LDA News

LDA’s own President, Beth McGaw was recently featured in the IMSE Journal. Take a look at this insightful article about our newest President’s journey to empower educators, parents and students to better support students with learning and attention issues – a journey which began long ago while working in another role: mom.

Read more.

The Learning Disabilities Association of America recently developed comments to submit to the Federal Commission on School Safety on how to improve safety in our schools and specifically how to address the needs of students with learning disabilities in a safe school environment.

Review our comments here.

LDA recently submitted a letter in response to the U.S. Department of Education’s proposal to delay implementation of guidelines for public schools for identifying, monitoring and addressing disproportionality in special education identification, placement and discipline. LDA opposes this delay. Click here to find out why.

Did you know that there is arsenic in baby cereal?  Infant rice cereal has 6 times more arsenic than other kinds of infant cereal.  Any level of arsenic is dangerous and health risks include a link to learning disabilities in children. Brooks Applied Labs* in Bothell, WA tested more than 100 samples of infant rice. The report found that overall, oatmeal, barley, buckwheat, organic quinoa, wheat and rice-free multigrain baby cereals contained much lower amounts of inorganic arsenic than rice cereals. What can parents do now? Avoid infant rice cereal and choose oatmeal or multigrain cereal instead. If you need to eat rice… Read More »

Background: On November 16, the House of Representatives passed its version of a tax bill. Now the Senate is finalizing its own version. Both bills are extremely damaging because they: Increase the deficit significantly to provide tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations. May trigger cuts in mandatory programs, such as Medicaid, Medicare, and Supplemental Security Income – including also possibly eliminating the Vocational Rehabilitation State Grant program – if there aren’t enough savings in required program cuts to offset the increased deficit. The Senate bill is worse than the House bill in one significant way: It… Read More »

The Learning Disabilities Association of America took the opportunity to submit comments regarding the U.S. Secretary of Education’s proposed supplemental priorities and definitions for discretionary grant programs (Fed. Register, Oct. 12, 2017). Read More »

One in every five students has learning disabilities. The vision of LDA is to ensure all individuals with LD are empowered to thrive and participate fully in society. This vision extends to all children in our public and private schools regardless of their family background or status. To ensure all students continue to receive appropriate services, the LDA Board agreed to sign on to the following letter with a broad array of national education organizations.

Read more here…

Teacher Scholarships LDA is pleased to announce a limited number of scholarships available, to be awarded to active teachers in grades K-12, for our 55th Annual International Conference. Through the generous support of The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, 20 scholarships will be awarded this year. PROCEDURES FOR NOMINATIONS Complete an application (either print or online) and submit it via mail (LDA, 4156 Library Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15234) or email, with accompanying paperwork no later than Friday, December 1, 2017. Letter of recommendation from immediate supervisor (Principal, Assistant Principal, Head of School, Assistant Head of School) must accompany application. Winners will… Read More »

This award honors and recognizes an adult with learning disabilities who has shown a strong dedication and commitment to advancing the issues of adults with learning disabilities. It is the wish of LDA to thank, in Harry Sylvester’s name, an adult with learning disabilities for his/her commitment to those living with learning disabilities. The Harrison Sylvester Award was created in 2010 to honor Harry Sylvester, a gentle but strong voice in the field of learning disabilities. Harry discovered in his mid 50’s, after struggling for most of life, that he was an adult with learning disabilities. With the knowledge of his… Read More »

Maureen Swanson, Healthy Children Project Director, testified in Washington, D.C. in September about the dangers of organohalogen flame retardants. Read her full testimony here.

August 15, 2017 The Honorable Mitch McConnell Majority Leader United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Chuck Schumer Minority Leader United States Senate Washington, DC 20510   The Honorable Paul Ryan Speaker U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Minority Leader U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515   Dear Senators McConnell and Schumer and Representatives Ryan and Pelosi: The members of the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) call upon you to issue a bipartisan statement and take whatever action possible to address domestic terrorism as perpetrated by neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and other groups… Read More »

Toxic chemicals called “phthalates” can harm babies’ brain development and were found in macaroni and cheese powder and in other cheese products! In fact, phthalates were found in eight of nine individual Kraft cheese products tested, and in other companies’ products too. Kraft is by far the largest producer of mac ‘n cheese. LDA is part of a coalition asking Kraft to switch to safer processing and packaging to get these toxic chemicals out of their products and protect our children’s health. Parents and schools should never have to wonder if there are toxic chemicals in the mac ‘n cheese!… Read More »

Lead poisoning affects children in communities throughout the country; even low levels of lead can harm brain development, and result in learning disabilities and attention problems. The good news is lead poisoning is entirely preventable; we can solve this problem and protect children from lead poisoning once and for all. Last month, LDA convened a group of scientists and health experts to take those messages to Congress. The group met with U.S. House and Senate offices to share a national strategy for eliminating lead poisoning in children. The experts published their recommendations for eliminating lead exposures in a May 15… Read More »

Retailers selling directly to early care and education programs, including child care programs and Head Start, need to do more to screen out harmful chemicals, a new report to be released Monday finds. The report released today by the Getting Ready for Baby coalition, “Selling Safer Products for Early Care and Education,” is the first assessment of these niche retailers who target directly to early care and education programs, including child care and preschools. It assessed policies on chemicals in products they sell, and how transparent retailers were, and found: While nearly all (22 of 24) retailers use certifications to identify chemically-safer… Read More »