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Friday stream 6 Session 14.00 - 15.40 Length 25 minutes
Glenn Young
U.S. Department of Education, Washington DC, 20202 Glenn_Young@ed.gov
Abstract
For decades, it was assumed that Dyslexia/US Learning Disabilities (hence forth LD) was a "young boys disorder." Most of the children identified and were in studies for LD were boys. In schools, special education programs were filled with mainly boys. Even in the "Report to Congress on Learning Disabilities" in 1985, it was stated as fact that LD occurred more often in males. However, the research conducted by NIH, in response to the "Report to Congress" found something very different. The ten-year study of children in several states found that girls and boys have LD at about the same rates. What the study implied was that cohorts of females had gone through schools unidentified and un-served. Additional studies of welfare populations confirmed this implication by showing rates of some 50% of welfare recipients having LD or other related disabilities, with few previously identified in schools. 2) Tools. There are now new and important programs available for both identifying LD in female populations and providing appropriate interventions. One of the key tools now available is a validated screening tool developed by the state of Washington. This screen was normed on over 500 women in welfare programs. The second tool is that of "Bridges to Practice" developed by the National Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities Center, which has been developed to, in-part, help programs to develop a screening process for LD. In addition, the University of Kansas has a new training manual on accommodations in literacy programs for adults. 3) Interventions New intervention models for females with LD are being developed across the country. They are mainly being created through the welfare to work programs being funded by the Dept. of Labor. Eight welfare to work grants are directly focused on LD and welfare populations. The session will close with a look at some of these grant designs.
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