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  • bjbjLULU MARGARET WARNER: Now: how one school has succeeded in reducing the odds that a

  • student with learning disabilities may drop out. Past studies have found that these students

  • drop out at more than twice the rate of their classmates. NewsHour health correspondent

  • Betty Ann Bowser reports on what can be done in the classroom to prevent that. It's for

  • our series the American Graduate Project. BETTY ANN BOWSER: On a recent Friday morning

  • at the Henderson Inclusion Elementary School in Boston, there was organized chaos as nearly

  • 250 students crowded into the auditorium. Then it was showtime. The students were celebrating

  • African-American History Month. But the show was also a celebration of a unique public

  • school where one-third of the student body is disabled and where all the children are

  • educated together in an inclusive setting. Dr. Tom Hehir is a professor at the Harvard

  • Graduate School of Education and one of the country's leading experts on special education.

  • DR. TOM HEHIR, Harvard Graduate School of Education: It is not unusual that some kids

  • don't walk. It is not unusual that some kids don't talk. It's not unusual that some kids

  • struggle learning how to read or process information. That's the norm. And so that philosophy carries

  • through to the whole school. BETTY ANN BOWSER: For the kids with learning disabilities, what

  • goes on in the classroom is especially important. Using federal government data, the National

  • Center for Learning Disabilities says 20 percent of children with L.D. drop out of high school

  • vs. 8 percent of the general population. And the center reports that half of secondary

  • students with L.D. perform more than three grade levels below where they should be. DR.

  • TOM HEHIR: Not only is it more likely that kids with learning disabilities are going

  • to drop out of school. It's also less likely they're going to reengage in education. That's

  • associated with unemployment, low wages. And there is evidence that there's increased likelihood

  • of getting in trouble in the community. And those are all bad outcomes. BETTY ANN BOWSER:

  • So the emphasis at Henderson is on early intervention, and a big part of that is technology. Former

  • principal Dr. Bill Henderson realized more than 20 years ago how technology could help

  • L.D. kids. At the time, he was going blind and had to learn braille from scratch. That

  • gave him special insights. DR. BILL HENDERSON, former principal, Henderson Elementary School:

  • When we read, most people with their eyes, I now with my ears or with my fingers, you

  • have to figure out what the text, print or braille dots are saying. That's decoding.

  • Many children who have specific learning disabilities, in particular dyslexia, have to put extra

  • energies and efforts into decoding text. You cannot read as much material. You can't keep

  • up with grade-level and rigorous material. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Current principal Patricia

  • Lampron showed us how one second-grader with learning disabilities showed his comprehension

  • of a story he'd read writing in longhand. PATRICIA LAMPRON, principal, Henderson Elementary

  • School: He wrote, not very neatly, "Rosa helped Blanca, and Blanca helped Rosa. I can be nice

  • to others." He did exactly what the prompt asked him to do, but obviously he has a difficult

  • time with spelling, handwriting. And is that a benchmark second-grade response? I would

  • say, no, it isn't. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Then, on another page, she showed us what the same

  • student wrote using a computer to explain his comprehension of another story. PATRICIA

  • LAMPRON: He uses a text reader and a word-prompting software, and the word-prompting software

  • helps him to produce something more on grade level, and definitely more thorough. BETTY

  • ANN BOWSER: Every classroom is abuzz with these kinds of teaching devices, computers,

  • iPads, digital audio programs. They allow students to learn a variety of different ways

  • and at their own pace. Two teachers are assigned to each class, working as a team. One is a

  • general classroom professional. The other is a special education teacher. Together,

  • they brainstorm what works for each student. This second-grade classroom of 23 students

  • has seven disabled kids in it and each one works at their own speed. So, for dyslexic

  • kids like Ronan Gorman, comprehending text means using a traditionally textbook, an iPad

  • and headphones. Principal Lampron explained. PATRICIA LAMPRON: Ronan can listen to the

  • book also while he is reading along with the book. So sometimes he may use the book separately

  • from the iPad or he can read it in digital format. And what digital format allows students

  • to do is listen, as well as read along. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Nine-year-old Ronan had been held

  • back twice before he entered Henderson in September. His parents said he was unhappy

  • and feeling like a failure. His dad, Gerry, was especially upset by all of this because,

  • like Ronan, he too is dyslexic. But in a few short months, things have turned around. GERALD

  • GORMAN, father: It's almost emotional for me to talk about it, because, seeing him now,

  • seeing him from where he was, and seeing me where I was at that age, he's doing what I

  • used to do when I was 14. He's 9. So it's -- it's just -- it's phenomenal. ANN GORMAN,

  • mother: First of all, he smiles a lot. He goes to bed every night with about five piles

  • of books, which he always did. But he reads them now. And he used to say to me, "I'm never

  • going to learn how to read this." BETTY ANN BOWSER: When Bill Henderson was principal,

  • he realized, if kids like Ronan didn't get help early, they would fail later on. So he

  • came up with the team teaching idea and introduced a robust arts program. DR. BILL HENDERSON:

  • The arts were terrific for kids with print disabilities and dyslexia. There are many

  • outstanding artists and visual artists and dancers and singers who have significant dyslexia.

  • And they have a chance to shine and show their skills and their talents in a different medium.

  • And print isn't always the easiest way for them to do that. BETTY ANN BOWSER: The Henderson

  • School has a full-time music teacher, several occupational therapists, a teacher who specializes

  • in sensory therapy, and on the day we were in this second-grade classroom, there were

  • five different teaching professionals helping just 23 students. All that costs money. Under

  • federal law, a child identified with learning disabilities must receive a free and appropriate

  • public education up to the age of 18. Generally, the more the disabled a child is, the more

  • money is allocated for his or her education. But Harvard's Hehir says there are many places

  • in the country that don't spend that money wisely by segregating L.D. kids in special

  • education classrooms, which costs more than spreading it around in inclusive settings.

  • DR. TOM HEHIR: There's a large number of kids who still are inappropriately separated from

  • their peers. And, also, those kids -- the kids who are getting the better programs are

  • much more apt to be middle and upper-middle-class kids. Low-income kids are much more apt to

  • be segregated. BETTY ANN BOWSER: There are no figures on how many students go on to graduate

  • from high school, but both Lampron and Henderson have followed many of their former students

  • through the years, and say most of them are doing well. DR. BILL HENDERSON: If we want

  • kids to graduate from high school, then having a strong foundation at the elementary level

  • is critical. And for kids with significant learning disabilities and significant attention-deficit

  • disorders, having technologies, providing accommodations for reading and writing are

  • critical. BETTY ANN BOWSER: There are hundreds of children on the waiting list to get into

  • the Henderson School, and they aren't just students with disabilities. Through the years,

  • the reputation of the school has grown. And, today, it's held up as a national model of

  • what early intervention can do for children with learning difficulties. MARGARET WARNER:

  • American graduate is a public media initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

  • On our website, we introduce to you to a one-time dropout who's now a Harvard graduate student.

  • Find out what advice he offers students and parents dealing with learning disabilities.

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  • place urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags City MARGARET WARNER: Now: how one school

  • has succeeded in reducing the odds that a student with learning disabilities may drop

  • out Normal Microsoft Office Word MARGARET WARNER: Now: how one school has succeeded

  • in reducing the odds that a student with learning disabilities may drop out Title Microsoft

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