Concussions

From the Star Tribune - Kid's Health Section:

"Heightened concern about youth concussions spurred legislation in Minnesota and national guidelines governing when injured athletes can safely return to sports, but many parents and educators remain confused about when students’ brains have healed enough that they can safely return to class.

The American Academy of Pediatrics weighed in on Sunday, with new guidance called “Returning to Learning,” in an effort to keep concussed kids from being rushed back to class in ways that could prolong their brain injuries and cause their grades to plummet."  Link to full Article.

Attention School Psychologists:  Learn how to become a Certified Brain Injury Specialist at http://www.acbis.pro/.  Training teaches to develop plans for concussed or brain injured students.

Dyslexia Video

Well made documentary discussing personal struggles and triumphs of children and adults.  

Raises real  emotion and desire to make sure all students who struggle get the help they need.  

Link to Video.

For Reading/Dyslexia Consultation and Assessment contact Ron Hockman, School Psychologist

Home Work

The way we traditionally give homework assignments is a one of the major reasons kids dislike school.  Most homework in middle school and high school is copied or completed by someone else.  Low homework grades often pull down otherwise good test performance grades and teachers spend a lot of time grading homework.  It can be argued that that time could be used to prepare lessons.  

A different approach is to assign homework, don’t collect it, instead give a short quiz at the beginning of class that has a few of the problems, items, etc. from the homework, grade the quiz quickly.   This quiz can help understand what the students understand rather than what was copied or completed by someone else.  This approach can also reduce pressure on the students and teacher grading time.