AREN’T HACKERS THE BAD GUYS?
Not anymore! Hewlett-Packard has a project called ”Hacking Autism” aimed at combining Silicon Valley programmers with “Autism Speaks” and other programs similar to it. Many people in the tech community have encountered autism through their families and through families of their friends. After realizing that autism is recognized in 1 out of 110 U.S. children (This rate is rising.), Hewlett Packard launched a website www.hackingautism.org where anyone can submit ideas for touch-screen applications that could help people with autism. Programmers who visit the site may sign up to work on the ideas as a volunteer on Hewlett-Packard’s “hackathon” this October.
All ideas submitted will be reviewed and refined by a qualified committee of autism experts. The resulting applications would then be eligible to go through further rounds of improvement before they are released. This is a golden opportunity for parental input. Think about individual children. Realize that they are probably not the only one with a particular problem. Be willing to share and contact Hewlett Packard’s “hackathon.”
Hewlett Packard isn’t the only company with special applications for the autistic child. Apple iPad uses a software platform called webOS. By the way, Apple users will be allowed to participate in the “hackathon.” Apple’s iPad was the first to use these applications and continues to be the most popular model of the tablet group.
All companies do support the touch screen which allows the student to signal words and sentences by lightly touching a series of familiar pictures on the iPad screen. The screen, in turn, prompts an audio program to play the words out loud.
One noteworthy fact is that the images on a computer screen draw closer attention than pictures do on paper. Older students are particularly drawn to the tablet because the tablet doesn’t carry the stigma of bulky, conspicuous special education equipment. Other facts to be taken into consideration is the fact that a touch screen eliminates the difficulty that a child with autism or other motor skill disabilities might have difficulties trying to manipulate a keyboard or even understanding the connection between a mouse and cursor. Many applications allow the student to learn to spell by tracing letters with their fingertip while others sound out words. Some applications will allow the parents to create visual time schedules.
Gary Jones, the father of an autistic child in Connecticut sums the tablets quite well. “These tablets are giving children a voice.” Today Mr. Jones has his own website that reviews applications for children with special needs.
The ease of the touch screen, its visual impact, and its portability, creates a dynamic factor.  In turn, this dynamic factor has led to near-miraculous breakthroughs for children and adults with autism and other learning disabilities.
Research Hewlett-Packard, Apple and Google’s Android. Consider the applications that would be used by your child. Compare prices as well as the qualities of applications available. Search the internet for websites that sponsor applications such as Ted Conley’s “TapSpeak” and Gary James’ website.
These wonderful new applications and the devices to use them are the frontier for learning. This is a time of great ideas and the development of even greater content. With the passage of time, this field will rapidly expand. It is the learning process of a new frontier for education.

Parents and teachers of dyslexic children are always trying to think of new ways to help them overcome their difficulties with reading. Below is a list of several tried and true methods of helping them not only read better but to also love reading.

As very young readers, dyslexic children are often asked to write their letters in sand, trace sandpaper letters, or use wooden letters to spell words. Just because they are older is no reason to push the three dimensional words to the back. As these students grow older, use color transparencies that pull the words to them. Have them try several colors to see which color works best for them.

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Coping with spelling is one of the greatest handicaps a dyslexic person encounters. A dyslexic student may learn to read fairly well, but his/her spelling skills will persist. If the spelling skills are affected, the writing skills will also be affected leading to a double obstacle. Spelling and writing are not addressed in many classrooms, and no national exit tests are given for spelling as they are for reading. Therefore, the skills are often bypassed in the public classroom. While in school and also when public testing is done, such as a driving license test, the test may be given orally. Also, while the student is still part of the school system, he/she will be given oral instructions, accommodations, and task modifications. But on the job site and in business training, no modifications and accommodations are given to the individual because of dyslexia. Thus, spelling and writing continue to be an obstacle for the dyslexic’s student throughout his/her life.
The spelling problems have the same origin as all reading problems. They are based on the language learning process and the learner’s weaknesses in that field.  This creates the problem of reversed “b” and “d”. The person may have extreme capabilities in visual memories but be unable to spell because of language processing skills.
A dyslexic speller does not notice or remember the letters in words. Therefore, there is no recall.  They do not possess the ability to analyze or remember the sounds of letters.
Like all problems, the sooner the problem is discovered, the sooner corrections may begin. If a parent or teacher suspects a child is having unusual difficulties in spelling, a diagnostic spelling test should be given. The test will reveal sounds, syllable patterns, and meanings that the child is missing. Based upon this information, remedial work will be able to begin. The teacher and the parent will be aware of the exact problems. The test will identify the consonants, vowels, and syllables plus the word spelling that the child needs. The Dolch Word List, as well as the list of the most commonly used words in the English language, should be tested as well. Discovered early, learning these words can become a priority in instruction.
Tips for helping the dyslexic child’s spelling:
Take time to explore word structure, origin, and meaning. Tactile approaches may be helpful here – such as writing on sandpaper.  Repeat the word and have the child repeat the word and spell the word many times. This is a memorization skill.
Decode the word. Divide the word into syllables. Mark the vowel sounds. Say the word. Spell the word.
Memorize the basic rules for adding endings to words as well as the rules governing doubling letters. Memorize the rules for changing “y” to “i” and when to drop the silent “e”. Go over these rules on a regular basis.
Teach the older student proof reading skills. Develop the element procedure for proof reading: (1) Read. (2) Read. Correct punctuation. (3) Read. Correct sentence structure. (4) Read. Correct organization. (5) Read. Correct spelling. Of course, these steps may be used in any order as long as none of them are left out.
Spelling for the dyslexic child is not an easy cure. This is a life long problem, however, there are many ways for the child to handle the problem. By discovering the problem early and by beginning early intervention, the problem will be made much easier for the child to learn coping skills

Applied behavior analysis is a common intervention for autism because it is an effective means of intervention for adults and children with pervasive development disorders. It teaches social, motor, and verbal behaviors and reasoning skills and is effective in managing challenging behaviors.  These skills are taught through the use of careful behavioral observation and positive reinforcement and prompts that teach each step of a behavior. Applied behavior analysis or ABC is a process of studying and modifying behavior. ABC changes the environment and monitors changed responses from the person so that a result occurs in behavior or learned life skills.

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The 2009 results of the OECD's PISA exam released in November 2010 are a clear indicator that the current state of education in the US is dismal. President Obama touched on the subject in his State of the Union address last night. A Google search using the keywords us students falling behind brings up 493,000 documents. Obviously the subject is on a lot of people's minds. Amidst all of the handwringing and angst over what is wrong with US students, it's hard to believe that at one time students in the United States were the best educated and highest achieving in the modern world. What happened? How did we fall so far behind? And most importantly...how will we ever catch back up? The change occurred when educational systems stopped looking at students as individuals with unique academic strengths and weaknesses and began to regard them as a herd that, for efficiency's sake, needed to be pushed down the educational path en masse.

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