Today’s teenagers have been stereotyped as adventurous and harebrained individuals.  They are generally fond of experimenting with things until they get in touch with drugs, sex, guns, alcohol among others. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures, 16,000 young adults die each year from unintentional injuries and accidents.  The most common justification for teenagers’ care-free attitude is that their brains just aren’t developed enough to know better. However, recent research shows that in some cases the fact is just the opposite, the brain matures not too slowly but perhaps, too quickly.

According to a psychiatrist, an adolescent who engages in more dangerous activities have white-matter pathways that seem to be more mature than those of risk-averse youths.  White-matter is the brain’s wiring, the neutral pathways that connect the various gray-matter regions of the cerebrum that are independent of one another.  Having a mature white-matter is necessary because it allows faster brain processing speed.  Nerve impulses also travel faster in mature white-matter. Experiments also reveal that the more mature the look of the brain, the more adventurous the teenager tended to be.
Another possible explanation is that some teenagers whose brains develop more rapidly than others become uncomfortable and a little confused owing to the gap between their biological capabilities and the social norms they must follow as kids. Precocious development of these neural tracts may make some adolescents more susceptible to engage in behaviors that society considers too adult in nature for their chronological age. It is also a common notion that teens make dumb decisions because their brains are immature. In other words, having a more mature brain may actually motivate some teens to try out new and potentially harmful experiences.
For now, these theories are mere speculation, and the researchers concede that the interaction of white and gray matter is so complex that hard conclusions remain elusive. The results of the study are relatively bare and by no means conclusive. The human brain is so intricate in nature, and one has to consider the fact that there are other factors that come into play such as the environment and certain genetic predispositions that are equally complex to study.

A recent research discovered distressing signs that demographic factors such as gender, race, and parental education play significant roles in ascertaining a student’s fate, no matter how studious or hardworking the particular student may be. Those from families with below-average earnings or whose parents didn’t finish college, are the ones failing college at disproportionate rates, even when distinguished from students with similar grades and test scores. Well to do undergrads earn 11 percent more degrees from flagship universities than comparable students from the poorest income quartile. White men are six percent more likely to graduate than black men with similar grades and scores. Women earn degrees at much higher rates than men. The findings about the actions that parents, students, and politicians should and shouldn’t take to fix the problems are already creating controversy.
High school grades are among the best indicators of how well a student will do in college. They typically manifest qualities of motivation and perseverance, good study habits and time management skills that tell us about their chances of completing a college program.  Students who attend wealthier high schools do seem to enjoy a slight edge in enrolling in college and elite high schools appear to help the very best students succeed at the most selective public universities.
Students shouldn’t settle for less in a college. They have a better chance of graduating if they go to school with other students as talented as they are. High school grades are extremely important as indicators of success in college. It will not do for high school students to believe that ‘just getting through’ is enough, students have to work, they have to achieve. If they do, they have a better chance of succeeding in college and later in life.
Research has shown the influence of inspired and determined peers, who are not always present in community college classrooms. Many community college students also have expressed concerns over the years about the inability of their schools to direct them to classes that will count as transfer credits. In addition, many students are certainly put off by complexities in transfer processes.
Cash is another factor, it absolutely helps but is not a cure-all. More generous scholarships, or lower net tuition fees, can raise graduation rates by 5 to 10 percent. In addition, putting together enough aid with extra support services for students and parents does even more to guide and assist students through to graduation.
There is some hope though. The graduation rate success of students involved in experiments shows that graduation rates can be increased substantially if enough resources and creativity are put to work.

For children with learning disabilities, attending school and learning in general can prove to be a really big challenge. That is why public schools and other educational institutions are supposed to have special education services available for these kids. But is it really necessary for “special needs children” to be segregated or fully separated from the “normal” kids? Would it really help them achieve their full potential or would it alienate them from the general population?

One of the easiest ways to answer these questions, and many others about special education, is to look at the IEP of particular students. IEP or Individualized Education Programs are, in theory, what would practically dictate the whole academic future of a child with learning disabilities. It includes the specific needs of the children and the interventions and services that they would require in order for them to learn. further more, it should contain the explanation as to why a particular student cannot participate in regular classes with non-disabled children.

It’s easy to understand why some children, specially the ones with autism and other medical and physiological disabilities would not thrive in the normal school setting, but education, in my opinion should not just be about math, science, history and other academic subjects. Education should be holistic and it should include social interaction. Interaction with different types of people broadens the mind and makes individuals feel that they are a part of the greater population, not just a small class composed of “special kids” which can be very limiting and in an ironic twist, can further retard their development.

So, what can we do to make sure that learning disabled students can truly grow and reach their potential? A mixture of regular classes and supplemental instruction would be a good idea. Let them join the mainstream population and let them attend regular classes with regular students and if the teachers notice that they are lagging behind or are not doing well, make them attend supplemental classes that would target specific needs. This approach would probably demand more effort from the teachers and the students but, working more to compensate for our personal limitations is one of the most important attitudes that everyone should have in the first place so its a win win situation for everyone.

Dumb, Stupid, Lazy

These are some of the hurtful words that people use to describe or insult kids with undiagnosed learning disabilities. What they do not know is that being learning disabled is not such a bad thing, just look at some of the famous achievers from every imaginable field.

Learning disabilities do not reflect IQ (intelligence quotient) or how smart a person is. Instead, a person with a learning disability has trouble performing specific types of skills or completing a task or the same as mental or physical disabilities, such as mental retardation, deafness, or blindness. But, learning disabilities may occur together with mental or physical disabilities.

The most common disabilities is are:

Reading disability

Of all students with specific learning disabilities, 70%-80% have deficits in reading. The term “dyslexia” is often used as a synonym for reading disability; however, many researchers assert that there are different types of reading disabilities, of which dyslexia is one. A reading disability can affect any part of the reading process, including difficulty with accurate and/or fluent word recognition, word decoding, reading rate, prosody (oral reading with expression), and reading comprehension.

Writing disability

Speech and language disorders can also be called Dysphasia/aphasia. Impaired written language ability may include impairments in handwriting, spelling, organization of ideas, and composition. The term “dysgraphia” is often used as an overarching term for all disorders of written expression. Others, such as the International Dyslexia Association, use the term “dysgraphia” exclusively to refer to difficulties with handwriting.

Math disability

Sometimes called dyscalculia, a math disability can cause such difficulties as learning math concepts (such as quantity, place value, and time), difficulty memorizing math facts, difficulty organizing numbers, and understanding how problems are organized on the page.

Motor planning disability

Sometimes called dyspraxia, refers to a variety of difficulties with motor skills. Dyspraxia can cause difficulty with single step tasks such as combing hair or waving goodbye, multi-step tasks like brushing teeth or getting dressed, or with establishing spatial relationships such as being able to accurately position one object in relation to another.