Board Co-Chairs: Nancy Hogg and Debbie Baroi Executive ...
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Frostig Center Focus By Joan Goulding In Lisa Haleblian’s reading class, students smile and laugh as they “build” words using lettered tiles. It looks like the kids are playing a game of Scrabble, but they are engaged in more serious work. Ms. Haleblian is guiding her students through an intensive literacy program that is improving their ability to trans- late printed words into sounds. Frostig School introduced the Wilson Reading System this school year to meet the needs of middle and high school students who learn best with multi-sensory instruction due to a language-based learning disability such as dyslexia. The students use tiles, flashcards, white boards, and drawings to decode, or sound out, words. The research-based Wilson Reading System is the latest of several improvements to the Frostig curriculum that are leading to solid, measurable gains in student performance. Reading assessments conducted during the 2016-17 school year showed that 71% of students progressed one or more grade levels. Frostig Principal Jenny Janetzke identified three types of recent investments that have benefited students: Professional Development Frostig’s Consultation & Education Department, which specializes in training public and private school teachers to better serve the struggling learner, shares its expertise in-house. Its staff has provided individual coaching to Frostig teachers as well as school-wide trainings on specific teaching strategies. Access to the department’s master teachers and content specialists is unique to Frostig and an extraordinary resource for our teachers. In 2015, two teachers and two aides trained in the Lindamood-Bell reading curriculum for early and inter- mediate learners. A third teacher is training this year After receiving a camera for her 22 nd birthday, Julie Horton visited the Los Angeles County Arboretum nearly every day to teach herself photography. She started by taking pictures of the ducks that populate the arboretum’s lakes and ponds, but soon discovered she had a special talent and love for hummingbirds. Julie has spent the last seven years building a portfolio of stunning photographs that she sells at art fairs and online at juliehortonphotography.com. THE SPOTLIGHT Frostig Grad Captures Brilliance INVESTMENTS IN READING PAY OFF FOR FROSTIG STUDENTS Continued on page 3 Continued on page 4 Issue 8, January 2018 Exceptional Children, Exceptional Education Teacher Lisa Haleblian leads her class through an intensive reading program. Julie Horton, left, sells her photos at art fairs.
Transcript of Board Co-Chairs: Nancy Hogg and Debbie Baroi Executive ...
971 N. Altadena Drive, Pasadena, CA 91107www.frostig.org
in the program with a focus on strategies for comprehension.
“Our kids have a variety of challenges, so it’s important that we have a variety of teaching methods,” Ms. Janetzke said.
Better MaterialsThe school has purchased new text-books, better online resources, and new literature in a variety of genres. Students today are more likely to find materials that capture their interest and motivate them to read.
Better AssessmentsConsistent, rigorous assessment is essential to understanding the effectiveness of reading instruction. Frostig has invested in well-regarded testing programs, including Flynt Cooter Reading Assessments and iReady.
Just as the assessments showed that most students made good progress last year, they identified students who had fallen behind. After reviewing the data, Ms. Janetzke concluded these students would benefit from the Wilson program.
Ms. Haleblian and Suzette Peter, who teaches the Wilson program in high school, are most encouraged by the students’ growing confi-dence in their reading abilities.
“The kids in my group are so excit-ed to be learning,” Ms. Peter said. “They see their improvement and their confidence is growing. It’s like a world has opened up to them.”
Continued from page 1
FrostigCenterFocus
By Joan Goulding
In Lisa Haleblian’s reading class, students smile and laugh as they “build” words using lettered tiles.
It looks like the kids are playing a game of Scrabble, but they are engaged in more serious work. Ms. Haleblian is guiding her students through an intensive literacy program that is improving their ability to trans-late printed words into sounds.
Frostig School introduced the Wilson Reading System this school year to meet the needs of middle and high school students who learn best with multi-sensory instruction due to a language-based learning disability such as dyslexia. The students use tiles, flashcards, white boards, and drawings to decode, or sound out, words.
The research-based Wilson Reading System is the latest of several improvements to the Frostig curriculum that are leading to solid, measurable gains in student performance. Reading assessments conducted during the 2016-17 school year showed that 71% of students progressed one or more grade levels.
Frostig Principal Jenny Janetzke identified three types of recent investments that have benefited students:
Professional DevelopmentFrostig’s Consultation & Education Department, which specializes in training public and private school teachers to better serve the struggling learner, shares its expertise in-house. Its staff has provided individual coaching to Frostig teachers as well as school-wide trainings on specific teaching strategies. Access to the department’s master teachers and content specialists is unique to Frostig and an extraordinary resource for our teachers.
In 2015, two teachers and two aides trained in the Lindamood-Bell reading curriculum for early and inter-mediate learners. A third teacher is training this year
After receiving a camera for her 22nd birthday, Julie Horton visited the Los Angeles County Arboretum nearly every day to teach herself photography. She started by taking pictures of the ducks that populate the arboretum’s lakes and ponds, but soon discovered she had a special talent and love for hummingbirds.
Julie has spent the last seven years building a portfolio of
stunning photographs that she sells at art fairs and online at juliehortonphotography.com.
THE SPOTLIGHTFrostig Grad Captures Brilliance
INVESTMENTS IN READING PAY OFF FOR FROSTIG STUDENTS
LEADERSHIP
Board Co-Chairs:Nancy Hogg and Debbie Baroi
Executive Director:Dean Conklin, Ed.D.
Development Director:Yuki Jimbo
Editor:Joan Goulding
e-mail: [email protected]
MISSION STATEMENT
The Frostig Center is dedicated to helping children with learning disabilities reach their full potential through an inte-grated approach of research, professional development and consultation, and the Frostig School.
Follow our Facebook page to keep up with the latest news at Frostig. See what our students
and faculty are doing and learn about the latest developments in the field of learning differences.
Continued on page 3
Continued on page 4
Exchange of IdeasThe Frostig Center has established a teacher exchange program with two other pre-miere schools that serve students with learning differ-ences, Westmark in Encino, CA, and Riverview School in Cape Cod, MA.
The visits will take place this spring and will run three to four days. The visiting teachers will observe lessons that showcase each school’s par-ticular expertise.
The goal is to improve the quality of education at each school by introducing teachers to new ideas and best practices. The exchange program was made possible by a grant from The Sharon D. Lund Foundation.
At the end of each school year, the schools will convene a one-day conference at Frostig with teachers and administrators from the three schools and the Lund foundation.
Issue 8, January 2018
Exceptional Children,Exceptional Education
Independent narrative reading
7%22%34%20%17%
Independent expository reading
6%23%28%25%18%
RegressNo growthGrew 1 grade levelGrew 2 grade levelsGrew 3 or more levels
Flynt Cooter Reading Assessment for 2016-17
71% 71%
Teacher Lisa Haleblian leads her class through an intensive reading program.
Julie Horton, left, sells her photos at art fairs.
Reading Improvements
Yale researchers have found that patients with different types of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have impairments in unique brain systems, indicating there may not be a one-size-fits-all explanation for the cause of the disorder.
Based on performance on behavioral tests, adolescents with ADHD fit into one of three subgroups, where each group demonstrated distinct impairments in the brain with no common abnormalities between them.
The study has the potential to radically reframe how researchers think about ADHD.
“This study found evidence that clearly supports the idea that ADHD-diagnosed adolescents are not all the same neurobiologically,” said first author Michael Stevens, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Yale.
Rather than a single disorder with small variations, the findings
suggest that the diagnosis instead encompasses a “constellation” of different types of ADHD in which the brain functions in completely different ways, researchers said.
The researchers tested 117 adolescents with ADHD to assess different types of impulsive behavior — a typical feature of ADHD. Three distinct groups emerged based on the participants’ performance. One group demonstrated impulsive motor responses during fast-moving visual tasks (a measure of executive function), another group showed a preference for immediate reward, and the third group performed relatively normal on both tasks, compared to 134 non-ADHD adolescents.
“These three ADHD subgroups were otherwise clinically indistinguishable for the most part,” Stevens said.
“Without the specialized cognitive testing, a clinician would have had no way to tell apart the ADHD patients in one subgroup versus another.”
Stevens and colleagues then used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a technique that allows researchers to make connections between behavior and brain function, to investigate how these different test profiles related to brain dysfunction.
“Far from having a core ADHD profile of brain dysfunction, there was not a single fMRI-measured abnormality that could be found in all three ADHD subgroups,” Stevens said. Instead, each subgroup had dysfunction in different brain regions related to their specific type of behavioral impairment.
It will take more research to prove that ADHD is a collection of different disorders, but this study provides a big step in that direction, Stevens said.
“Ultimately, by being open to the idea that psychiatric disorders like ADHD might be caused by more than one factor, it might be possible to advance our understanding of causes and treatments more rapidly,” he said.
Brain Imaging Reveals ADHD As Collection of Disorders
Guide to SuccessThe new parent guide to the Success Attributes is available for sale online and through Frostig School.
The booklet gives an overview of the six Success Attributes and how they positively impact children with learning differences. It also offers many activities for nurturing the Success Attributes at home.
To order your copy, call 626-791-1255 or visit our website at www.frostig.org.
“I was so happy with how those first pictures came out,” said Julie, who graduated from Frostig School in 2007. “It made me want to keep shooting hummingbirds.”
She enrolled in photography classes at Pasadena City College to learn lighting, composition and other techniques. Two years later, in 2014, Julie and her mother, Elizabeth Horton, made their first trip to Latin America to photograph the brilliantly colored hummingbirds of Costa Rica.
On a recent trip to Ecuador, home to more than 130 species of hummingbirds, Julie took a workshop to learn more of the intricacies of nature photography. Then she spent her days in the field,
from sunrise to sunset, shooting the endless variety of these shimmering, energetic creatures.
“I sit and wait in a certain spot, and when the bird comes into focus, I start shooting,” said Julie, making her extraordinary accomplishments sound easy.
Julie and her mother are business partners as well as travel companions. Together they develop and print the pictures, note cards and calendars that they sell. In 2017, mother and daughter staffed a sales booth at nine arts and crafts fairs in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Julie and her parents continue to live in Pasadena. Julie attended Frostig for most of her school years, and graduated with fond memories of her teachers and the support they gave her. Julie hopes to also teach someday by conducting photography workshops where she can share her passion and expertise.
Yale News
FROSTIG ACCEPTS ALL CREDIT CARDS, CASH, AND CHECKS, AS WELL AS GIFTS OF STOCK
It’s Easy to Make a Difference…
Your gift will support the education of children with learning differences
DONATE ONLINEwww.frostig.org
Create A LegacyRemembering The Frostig Center in your will can help ensure our future. It also allows you to create a permanent legacy while continuing to enjoy the assets needed to maintain your lifestyle.
With a charitable bequest, you can give a stated dollar amount, a specific property, a percentage of your estate, or the remainder after distributions to other beneficiaries.
Frostig created the Heritage Society in 2016 to recognize the people who include Frostig in their estate plans. To learn more, contact Development Director Yuki Jimbo at [email protected].
Continued from page 1
Spotlight
Yale researchers have found that patients with different types of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have impairments in unique brain systems, indicating there may not be a one-size-fits-all explanation for the cause of the disorder.
Based on performance on behavioral tests, adolescents with ADHD fit into one of three subgroups, where each group demonstrated distinct impairments in the brain with no common abnormalities between them.
The study has the potential to radically reframe how researchers think about ADHD.
“This study found evidence that clearly supports the idea that ADHD-diagnosed adolescents are not all the same neurobiologically,” said first author Michael Stevens, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Yale.
Rather than a single disorder with small variations, the findings
suggest that the diagnosis instead encompasses a “constellation” of different types of ADHD in which the brain functions in completely different ways, researchers said.
The researchers tested 117 adolescents with ADHD to assess different types of impulsive behavior — a typical feature of ADHD. Three distinct groups emerged based on the participants’ performance. One group demonstrated impulsive motor responses during fast-moving visual tasks (a measure of executive function), another group showed a preference for immediate reward, and the third group performed relatively normal on both tasks, compared to 134 non-ADHD adolescents.
“These three ADHD subgroups were otherwise clinically indistinguishable for the most part,” Stevens said.
“Without the specialized cognitive testing, a clinician would have had no way to tell apart the ADHD patients in one subgroup versus another.”
Stevens and colleagues then used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a technique that allows researchers to make connections between behavior and brain function, to investigate how these different test profiles related to brain dysfunction.
“Far from having a core ADHD profile of brain dysfunction, there was not a single fMRI-measured abnormality that could be found in all three ADHD subgroups,” Stevens said. Instead, each subgroup had dysfunction in different brain regions related to their specific type of behavioral impairment.
It will take more research to prove that ADHD is a collection of different disorders, but this study provides a big step in that direction, Stevens said.
“Ultimately, by being open to the idea that psychiatric disorders like ADHD might be caused by more than one factor, it might be possible to advance our understanding of causes and treatments more rapidly,” he said.
Brain Imaging Reveals ADHD As Collection of Disorders
Guide to SuccessThe new parent guide to the Success Attributes is available for sale online and through Frostig School.
The booklet gives an overview of the six Success Attributes and how they positively impact children with learning differences. It also offers many activities for nurturing the Success Attributes at home.
To order your copy, call 626-791-1255 or visit our website at www.frostig.org.
“I was so happy with how those first pictures came out,” said Julie, who graduated from Frostig School in 2007. “It made me want to keep shooting hummingbirds.”
She enrolled in photography classes at Pasadena City College to learn lighting, composition and other techniques. Two years later, in 2014, Julie and her mother, Elizabeth Horton, made their first trip to Latin America to photograph the brilliantly colored hummingbirds of Costa Rica.
On a recent trip to Ecuador, home to more than 130 species of hummingbirds, Julie took a workshop to learn more of the intricacies of nature photography. Then she spent her days in the field,
from sunrise to sunset, shooting the endless variety of these shimmering, energetic creatures.
“I sit and wait in a certain spot, and when the bird comes into focus, I start shooting,” said Julie, making her extraordinary accomplishments sound easy.
Julie and her mother are business partners as well as travel companions. Together they develop and print the pictures, note cards and calendars that they sell. In 2017, mother and daughter staffed a sales booth at nine arts and crafts fairs in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Julie and her parents continue to live in Pasadena. Julie attended Frostig for most of her school years, and graduated with fond memories of her teachers and the support they gave her. Julie hopes to also teach someday by conducting photography workshops where she can share her passion and expertise.
Yale News
FROSTIG ACCEPTS ALL CREDIT CARDS, CASH, AND CHECKS, AS WELL AS GIFTS OF STOCK
It’s Easy to Make a Difference…
Your gift will support the education of children with learning differences
DONATE ONLINEwww.frostig.org
Create A LegacyRemembering The Frostig Center in your will can help ensure our future. It also allows you to create a permanent legacy while continuing to enjoy the assets needed to maintain your lifestyle.
With a charitable bequest, you can give a stated dollar amount, a specific property, a percentage of your estate, or the remainder after distributions to other beneficiaries.
Frostig created the Heritage Society in 2016 to recognize the people who include Frostig in their estate plans. To learn more, contact Development Director Yuki Jimbo at [email protected].
Continued from page 1
Spotlight
971 N. Altadena Drive, Pasadena, CA 91107www.frostig.org
in the program with a focus on strategies for comprehension.
“Our kids have a variety of challenges, so it’s important that we have a variety of teaching methods,” Ms. Janetzke said.
Better MaterialsThe school has purchased new text-books, better online resources, and new literature in a variety of genres. Students today are more likely to find materials that capture their interest and motivate them to read.
Better AssessmentsConsistent, rigorous assessment is essential to understanding the effectiveness of reading instruction. Frostig has invested in well-regarded testing programs, including Flynt Cooter Reading Assessments and iReady.
Just as the assessments showed that most students made good progress last year, they identified students who had fallen behind. After reviewing the data, Ms. Janetzke concluded these students would benefit from the Wilson program.
Ms. Haleblian and Suzette Peter, who teaches the Wilson program in high school, are most encouraged by the students’ growing confi-dence in their reading abilities.
“The kids in my group are so excit-ed to be learning,” Ms. Peter said. “They see their improvement and their confidence is growing. It’s like a world has opened up to them.”
Continued from page 1
FrostigCenterFocus
By Joan Goulding
In Lisa Haleblian’s reading class, students smile and laugh as they “build” words using lettered tiles.
It looks like the kids are playing a game of Scrabble, but they are engaged in more serious work. Ms. Haleblian is guiding her students through an intensive literacy program that is improving their ability to trans-late printed words into sounds.
Frostig School introduced the Wilson Reading System this school year to meet the needs of middle and high school students who learn best with multi-sensory instruction due to a language-based learning disability such as dyslexia. The students use tiles, flashcards, white boards, and drawings to decode, or sound out, words.
The research-based Wilson Reading System is the latest of several improvements to the Frostig curriculum that are leading to solid, measurable gains in student performance. Reading assessments conducted during the 2016-17 school year showed that 71% of students progressed one or more grade levels.
Frostig Principal Jenny Janetzke identified three types of recent investments that have benefited students:
Professional DevelopmentFrostig’s Consultation & Education Department, which specializes in training public and private school teachers to better serve the struggling learner, shares its expertise in-house. Its staff has provided individual coaching to Frostig teachers as well as school-wide trainings on specific teaching strategies. Access to the department’s master teachers and content specialists is unique to Frostig and an extraordinary resource for our teachers.
In 2015, two teachers and two aides trained in the Lindamood-Bell reading curriculum for early and inter-mediate learners. A third teacher is training this year
After receiving a camera for her 22nd birthday, Julie Horton visited the Los Angeles County Arboretum nearly every day to teach herself photography. She started by taking pictures of the ducks that populate the arboretum’s lakes and ponds, but soon discovered she had a special talent and love for hummingbirds.
Julie has spent the last seven years building a portfolio of
stunning photographs that she sells at art fairs and online at juliehortonphotography.com.
THE SPOTLIGHTFrostig Grad Captures Brilliance
INVESTMENTS IN READING PAY OFF FOR FROSTIG STUDENTS
LEADERSHIP
Board Co-Chairs:Nancy Hogg and Debbie Baroi
Executive Director:Dean Conklin, Ed.D.
Development Director:Yuki Jimbo
Editor:Joan Goulding
e-mail: [email protected]
MISSION STATEMENT
The Frostig Center is dedicated to helping children with learning disabilities reach their full potential through an inte-grated approach of research, professional development and consultation, and the Frostig School.
Follow our Facebook page to keep up with the latest news at Frostig. See what our students
and faculty are doing and learn about the latest developments in the field of learning differences.
Continued on page 3
Continued on page 4
Exchange of IdeasThe Frostig Center has established a teacher exchange program with two other pre-miere schools that serve students with learning differ-ences, Westmark in Encino, CA, and Riverview School in Cape Cod, MA.
The visits will take place this spring and will run three to four days. The visiting teachers will observe lessons that showcase each school’s par-ticular expertise.
The goal is to improve the quality of education at each school by introducing teachers to new ideas and best practices. The exchange program was made possible by a grant from The Sharon D. Lund Foundation.
At the end of each school year, the schools will convene a one-day conference at Frostig with teachers and administrators from the three schools and the Lund foundation.
Issue 8, January 2018
Exceptional Children,Exceptional Education
Independent narrative reading
7%22%34%20%17%
Independent expository reading
6%23%28%25%18%
RegressNo growthGrew 1 grade levelGrew 2 grade levelsGrew 3 or more levels
Flynt Cooter Reading Assessment for 2016-17
71% 71%
Teacher Lisa Haleblian leads her class through an intensive reading program.
Julie Horton, left, sells her photos at art fairs.
Reading Improvements
