What is the difference between an adapted and modified program?
An Adapted program retains the learning outcomes of the curriculum, but adaptations are provided so the student can participate in the program. Examples of adaptations include:
-alternate formats (e.g., Braille, books on tape)
-instructional strategies (e.g., use of interpreters, visual cues and aids)
-assessment procedures (e.g., oral exams, additional time,).
On graduation they will receive a Dogwood Certificate.
A modified program has learning outcomes which are substantially different from the prescribed curriculum, and specifically selected to meet the student's special needs. As well as regular courses, a student's program may include some courses that are modified and others that are adapted.
On Graduation they will receive a School Completion Certificate.
What is ADHD?
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is the most common psychiatric condition among children in the United States. Differing estimates suggest that 3 percent to 10 percent of school-age children have ADHD, a disorder characterized by consistent inattention, hyperactivity, or impulsiveness. Diagnosing ADHD is difficult, since most people, and particularly children, are impulsive or inattentive some of the time. However, a patient with ADHD demonstrates these behaviors to a degree that is inappropriate to a person’s age, according to guidelines from the National Institute of Mental Health.
Although most cases of ADHD are diagnosed in children when they enter school for the first time, a growing number of children younger than 6 years old are being diagnosed. ADHD diagnoses among adults are also on the rise. ADHD expert Russell Barkley, Ph.D., of the Medical University of South Carolina, estimates that about 5 percent of American adults suffer from the condition. Some of these people may have had ADHD since childhood: Studies suggest that between 30 percent and 70 percent of children with ADHD continue to show symptoms of the disease as adults.
Taken from: LD Online
What is a Learning Disability?
A learning disability is a neurological disorder. In simple terms, a learning disability results from a difference in the way a person's brain is "wired." Children with learning disabilities are as smart or smarter than their peers. But they may have difficulty reading, writing, spelling, reasoning, recalling and/or organizing information if left to figure things out by themselves or if taught in conventional ways.
A learning disability can't be cured or fixed; it is a lifelong issue. With the right support and intervention, however, children with learning disabilities can succeed in school and go on to successful, often distinguished careers later in life.
Parents can help children with learning disabilities achieve such success by encouraging their strengths, knowing their weaknesses, understanding the educational system, working with professionals and learning about strategies for dealing with specific difficulties.
Not all great minds think alike.
Did you know that Albert Einstein couldn't read until he was nine? Walt Disney, General George Patton, and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller had trouble reading all their lives. Whoopi Goldberg and Charles Schwab and many others have learning disabilities which haven't affected their ultimate success.
Taken from: LD Online
What is Autism?
Autism (Autistic Disorder) is a developmental disability that affects the way a child interacts with the rest of the world. Communication and social skills impairments as well as unusual behaviours, repetitive motor movements or preoccupations are usually present within the first thirty-six months of life. Dr Leo Kanner first identified autism in 1943 in his publication entitled "Autistic Disturbance of Affective Disorder." In subsequent years, the particular clustering of characteristics that Kanner described was often referred to as "Kanner's Syndrome." "Autistic Disorders" is one of five disabilities classified as a Pervasive Developmental Disorder in the DSM IV-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders, 40th Edition Text Revision)
Autism Symptoms
The symptoms of autism include clinically significant impairments in social interaction, significant deficits in expressive and receptive verbal and non-verbal communication; and atypical stereotyped or repetitive behaviors. Characteristic traits may include lack of eye contact, repetition of words or phrases, unanticipated tantrums, inability to express needs, fixations on inanimate objects, resistance to change, and unusual responses to pain. Symptoms may change over time. Children with Autism often have other disorders of brain function; about two thirds may be cognitively impaired; over one quarter may develop seizures.
Causes of Autism
It remains unclear, but neurological studies seem to indicate a primary brain dysfunction. There is no single known cause of autism, but it is believed that a variety of factors can result in this disability, including organic factors, complications during pregnancy and a genetic component in some families. In most cases of autism, however, no cause can be determined (Kaplan, 1996).
Taken from: Autism Outreach
What is Asperger's Syndrome?
This condition was originally described by Hans Asperger in Vienna in 1944. Although Asperger was not aware of Leo Kanner's work on autism, he did use the word autism ("autistic psychopathy") to describe the social deficits he observed in a group of children. His original description, in German, received little attention in the English-language literature until Lorna Wing translated his work in 1981. Asperger's Disorder is characterized by social isolation and eccentric behaviour in childhood. Impairments in social interaction, non verbal communication and unusual responses to the environment, similar to those in autism, are observed. Unlike in autism, however, cognitive and communicative developments are within the normal or near-normal range in the first years of life. Although verbal skills may appear to be an area of strength, typically speech patterns are characterized by abnormal inflection, repetition and a pendantic style. Idiosyncratic interests are common and may take the form of an unusual and/or highly circumscribed interest (e.g., in train schedules, snakes, the weather, deep-fry cookers, or telegraph pole insulators). There is some suggestion of an increased incidence of this condition in family members. The validity of this condition, as opposed to high-functioning autism, remains a topic of debate (Szatmari, 1992). Inconsistencies in diagnosis and the lack, until quite recently, of internationally accepted descriptions have made it difficult to interpret the research available. Even now, some clinicians will use the term to refer to persons with autism who have IQs in the normal range, or to adults with autism, or to PDD-NOS. Recent official definitions emphasize differences from autism, e.g. in terms of better communication (particularly verbal) skills.
Taken from: Autism Outreach