http://www.articletrader.com/ Articles at ArticleTrader en-us http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/special-education-has-changed-over-time.html http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/special-education-has-changed-over-time.html Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0600
Started during the Civil Rights Movement in the early 1950s, the United Cerebral Palsy Association, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and John F. Kennedy’s Panel on Mental Retardation were among an increased amount of advocacy groups for assisted learning programs. This strong push helped bring special education into schools across the country in the 1960's as school access was established for children with disabilities at state and local levels.

The parent advocacy groups dating back to 1947 laid the ground floor for government legislation being approved by Congress in 1975 that was called the “Education for All Handicapped Children Act” (Public Law 94-142). This act went into effect in October of 1977 and it was the beginning for federal funding of special education in schools nationwide. The act required public schools to offer "free appropriate public education" to students with a wide range of disabilities, including "physical handicaps, mental retardation, speech, vision and language problems, emotional and behavioral problems, and other learning disorders."

The law from 1977 was extended in 1983 to offer parent training and information centers. Later in 1986 the government started programs targeting youngsters with potential learning disabilities. The Act from 1975 was changed to the "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act" (IDEA) in 1990. Since establishment of IDEA more than 6.5 million children and 200,000+ toddlers and infants are being assisted each year.

Special education in schools often unintentionally overlooks a key aspect of why students suffer from learning disabilities. The reasons for common learning disabilities are weak cognitive skills. Studies show that 80% of students enrolled in special education at some level suffer from underlying weak cognitive skills. Cognitive skills are the mental capabilities that one needs to successfully learn academic subjects. In more detail cognitive skills are learning skills used to retain information; process, analyze, and store facts and feelings; and create mental pictures, read words, and understand concepts. They are not to be confused with academic skills which would include subjects like math, science, or history.

Proper testing to identify these weak cognitive skills will help quality learning centers put together a plan of action to strengthen them. This sort of training will last a lifetime. By not targeting the cognitive skills a student will struggle for the rest of their life until they are trained properly. It is highly recommended that you get your child tested at a learning training center that provides cognitive testing. Once tested a personal, unique training program can be developed for your child to overcome their learning disability.

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LearningRx is a child and adult learning center which provides cognitive skills assessments and training to help students overcome learning disabilities. To find a LearningRx testing center near you, or to take a free self-screening test visit www.learningrx.com.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/kids/better-reading-fluency-results-in-better-reading-comprehension.html http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/kids/better-reading-fluency-results-in-better-reading-comprehension.html Fri, 17 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600
An individual struggling with reading fluency can be extremely frustrated with learning because they have to spend extra time trying to understand what they are reading. This can negatively impact people in a school or professional work setting. When a person struggling with reading fluency reads out loud their reading will typically be slow, choppy, and without natural expression.

Besides having difficulty reading aloud an individual who struggles with reading fluency may also notice that they identify words in a list well, but they can't read the same words fluently in a phrase. It is vital that you help students move from word recognition in isolation to reading fluency in context. This can be accomplished with the proper testing, training, and practice.

The National Institute for Literacy said on their website that, "Repeated and monitored oral reading improves reading fluency and overall reading achievement." This is one of the two steps researched by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The second step they found for improved reading fluency is silent reading done independently by the students. Practice is one of the key factors to an improvement in reading fluency.

The NAEP has also laid out their definition of reading fluency. They define it as: "the ease or 'naturalness' of reading."

In 1995 the NAEP found that 44% of United States fourth graders were on the lower end of the fluency scale. The study also confirmed that reading fluency and reading comprehension are directly related to each other. It has been proven that many American classrooms neglect to teach or train students to become more fluent readers. This in turn affects student's reading comprehension in the present and carries over later in life.

To help your child or a loved one become a more fluent reader it is important to have them take a simple reading fluency test at a quality learning training center. This test will help you understand their strengths and weaknesses on the reading fluency scale. After the test the learning training center can put together a plan of action for helping to improve the reading fluency. This includes having your child receive professional feedback on their reading. This training process has proven to help improve reading fluency for a lifetime.

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LearningRx is a child and adult learning training center which provides cognitive skills testing to help individuals pinpoint the causes of their learning disabilities. To find a LearningRx testing center near you, or to take a free self-screening test visit www.learningrx.com.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/kids/phonemic-awareness-assessments-identify-a-weak-cognitive-skill-necessary-for-learning.html http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/kids/phonemic-awareness-assessments-identify-a-weak-cognitive-skill-necessary-for-learning.html Fri, 17 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0600
Students as young as Pre-K to Kindergarten age can lack phonemic awareness. Warning signs to watch for include a difficulty recognizing rhymes, trouble remembering names of friends or classmates, and a difficulty with the development of normal speech. At the end of first grade the warning signs to watch for include those mentioned above and if your child has difficulty with spelling common words, reading aloud, sounding out words, blending sounds, and trouble applying the mechanics of sounds within words to reading and spelling.

At the end of second grade you will continue to see warning signs that will indicate weak phonemic awareness skills. If you find that your child has difficulty recalling simple facts and details it is important to get them tested. Other factors affecting your child at the end of second grade may be a difficulty spelling previously studied and commonly seen words, difficulty reading aloud, and difficulty using phonics to sound out words.

By the age of five, phonemic awareness is typically established in around 80% of children. The other 20% will continue to show warning signs past the age of nine and into the teen years, and beyond. The common signs to watch out for are a history of reading and spelling struggles, a dislike of reading, not wanting to read aloud, or having to spend extra time doing homework. If you see any of these symptoms in your child schedule a complete cognitive skills assessment. A phonemic awareness assessment will be included in this overall assessment at a quality learning training center. This test will also indicate any other weak cognitive skills that may become, or already are a problem for your child. By running this test you will help avoid future learning disabilities, ensuring your child healthy learning for the rest of their life. The learning training center will map out a plan for strengthening this cognitive skill.

To further emphasize the importance of strong phonemic awareness skills the Institute of Health and Child Development discovered that 88% of reading difficulties were a result of weak phonemic awareness. This was found during a ten-year study from 1985 to 1995. Make sure you get your child tested if you notice any of the warning signs and struggles listed above. Their future depends on your action.

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LearningRx is a child and adult learning training center which provides cognitive skills testing to help individuals pinpoint the causes of their learning disabilities. To find a LearningRx testing center near you, or to take a free self-screening test visit www.learningrx.com.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/business/obtain-business-capital-using-a-variety-of-commercial-finance-options.html http://www.articletrader.com/business/obtain-business-capital-using-a-variety-of-commercial-finance-options.html Sun, 29 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0500
Account receivable factoring is one form of commercial finance. This consists of selling open invoices for cash that can be used right away in the business. There are many benefits to this financing option including not giving up equity, being able to take advantage of early payment and volume discounts from your suppliers, you can actually purchase in greater volume from suppliers, and you also accrue no additional debt in your business.

Another popular commercial finance option is purchase order financing because it offers quick cash flow reserves. When any business is growing or expanding their business the cash flow simply isn't there because of the money it takes to market and produce products. Suppliers also want to be paid with C.O.D. and your customers are on Net-30 terms; so you run into a cash flow problem. Purchase order financing solves this issue by paying for the costs of your goods directly to the supplier, thus giving you more cash to use on more critical business expenditures. To begin with purchase order financing simply obtain a purchase order from your customer, find an approved supplier, place the order through that supplier.

Asset based loans, an additional commercial finance option, provide a short term approach to maximizing cash flow within a business. This form of financing is used as test for a business to show how they would perform with a long term loan. The business who is receiving the asset based loan has a short window to prove that with the proper financing their business model is effective, and that a long term loan would ensure business growth over a long period of time. This form of financing is perfect for the business that can't afford to wait to establish their business credit. The assets that are accepted as collateral for this type of loan include real property, accounts receivables, and completed inventory.

Other forms of commercial finance include bankruptcy reorganization, expansion financing, import and export financing, inventory loans, secured lines of credit, and merchant account advances. Financing a business is a difficult process, but if you utilize the financing resources available, your business have a much greater chance of success.

It is also good to work on establishing your business credit, ensuring that you separate your personal credit from your business credit. With good business credit scores obtaining large loans and other forms of capital is very simple, and you won't be one of the 97 percent that actually have a loan application denied. One other strategy that is easy to do and beneficial on your quest for business capital is to use a free business capital search engine.

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Corey Pierce is the CEO of BusinessFinance.com a business capital search engine with the funding criteria of 4,000+ sources for business capital. Visit www.businessfinance.com to search the funding directory for free. Pierce is also the creator of the Business Finance Coach found at www.businessfinancecoach.com.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/finance/investing/building-wealth-with-a-self-directed-ira-as-simple-as-123.html http://www.articletrader.com/finance/investing/building-wealth-with-a-self-directed-ira-as-simple-as-123.html Fri, 20 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0500
Every major brokerage house and bank in America is well aware of the potential to earn enormous incomes from fees and commissions “helping” to place this money in secure investments. But, individuals who understand the power of utilizing Self Directed IRAs are in the best position to take advantage of this incredible transference of wealth.

Many “boomers” are looking at starting their own business and need investment capital to make their dreams come true. Actually, they need look no further than their own retirement accounts. They can tap into these funds to buy a franchise, start a business or simply provide an existing business with working capital.

What about investing in the stock of a private company? Yes, there’s no problem with doing that, even if it’s outside the United States. And, other options, both mundane and exotic, abound.

Then, there’s real estate. Most people think the boom is over, but they may be mistaken. According to a report from The Brookings Institute and an article in Business 2.O Magazine (November 2005), more than $25 trillion will be spent in real estate development between now and the year 2030.

To accommodate another 70 million people being added to the population base in the next two decades, 127 billion square feet of new or replacement structures will be added to the existing base of 300 billion square feet.

The executive summary of The Brookings report entitled “Toward A New Metropolis: The Opportunity To Rebuild America” written by Arthur C. Nelson, states the following:

- In 2030, about half the buildings in which Americans live, work, and shop will have been built after 2000.

- Most of the space built between 2000 and 2030 will be residential space. The largest component of this space will be homes. Over 100 billion square feet of new residential space will be needed by 2030.

- Overall, most new growth will occur in the South and West. In the West, 87 percent of the space existing in 2030 will have been built since 2000.

This report was primarily written for urban, city, regional and state planners so they would understand how to prepare for infrastructure needs to support the increased population base. The need for new water treatment facilities, roads, bridges, schools and general land use planning will be of great concern to everyone, but especially to these planners.

The Business 2.0 article entitled “The $25 Trillion Land Grab” took the mostly statistical information from the Brookings report and restated it so that it was more readable and understandable. Bottom Line: The development will represent “the biggest business opportunity since the end of World War II”.

That’s good news for investors. Anyone with a Self Directed IRA can tap directly into this opportunity, whether through equipment leasing, real estate lending or direct investment into a myriad of real estate projects. It all starts with education.

We recommend that clients pick one area of investment opportunity and become experts. Then when conferring with investment advisors and tax consultants, good decisions can be made that will result in building wealth that is potentially much greater than can be realized by only investing in the securities markets. As we like to say to our clients, it’s as simple as 1-2-3: Learn, Setup and Invest.

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Robert Hubbard is the President and CEO of www.IRA123.com. The website provides a resource for those interested in setting up a self directed IRA for investing.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/central-auditory-processing-disorder-can-harm-your-childs-future-get-tested.html http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/central-auditory-processing-disorder-can-harm-your-childs-future-get-tested.html Tue, 03 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0500 A person affected by Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) can often have nearly perfect hearing, but because their brain poorly processes what they hear, a learning disability results. We learn by processing audible sounds that are around us each and every day.

CAPD can be the result of a variety of causes including head trauma, lead poisoning, chronic ear infections, brain development issues, or other unknown causes. No matter what the initial cause, as with the majority of other underlying learning skill deficiencies, auditory processing skills can be improved in most cases. Due the importance of this skill to reading, spelling and writing it is important to get your child tested for CAPD. There are learning training centers that can assist with the testing of CAPD, and they can provide the necessary program that can assist your child in overcoming Central Auditory Processing Disorder.
Symptoms of CAPD are not hard to identify. These symptoms include leaving off beginning or ending sounds of spoken words, reading difficulty, trouble spelling and writing, mispronunciation of long, unfamiliar words, and poor vocabulary. If any of these conditions are present make sure you get your child tested at a qualified learning training center.

CAPD can be overcome with the proper training and guidance provided by a testing center. A good testing center will take a cognitive approach to assessing this problem and working through it. This approach is simply a matter of training the brain to better process the sounds that define our world. Make sure that the testing center you choose focuses on sound analysis, sound blending, and sound segmenting when testing. With those three tests being utilized, a more accurate program can be established for you or your child, which will ensure a future of quality learning and understanding.

Other learning disabilities that can hinder you or your children from reaching their full potential in life include dyslexia (impairment of ability to recognize and comprehend written words), dyscalculia (impairment of ability to solve mathematics problems), dysgraphia (inability to write), dyspraxia (motor skill coordination problems), and auditory and visual processing disorders (difficulty understanding language or images).

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LearningRx is a child and adult learning training center which provides cognitive skills testing to help individuals pinpoint the causes of their learning disabilities. To find a LearningRx testing center near you, or to take a free self-screening test visit www.learningrx.com.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/weak-cognitive-skills-are-cause-of-learning-disabilities.html http://www.articletrader.com/home-and-family/weak-cognitive-skills-are-cause-of-learning-disabilities.html Tue, 03 Oct 2006 00:00:00 -0500
The definition used by the U.S government for purposes of legislation and qualifying students for special education funds is the following:

“Specific learning disability” means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who have learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

A learning disability is most widely caused by weak underlying cognitive skills. Other factors contributing to learning disabilities include basic genetic limits or poor and inadequate instruction. Weak cognitive skills can impact learning heavily because during the process of reading and understanding there are many processes going on. If one of those processes is weak it could throw off the whole learning process for an individual. When reading a student must process visual images which consist of letters and words, and at the same time they must recall and associate those images with correct sounds. Mental associations must be formed by those sounds to make the words they are associated with, and one has to comprehend what the word means and how it applies to what they are reading. It is easy to see how a weak cognitive skill can throw off the whole learning curve.

The good news about learning disabilities affected by weak cognitive skills is that they can be changed for the better by specific testing and training. These changes can be rapid and dramatic for those that struggle with the various learning disabilities. Cognitive skills testing is available all across the nation. A quality learning center that runs cognitive skills testing will uncover specific cognitive skill weaknesses and will customize training to strengthen those weaknesses. Getting you or your child tested for a learning disability can completely and literally change lives.

According to the National Institutes of Health, one in seven Americans, struggles with some type of learning disability, proving the importance of getting you or your family members tested for cognitive skills weaknesses.

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LearningRx is a child and adult learning training center which provides cognitive skills testing to help individuals pinpoint the causes of their learning disabilities. To find a LearningRx testing center near you, or to take a free self-screening test visit www.learningrx.com.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/business/small-business/vendor-credit-lines-are-essential-to-any-business-seeking-financing.html http://www.articletrader.com/business/small-business/vendor-credit-lines-are-essential-to-any-business-seeking-financing.html Tue, 12 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0500
Another benefit of vendor lines of credit is that they are a lot easier to obtain, than a conventional business loan. Most vendor lines of credit are not secured because collateral is not required to obtain the line of credit. Credit lines are available for all products and services imaginable including office equipment, computers, and even gas for company vehicles. There are more than 500,000 businesses that offer credit lines to other businesses. Out of these though, only 6,000 report your payment history. This means that approximately 1.2% of all of the vendor lines of credit available actually help you build your business credit scores. It goes one step further, and out of the 6,000 that report to the credit agencies roughly 1,000 will allow you to obtain the vendor credit line without using your personal credit history.

You are probably wondering what is so special about business credit scores, and why is it so important to build them up. Many business owners and other entrepreneurs don't realize that business credit works exactly like personal credit. Without personal credit you can't purchase a car or house. You have to have a history of paying on your open accounts in a timely manner. The same principal needs to be applied to your business that you would apply to your personal credit. You also want to separate your personal credit from your business credit. This is essential for anyone that wants to properly establish and grow business credit.

If you have vendor lines of credit open with the other 98.8% of businesses out there you will only gain the credit given to you. This does you no good for the future because you aren't building your credit score while you are using that vendor credit line. The most efficient way to build your business credit history is to have credit accounts open with companies that will report your payment history. This will help you get closer to your goal of being able to borrow the money you need to really grow your business. You have to remember to build your credit first, and then attempt to get the large business loan you desire.

Another benefit of always ensuring that you build your business credit is that after your initial launch you will have the credit backing you to obtain more money for rapid expansion. You can grow your business quicker than your competition with the access to the cash you need. This creates an ease of mind for the business owner and the business itself.

Just knowing the importance of building your business credit using such things as vendor lines of credit won't be enough on it's own to get you the capital you want. There are many other aspects to obtaining financing. If you follow all of the steps you will be in a position to get the capital you need and deserve.

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Corey Pierce is the CEO of BusinessFinance.com a business capital search engine with the funding criteria of 4,000+ sources for business capital. Visit www.businessfinance.com to search the funding directory for free.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/health/beauty/disposable-hair-systems-eliminate-frustration.html http://www.articletrader.com/health/beauty/disposable-hair-systems-eliminate-frustration.html Wed, 06 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0500
There is no more need to worry about an expensive replacement if your non-disposable hair system breaks. These are fragile, and that is what causes so much frustration. Now that disposable hair systems are available the replacement costs aren't that bad, and it is much easier to swallow if the system breaks. This reduced stress ensures that the hair you do have left stays dark!

After 30 days you can rip off the hairpiece, throw it away, and replace it with a new one. Another benefit that people find with a disposable hair system is that when they buy this system it is ready to wear out of the box. It saves even more money because the hair wearer no longer has to pay a high cost to have the system put on professionally. A disposable hair system allows those wearing the hair to put it on and forget about it for a month.

One might think that a disposable hair system would look "cheap" on one's head, and that it wouldn't look right. That is actually quite the opposite as these unique hair systems are made of ultra fine Hollywood lace. This is a light weight material that is comfortable and undetectable. Looking closely at this hairpiece, won't even disclose you are wearing a hair piece. The piece replicates a natural growing transitional density hairline.

A retailer of disposable hair systems will typically give the purchaser two new units every two months, for a total of 12 per year. A good company to go with on your hair replacement needs is one that honors a guarantee of some sort. You will typically find that they have a 30-day unconditional guarantee. This is the approach that will save you the most time and money on your hair replacement needs. In the past people would have to purchase one new hair system per year, and then they would be forced to get repairs at more expenses each year.

Disposable hair systems are available online giving them even more convenience for the potential consumer. People wanting to buy hairpieces won't even have to leave their homes to purchase their custom hair pieces.


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Brandon Andrews is the Director of Marketing at Hair Direct who provides affordable, mail order hair replacement systems to men and women worldwide. They also proudly sell disposable hair systems. Visit the company's website at www.hairdirect.com.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]>