting of a woman whose father went on to lead the three strikes campaign. As a result any criminal receiving a third conviction automatically gets sentenced 25 years to life in prison without parole. Regardless of the crime and whether or not it is violent. Even if the crime is as silly as stealing socks the convict could be looking at life and us taxpayers will be footing the bill.

The United States leads all other countries for sentencing criminals to life in prison without option for parole. According to ACLU reports, if we changed state and federal sentencing statutes to eliminate the three strikes policy sentencing non-violent offenders to life without parole tax-payers would have fiscal savings of $1.78 billion dollars.

Judges, Senate members and prison wardens all agree that the punishment of life without parole is cruel and frequently does not fit the crime. Burl Cain, Warden of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola said, “ There’s an answer to this without being so extreme. But we’re still living 20 years ago extreme. Throw the human away. He’s useless. Boom: up the river. And yet he didn’t even kill anybody. He didn’t do anything, but he just had an addiction he couldn’t control and he was trying to support it by robbing. That’s terrible to rob people-I’ve been robbed, I hate it. I want something done to him. But not all his life. That’s extreme. That’s cruel and unusual punishment to me.”

 For all our failing efforts in the “war on drugs” and getting tough on crime we have further failed our original purpose to deter and rehabilitate criminals. We have two choices. We lock people up and forget about them or help them find purpose to become functioning and contributing members of society. Most parents would not banish children to their bedrooms for the rest of their lives because it would be an unusual problem solving approach not to mention cruel and without purpose. So is forcing someone to experience life looking through steel bars until their death.

 

 

 

Further Reading:

Story on Douglas Walker:

 http://www.abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/state&id=9338129

ACLU Report on Life Without Parole for Non-Violent Offenses

https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/111213a-lwop-complete-report.pdf

 

 

 

Theory Based Education is Not Enough

                                 Edutopia: How Gardening Enables Interdisciplinary Learning

 

 

My last child is almost “Kindergarten age” and the prospect of her future attendance looms in the near future. Not because I can’t let go, but precisely because I acutely grieve her impending loss of time outside with hands on play intrinsic to her being.

In the gray drizzle of the early morning after a warm breakfast of oats, my girls pull on little yellow rubber boots, rains slickers and waterproof pants. Today we decide to visit a pond where we typically encounter about thirty ducks. The girls toss cheerios exclusively for the excursion to the quacking confluence.

We take the trail home and collect pine cones, fallen leaves and moss all the makings of a fairy house. I am preparing lunch and I can see them out the window with bits of nature adorning the wee folk house. They rake leaves, inspect little creatures, and plant apple seeds left over from lunch with a child-sized spade. They talk about the changes they see in nature throughout our yard as we cut back rosemary and other plants for winter. This play develops their connection and respect for their natural environment.

 
The idea of primarily theoretical based education available in most schools does not appeal to me because of the lack of time outdoors and disconnection between subjects. I placed my children in a Waldorf school to experience an integrated curriculum that would be driven by their experience and would include time outdoors in play, gardening and community service. Outdoor studies and gardening are palpable memories for my older children and inspired an interest in a variety of subjects from geometry to botany and biology.

Many public schools are now seeking ways to bring gardening or farm to food programs to schools. One such story on the power of integrated learning stands out in a town in California where a student named Pierre built an Aquaponics system in his school greenhouse. This young man had to create a proposal for the school board, design the system, raise funds for its construction and manage the project development. To his success there is a beautiful greenhouse on campus generating fresh food for the cafeteria. He is now inspired to create small-scale Aquaponic systems with accompanying curriculum for use throughout schools or in home settings. Experiential education is far more than integrating new media, which is still entrenched in theory. We desperately need authentic interdisciplinary learning inspired by students and faculty geared toward hands-on, out-of-doors experiences.

 

16 year-old arrested for Pittsburgh School Shooting

 

                                                                            Vector Photo by Wingnut Designs

 

 

We have toleration for gun deaths in this country because there is a belief that shootings are synonymous with ownership and that we share a protected collective right to own guns. Beliefs informed by the misquoted and misunderstood language of the second amendment that spurs misguided dialogue about gun ownership.  I have included the language of the second amendment for reference and contemplation.

 

The second amendment reads:

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

 

I believe people have a right to bear arms, but please allow me to clear up the potential ambiguity in my statement. Within each of us lies a perception of what that the second amendment guarantees. For a moment let us frame a perception where societal benefits and rights are placed above the individual.  

 

When I say I agree people should be allowed to bear arms I did not say all people, and I did not say what type of guns I think those people should be allowed to bear. Neither did the second amendment. Let’s start off by creating a list of qualifiers to owning a gun. Of sound mind and a clear criminal record top the list. But this statement needs further clarification. When I say sound mind I mean a person has undergone clinical testing by a licensed psychologist with results indicating sound mental health. Additionally a person must pass a urinalysis prior to the purchase of a gun. When people pass clinical testing, urinalysis and rigorous background checks verified throughout the states we could get a comprehensive look at potential deviance and risks toward violent tendencies.

 

Addressing the types of firearms people are permitted to own is the most difficult topic to tackle in the gun control movement. The founding fathers certainly would not have been able to provide language to prohibit types of guns that are being sold today. Long gone are the days of muzzle loading rifles. Perhaps they did foreshadow the need to address regulations on gun ownership with the opening words of the second amendment.

 

Our high rate of gun related injuries and deaths would only reduce if we agreed that gun ownership  to people of sound mind is not being debated, only the types of guns we are allowed to carry. Nor are our individual liberties being denied to defend life, freedom, family and country. The restriction on gun types and ownership will improve public safety and still uphold the intent of the amendment. It is now time to address the introductory words of the second amendment we are failing at, the well-regulated part.

 

News article inspiring this week’s blog:

http://www.ebony.com/black-listed/news-views/arrest-made-in-pittsburgh-high-school-shooting-981#.Uom7LJV8PIU

 

 

 

Bullied to Backed

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2013/11/04/bullied-for-pink-shoes-cuomo-newday.cnn.html

I chose this story because it demonstrates that bullying is about misplaced power that stems from misunderstanding. Because these students sought to understand a person’s choices, because they were curious, they were able to move to understanding and acceptance. More importantly what followed was a change in behavior inspired through empathy.

A large portion of students at Wyndham Middle School in Massachusetts are developing empathy from a bullying situation by repairing it in a powerful way.

In the month of October millions adorn themselves in shades of pink to build awareness and support for breast cancer survivors and research.  In a story featured by The Eagle Tribune, a Windham 7^th grader named Ryan Marotta donned a pair of hot pink sneakers to honor his mother who is a survivor of breast cancer.  His loving act was met with criticism from fellow classmates razzing him about his pink shoes.

Ryan continued to wear the shoes despite bullying and negative feelings that were developing from his choice to wear them. Then there was a turning point. His classmates wanted to know why he was wearing pink.  Ryan’s inspiring shoe choice was the hot pink shoes the NFL players wear in October to show support of breast cancer awareness. Learning this, fellow classmates rocked pink clothing in an effort to show apology and respect for a boy, his mother and an important cause.

The story went viral and Ryan was invited to the Queen Latifah show where upon arriving he was greeted with a video message from the coach of his favorite NFL football team. Being a quarterback and avid football fan Ryan was ecstatic to hear from Pete Carroll, coach of the Seattle Seahawks and was showered with messages of praise and respect not to mention football memorabilia for being a brave role model.

 Ryan went from being bullied to backed by a school, a major NFL team and a community. Regarding the lesson well learned Ryan said,  “Don’t be afraid to support something you know is good.”

Adapted from the article at Eagle Tribune: Thinking Pink

 

Can You Afford to Go to Work?

 

There was a time I couldn’t afford to go to work after the birth of my girls who are a little less than two years apart. I was smack dab in the common dichotomy of most families, the desire to be available at home and raise my children and the needs of a growing family that required extra income.

 

My net income after all my childcare expenses was $266 a month if I worked full time in an office. So I opted to work from home. I was blessed to somehow do all the crazy shuffling involved in contract work and taking care of kids. At the same time it was incredibly stressful to live paycheck to paycheck and manage my work at home many a bleary-eyed night.

 My childcare expenses were more than our monthly budget for groceries, which is the same predicament for a majority of households with children. In a recent report covered by NPR, Lynette M. Fraga, Executive Director of Child Care Aware of America stated, “Childcare is an increasingly difficult financial burden for working families to bear.” She went onto say that unlike other forms of education families bear the brunt of early education costs.

 The other consideration in this dilemma is that childcare workers should be paid appropriately. Is childcare any less important than all the other services we spend significant time seeking out for our children? I think that health care and childcare top the charts when it comes to finding good providers for our kids. Childcare providers are nurturing our children’s growth in formative years so they are well deserving of appropriate pay. The question is how can we off set the burden to working families so they have the services and benefits available to continue to earn a living without short changing the child care providers? I would love to hear some innovative thoughts about this outside of grants. What are other solutions from pockets in the U.S. or other countries that are working to provide high quality affordable childcare? Please share your thoughts.

 

For further reading:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/11/04/243005358/child-care-costs-already-high-outpace-family-income-gains

The Great iPad School Roll Out

Driver’s education makes sense. You learn how to use the machine and typical rules of engagement associated with it so you lessen the risk of damaging yourself or others.

Social media ethics education makes sense for the very same reasons. Many schools are acquiring funding for iPad roll out strategies for preK-12^th graders. Yet there is not a cohesive strategy across school districts regarding protocol, social media use or how much time kids spend on the devices.

 

One thing is certain, unless ethics is part of the school’s training in iPad and computer programs usage, there is the potential for irreparable damage kids could cause with the hand held piece of machinery. Once the school provides any connectivity device to students they have a responsibility to help educate on proper social conduct. I feel parents need to help drive this effort by participating in school led planning sessions on ethics content development.

 

The major focus of such programs, albeit good intentioned, is getting kids on board with technology sooner so they can be technologically savvy to compete in tomorrow’s job market. You have to buy that logic to be on board with this program, but let’s set that reasoning aside to address immediate issues. A few questions come to mind for me. The first being, do three year-olds really need their own tablets? Secondly, at what grade should schools begin such a program and how is that determined? How are schools educating kids about ethics for social media participation prior to giving tablets to students? The final big question is how are schools managing student’s media use in class in consideration of before or after school use?

 I understand the intention of such programs and I am also concerned about increasing screen time at school at how it ties back to AAP guidelines. Earlier this year the American Academy of Pediatrics gave the statement: “The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages media use by children younger than age 2 and recommends limiting older children's screen time to no more than one or two hours a day.” With tablets passed out to the youngest of the school set kids are more than likely blowing past screen consumption recommendations.

I find it ironic that in schools where ADHD is apparently on the rise and we hear complaints of fidgety kids, tired kids, kids that have a hard time paying attention we are piling on the potential for more screen time. If your kid just got a shiny new tablet you might want to consider creating a parent coalition at your child’s school. Mandate social media ethics education and discuss appropriate limits on screen time used during school for your child’s education. Knowing how to communicate effectively and appropriately is as important for kids as knowing how to use the tools to do so.

 

 

For further reading on this topic:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/children-and-tv/MY00522

 http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/11/01/242156138/for-the-tablet-generation-a-lesson-in-digital-citizenship?ft=1&f=1013

 

 

 

 

 

Lack of Trust Making You Itchy?

The U.N. will receive an anti-spying resolution spear-headed by European and Latin American diplomats in collaboration with other countries in the next week in an effort to protect and expand online confidentiality. In my opinion the anti-spying resolution is more than data protection. It is a contractual boundary promoting transparency indicative of unspoken trust that must be at the forefront of negotiations and collaboration to meet basic shared needs of all countries.

In a time of unprecedented connectivity we must believe in the inherent good of nations. We need our governing representatives to forge relationships built on trust in the idea that many more people want to see a decline in the amount of violence in the world and want to collaborate among nations to improve resource allocation and the rights and health of people and planet.

 I remember a particular incidence where my trust was ripped from me as my face grew flush and my stomach contracted with the visceral reaction of betrayal. In a moment I knew my privacy had been violated. This may very well be the same gut response German Counselor Angela Merkel had when she furiously spoke out against spying upon learning the U.S. allegedly monitored her cell phone through NSA activities.

 Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff is outraged over purported U.S. surveillance tactics, which she is likening to espionage activity. As covered by an article in the Huffington Post, monitoring of citizen’s data is protected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which went into force in 1976. One of the reasons countries are drafting a U.N. resolution to expand these rights.

 In response to concerns about surveillance the U.S. has justified unnecessary policing activities as a measure to counter terrorism. This is an odd strategy to say the least along with the confusing unspoken messages it sends to citizens in the U.S. and other countries. As a nation we are policing the activities of countries with whom we have good relations. Data scrubbing is a betrayal of trust, or indicates the lack thereof, which I believe is at the heart of the outrage. The theory that if you do not have anything to hide you will not be concerned about being monitored is a fallacy. Nations are outraged because being monitored for an ongoing basis sends the message that in reality we are not ready to collaborate with other countries because at our core we do not trust them. The U.S. will need to genuinely respond to the breach of trust and  growing frustration of other countries or risk polarizing them with unwarranted investigations for potential threats and our lack of shared beliefs in transparency.

Trust is the motivator of you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours. If one person is afraid to scratch the other’s back in fear of not having the favor returned everybody ends up itchy. Right now all this monitoring is making us all a bit itchy.

Read further here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/26/un-anti-spying-resolution_n_4165470.html?utm_hp_ref=world 

Innovation Please

Sir Ken Robinson

 

I am not a believer in homework before high school, and even then it should be engaging and worthwhile. If my child knows exactly what homework will be done each night I am not certain she is really learning anything outside predictability.

Today I spent forty minutes with my six-year old supporting her with homework. She was cutting out little rectangles of paper with words on them, which she then sorted into “starting sound” categories or prefixes of words. I cannot speak to the effectiveness of this method to teach bound morphemes, though I do know we are bound to this activity every Monday for the rest of the school year.

I approach this time with attentiveness and a positive attitude while my daughter performs her learning task, which consequently is performed only slightly different four out of the five school days. Admittedly it is my least favorite of her assignments. I can hardly wait to stuff the little scraps of paper into their accompanying bag. We have the homework memorized, now please engage us.

 As an Interactive Producer I have helped produce interactive games, videos and web casts, which I am sure could be implemented in a way that supports the natural development of the child while integrating technology and multimedia learning into a classroom.

For a six-year-old and a sixteen year old, multimedia could be used in class although it would look very different. It is not conducive to a six-year-old child’s development to sit too long or stare at a screen as it goes against their innate desire to move. An example of an innovative and engaging way to use technology in music would be to have children watch a few short You Tube videos of other children playing the instrument they are learning, or Conferencing children from other schools learning the instrument to talk about how they feel when they play it. Let’s use a ukulele music lesson as our example to hypothesize what the use of new and old learning modalities can accomplish when used cohesively and age appropriately in a classroom.

Students could be introduced to the instrument through a Skype or conference call with an artist in Hawaii that plays the ukulele.  After the call the classroom teacher could continue her lesson practicing what the guest Skype teacher covered. A week later the children could learn a small dance that is typically performed to the ukulele song and learn about the history of ukulele.  Shortly thereafter children could Skype with the Hawaiian teacher one last time to make sure the short piece is being played correctly. A final effort could be a concert with students performing the dance and music pieces. Students could film the performance on video while learning another communication form through basic cinematic elements to create a DVD to mail the guest Skype teacher. Students could also send hand written thank you letters with their final video project along with thoughts on what they liked most about the experience. Old and new teaching modalities need to be melded into a class environment that supports the idea of technology introduction guided by child developmental phases in a cohesive manner. Now that’s innovation.

GPS shoes to money roll counters

 

 After researching accessibility issues for technology, I was inspired to learn about apps for people with vision impairments. Since apps are visually rich I was curious about adaptations. What follows is my Tech Tester feedback for some of the latest and greatest apps I could find.

 

Top on my list of cool is the Le Chal app used with a special shoe and accompanying app. It was designed by a Hewlett Packard researcher Anirudh Sharma, and uses proximity sensors, small circuitry for vibration guidance and runs via a blue tooth between the shoe and Google Maps on an Android Phone. Sorry for the Apple fans, but the app does not work for the iPhone yet. This is the closest to go-go gadget shoes that I am aware of! The person enters their destination in Google maps then starts walking, while the proximity sensor in the shoe detects objects in the walking path. If there is an obstacle a signal is sent to the circuit board, which triggers vibrations on either the left or right side of the shoe. Vibrations will continue until the person is clear of the obstacle or has turned the direction needed based on directions programmed into Google Maps.

 

The only down side I could see to this app would be that although you are being alerted to something in front of you, you don’t know what it is you are trying to avoid.  I would personally use it with a cane until the technology gets more sophisticated. What would be cool is if a small camera could be installed next to the motion sensor.  The camera could relay the signal to the phone to identify the word for the object the person is trying to avoid using photo recognition technology. Simple words like person, dog, tree, car, would all be useful for the person in determining a possible size and radius for the object they are trying to avoid.

 

Next on my list is SayText, similar to Dragon Dictation, which I have used often except the person uses the app to scan text instead of speaking it. This app is useful for everyday forms like fliers or restaurant menus. The person presses the app, scans the document and the app beeps when the information is collected. Swipe the phone screen to the right and voila, it speaks the text out loud!

 

LookTel is another cool app that uses recognition technology to identify US currency for $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 bills, and even Franklins if you roll with a lot of those in your wallet! The person holds the phone camera up to the money and the app uses voice response to tell her what denomination she is holding. I went to purchase it for fun, but at $9.99 I decided to pass. Talking Calculator is another app that is functional in the math/money category. The app reads the numbers, signs and buttons out loud as you slide your finger over them. Double tap a key to enter numbers and signs into equations and the app will read the answer out loud. The developer made a scientific calculator version as well and both are under $2 dollars.

 

Learning Ally app is the largest library of audio books for K-12 and college text. Books can be downloaded and played on all iOS devices. For a price of $19.99 this app is quite affordable for the quantity of learning materials available.

 

I love Pandora, and the coolest app I could find similar for blind and visually impaired people was iBlink radio. The app is more advanced than Pandora as it provides access to web radio stations in a multitude of genres and it gives the listener access to community focused web stations and pod casts as well. The app also offers a reading service for numerous publications.

 

 

Learn about the Le Chal Haptic Shoe App: http://www.healio.com/ophthalmology/neurosciences/news/print/ocular-surgery-news-europe-edition/%7B8bbadef6-a081-4609-963c-afc8071e4fdc%7D/haptic-shoe-provides-gps-directions-for-independent-motion-of-blind-visually-impaired

 

 

 

Internet Accesibilty for Blind and Visually Impaired

Original Image by: Jack Schofield for The Guardian


Keeping up with technology is similar to building a sand castle at low tide. There is always a wave of new information that will have you starting over again. I embrace this fact and I am challenged by it striving to keep current on technological developments. This is the reason I have recently found at least a dozen tools, apps and social media platforms I did not even know existed. Or, if I had heard of them thought they had a different purpose. I am amazed and in awe of the plethora of technologies to support business, health care and education. Technology has made it possible for me to work from home and attend university remotely. I am engaging with top-notch instructors and curriculum without setting foot on campus.

As I was thinking about the rich media presentations I am often given in my courses and I was reminded of a recent Human Rights Watch video about the need for teachers fluent in sign language to teach deaf children. I began to think about the challenges people that are deaf, blind or visually impaired may have participating in our virtually expanding world, let alone just connecting to the Internet. I was inspired to understand more about accessibility issues and was pleased to learn the FCC is aiming to improve access to what is deemed “Advanced Communication Services,” like those provided on a cell phone, tablet or laptop to people who are blind or visually impaired.

Schools and universities have specific laws under the Americans With Disabilities Act defining reasonable accommodations for students with hearing or vision impairments. To the contrary the FCC has made several mandates to implement the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 without much guidance for companies on how to become compliant. The bill addresses accessibility on mobile devices for all persons with disabilities but emphasizes Internet browsers and Internet browsers on mobile phones for blind and visually impaired people. The law was effective as of October 8, 2013 however the FCC will need to make language modifications to ensure accessibility interfaces are mandated in cell phones. The law is a leap forward in communications access and will improve independence in the daily, work and educational life of those with vision or hearing disabilities.

Reproduced from: http://www.telecomlawmonitor.com/2013/05/articles/fcc/fcc-requires-mobile-phone-manufacturers-and-service-providers-to-make-internet-browsers-accessible-to-the-blind-and-visually-impaired-by-october-2013/

Human Rights Watch Video: Offer Deaf Children Education in Sign Language
Access here:
http://mm.hrw.org/content/offer-deaf-children-education-sign-language

Schools Can Sell Student Data- without parental consent

 

 

My children often use apps at school they rave about such as Raz-Kids and Google Apps for learning on the iPad. As they progress through the grades they will be using a host of other instructional software programs the school has licensed from private companies. I like that my kids move through the learning objectives at their own pace in a hands on interactive style which appears to engage them. I get concerned that maybe the overuse of the computer may keep my kids from developing penmanship and cursive, or that they may begin to rely on sorting out answers in a multiple choice format instead of using investigative and innovative problem solving. At the same time I realize they are also learning to use technology, something they will need to be adept at as older learners and into adulthood.

  As I consider all the pros and cons of interactive learning and how often it is used in schools, one thing that never crossed my mind was the privacy risk to my children and family by using learning apps. Maybe you didn't think about that either. I assumed the school protected my children’s confidential academic and personal information and that any information obtained about my children would be for helping them reach learning objectives, not for marketing to them or our family. Seems like a given right? Well that is what I thought until I read an article in the NY Times which informed me that due to a change in nationwide school policies in 2008, schools have the ability to share children’s information to third party companies not affiliated with the school as well as the companies providing the instructional programs—without parental consent.

 As an Interactive Producer I understand the power technology has to impart knowledge in a variety of ways to a learner, but it should not simultaneously impart marketing metrics to those technology providers outside of ways to provide tailored education to children. It is common practice to use metrics in other industries like healthcare to allow conversations with patients and physicians on things like dietary intake and exercise to see how those are impacting well-being and symptom reduction. This an example of a positive use of metrics as does using student learning data within applications to improve learning and cognition for individual students.

 Customizing health care and education with data can be powerful when used appropriately and privately. The use of data for any purpose other than improvements for health or learning in these sectors needs to be addressed. This article mentions how schools have the power of selling information on what students eat for lunch or how often they miss school. On Monday I'll be making a call to the superintendent of my children’s school district to see how schools in my state safeguard student information. If you are interested in seeing how safe your children's data is you can learn more about this topic by asking your school district what kind of data they collect on students and by researching The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.


FERPA: http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html


Repurposed from: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/technology/concerns-arise-over-privacy-of-schoolchildrens-data.html?ref=education&_r=0

World Treaty on Toxic Mercury

Are you thinking about having a child? If so you might have mixed feelings of joy and concern as you are considering all the ways your life will change. There a numerous conditions we hope our children do not inherit from cystic fibrosis to diabetes. For many people these are manageable conditions. One unmanageable disease you might not have heard of in your pre-pregnancy planning is Minamata Disease. Why? Because it is a disease that developed in people due to corporate pollution. It is a neurological condition that can be passed to a developing fetus as the result of mercury exposure to the mother leading to physical deformities at birth. A person with the disease can experience tremors, numbing of body parts, seizures, brain damage, blindness, and in many cases death. Unfortunately several thousand people developed this condition in Japan because a fertilizer turned petrochemical company dumped its mercury containing waste in the waterways of villages outside Tokyo. This occurred from the 1920's through the 1960's by the offender the Chisso Corporation and stands as the worst ongoing mercury poisoning of people in our time. You might ask yourself, "why is this important to me?" It is important to you because your child could be inadvertently exposed to mercury through products you purchase not only from Japan or China but in the United States as well. According to the Environmental Protection Agency there are several mercury containing product categories such as dental fillings, vaccine, hospital equipment, lamps, switches, thermostats, lighting, and light bulbs to name a few. Up until a short time ago mercury was added to toys and jewelry and let's not forget those novelty 25 cents toys in vending machines. Mercury is listed as one of the most dangerous chemicals by the EPA, yet all over the world its use is adversely affecting people often unsuspecting of its risks, such as the workers in this video using it in gold mining processes. All countries need to phase out mercury use in our products and production processes so that a disaster like the one in Minamata or the development of neurological conditions from ongoing exposure to mercury containing products do not befall another person. The treaty that is being discussed in Japan addresses only some aspects of mercury use. We need to speak up for citizens in other countries and lead by example as we demand our federal and states agencies pass laws to stop mercury use in our products and recall and recycle mercury through regulatory mechanisms in our hospitals, schools and other places that are supposed to stand for the health, well being and education of our citizens. Read the story here: http://phys.org/news/2013-10-minamata-mercury-treaty-conference-japan.html

Children 1/3 of global workforce

168 million is the number of child laborers we currently have in our global economies. It is an atrocity that we had 30% more child workers than this woeful number in 2010. Whether tactics include amendments to the constitution or boycotting of goods produced using child labor, reduction is failing.

 In Brazil yesterday, 193 countries were represented at the third annual International Conference on Child Labor. Despite policies to reduce the number of child laborers, they still account for nearly a third of our global work force.

Throughout history children have worked to help support family and industry. In the Untied States the onset of The Industrial Revolution was the double edged sword shoving children into work and simultaneously raising awareness of workers rights and child labor issues.

Child labor has a kinder gentler connotation than child exploitation. Yet semantics can not minimize the violation of children's rights and hindrance to their natural unfolding and development as whole beings. It is deplorable that children must consider better treatment on the job instead of better education.  Child workers are mute to their plight. Young size and intellect serve employers of deplorable ilk as they impress upon malleable children in the seedy underworld of trafficking.

 Education of our children is the path to future global economic innovation, not filling cheap industrial or agricultural job slots with children. We have propped up the financial stool of  world economies to the detriment of our children and ourselves. Every sewn shirt, every basket of pesticide laden fruit picked and every atrocious act of sex trafficking performed by a child keeps nations in the shadows of integrity. We need to be brave enough to enforce policy and punish businesses that use small hands for big financial reward. The future possibility of sustainable child-free economies and the gift of educated innovative ideas from generations of children depend upon us. 

Access the article here, speak out after:

http://news.yahoo.com/child-labor-down-not-enough-222555916.html;_ylt=A2KJNF_g_VRSpj0Au2HQtDMD

Cocaine and Dope Get Cheaper--only part of the reason we are losing the war on drugs

Coke and Dope prices are dropping making the purchase entry price to illicit drugs easier and convoluting the war on drugs. As we are bombarded by coverage of wars around the world, the not forgotten war on drugs is still being waged, and is failing. I picked this article because outside of religion and fanaticism, drugs bring significant conflict and crime along with skyrocketing numbers of arrests. This article talks about recent research from a joint study by Canada and the US indicating drugs have gotten cheaper and more accessible around the world from Afghanistan to Australia. Can we get some cheap reefer mate? The article discusses that if drugs are so prevalent why are we not considering looking at the issue as a public health problem as opposed to a criminal problem. Our war on drugs is clearly failing and it is time to find a new way to crack down on crank. Locking up thousands of people for an ounce of pot is overloading jail systems and is not reducing recidivism. I don't believe in drug use, but I do believe that decriminalizing small possession with health intervention is more likely to ease the burden on our prison systems and more likely garner support for addicted individuals.



See the full article here:

http://www.ubmfuturecities.com/author.asp?section_id=213&doc_id=525829

White Girls Club?

White Girls Club might sound like something that would have been around before the civil rights movement, not a club started in 2013 by high school girls from New Jersey. I was appalled by the use of social media to spread racially heated messages between club members at Franklin High School. The fascinating sociological aspect to this hate tweeting group bearing the tag #wgc, is that they went public with messages that are incriminating in a high school setting. Fortunately a growing number of schools and counselors including Franklin, are required to create policies dictating social media use. The girls that formed the club and several other students linked to the group were investigated for counts of bullying and intimidation and found guilty. All students involved were required to go to counseling and their parents were encouraged to attend as well. Cases like this reinforce the need to be absolutely clear when creating social media policy. Propaganda of this nature will then be penalized and hopefully the repercussions will involve educating those creating such abuses and holding them accountable for their actions.

After reading this article I wondered about the general racist attitude towards African Americans that these students have developed. I am personally concerned about how our hyper connected world and evident stereotyping in the media trickles down from new sources to parents to their children. Stereotyping happens to every race and ethnic background if you look for it and at the same time it seems that media influences these perceptions faster then ever and potentially for longer, as you can still Google things long after they have been "forgotten." In the case of the #wgc, we  will not know if media had a big influence in these girls actions as we are not privy to what will be discussed with these students in their counseling sessions. We may not hear what happens when they return to school and how they interact with students of different ethnic backgrounds after their individual therapy sessions. I am reminded that I have the power in how I use social media to speak up against discussion that negatively focuses on race and stereotyping against any group of people. Those girls from Jersey can flip their three fingers over from a W to make the letter M. Standing for maybe they should have that about this a little more.

Al-Qaeda's Resurgence--Article from the Economist

The Economist had a striking cover today, a skull and crossbones filled with names of terrorist related terms. What struck me about this article was that it mentions President Obama stating that al-Qaeda was "on the path to defeat," and yet we see it is growing in tactics, technologies and training power.

The article cover caught my eye but the story stood out as it gives a solid account of how the al-Qaeda is growing and  a shocking fact it gave was that "...Syrian Free Army has been progressively displaced by better-organised and better-funded jihadist groups that have direct links with al-Qaeda. Western intelligence estimates reckon such groups now represent as much as 80% of the effective rebel fighting force."

The question in my mind is not whether or not we react to this mounting terrorist resurgence, but how will we respond that will allow for empathy building and finding commonalities that might end such radical hateful ideology. Is it supporting troops in other countries and giving them technologies to fight al-Qaeda as this article discusses? How do we find commonalities in any war that allow for dialogue, empathy and understanding as the basis for fighting terrorism without fighting at all? It is more of an empathic question and less military focused. I believe radical propaganda needs to be replaced with grassroots groups that open dialogue between nations. I don't know exactly what this approach looks like, but I hope as we become even more globally connected we become just that, more connected.


See the article here:
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21586832-west-thought-it-was-winning-battle-against-jihadist-terrorism-it-should-think-again

Jefferson and Lippmann Free Press Advocates

"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." -- Thomas Jefferson



"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." -- Thomas Jefferson

"There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and to shame the devil." -- Walter Lippmann

I believe what Jefferson was saying in these quotes is that to remain free independent thinkers we rely on the press to gather and accurately present information relating to government and world issues so that we can make informed decisions on how we want to be governed. This is true today regardless of the media platform. The press must systematically gather and check information before releasing it and informing public opinion. Without freedom of the press we are left with propaganda and dictatorship a far cry from the freedoms we are privileged to.

Lippmann was a prolific voice in journalism purveying the truth above all else, even to the later detriment of his journalism career. He believed in skepticism of fact, in trustworthy and relevant information to be delivered to the people to form their own beliefs through fair unbiased media. This is relevant today, however the advent of mass media and citizen journalism translates to a constant stream of media that quite often does not go through the analysis and review necessary to ensure its reliability, resulting in muddied information that at times can be the devil in the details. We are at a crossroads in journalism as we sift through information from a multitude of outlets to determine what is true as opposed to what is allegedly true in order to be accountable to the people and empower truth, democracy and equality. Although there is excessive exploitation in a multitude of forms in the media, I believe there are many more stories from people that through their journalistic endeavors take great care in how they impact public opinion, as did Lippmann. Public opinion should not be based on propaganda ideas, the devil Lippmann spoke of in addition to calling out the wrong doings of those in higher places of society and government.

Whistleblowers

I believe when we look at cases involving national security and whistle blowers such as Snowden and Wikileaks, the bigger issue is not the leak but what is going on that necessitated the leak to begin with. We as a society have a right to know how our goverment is operating and that means knowing whether or not we are being unecessarily policed, our very bill of rights defines and protects us from such abuses in power by the government. We are protected against searches in the manner in which the phone companies participated and whistleblowers help us shed light on ways our rights are being violated. Be it journalist or employee, we need those willing to speak the truth to blow that whistle of informity and transparency to hold government accountable to its citizens. Quite simply, "Whistle-blowing is the moral response to immoral activity by those in power." 1

The concern for our nation is not if we are over policed but how. 2 Since the release of the Complete Pentagon Papers, and Wikileaks and Snowden and a host of other cases our attitudes around whistle blowers have changed. The very things each case represents is our rights and liberties as citizens and how those are being violated. New laws have been created like The Whistleblowers Act, and yet people involved in such cases of liberty abuse have faced very steep sentences protecting our rights. In order to protect democracy I feel we need to do a better job protecting those willing to risk dire consequences to protect it for us whether you believe they are traitors or heroes, whistle blowers have a place in protecting democracy.











1. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/what-we-dont-know-about-spying-on-citizens-scarier-than-what-we-know/276607/

2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/22/daniel-ellsberg-bradley-manning_n_3793199.html

HBO's The Newsroom--- Make Existential Truth A Priority

After watching HBO's The Newsroom, I felt that the news anchor was played exceptionally well by Jeff Daniels. I was not offended nor was I in complete acceptance or in agreement with the information he presented. I absolutely do not agree that this is the worst time to be born, perhaps because I strive to be informed and I choose to believe that examining the context of events in the larger media landscape is what is important. The answers inform how we can improve as a nation, and I believe we have the power to change and grow as does every nation with better or worse numbers in varying categories of societal well being.

The sorority girl asks, "What makes the US the greatest country in the world?" I don't believe there is such a thing. I believe that when we look at "greatness" there are a lot of factors to be considered, and the college student clearly didn't define any criteria. I feel that there are ideals each country can strive for, and this is where journalism has a hand. It informs us on how we are evolving and living in our globally connected world. Journalism informs the public and we inform democracy whether locally, nationally or internationally. We have a say in how we want our government to engage with the world, and as the anchor suggested, we can't scare so easy. It is one thing to be informed, it is another to demand appropriate action. Greatness comes from having an informed voice.

When we have data on rates of crime, poverty, education and infant mortality and those figures are not where we want them to be, we as citizens can demand action from government to improve on those categories of health. Journalism is supposed to be the voice of the people and representative of the change we seek. Journalism has succeeded in regurgitating facts and the anchor is able to report on those numbers because technological advances we have made allow him to obtain the information readily. The bigger question the anchor is alluding to is why are we satisfied with those numbers and how have we allowed them to get where they are? His answer is that we are not as informed as we once were nor are we demanding change.

We have entered into an age of journalism that is bombarded by government and corporate entities and we now identify ourselves by categories such as our political affiliations. The anchor says, "I voted for candidates run by both major political parties." He is doing his best to avoid influencing his viewing audience and is making a point that he votes on whom he feels will best represent the country not on which party the candidate represents. The anchor wants people to strive for their own understanding of an existential truth, not just what is happening in the moment but how stories we read about matter in the world and at home in our country. The anchor throws out a lot of numbers on how the US compares to other countries and reminds us that we used to "strive for intelligence."  If we want to improve the quality of life for ourselves and for others in the world we have to remember it's not about the numbers it's what the numbers and the information mean in the larger context of how we live and navigate our relations with neighbors and nations.

 Robert Manoff of the Department of Journalism at NYU, speaks to the desires of the anchor from the News Room, he reminds us to look at how and why we report news and the impact journalists have on society. "Perhaps "To Whose Benefit?" should always be on the agenda, with answers to be shaped by concern for the vigor of republican subjecthood and the vitality of the public sphere. Finally, as should be obvious... I would expect that journalists will be taught to ask, always, "What Does It Mean?," with existential concerns uppermost in their minds when doing so."1


1. Robert Manoff, Department of Journalism NYU, Director of Center for War, Peace and News Media. Democratic Journalism and the Republican Subject: Or the Real American Dream and What Journalism Educators Can Do About It. Original Post Online 09/16/2002. Online 9/20/13.
http://journalism.nyu.edu/publishing/archives/debate/forum.1.essay.manoff.html

Ethiopia Gives Awards to Families Having Fewer Children

The Ethiopian Government is concerned about family size and its affects on the economy and resources and is tackling the issue through peer driven family planning education called "community talks." In small villages across the country nurses are educating women about the risks of multiple births without proper spacing for both mother and child, in addition to the financial burdens the family will face.

The world population is in the billions and it begs the question how much life can the planet harbor? Perhaps in countries with high birth rates like Niger, Mali, Uganda and Burkina Faso, "community talks" may positively impact birth rates, health of mothers, children and environment. We are beginning to globally address family planning and peer mentoring may prove effective in helping families decide how many children they want to have while retaining their freedom to choose.

See story here:
http://www.pri.org/stories/healthglobal-health/ethiopia-rethinks-the-model-family.html

Fracking Bill Friends to Foes

Gov. Jerry Brown (D) will sign California bill SB4, regulating hydraulic fracturing into law in the weeks ahead.

Initially environmental groups were  positive about regulations set forth in the bill. Several amendments later,  leading groups withdrew support of SB4 because loopholes still allow for circumstances that pose great risk to human and environmental health.

Whether you reside in California or Canada, this bill will set a precedence for regulating the fracking industry. We need to understand the loopholes SB4 has and how we can improve legislation  to    address the myriad of health and environmental threats we all face from future fracking.