Autism describes a group of complex developmental brain disorders known as Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD). The other pervasive developmental disorders are PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified), Asperger's Syndrome, Rett Syndrome and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder. It is estimated that one in every 110 children is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than childhood cancer, juvenile diabetes and pediatric AIDS combined. An estimated 1.5 million individuals in the U.S. and tens of millions worldwide are affected by autism. [AS] Advocates around the world are asking that we go beyond awareness to understanding and acceptance of those children and adults struggling with Autism Spectrum Disorders. To this end, the 4th Annual World Autism Awareness Day will be celebrated on April 2. As part of this initiative Creative Tutors is providing links to some of the most current research on ASD and resources for parents.

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I have read many parenting articles that deal with the trials and tribulations of raising children today. They deal with bullying and selfishness and lack of responsibility and poor study habits and the list goes on and on endlessly. Experts and parents alike seem to have the idea that children in the 21st century are somehow materially different from the billions of children who have grown up before them. But it's not our children that are different...it's the society in which they are raised that's changed. In our overwhelmingly busy lives the needs of our children are all too often relegated to televisions, computers, nannies, and a schedule that would have been unthinkable even thirty years ago. Family pets have been one of the first casualties of the modern lifestyle.

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For us fifty-something people, the hand-held calculator wasn't invented until we had or nearly had graduated from college. Addition and subtraction was taught with high-tech counters and memorization of math facts preceded learning multiplication and divsion and the mastering of yet more math facts. We struggled and cried and raged when confronted with an entire worksheet full of long division problems. And yet, we figured it out and became proficient. Our study of elementary mathematics became the foundation we needed to understand fractions and percentages and shudder...algebra. Trigonometry classes required the use of hundreds of pages of charts at the back of our textbook and calculus required slide rule calculations. There was a logic to learning mathematics that has somehow not, despite what many teachers would have you believe,  mysteriously changed during the last forty years and which allowed us to apply our understanding of its concepts to such exotic courses as IPS, chemistry, and physics. And yet, despite the place of US students at the time as masters of mathematics when compared to their peers around the world...and the admittedly dismal performance of today's calculator enhanced students...there is a faction of teachers across the country that believe there is a place for calculators in the elementary classroom. To which I would reply...nonsense!

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President Obama's administration recently estimated that 82% of the nation's schools could miss meeting standards mandated under No Child Left Behind. Wait...what? We are all aware that the state of educational achievement in this country is not what it should be...but...82% seems an extraordinarily high estimate of the total schools that will fail in 2011.

No Child Left Behind, signature legislation of the Bush Administration, includes an aggressive review system developed with the ultimate goal of assuring that all public school students are proficient in reading and math by 2014. Under the law, students are tested in reading and math in grades three through eight and again in high school. These scores, along with attendance and graduation rates are used to determine the effectiveness of individual schools. 

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