JULY 2006

Healing horses giving help to handicapped kids
Children able to gain confidence, physical strength through program

PEAPACK -- Shane Szott waved as he strode along the grass in a slightly-relaxed hunch atop a brown mare on Friday.

It had been about a year since the 11-year-old from Morristown had ridden a horse, but he looked as comfortable in the saddle as ever.

"Look at his balance," said Fay Mackay, director of development at the Matheny School, where Szott attends. "It's incredible."

His mother, Andrea, was far less concerned about getting him acclimated to the horse than she had been when she first let her son, who has cerebral palsy, mount up.

Shane was two years old then, and couldn't even sit up straight in a seat. But little by little, Shane reaped the benefits that experts say lie within therapeutic horseback riding, from improving balance and fitness of the disabled to the smile it puts on their faces.

Szott, the son of former New York Jets football player David Szott, was one of 10 patients and students at the Matheny School who were selected to participate in the school's first therapeutic riding program. Friday marked the first day of the 10-week program that allows the students to ride for about 45 minutes each.

"Therapeutic horseback riding is the closest thing to a human gait, human walking,"said Linda Silvia, director of therapies at Matheny.

The riding allows them to develop a better sense of how to walk.

Sitting on the horse also forces riders to use and strengthen their abdominal muscles and improves balance, Silvia said.

The practice also has psychological benefits, Andrea Szott said. "It allows them to do what typical children do, and I think it makes him feel confident,"she said.

The horses are being provided by Spirit Filled Riders, a nonprofit academy in the Long Valley section of Washington Township that provides therapeutic horseback riding.

Millie Pott, president of Spirit Filled Riders, said that she started the academy after volunteering at a center for disabled children that provided the same service, but strictly for a fee.

"I can't turn a kid away,"Pott said.

Not all of the students did as well as Szott. But Pott said that would change in time. Pott said there are no averages to measure the improvement of therapeutic riding because it depends on individual students' level of disability and age.

"By the time they're done, they'll take a great deal from it," Silvia said.

Varied benefits

Some students have stayed with the program and gone on to take up recreational equestrian riding, while others have simply done enough to improve their abilities, Pott said.

"I've found this has improved greatly their skills, their stability, their strength,"Pott said.

The academy uses five horses, three of which it owns outright, including Nitro, a brown ex-racehorse with a black mane, and Sam, a 17 year-old brown mare, both of which were brought to Matheny.

Silvia said she approached Pott about bringing the horses up to the school because it is difficult transporting the students to stables where therapeutic riding is offered.

Spirit-Filled Riders is one of more than 670 providers of therapeutic riding programs affiliated with the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association.

According to the NARHA web site, therapeutic riding has been used to help people with disabilities since the early 1950s in Europe. NARHA was founded in 1969 to promote the practice in the U.S. and Canada, and serves about 30,000 people with disabilities.

In recent years there have been numerous studies performed to gauge the effectiveness of therapeutic riding.

One study, performed by doctors at the Center for Sports Therapy Research, in East Aurora, N.Y. and the Robert Warner Rehabilitation Center in the Children's Hospital of Buffalo, N.Y., on 17 children, showed that after 12-18 weeks of riding therapy, the children's gross motor functions, such as walking, running and jumping, increased. The children also retained those skills after the riding stopped.

That study, published by the Cambridge University Press in 2002, however, concluded that larger studies were needed to investigate the practice further.

Therapeutic riding also garnered some celebrity support recently.

On Monday, actor William Shatner, star of the original "Star Trek" series and currently "Boston Legal," visited Jerusalem to promote therapeutic riding and attempted to raise $10 million for about 30 riding programs in Israel, according to the Associated Press.

Shatner has long been involved with "Ahead for Horses," a Los Angeles charity that works with physically and mentally disabled children through horseback riding.

ROB SEMAN, DAILY RECORD
Rob Seman can be reached at (973) 267-9038 or rseman@gannett.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
May 31, 2006
http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060531/
COMMUNITIES32/605310352/1203/NEWS01


Online science and math courses in Spanish may aid immigrants

AUSTIN - Some South Texas students soon will be taking online courses from Mexican high schools and could even receive Mexican diplomas under a groundbreaking program designed to help immigrant students succeed.

The program beginning this fall in two Hidalgo County school districts is the result of collaboration between the University of Texas and Mexican federal education agencies.

It is designed to reduce dropouts by allowing Spanish-speaking students to use computers to study math and science courses in Spanish, while they learn English and social studies in their Texas schools.

"Generally they drop out because they can't pass courses and get frustrated not knowing the language and sitting in classrooms. This is an incentive for them to at least see something they're passing," said Felipe Alanis, a former Texas education commissioner who helped UT design the program.

Proponents say the program will help not only immigrants, but students whose families are migrant workers or who move back and forth across the border as well, as American students from Spanish-speaking homes.

The students will be able to use the Spanish-language curriculum to supplement courses they are taking in English or even to complete a course, although they must take the final exam in English to receive Texas credit.

Some students could even receive their diplomas from Mexico, which would allow them to attend a community college in Texas.

Alanis said this option likely will only be used by students who are 17 or 18 when they enter a Texas school and have substantial credits in Mexico.

Signed compact

Ofelia Gaona, bilingual director for Donna Independent School District, said the language barrier is particularly difficult for older students entering Texas schools for the first time.

"So what happens is they end up dropping out of school and end up with jobs that pay minimum wage or below," she said. "A lot are very, very intelligent, they are very hardworking and they want to go to college."

William Powers Jr., president of UT-Austin, signed the educational compact earlier this month with Jorge Gonzalez Teyssier, director general of the Colegio de Bachilleres, a high school program offering online courses; and C.P. Ciro Adolfo Suarez Martinez, director general of the National Institute for Adult Education.

Witnessing the ceremony was Tony Garza, the United States ambassador to Mexico.
"This is the culmination of about nine months of intensive talks," said Alanis, associate dean of UT's Division of Continuing Education.

The talks included painstaking work to align Texas and Mexican curriculum in math and science. The alignment was necessary so students will be able to work with online resources from Mexico, as well as Mexican teachers who will help the students in computer labs.

Another key feature of the agreement will help Texas educators place older students in the proper grade by considering their transcripts from Mexico. Alanis said high school-age immigrant students are routinely placed in the ninth grade even though they may have enough academic credits to enter a higher grade.

The districts piloting the program this fall are Donna, where one-third of the 13,000 students are migrants, and neighboring Edcouch-Elsa, with 5,600 students. Each received a $500,000 federal grant to buy computers, pay for the online programs and train teachers.

The Donna district purchased laptop computers so students can study at home or while they are traveling with their families doing farm work. Edcouch-Elsa concentrated its funds on 40 desktop computers that will be placed in labs at several schools and hiring four Mexican teachers to help students with the online course work.

Different learning styles

Minerva Guerra-Gonzalez, special populations director for Edcouch-Elsa, said she believes students will be drawn by the technology.

"We have a lot of children that have very different learning styles," she said. "This program will give them access to the translation of the language. The barrier of the language is what keeps them behind sometimes."

Officials at UT's Center for Hispanic Achievement Program hope that the program will eventually expand to larger districts, such as Houston ISD, with its large population of English-language learners.

Alanis said it is coincidental that the program is launching at a time of great national debate about immigrants. Helping students who are in Texas schools complete their educations will boost the state's economy, he said.

"This is not to encourage immigration," Alanis said. "These kids are in our schools now and schools are needing help with this population."

JANET ELLIOTT
janet.elliott@chron.com
May 29, 2006
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3913768.html


Love Complicates Life Even for the Autistic
Autistic Man Practices Art of Dating

It was supposed to have been a spectacular Sunday in New York City for Paul DeSavino.

He and his mother, Marlene, were on their way to Carnegie Hall, where he was one of a group of piano students in a recital. The others were already there, taking turns warming up. But Marlene DeSavino sensed that there was something wrong with her son, the only autistic performer in recital that day.

"When we got to the rehearsal, and he played, I knew immediately as soon as he played the first couple of notes that he wasn't focused," she said.

Watch "Nightline" tonight.

Chopin's Prelude #4 is one of the sweetest and gentlest melodies ever composed. And Paul was just chopping at it.

"I gave him clues and cues while he was playing it -- you know, 'Softer, good, good, that's right,'" Marlene said.

But the problem with Paul was entirely in his heart as he had told previously told his mother.

"He said that he thought that he was in love," Marlene said.

Paul told her later he was in love with an older woman. But problem was the woman didn't love him back. Unrequited love weighed devastatingly on Paul.

Who knew that a man with autism could suffer the pain of a broken heart? Does it even make sense that an autistic man is in love?

"Am I to say that what he thinks is love isn't love?" said Peter Gerhardt, executive director of Nassau Suffolk Services for Autism. "For him, it's love. And that's okay."

Human Nature

Gerhardt does not know Paul personally. But as one of the first psychologists in the nation to work primarily with autistic adults he concluded long ago that autistic people are as likely as the rest of us to stumble into human attraction.

"First of all, it's part of human nature," Gerhardt said.

"He just wants to be with her," Marlene said. "He wants her to be around."

The object of Paul's infatuation is the director of a job-training program he was enrolled in for several years. It's a relationship that could never be, some of his closet confidantes say.

"Feelings of love are so complex he doesn't understand the nuances," Marlene said.

And how do you explain that to a man who is otherwise always being encouraged to go for it, to experience the pleasures and challenges the rest of us enjoy to the extent he can. Paul is told to enjoy things like sports and music.

He has a job as a volunteer errand-runner at a New Jersey hospital and lives with several adults in a home of their own under supervision.

We filmed scenes of Paul in his home and at work for a "Nightline" special on autistic adults. This was a good time in Paul's life, before the heartache. But on that earlier visit -- when Paul showed me his room -- I learned that he'd had an earlier infatuation with another teacher.

Paul is heartbreakingly naive in so many ways but especially about relationships.

To express his feelings for that earlier teacher he started wearing the same eyeglasses she wore, even though he has 20/20 vision.

"I can't believe how much I loved her," Paul said. "Well, she's a mother now."

New Idea for Experts

The idea that autistic people love the same everyone else is new to experts.

"The kids love their moms, they love their dads," Gerhardt said. "They will snuggle up. Yes, there is that classic distance, or they are not looking at them. But they'll sit next to mom and tuck themselves underneath their arms. That's love in his terms."

And yet a man like Paul who loves in his own way can seem so thoroughly at sea when trying to understand feeling like the feeling in a piece of music.

Jeff and Jessica, residents of a group home in New York, are mentally retarded and are dating. They are not the only disabled members of the household to be in boyfriend-girlfriend relationships.

Christine lives here while Greg lives in an apartment nearby. He saw her at a group meeting, and they have been dating since.

There was a time when romantic and sexual involvements among the developmentally disabled were aggressively discouraged. Sexuality was taboo. The sexes were kept apart, and some individuals were sterilized.

"I worked for two other social service agencies, and rather than dealing with it, it was very ignored," said Lisa Stenrantino, who counsels residents at the New York group home on sexuality.

Practice Dates

In addition to a general squeamishness, there were specific concerns about accidental pregnancy, disease and sexual abuse. The program at the New York group home, however, helps couples navigate the dangers with sex education and one-on-one counseling on when no means no.

Jeff and Jessica get coached in dating on topics such as where to go, how to dress and how to respect one another in a restaurant and in the bedroom.

All this intimacy is within reach of the mentally retarded, but is a world away from what Paul. Autism doesn't impair intelligence but the ability to communicate and make social connections.

So Paul is now practicing the art of dating with developmentally disabled women like Bev, who is mentally retarded and therefore better at it than he is.

The big problem for a man who seems to want to connect is how often he simply disconnects.

"He goes off into his own little world and that's the difficult part in having a relationship," Marlene said. "It's because he leaves them. He could leave them cold and he can't open himself up. He doesn't know how to do that yet."

'He's Growing'

Paul's mother has arranged these practice dates but hasn't forced them. She has no particular dreams of marriage for Paul. And she's nowhere near contemplating a sex life for her son because he may never be ready for that.

But that's not the point.

"He's growing and that's the important thing," Marlene said. "And growth is very hard and he'll tell me sometimes, 'This is too hard.' But God love him, he tries. He tries very hard."

Finally, at the recital, when it was Paul's turn to play for real in front of the full audience, he nailed his part thanks to his mother's support and encouragement.

That's what moms are for, isn't it? But it can also be what friends are for, too. Female friends. And maybe someday he'll find one of those.

John Donvan
ABC News
May 30, 2006
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Health/story?id=2019736&page=1


Lifting The Curtain On How Ritalin Packs Its 1-2 Punch

Methylphenidate (Ritalin) elevates norepinephrine levels in the brains of rats to help focus attention while suppressing nerve signal transmissions in the sensory pathways to make it easier to block out extraneous stimuli, a Philadelphia research team has found.

Their report in the Journal of Neurophysiology helps explain how a stimulant aids people with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders to improve their focus without increasing their motor activity. Methylphenidate, prescribed under the brand name Ritalin, has been used for more than 20 years, mostly in children, to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and attention deficit disorder (ADD). The drug can also help people who don't suffer either disorder to attend better to a cognitive task.

Despite its wide use, little is known about how the drug, a chemical cousin of amphetamines, produces its therapeutic effects. Researchers want to unlock the mystery of why the drug has the paradoxical effect of decreasing hyperactive behavior and increasing the ability to focus, even though it is a stimulant, said Barry Waterhouse, the study's senior author.

"We're developing a series of behavioral and electrophysiological assays for examining the actions of drugs like methylphenidate," Waterhouse said. "If we can show exactly how methylphenidate works, we may be able to produce even more effective drugs and provide a better understanding of the physiology underlying ADHD."

The study, using rats, is the first to document the increase in norepinephrine and suppression of the neuronal response in this sensory pathway of the brain.

"Methylphenidate enhances noradrenergic transmission and suppresses mid- and long-latency sensory responses in the primary somatosensory cortex of awake rats," by Philadelphia-based researchers Candice Drouin, University of Pennsylvania; Michelle Page, Thomas Jefferson University; and Barry Waterhouse, Drexel University College of Medicine appears online in the Journal of Neurophysiology, published by The American Physiological Society.

From whiskers to brain

The researchers stimulated rats' whiskers while recording the activity of the neurons in the sensory pathways that convey this sensation from the whiskers to the cerebral cortex. They compared the rat's sensory pathway response to the whisker stimulation when receiving two different doses of methylphenidate. They found that both the low and moderate doses of methylphenidate:

Elevated norepinephrine in the area of the brain that processes information related to whisker movement. Norepinephrine helps transmit sensory information from the periphery to the brain.

Suppressed the long latency phase of the brain's neuronal response to whisker-related sensory stimuli. Suppression of the sensory neuronal response in this way is believed to help filter extraneous stimuli, Waterhouse explained. With the extraneous stimuli out of the way, the individual is better able to attend to the important stimuli.

In addition, the researchers found that the higher dose caused the rats to increase motor activity, while the lower dose did not.

Scientists still have much to learn about methylphenidate, which has an impact on neural circuits throughout the entire brain, not just the sensory pathway studied in this paper, Waterhouse noted. The changes that occur in this sensory pathway may affect other areas of the brain and changes in other areas of the brain may affect this pathway. In addition to sensory pathways, other scientists are studying how the drug affects cognitive and emotional areas of brain.

Next steps

"This experiment adds to our knowledge of what the drug is doing at the cellular level and gives us a springboard to other studies," Waterhouse said. "One question now is, how does the individual's perception of what is an important stimulus factor into the equation?"

Researchers in this area keep in touch and share their results, Waterhouse said. One group, for example, is looking at the drug's effects on dopamine and norepinephrine in the prefrontal cortex, he noted. These results will eventually have to be combined, as changes in one area of the brain are likely to affect other areas.

"We've been thinking about this for a long time," Waterhouse said of his research. "We hope to have a good idea of the drug's action when we put it all together."

One broad question that intrigues researchers is whether ADHD traces back to the same area of the brain as attention deficit disorder, a similar condition but one in which hyperactivity isn't a symptom.

They also want to know whether Ritalin has any toxic or long-lasting effects, not only for ADHD patients, but also for individuals taking the drug who do not suffer from ADHD or ADD. Methylphenidate use is on the rise among college students who solicit prescriptions from friends or siblings diagnosed with ADHD and use the drug to postpone fatigue and stay alert and focused while studying for exams or completing projects, Waterhouse said.

Source and funding

"Methylphenidate enhances noradrenergic transmission and suppresses mid- and long-latency sensory responses in the primary somatosensory cortex of awake rats," by Candice Drouin, Laboratory of Neuromodulation and Behavior, Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania; Michelle Page, Depart. of Neurosurgery, Thomas Jefferson University; and Barry Waterhouse, Dept. of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine. The study appears in the May issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology published by The American Physiological Society.

Research was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (Waterhouse).

Source: American Physiological Society
May 30, 2006
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060530202639.htm



Children's trouble processing information can disrupt lives

Margo Wells and her husband had always regarded their son, Jacob, as an intense child.

"As a baby, he squirmed a lot when you held him," Wells says. "You could tell he didn't like to be held."

He also didn't sleep much and resisted when it was time to change clothes or take a bath. "He was pretty happy, he just seemed to always be alert," his mother says.

His behavior became more of an issue when he started preschool.

"He would scream at the other kids and hit them, and you could tell he was overwhelmed," his mother says.

At age 3, Jacob was diagnosed with sensory-processing disorder, which affects a person's ability to interpret and respond to the information he or she receives through the senses.

The disorder, first called sensory integration dysfunction, covers a broad range of problems. Some children are hypersensitive, unable to cope with the noise of a crowded room or driven to a tantrum by the feel of a tag in a shirt. Others are under-responsive and seek out stimuli, such as the noise from a washing machine, or have motorskill delays because of problems processing sensory information.

A link between sensory issues and behavior was pioneered by Jean Ayres, a psychologist and occupational therapist who brought the disorder to light in "Sensory Integration and Learning Disorders" in 1972. A quarter-century later, sensory-processing disorder is not recognized by the DSM, or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a tool commonly used to diagnose mental disorders. And some insurance companies don't cover sensory-integration therapy, calling it experimental.

"Sensory-processing problems are very real, and they can be extremely debilitating," says Michael Kisley, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs who researches sensory issues. But sensory-processing disorder remains a controversial diagnosis, he says. More research is needed to show whether it is separate from other disorders with sensory-processing components, such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.

"In my own research, we often see individuals with no clear history of disorders defined by the DSM, and yet with very prominent sensory-related issues," he says.

Rebecca Hendricks, an occupational therapist in pediatric rehabilitation, says she sees more referrals from doctors citing sensory-processing disorder or sensory issues as the problem.

"It's probably one of the most frustrating diagnoses you can have because it's not static," she says. Problems may overlap, or children may swing from one type of sensory-processing disorder to another, she says.

"I think the hypersensitive kids get recognized more often because it gets in the way of their daily life more," she says.

Adults can have sensory-processing issues, too, but they're less likely to be recognized because adults learn to cope, partly by avoiding certain situations, Kisley says.

That's one thing her son, now 5, is learning, Margo Wells says. They recently went to a local family fun center. She could tell Jacob was having difficulty coping at the center, but he avoided a meltdown.

"When we were walking to the car, he said, `I don't think it's a good idea for me to come back here.'"

Adults have greater control over their environment. Kids with sensory-processing disorder who seek to control their environment may be criticized as manipulative, says Tami Lamphere, an occupational therapist at the Child Development Center of Colorado Springs, Colo. But those kids - from the infant who can't stand anyone's touch except mom's to the child who can't seem to handle a change in routine - are simply trying to control a sensory bombardment that may be unbearable to them.

Those children often are in a hypervigilant state known as sensory defensiveness.

"If you put anything else on their system, they're over the top," Lamphere says.

Therapy aimed at helping a child cope with sensory issues may rewire the brain and change the way that child receives sensory input, though that has yet to be proved. One method is to combine a "noxious" stimulus with a more pleasant one.

Hendricks gives the example of a child who doesn't like vestibular input, which refers to structures in the inner ear that detect movement and changes in the position of the head. For a child with vestibular issues, swinging can be frightening, not fun. Therapy might involve having the child swing on her stomach while putting a weighted blanket on her back to provide a comforting pressure.

In addition, Hendricks might have the child pretend to catch fish under the swing, "so their brain is not on this alert because they are distracted."

Over time, the act of swinging becomes less threatening.

Insurance may dictate the duration and frequency of treatment. Hendricks says therapy can last for years, with the resolution of one issue uncovering another. But Lucy Jane Miller, an occupational therapist who has studied sensory-processing disorder for 30 years, stresses short, intensive bursts of therapy. With three to five visits a week for 20 sessions, "we can make major changes in a reasonably short time," she says.

Miller, author of the just-released "Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children With Sensory Processing Disorder," is founder of the KID Foundation, a research and advocacy group, and directs the STAR Center, a treatment center in Denver for sensory-processing disorder.

She thinks sensory-processing disorder is widespread, affecting as many as one child in 20. But not every sensory issue is cause for alarm, she says.

"If they can cope on their own and they compensate, they don't really have a disorder, they just have a sensitivity."

Some research suggests that sensory-processing disorder is inherited. Jacob Wells struggles mostly with auditory and tactile issues. Margo Wells notes she is particularly sensitive to sounds, while her husband is "really funny about the way clothes feel on his body."

Jacob used to run away or fight with his mom when getting dressed.

"Even brushing teeth or combing his hair, anything involving touch, he was tactilely defensive," Margo Wells says.

He tends to be easily startled by loud sounds. When he enters a public bathroom, he'll cover his ears to protect himself from the roar of a flushing toilet.

Jacob goes to rehab weekly for therapy and also is in gymnastics to help with his motor development. He has made great strides, says his mother, who leads a local support group for parents of children with sensory-processing disorder.

"He seems like a typical kid. Our family life is much better."

BILL RADFORD
The Gazette
May. 30, 2006
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/living/14697948.htm

RED FLAGS
There are several forms of sensory processing disorder. Here are the signs of some:
Sensory over-responsiveness:
Child bothered by noise in a restaurant, mall or gymnasium; any loud, unexpected sounds; feeling crumbs on his mouth; food textures; fuzzy or furry textures; playing on swings and slides. Typically irritable, fussy and moody. Aggressive or impulsive when overwhelmed by sensory stimulation.

Sensory under-responsiveness:
Child doesn't seem to notice when someone touches him or her, doesn't cry when seriously hurt, prefers sedentary activities. Typically passive and withdrawn.

Sensory seeking:
On the move constantly, loves to play music and television at extremely high volume, seeks opportunities to feel vibrations such as leaning against stereo speakers or the washer and dryer. May be angry or even explosive when required to sit still. Typically intense and demanding.

Sensory-discrimination disorder:
Child has difficulty judging how much force is required for a task or telling what is in his hands without looking. Trouble identifying sounds or following directions. Aversion to playing with puzzles or other visual games.

SOURCE: "Sensational Kids, Hope and Help for Children With Sensory Processing Disorder,"
by Lucy Jane Miller

ON THE WEB :
The KID Foundation, http://www.kidfoundation.org/, 1-303-794-1182


Older Students Who Need Basics Pose Challenge
Systems Use Special Programs to Help Immigrants With Little Education in Their Native Countries

When Jose Velasquez, a soft-spoken teenager from Nicaragua whose basketball jersey and baggy jeans drape his lean frame, enrolled in a Montgomery County high school, his teachers soon discovered that he was far from ready for the classroom.

Although he was 17, he couldn't do division, write a paragraph or read a simple sentence in English.

Although many immigrant students excel in school, a few, such as Velasquez, have so little education in their native language that they pose a special challenge when they enter local schools. They lack the basic skills necessary to benefit from traditional programs -- known as English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) -- that are designed to acclimate immigrants to the U.S. educational system.

At a time when No Child Left Behind requires that educators ensure that all students are literate, the plight of this group illustrates the hurdles faced by even wealthy school systems such as those in Montgomery and Fairfax counties as they attempt to meet the law's mandates. Somehow, educators must help students with little formal schooling read, write and do math at the same level as the kids who arrive at school as kindergartners fluent in English.

"The challenge with high-schoolers is the lack of time," said Keith Buchanan, coordinator of the ESOL office for Fairfax County Public Schools. "The clock is ticking the minute they walk into that school."

The process of teaching this group can be difficult and frustrating for students and teachers, experts say. Older teenagers such as Velasquez are so far behind that educators are trying to cram nine to 10 years' worth of learning into just a few years.

And students unaccustomed to the rigors of U.S. schools sometimes find themselves struggling with a new set of expectations.

"I like school," Velasquez said through a translator. "There's much more opportunity here, so I want to work hard."

But the schoolwork is difficult, and math is particularly tricky for him, he said. Even with the help of a Spanish-speaking aide, trying to understand linear equations sometimes makes his head hurt.

In many cases, such students must be taught more than academics. Neither they, nor often their parents, understand why they have to do homework or even why they have to come to school every day.

"They're lacking in so many social and educational skills," said Maria Garcia, an ESOL counselor at Gaithersburg High School. "Things that other kids learned in kindergarten -- how to sit still, how to learn -- they don't know, because they haven't been in school. And it's difficult because they see the difference [in ability] between themselves and their peers."

Although they might use similar teaching methods, area school systems have different strategies for working with this group of students. In addition to their regular ESOL offerings, Fairfax public schools offer evening programs at four transitional high schools targeted at immigrants 18 and older. Schools in the District offer "newcomer" courses that focus on teaching students life skills and interpersonal communication .

"We don't want to have an uneducated underclass here," said Karen Adkins-Hastings, a guidance counselor at South Lakes Transitional High School in Fairfax. "That's part of what [these programs] are all about."

In Montgomery, students such as Velasquez enroll in METS -- the Multidisciplinary, Education, Training and Support program -- for students 9 and older. Students are taught in smaller classes -- usually about 15 students -- by teachers who specialize in working with non-English, mostly Spanish, speakers. Teachers use a variety of strategies to reach students, including lots of visual aids and hand motions, in 50-minute sessions. Fairfax takes a similar approach, but students take 90-minute classes.

During a recent class at Gaithersburg High, where Velasquez is a freshman, Margaret VanBuskirk began the lesson by assigning students to write brief sentences on what they did over spring break. She asked the question slowly in English. When the students looked puzzled, she pantomimed eating, sleeping and other activities as suggestions. When students recognized an activity, she had them repeat it in English, first using present tense, then past tense, before writing it on a sheet of paper tacked to the white board.

Velasquez takes three 50-minute courses especially designed for METS students -- social studies, reading and math -- along with non-METS classes in science and math. Ideally, as he and his classmates gain more fluency in English, they will be moved into more advanced ESOL courses and then into regular high school classes.

But Velasquez's progress, like that of many newcomers, is slow. He is among VanBuskirk's better students -- he does his homework and comes to class every day. But after a year and four months in school, he has moved ahead only one grade level in math -- from second to third. His reading is improving, but he is still at primary grade level.

Alex Mendez was born in the United States, but he spent several years in El Salvador before returning to Gaithersburg seven months ago to live with his father. Like Velasquez, he is trying to learn English as well as an entirely different culture.

He said he will try to graduate from high school, but beyond learning English he doesn't have any specific goals.

"I like [Ms. VanBuskirk's class] because it feels like family," he said through a translator. "But the work is difficult because I don't understand English."

How well these programs work for older students such as Velasquez and Mendez is difficult to assess by standard measures, educators say. Montgomery doesn't track the number of METS students who move into mainstream English classes or graduate from high school. And in Fairfax, officials don't distinguish these students from regular ESOL kids.

However, an independent analysis of Montgomery's METS program released this year by the Latino Education Coalition, a collaborative of local groups concerned about the achievement of Latino students, painted a troubling picture. It found "numerous, serious shortfalls" and that older METS students "receive insufficient support within the school system and that not enough resources are channeled to support the success of these students."

At one high school, the study's authors found, seven of the 18 students enrolled in the METS program in the 2004-05 school year dropped out. Another school lost more than half of its METS kids.

"These are students that we believe [the school system] is missing," said Candace Kattar, executive director of Identity Inc., one of the agencies that did the study. Too often, she said, these kids are slipping through the cracks because their numbers are small and their parents don't know how to be advocates for them. With the number of Latino students in Montgomery growing -- from 12 percent of the student population a decade ago to 20 percent today -- the system can no longer afford to ignore their needs, she added.

Fairfax educators say about one-third of the 325 students who enroll in the Transitional High School program graduate and move to an alternative high school, where they can continue studying English and working toward a diploma. But administrators say that number can be misleading because it fails to account for students who move out of the area or who take the skills they've gained to get jobs.

Montgomery officials concede that more can be done for older METS students and have formed a task force to study new strategies to reach this population. One possibility: offering students vocational training in addition to academic instruction.

"I can't say we're always successful, but we're hopeful we can provide them with understanding of what their goals could be," said Lois Wions, program supervisor for ESOL Instruction for the Montgomery school system. "But we also have to be realistic with ourselves and our students. There's very little chance that in four years a student who is not literate is going to graduate from high school."

But Kattar and others say they are optimistic that something can be done for students such as Velasquez before they get discouraged and disappear from the system. Even if they don't earn a diploma, they may be able to pick up enough skills to survive, she said.

Velasquez said he has a simple goal: to do well in school, both for himself and his family's sake. And someday, he said, he hopes to master enough English to get a job helping other Latinos, just as his teachers at Gaithersburg have helped him.

Lori Aratani, Washington Post Staff Writer
May 29, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/28/AR2006052801012.html


Educating gifted students

Criteria for gifted students are not set in stone. Not in Florida or anywhere else.
Proponents of gifted programs grapple with this and likely will do so for a long time.

I once opposed gifted education, as did Pierre Tristam in a recent column. That is, until I did my homework.

My initial aversion to such programs began more than 20 years ago when my daughter's IQ score got her in the door, but "insufficient support in the home" slammed it in her face.

It seems that the Pennsylvania school's psychologist felt that a mother who worked as a waitress and a father who worked as a stock clerk lacked the wherewithal to support a gifted child in her academic endeavors. My daughter remained in the regular classroom and stayed there until she followed in her mother's footsteps and dropped out of high school.

At age 35, I entered college to pursue my dream of becoming a classroom teacher. The first "research" paper I wrote vehemently opposed gifted education, dismissing it as elitist and unnecessary. To her credit, instructor Teri Delos Santos (who was, unbeknownst to me, the parent of a gifted child) did not take my attack personally. Thus began my true understanding of the word "research."

As I continued to rant against gifted education in subsequent classes, I continued to research the topic in order to bolster my argument. To my surprise, I began to learn a thing or two about gifted education, and the new knowledge made me squirm. It can be hard to admit being wrong, but no one ever said enlightenment would be easy. There are several points worth consideration.

First, let's look at the criterion of IQ. An IQ of at least 130 is typically required for gifted identification. (About 2 percent of the population would be included.) For those who believe that students with an IQ of 130 (or higher) do not require special educational considerations, please bear in mind that this is two standard deviations above the average IQ of 100. Few would argue that students scoring two standard deviations below the average, or those with an IQ of 70 (or lower), require special educational considerations. Why does it seem politically incorrect when special consideration is given at the high end?

Secondly, Tristam's question, "What message are we sending our children, and society at large, when segregation is held up not only as a defining factor of an educational program, but as a desirable, even admirable one as well?" merits a thorough response.

Yes, what message are we sending? Let's begin with the world's most famous (and powerful) C student. President Bush, as he has every year since taking office, recently requested no funding for the Javits Program. Congress passed the Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Student Education Act in 1988 to ensure America's brightest would be provided with curriculum commensurate with their ability.

President Bush's message to gifted students: No support from me! Find yourself a rich daddy like I did! His message to the rest of the country: Don't look to me to waste taxpayer dollars on those snotty smart kids. I've got better places to waste taxpayer dollars.

And what about Tristam's charge of segregation? In junior high school I auditioned for chorus. I was named an "alternate" and could sing only if a real chorus member got sick. Others didn't even make that cut. In band, I met with even more elitism. (My clarinet squeaked.) And football? Well, now I'm just being facetious. Segregation is a serious charge, but one that I, too, once accepted.

I changed my attitude when I heard renowned researcher Nicholas Colangelo explain it.

"First of all," Colangelo asked, "do you believe that there is considerable variation among students of the same grade and age?" Yes, I did.

"And do you believe," he continued, "that students learn best when there is a good match between the learning readiness and curriculum?" Who could disagree?

"Lastly," Colangelo asked, "do you believe it is educationally sound to assess readiness and then match it with an appropriate curriculum?" Again, I agreed.

This, Colangelo pointed out, is the essence of gifted education -- meeting students where they stand.

America has had a long and notorious love-hate relationship with gifted education. Labeling contributes to the negative connotation. When we call one child "gifted," we imply the next child is "not gifted." Tough to hear in a setting as democratic as the classroom is supposed to be.

But why not clarify the label? We have no problem with athletically gifted and musically gifted. Indeed, most Americans can handily name the winners of Oscars, Emmys, Superbowls and Stanley Cups. But, quickly, who among us can name the academically gifted winners of the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prizes? It is simply un-American. There is an aversion to the stereotype of the pencil-neck geek.

Love them or hate them, we rely on the academically gifted to seek cures for cancer and paralysis, develop alternative energy sources and resolve global warming, write plays and poetry that uplift the spirit, and pursue honest, investigative reporting to inform a beleaguered public.

Bright children have different needs. Ask any classroom teacher. They languish and underachieve when asked to review and revisit and relearn material they have long ago mastered. And this is what we ask of them in a regular classroom setting.

Asking a child to be on page 50 because "that's where we are today" is a real problem to the child who has not yet made it to page 17. It is equally frustrating to the child who has finished reading the book. Speed limits belong on the highways, not in the classroom.

Knowledge is power, and as the American public educates itself about the facts regarding gifted children they will quit demeaning them and dismissing their needs as being no more than the wants of a willful and spoiled child. They will acknowledge that denying them an appropriate education is as inherently evil as refusing access to a child in a wheelchair.

Lovell Oliver specializes in gifted education and English as a second language at Stetson University in the Department of Teacher Education. She holds a doctorate from the University of Iowa She recommends ."A Nation Deceived: How Schools Hold Back America's Brightest Students" (available online at http://www.nationdeceived.org/).

CINDY LOVELL OLIVER, COMMUNITY VOICE
May 27, 2006
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/
Editorials/opnOPN60052706.htm



School districts turn to paid readers for grading student essays

In the Northshore School District, some English teachers don't spend much time reading student papers.

In the Bellevue School District, some don't even grade the papers.

Both districts now rely on paid readers to evaluate and in some cases grade student essays in English classes; Seattle's Garfield High School is piloting such a program this year. The use of readers greatly reduces teacher workload and gives students more writing practice, but the trend raises questions about teachers' roles in inspiring and guiding students' work.

Many English teachers in the region teach five classes a day with 30 students each. If they assign a two-page essay in every class, that adds up to 300 pages to read, edit, comment on and grade.

Teachers and administrators agree that most high schools don't give students enough writing practice, largely because of the limits on teacher time. By using readers, Bellevue officials estimate their students can write seven three- to five-page essays a semester, compared with two essays in a traditional literature class.

"External readers encourage teachers to assign more writing. That's the heart of it," said David Conley, director of the Center for Educational Policy Research at the University of Oregon. "The amount of writing in high school is dramatically less than what's expected in college."

Conley was the consultant for the Bellevue School District as it reworked its curriculum two years ago to increase its rigor and prepare more students for college. He recommended Bellevue students do more discursive and argumentative writing, the type they are most likely to do in college, and less literary analysis, the type most frequently assigned in high-school English classes.

Bellevue this year launched a required senior English class that relies almost entirely on paid readers to analyze and grade all but a fraction of papers. Teachers don't see most of their students' written work, and they don't give most of the grades.

The use of paid readers isn't new. In the 1980s, before tightened school budgets, many districts hired professional readers to assist their English teachers, said Carol Jago, co-director of the California Reading and Literature Project. The Theme Reader program in Northshore, in which teachers weigh readers' comments and assign grades, has been in place for at least 15 years, officials there say.

But Jago said the practice raises questions, even when teachers work closely with the readers.

"What's lost is how teachers get to know their students through their writing. And students no longer know the audience they're writing for," she said. But others point out that anonymous readers evaluate students on a range of tests including the WASL and the SAT.

Readers for local school districts are typically college students majoring in literature, professional writers, editors and retired teachers.

Northshore spent $80,000 last year — $13 an hour, per reader — on the Theme Readers program, though not all teachers use it. Bellevue pays its readers $20 an hour and expects to quadruple the reading ranks next year when the writing initiative expands to include the sixth through 11th grades. The Bellevue Schools Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports education, donated $29,000 to pay for readers this year; the district has requested $235,000 for next year.

In the Seattle school district, the Garfield High School PTA has spent $6,000 on the school's new reader program. Gretchen Wilkinson, who chairs Garfield's English department, said parents had criticized the department for not giving students more writing practice and more detailed feedback to improve skills.

During fall semester, Wilkinson said, readers commented on 725 papers and critiqued 435 practice WASL essays written by ninth-graders. Teachers will use the comments to identify students who need more help.

"We wouldn't have been able to give that kind of attention to the essays unless all our ninth-grade teachers were willing to give up three to four weekends and not get anything done in our regular classes," Wilkinson said.

Lance Balla, a curriculum and technology coach for Bellevue schools, said the district built into the program several checks to keep teachers informed about their students' work. The teachers develop a scoring guide for each assignment and read three out of every 30 essays. Readers and teachers consult after each set of papers is graded, and teachers are expected to use the readers' comments to look for common problems and if necessary, adjust their teaching.

"It's not just a way to give a kid a score, it's a way to improve instruction across the district," Balla said.

That's debatable, said Stephen Miller, president of the Bellevue Education Association.

"All English teachers would agree that students become better writers by writing more. But is writing many essays more important than personal feedback from your teacher? We don't know the answer," he said.

One of Bellevue's paid readers, University of Washington doctoral candidate Megan Miller, said using readers also eliminates the "suck-up" factor in teacher-student relations.

"The fact that they have outside readers commenting [on their papers] may make them step it up a bit and not rely on their rapport with the teacher."

Naomi Vaughan, a 2003 Woodinville High School graduate who is now a student at the University of Washington and a reader for her former school, said that prompt and frequent feedback is more effective at helping students improve their skills.

"Students want feedback. If they have to wait two to three weeks, it's meaningless," she said.

But some teachers want to remain connected to their students, and their progress, through their written work.

"If I have an ace writer, I can demand more. If he or she's a B-level, I want to know that, too," said Angela Rossana, an English teacher at Mariner High School in the Mukilteo School District.

David Ehrich, chair of the Roosevelt High School English department in Seattle, talks about paid readers the way a remote villager might talk about electricity.

"I never thought they were in the realm of the possible," he said.

Lynn ThompsonTimes Snohomish County bureau
Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2003025593_
themereaders29m.html


Music therapy helps develop communication and motor skills

BEVERLY, Mass. --Seventeen-year-old Tony Bacon sat at the parlor window seat, his eyes glued to the driveway. He settles into the same spot every Wednesday afternoon.

"What are you waiting for?" his mother, Susan Williams, asked.

"Music therapy," he said, his words coming out fast and slurred.

Over the next 45 minutes, Tony, who has autism, and Krystal Demaine sit face-to-face in the sunroom. She'll play guitar while he'll beat on a drum.

Demaine, a 2000 graduate of the Berklee College of Music's music therapy program, has been making the trek to Tony's house for the past four years, using the oohs and aahs in "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" as exercises in enunciation, volume and breath control. Beating along to "Blackbird" on the drum wasn't just fun, it was an exercise in coordination and motor control.

It's all part of a session known as music therapy that is used in hospices, hospitals and schools to help people with different medical conditions develop everything from language skills to motor coordination. Music therapy can provide a drug-free way to regulate moods in people with depression or foster socialization in people with limited means of communication.

At the Berklee College of Music, which has had a music therapy program for the past decade, there are about 100 students enrolled in what is the only undergraduate music therapy program in the state and one of 70 in the country.

Music therapists are professionals that use music "to address nonmusical goals," said Al Bumanis, spokesman at the American Music Therapy Association.

Therapists are not trying to create an orchestra, but take advantage of the ways mind and body are stimulated when people listen to and make music so they can hone motor and brain functions, he said.

Suzanne Hanser, founder and chairwoman of the Berklee program, tends to talk about "spirits" and "creative potential" when she describes the benefits of music therapy.

"One doesn't need to intellectualize, one doesn't need to understand very much, music impacts a person viscerally, physically, immediately, and directly," said Hanser, who did postdoctoral training in clinical gerontology at Stanford University School of Medicine and is currently a research associate at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and president of the World Federation of Music Therapy.

Demaine, who also has a certificate in neurologic music therapy and a master's degree in education, said a patient in therapy is working on a lot of things at once.

"I'm using my hands, I'm using my eyes, I'm using my ears -- I'm using all these different senses and I'm receiving something that makes me feel good," she said.

Tony's mother said she enrolled him in music therapy because she thought it could help his communication skills.

The therapy "forces language when they sing," she said and now it's easier for Tony to communicate with others. "He's able to express his needs," she said, making life easier for them both.

"I think there's something so basic, but so complicated about rhythm. I think really helps organize the brain," she said.

Berklee students pursuing the field of music therapy spend most of their time off-campus, in hospitals and at schools where they work with patients under the supervision of professional music therapists, many of whom are Berklee graduates themselves. Upon graduation, they must pass a national certification test to be recognized as music therapists.

"Our students are invested in the community," Hanser said. The school, with the help of corporate partners, endowed a part-time music therapist job at the McLean Hospital in Belmont.
Adam Sankowski, a 2003 graduate of the program, had his first out-of-classroom experience as a student at the Kennedy Day School, run at the Franciscan Hospital for Children in Boston.

He said the first few classes he took were "kind of heady. ... It wasn't until I went into the field and started observing that it kind of clicked into place."

Sankowski has come full circle; he now works part-time at the Kennedy Day School where he uses therapy to foster socialization. Many of his patients are nonverbal and use machines with recorded phrases -- such as "good morning" -- to communicate.

The idea, he said, is to make the setting similar to any other group of friends hanging out. "People are talking, everybody takes turns," he explained, "we try to create that same thing but in a musical context."

So the first song the group sings every day is a greeting, used both to help the children interact and help them learn to use the technology that they depend on. Several of the students have such limited use of their bodies that all they can do is hit a switch with their heads. But during music therapy, hitting that switch lets them sing along with their classmates.

Getting Berklee students into the community is not just good experience for them, Hanser said, but it exposes doctors and other caretakers to what she does, "so that they can understand that it is an art and it is also a medical science and it is based on current theories as well as research."

For instance, in a 1986 paper published in the Journal of Music Therapy, Hanser described the effects of music therapy on women in labor. For 10 contractions, women listened to music designed especially for them -- songs they had used before as part of relaxation techniques. That was alternated with five music-less minutes for the duration of labor.

The women had fewer physical pain responses -- tense muscles, clenched teeth raised shoulders and, requests for pain killers -- while music played.

And recent research at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation suggests listening to music can reduce chronic pains and depression by up to a quarter.

But it wasn't the hard evidence of research that brought Sankowski to the program at Berklee.

"I had always liked playing guitar, but I didn't think I was going to be a rock star. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but I made the decision that music was going to be a big part of my life," he said. "It's more about connecting with people."

Brandie M. Jefferson, Associated Press Writer
July 4, 2006
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2006/07/04/ music_therapy_helps_develop_communication_and_motor_skills/


'Academic Redshirting' Is Getting a Mixed Report Card
The popular practice of delaying schooling is not necessarily helpful, researchers say.

Many parents and educators swear by the practice of "academic redshirting" — waiting an extra year before enrolling a child in kindergarten in hopes of giving the kid more confidence, greater size or perhaps an academic edge.

But does it really work?

New research — including a federal study of 21,000 youngsters released in May — suggests that the benefits are a mixed bag, both academically and socially. As often happens with education techniques, redshirting appears to help some, harm others or have no effect at all.

For Suzanne Weerts of Burbank, the value was clear enough. As her son Jack neared his fifth birthday last September, his parents sought out teachers and other parents to help them decide whether their boy was ready for kindergarten.

Eligibility wasn't an issue: The Burbank Unified School District's cutoff birth date is Dec. 2 and Jack was born on Sept. 15. But Weerts worried that her shy son would be intimidated by children who had turned 5 months earlier and would have a tough time keeping up academically.

This September, Jack will start kindergarten at William McKinley Elementary School and is likely to be one of the older kids in his class.

"In preschool he was a follower," said Weerts. "This year he was a leader in the classroom. He's more confident. You can't go wrong with the extra year."

Weerts said that, among her friends, about half opted to give their children an extra year. It's a decision lots of parents have to make as fall approaches. And a lot are deciding to redshirt, a term borrowed from sports lingo, where freshmen athletes are held back a year to give them more time to build strength.

The concept isn't new, but it's impossible to say how common it was, say, a generation ago. Recent national studies estimate that 6% to 9% of children eligible for kindergarten are redshirted each year. Research and anecdotal reports have found that, in some school districts, as many as 50% of kids are held back an extra year before starting kindergarten.

Some kids benefit, but others don't.

That was the conclusion of the report on 21,000 children released in May by the U.S. Department of Education. The study of boys and girls entering kindergarten in 1998 looked at their abilities when they were in first grade. It found that the children who had been redshirted had lower math knowledge and skills than first-graders who started kindergarten on time.

"It's always done with huge amounts of love and passion," said Elizabeth Graue, professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, of the practice.

"The problem is that it doesn't always necessarily pay off the way you think it's going to," said Graue, who has done extensive research on redshirting.

Repeating kindergarten, the federal study also found, was an even more harmful practice.

By the time they reached first grade, kids who had repeated kindergarten appeared less likely to possess specific math skills than the typical first-grader. In addition, they were less likely to have developed reading skills, such as understanding words in context.

One possible explanation: If a child had trouble mastering a subject the first time around, teaching the child with the same technique won't help much a year later.

"Typically, just repeating the same treatment doesn't work," Graue said.

Other studies have looked at the possible long-term influence of redshirting.

In 2003, a literature review of studies on redshirting by Hermine H. Marshall, an emerita professor at San Francisco State University, found that, on average, the effects of delaying kindergarten dissipated later on in grade school.

Although redshirting might help — or harm — a child soon after kindergarten, things start to even out by about third grade.

So, according to some research, redshirting isn't necessary because younger kids can benefit from being around older ones. Children learn from one another, and the stimulating environment of school sometimes helps younger kids catch up with their peers.

Socially, the effects of redshirting are mixed. Some studies show that older children could feel awkward about reaching puberty before their classmates. Conversely, other studies say that being older could raise a child's confidence and popularity.

For some parents, the social pressures of middle school and even college were on their minds when they redshirted their kids before kindergarten.

"Just think if you want your child to be the youngest ninth-grader, trying to keep up with the older kids and being more susceptible to peer pressure," said Calissa Ricker of Burbank, whose daughter Isabel, 8, was redshirted. "Do you want them to be the confident ninth-grader or the timid one?"

In some cases, parents may be pressured into giving their kids an extra year by teachers or school officials hoping to ensure classrooms that are easier to control.

The pressure to redshirt is particularly high at private elementary schools in Los Angeles, where September cutoffs help to quietly encourage the practice, said Fiona Whitney, author of "The Whitney Guide," private-school guidebooks. By comparison, many other districts — including Los Angeles Unified — have December cutoffs.

Most top-notch schools are "very interested in having kids that will fit in," said Whitney, who also counsels parents on education matters and is a proponent of redshirting.

While children of both genders are held back, boys are more likely to start kindergarten a year late than girls, studies show.

"They tend to be impulsive or cry when things don't work; that can be really wearing," Graue said of boys. "Also there's this phobia that you don't have a teary-eyed boy. You want that kid who is confident and strong, who can lead the whole world."

As a result of interviewing many parents over the years, Graue has also come to suspect that there is another factor affecting what they want for their children: the parents' own childhood experiences.

"You might have the dad who was always the smallest and didn't get picked first in kickball," Graue said. When it's time for those people to have their own kids, you'll see "the parents who want their kid to be on varsity. It has more to do with what you want the child to accomplish. Especially with sports."

Michelle Keller, Times Staff Writer
July 5, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/education/la-me-redshirt5
jul05,1,5742143.story?coll=la-news-learning