Learning Disabilities Association of America

The Learning Disabilities Association of America's Annual International Conference will be held February 17-20, 2010, in Baltimore, Maryland. For more information on this conference, visit LDA's website at http://ldaamerica.org/conference/index.asp

RAVE-O

The Rave-O is a 70-session program that is based on the principle that a student only retrieves quickly what he or she knows well. The program is designed to increase children's knowledge and automatic use of decoding and word identification skills by teaching them to recognize common orthographic (letter) patterns instantaneously and fluently. To learn more about RAVE-O, see the Center for Reading and Language Research here: http://ase.tufts.edu/crlr/raveo.html

Traumatic Brain Injury Blog

Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to reorganize neural pathways. Neuroplasticity can occur as the brain compensates for lost functions or utilizes remaining functions after a brain injury. To read more about the brain's amazing capacity for generating new pathways, please view the Aphasia and Brain Injury Blog here: www.parrotsoftware.com/blog/ .

Miracle League of the Fox Valley

The Miracle League of the Fox Valley is an organized baseball league for kids, age 4-19, with physical and/or mental disabilities. The MLFV is located in Appleton, WI, and will be playing baseball at Memorial Park in the summer of 2010. Please consider making a donation to this project. Check out their website at: www.foxvalleymiracleleague.com

Dr Richard Cooper

Dr Richard Cooper, a leader in the field of learning disabilities, conducts workshops and training seminars across the country. To view his website and speaking schedule, follow this link: http://www.learningdifferences.com/

Dyslexia Bill in Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Branch of the International Dyslexia Association (WIBIDA) is drafting two bills to present to the State of Wisconsin Legislature. One, an act to create 115.783 of the statutes; relating to: screening pupils for phonemic awareness and rapid naming, and two, an act to create 118.19 (14) of the statutes; relating to: requiring passage of a supplemental examination in reading instruction to obtain a teaching license. Please check WIBIDA's website at http://www.wibida.org to follow these bills.

Modern Intelligence Theory-New Thinking on Diagnosing Learning Disabilities

There are exciting changes in the way learning disabilities are being diagnosed. The old model, which has been questioned and criticized for the past two decades, used a discrepancy between IQ and achievement. The new way of thinking is to identify deficits in specific cognitive processes related to the area of academic concern and then to use this information for intervention. For more information on the Carroll-Horn-Cattell (CHC) theory of cognitive abilities please see http://www.iapsych.com/chccogachmeta/Abstract.html.