Final version of education crisis movie
The final version of the movie I worked on about the crisis in our education system can be seen at:
Scott Douglas Redmond
Various Writings & Background Stories
Archive for the tag “education”
Dyslexia Legislation Passed in Ohio!
CONGRATULATIONS to the Central Ohio Branch of the International Dyslexia Association.
Exciting year-end news and critical to the reading success of all children in Ohio.
Charlotte Andrist and company have worked hard to make this a reality.
Watch the Bill pass here (VIDEO) on the Ohio Channel!
One state at a time to A LITERATE NATION!
Dyslexia Legislation Passed in Ohio
By Charlotte G. Andrist, Ph.D., NCSP, President, IDA Central Ohio Branch
House Bills (HB) 96 and 157 were passed by the Ohio Senate with the concurrence of the Ohio House during a late-night, end-of-the-year Statehouse session on December 14; both bills are expected to be signed into law by Governor Kasich before Christmas. HB 96 (Celeste – D & Brenner – R) has two components. The law will: 1) place the IDA definition of dyslexia directly into Ohio statute. Current Ohio law lists dyslexia as a specific learning disability, consistent with IDEA 2004, but does not provide a definition of dyslexia; and 2) begin a 3-year pilot program for the early identification and remediation of students at-risk for dyslexia and other phonologically based reading disorders. HB 157 (Schuring – R & Letson – D) also has two components. The law will: 1) define a dyslexia specialist as someone who has achieved training consistent with the Level II IDA Knowledge and Practice Standards; and 2) give Educational Service Centers (Ohio’s statewide network of inservice training facilities) and other educational institutions permission to hire a dyslexia specialist to provide professional development in the area of dyslexia for Ohio teachers and administrators. Many thanks to all of those who have worked so diligently to make this dyslexia legislation a reality, including Stephanie Gordan, Martha Chiodi, Pam Kanfer and many others in the Ohio Dyslexia Group. A special thank-you goes to Janis Mitchell (HB 96) and Rebecca Tolson (HB 157) for the lobbying efforts that got these two legislative initiatives started.
Redmond Advocates Social Media to Promote Change to Literacy Laws
At the 62nd annual conference for the International Dyslexia Association (IDA), held in Chicago in November 2011, renown experts in the field of education, researchers, educators, advocates, parents, and business and political leaders converged to share the latest advances, techniques, and teaching methods targeting dyslexics and learning disabled children. With literacy levels in the U.S. slipping to all-time lows and growing disenchantment with current education policies, the Dyslexia Association is taking a lead role in drafting model language for State Literacy Law changes (www.state-literacy-law.org) and pushing for the passage of the LEARN (Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation) Act.
In a recent press release, IDA executive director Stephen Peregoy emphasized, “The International Dyslexia Association has been tireless in its effort to promote literacy for all students and ensure that all learners receive the support needed to achieve their full potential.” To advance literacy law changes, this year’s conference included a forum on using social media to organize, mobilize, network, and motivate parents and educators to improve U.S. literacy. Scott Douglas Redmond, a business strategist, technology architect, President of Clever Industries, and a dyslexic himself, led a discussion at the IDA conference on using social media in grassroots campaigns.
Scott has numeric dyslexia (dyscalculia) and experienced learning challenges while growing up alternately labeled “gifted” then “handicapped” and identified as either a “dumb kid” or a “smart kid.”
The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) defines dyscalculia as representing a range of disabilities involving math learning with broad variations that can include difficulty learning the meaning of numbers, trouble counting, recognizing numbers, solving basic math problems, and having other math-related challenges. NCLD posts on its website that “LD [Learning Disability] is more than a difference or difficulty with learning — it is a neurological disorder that affects the brain’s ability to receive, process, store, and respond to information.”
Scott grew up thinking he was dumb, although some things he understood better and more quickly than his peers did. He eventually learned math by creating his own pictorial math process that he now shares with children with numeric dyslexia so they can learn. He attended public and private schools in central California and upstate New York, earned a B.A. degree at San Francisco State college (on the Dean ’s List), and audited classes at Stanford University and U.C. Berkeley. Scott’s experience shows that with appropriate teaching methods, dyslexics can learn successfully. IDA is working to structure state literacy law with language that establishes knowledge and practice standards for teachers of reading to ensure all children become literate by the third grade.
In Scott’s presentation at the IDA conference, he recounted examples where a few individuals influenced thousands and even millions. He cited the Association for Child Support Enforcement, begun in Ohio by a single mother that moved state by state across the country; the Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which started as a small effort that convinced dozens of states to toughen drunk driving laws; and other examples where collective power started with one individual or a few and grew to reach masses. Through effective use of social media, previously isolated and seemingly powerless individuals can connect with like-minded people and create a movement to produce results.
Social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Foresquare are readily available and software tools, like TweetDeck, a desktop application that interfaces with Twitter and other networks, allow users to organize high volume sends, receive tweets, and view profiles in bulk. With one click using contact management websites like iContact, MailChimp, and LISTSERV, a single user at home with a computer can deliver content to hundreds, thousands, or millions using automated mailing lists.
By providing the tools for individuals to mobilize and connect with other people, social media offers knowledge-based support and channels for advancing shared goals. Redmond has also been instrumental in the construction of two new interactive and educational websites to support these goals: http://literatenation.org/wordpress/ and http://literatenation.org.
Scott Redmond challenged the conference attendees to take “tangible steps to use social media to create parent/child partnerships to bring the legislation reform message to every state in America.”
Large-scale change is never easy, but it becomes more manageable and possible with collaboration. Like the printing press and telephone, social media is revolutionizing communication. With the aid of social media, the International Dyslexia Association hopes to start a vibrant national dialogue that will dramatically improve literacy. Are you in?
Like this:
Taking a “Learning Difference” and Making a Difference
On the surface, Scott Douglas Redmond’s accomplishments look like a tornado of diverse projects—from high tech inventions and patents with science fiction overtones to social and cultural engagements that empower individuals and touch the heart. Rarely does one person exhibit the creative diversity evidenced in Mr. Redmond. He is not just an ordinary guy; he is blessed with a brain that is usually in overdrive, capturing and rearranging bits of data to invent, reinvent, design new applications, and create innovative products.
Redmond has numeric dyslexia (dyscalculia) and is considered 2e Gifted. (Others in the “2e club” include Richard Branson; Charles Schwab; John Chambers, the founder of Cisco and Robin Williams) He experienced learning challenges while growing up alternately labeled gifted then handicapped and identified as either a smart kid or a dumb kid. The International Dyslexia Association (Fact Sheet #5 — 02/98) states: “To call this a learning disability tends to infer that the person cannot learn. However, with the proper instruction, dyslexics do learn. The key is in using the term ‘learning difference’ rather than ‘disability.’”
Once Scott discovered how to learn in spite of his learning difference, his creative talent exploded. Still, his thoughts sometimes emerge in rapid succession like lightning bolts flashing across the sky. His seemingly unrelated projects nevertheless share a common theme—they are innovative and they do “make a difference.” They address social needs with product solutions that are at least a paradigm shift more advanced than the current solution. For example, Scott led a startup technology company to create a software “app” that enables communication without cellular infrastructure, he established a website to support an anti-bullying campaign, and he motivated parents and educators to use social media to improve literacy.
Software App
Redmond is the Founder and President of Peep Wireless Technology which is responsible for producing a software application (App) for the iPhone that enables peer-to-peer mesh networking—a communication without cellular infrastructure. The App enables the user to send Morse code, voice and image signals to communicate with other users who have installed the same App.
The online IPods news network, Ipodnn.com, reported in June 2011 that Peep Wireless technology was embedded in a new pro-democracy App, Democri-C, for iOS devices. The New York Times (June 12, 2011 article by James Glanz and John Markoff) carried an expansive story titled, U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors, on how the US government was supporting “mesh network technology, which can transform devices like cellphones or personal computers to create an invisible wireless web without a centralized hub.”
The software app is known to have played a role in the democracy uprisings in the Middle East and it could provide critical communication following natural disasters and emergencies that destroy infrastructure. The Peep Wireless team that designed the Democri-C app under Scott Redmond’s direction deserves credit for making a difference by providing alternative ways to promote free speech and reach individuals following natural disasters.
Website to Fight Bullying in Schools
Aiding his support for Anderson Cooper’s 360° Series (on CNN network October 2011) to fight school bullying, Scott Redmond developed a number of websites to provide places where bullied students can talk, report bullying aggression, get support, and find helpful resources. His website, entitled “Expose the Bully” enables students to share their experiences, expose bullies, and seek help. Bullies maintain their control through intimidation and isolation. If the bullied student can speak up and expose the bully, the bully will lose the crippling control. Anderson Cooper’s series on antibullying drew attention to the emotional damage that bullying causes—damage that resulted in several teen suicides.
Although Redmond’s philanthropic websites are not extraordinary, they join an expanding list of sites that offer hope and an outstretched hand to students who desperately need it. Making a difference, however small, still has merits.
Social Media to Improve Literacy
In another social outreach, Scott Redmond participated on a forum of educators and parents at the annual meeting of The International Dyslexia Association (IDA). In a PR Newswire November 22, 2011, IDA reported “…political leaders and world-renowned experts in the fields of education, advocacy, and business held a groundbreaking forum to address the literacy crisis in the United States.” As part of that forum, Scott led a motivating discussion on the use of social media in grassroots campaigns.
Scott explained how social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Foursquare can magnify one or a few voices and how software tools, like TweetDeck, a desktop application, can allow users to organize, send, and receive messages in high volumes. Additionally, social media provides platforms for individuals scattered across large geographies to reach like-minded individuals to share knowledge, experiences, and resources.
Scott’s presentation was part of a series of speakers helping IDA improve literacy by promoting passage of a Literacy Education for All Results for the Nation (LEARN) Act and for working to pass state literacy laws to provide support, instruction, intervention and professional development for teachers to increase their ability to teach students with learning disabilities. Scott challenged the attendees to take “tangible steps to use social media to create parent/child partnerships to bring the legislation reform message to every state in America.”
Scott Redmond is a dyslexic who used his “learning difference” (aka disability) to overcome technological impediments to cellular communication that occur during disasters and political blackouts; reduce school bullying by creating a website that offers emotional support and confidence building resources; and mobilize a grassroots effort to use social media to improve national and state literacy laws so every student will be able to learn. Blessed with a unique view of the world, Scott strives to make a difference by using the talents that made him different.
For more information go to http://www.exposethebully.net/
