article 3

I am even more excited about getting my masters in special education. In high school I wrote my junior thesis paper on nature vs nurture regarding homosexuality. I determined that biologically the brain was different in heterosexuals than homosexuals but ultimately it was the effect of both environment and biological factors that determined one's sexual preference. Now I'm reading articles related to diferences in the brain that may contribute to LDs. The article clearly suggests that early intervention can diminish the gap between a students reading ability with that of his/her peers. This makes sense. However, I think that most schools don't emphasize the importance of reading skills and their effect across subjects. In math for example you can't take trigonemtry until you've passed algebra and can't take calculus until you've passed both trigonemtry and algebra. A student that cannot read or comprehend what he/she is reading is still moved along in science, history, english etc. How? The don't have the building blocks to understand what they are reading. some students may be able to "fake it" by listening in class. They may have adjusted to lack of reading skills by paying better attention and increasing their oral listening skills. This is not helping them but only hindering their reading skills. If we can determine that an LD is partly biological it would be then covered under most insurances. These students would then be covered by law to get the necessary help they need and deserve.