!!!!!!! is all I have to say

Oh europe, here we come.
like I said: !!!!!!!!!

A break

PLUS

= a relaxing night

Doug always seems to know when I need a break :), even if it is super simple. Thanks, Doug!

Eliminating childhood diseases? or playing God?

As an educator of students with severe disabilities, I found this article interesting: Gene test finds disease risk in parents; A new test for genetic mutations in parents might help prevent conception of babies with deadly inherited diseases.

Background: Craig and Charlotte Benson have daughter, Christiane, with Batten disease. Craig is the CEO of Rules-Based Medicine Inc., he founded a charity (www.beyondbatten.org) to fund research to develop a test that could detect diseases like Batten disease prior to conception. As stated on the website, the foundation's goal is: "to make the test a standard of care for all young men and women as part of their routine health screening, and to ensure that it is available to anyone who wants it without the barrier of cost."

Issue: The idea is, "If both parents turn out to be carriers, they can use lab techniques to conceive and test embryos, choose adoption or other methods to avoid having an affected child." Their vision is to eliminate "dangerous" childhood diseases--a worthy ideal. But, in doing so, are we "playing God?"

(Picture) John (11) and Bridie (9) Philpott are diagnosed with Batten disease.

What I think: I think attempting to eliminate childhood diseases and disabilities will be as effective as we have been at eradicating poverty. However, some say that educating children with these diseases is just as ineffective and since I emphatically disagree, it would be hypocritical to use that argument. It is more their tone that I take issue with. My impressions after reading that article are that children with severe disabilities are undesirable (i.e. "prevent conception;" "affected child") . The front page of Benson's charity website explains that Batten disease "takes away the childhood, and then takes away the child." I concede that these children will never be "normal" children, and that no one would wish a disease or disability upon their own children, but that does not mean that we should regret that they were born. Granted, I do not have any children so I can't entirely empathize.
Personally, I love working with children with disabilities. They have their own personalities and they have a perpetual innocent view of life. Of course, like any child, they can be difficult, but overcoming that is particularly rewarding. I also think it is much easier to remember the eternal potential that these children have because their limitations on this earth are so obvious. I recognize that this can be an extremely sensitive issue and that each couple's decision is between them and the Lord. I am grateful that Heavenly Father is in control. I also am grateful for this technology that opens up options for people making this decision. I hope this technology brings us closer to God, who gives life.

Watch Christiane's story:

Funding Special Education in Rochester

So one of my new years resolutions is to read at least one current article about Special Education weekly. Accessing the articles is really easy, I get emails with about 10 articles every day. The trick is finding one that I'm interested in. Also, these generally aren't studies or experiments, it's mostly just news about what's happening in the education of exceptional students (on both ends) across the nation.

This article (Jan 9, 2011) is about a current debate over funding in SpEd preschool in Rochester, NY. Doug and I usually disagree about funding policies (at least, he's really good at playing devil's advocate) which makes this issue that much more interesting and thought-provoking.

Let me break the issue down (mostly for my sake).

Background: Wikipedia tells us that most preschools in the US are tuition based though it is common for counties to provide some preschool services. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) declares that children with disabilities have a right to early intervention (preschool is one option). An Individualized Education Plan (IEP) is written for these children as early as 3 years old (obviously the parents can refuse services). This means that once the child turns 3, goals are written for the child's progress AND related services are provided to meet those goals. The IEP is a legally binding document; therefore, there are legal consequences if the services are not provided.

Issue: New York has offered (and the counties have paid for) preschool for children (3-5yrs) with disabilities for over two decades (). Monroe county (in Rochester) wants to discontinue funding this service because it is getting too expensive--14 million annually. According to the article, this financial responsibility was supposed to be shared with school the school districts; this obviously did not happen. They also say that the program is inefficient, there are few options for parents, and that the county does not have the power to make any changes.

What I think: Discontinuing Special Education preschool is not an option. Disregarding that it would go against IDEA, removing SpEd preschool would be a great detriment to students with disabilities. These children are already at a disadvantage in the education world because learning does not come naturally to them. Preschool is meant to teach kids how to learn, expose them to the routine of school, and ease them into elementary school. In fact, in Monroe county, about 60% of SpEd preschool students will not need services once they reach elementary school (that's a red flag to me - if that's the case, they must be accepting students who do not need intensive intervention and probably would qualify for regular preschool anyway. Despite that, I do believe that preschool programs do much for children with disabilities).

With that conclusion, if Monroe county is not going to pay for it, who should? I think parents should pay a subsidized cost (about equal to the cost of paying for regular preschool). Unfortunately, that cost is still really high (averaging around $6500/year/child - varying on length of day, quality of care, teacher:student ratio, etc). So, one solution is to provide parents with more options (not just public preschools). Namely: less expensive private schools; essentially, charter preschools. I really like the Parent Co-Op preschool alternative addressed in this article. This is where parents often volunteer in the preschool, decreasing the need for more teachers but increasing the demand on parents' time and involvement. The Co-Ops cost about $120/month or $1080/year. This would obviously require that Rochester set up a Co-Op which initially might be expensive, but I think in the long run, it would reduce the costs on Monroe county because parents would take their children to other preschools.

What do you think?

Wake up call

So I just realized that I have more followers than I have posts. Which makes me officially a lame blogger. I haven't quite decided how I feel about this. Guilty? Ambivalent? Awesome? Obviously guilty since I'm writing this post right now, but who's to say that this will actually change my habits? Honestly, and I'm sorry to break your hearts - ye who think of my blog more than I do, nothing will probably change. Especially because our laptop is broken :(. And the only reason I have a blog is so that I can follow others. haha.

A Reservoir of Living Water

Over this last month, I have made a conscious effort to improve my scripture study. Elder Bednar’s talk “A Reservoir of Living Water” compounded with March’s visiting teaching of “Strengthening Faith in God the Father and Jesus Christ through Personal Scripture Study” has motivated me to do better. More than simply motivating me though, Elder Bednar provided specific strategies to use.


You will most likely recognize one strategy that I really liked: studying by topic. It is very simple and I have tried it before but after trying it again I have begun to recognize Elder Bednar’s promise in my life, that by using this process I will “obtain a much richer spiritual knowledge.” And that “This approach increases the rate at which living water flows into our lives.”

I have used the new gospel principles manual to guide my topic study because it is a convenient review or preparation for Sunday school and relief society. Also, after each relief society lesson our teacher gives us a specific challenge, usually incorporating an application of what we have learned. For example, Sunday’s lesson was on virtue from Bishop Burton’s general conference talk “Let Virtue Garnish Your Thoughts.” The challenge was to choose a virtue and to improve on it this week. I chose patience and so this week I am studying patience in the scriptures. This will hopefully help me actually apply it and improve on it this week and for the rest of my life.

It is amazing how Heavenly Father can use simple school assignments (reading Elder Bednar’s talk), friends (my visiting teachers), and church lessons (relief society challenges) to help me improve as a person and as a child of God. I am so grateful for this experience and am committed to continue to improve myself each day.

Happy Birthday, Charisse!

Wow, I can't believe it has been so long. Life has been just absolutely crazy! Doug and I are usually on campus by 8 or 9 AM and we don't leave until 6 or 8 PM. We try to get everything done on campus so fortunately we get to relax when we come home and sometimes weekends too.

Speaking of relaxing weekends, this last weekend was awesome. I got to go "fun shopping" (finally) with Katie Nelson and some money my mom gave me to buy a nice pea coat - PS: always go shopping with Katie if you want to find good deals and have a good time!

This is the gorgeous coat we found for $53 at Nordstrom (it was on sale from $90)! I tried on the red coat too - but this one worked perfectly so I just had to get it.

Oh, and I got the hat at Nordstrom too ... CUTE!

So, thanks Mom for a wonderful birthday present :).

Katie and I also went to Kohl's (where I found some adorable pants and FOUR DOLLAR BELTS... yeah, it was sweet) and Plato's closet.

It was fab. My favorite steal from that store was some cute white, peep toe shoes for $8. Similar to this one: