Education Reform Central

Recap of Autism & Education Series Autism Awareness Month is coming to a close, but there is so much more to learn. We looked at some of the possible causes of Autism, especially genetics and toxins, but new information and studies are revealed daily. In fact, NewsmaxHealth just published the results of a study showing a definite link between mercury and an ... Read More

Therapy for Autism and Education Now that you know how prevalant autism is, you probably want to know what can be done to combat it! Let's briefly review what we've covered so far: 1 in 150 children are being diagnosed with autism 4 times as many boys as girls are diagnosed Several reasons for autism are being investigated, including: genetics (#1) vaccines mercury-poisoning and other toxins several as ... Read More

Big Brother Winner to donate $100,000 to Autism Thought I'd take a break from the Autism & Education series today to share some news. If you aren't a big fan of CBS' prime time show Big Brother, you may not have heard that the winner promised he will give one fifth of his half-million dollar prize to support autism studies. Ordinarily, I ... Read More

Famous Autistics Because this is the weekend, I'd like to share this poster and a couple of thoughts you can hold in your mind and heart during your busy Saturday and Sunday. The statistics for diagnoses of autism is staggering, but we cannot be overwhelmed. Most of the famous people in the poster above were misunderstood, and often ridiculed as children. But ... Read More

Autism vs Ignorance Today I want to share the latest assessment and diagnostic tools, plus a simple screening tool. But before I do that, I'd like to thank two of my readers for clarifying the fragile x chromosome I mentioned in yesterday's post. I attributed the fragile X to aging parents, specifically fathers, but fortunately, SallyN and FXSmom gave me some ... Read More

Let's look at some possible causes of autism Today, in Day 3 of this Autism series, I'd like to share with you some of the suspected causes of autism. No one REALLY knows the exact cause, or causes, but there are suspicious instigators (or etiologies) that are being investigated. Although the incidence of autism is increasing (1 in 150 children), there doesn't ... Read More

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April is Autism Awareness Month You may have seen the brightly colored puzzle-piece ribbon around, but didn't know what it stood for. Because so many children are being diagnosed with autism, it is important for all of us to know what autism is; what we are dealing with, the phenomenal increase in children being diagnosed; and what impact this can have ... Read More

California Schools in Budget Crunch Today's Los Angeles Times leads with another story about problems in California schools. Titled "California public schools seek private money just to cover the basics", the story reports that "potential layoff notices have been issued to 20,000 teachers, librarians, nurses and others" A judge in California recently passed a ruling that only a parent with a teaching certificate ... Read More

Do Grades Even Matter in Education? With all the furor there has been over the amounts of testing taking place in our schools, as a result of NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND, teachers and parents are asking whether the tests are really telling us anything. Does frequent mandated testing tell us whether our schools are teaching our children? Is there any learning ... Read More