[IAEP] Texas Senate Bills 866 & 867 regarding dyslexia passed over the weekend

[marilyn at ourdyslexicchildren.org]

Hi there! 

I am a lurker on this list - read posts once in a
while. Last semester I was teaching at an elementary school and used
Sugar on a live CD with the kids. It was a big hit and I passed out at
least a hundred Sugar CDs to students. They squealed with delight and
begged to use it in class. 

A very important piece of dyslexia
legislation passed the house and senate unanimously in Texas over the
weekend. The three most important features in my mind are: 

 	* All
school personnel must be trained in the recent scientific studies about
dyslexia ( Reference:
http://www.dyslexia.yale.edu/dyslexiastraighttalk.html )
 	* Teachers
must use multi-sensory methods (audio, video, etc.) to teach dyslexic
students
 	* Schools must incorporate assistive technologies that are
helpful to dyslexic students

I am currently working on writing a high
school class that accommodates dyslexia (http://marilyn.hagle.com). It
is a music technology type class and I am using Musix, a Linux OS that
focuses on music compostion and audio/video production, for my software
base. Downloads are already available of course, but I will make sure
students can inexpensively purchase live DVDs or USBs that are software
ready. 

I am writing to the folks on this list, hoping that one of you
will take on a similar project for dyslexic elementary students using
Sugar. Make a Moodle site and post video & audio with lessons using
Sugar. 

If one or more of you wish to do this, make sure you write to
Virginia Gonzalez (virginia.gonzalez at region10.org), the state dyslexia
consultant and tell her about it so she can get the word out. 

You know
that commercial interests will see dollar signs and try to make a buck
off of this. I would do it myself, but this class I am working on will
at least take months to finish. 

Thanks! And thanks for creating Sugar!


Marilyn Hagle 

  
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