06/21/06
Do
Longer School Days Help?
Q. As the government demands that
students learn more, our district adds
more minutes to the school day. Is
there any research that shows how
long a school day should be for
optimum learning?
Nancy Duncan
Liberal, KS
A. Thanks for the question Nancy! In my
research and from information gathered
from my contacts, I was able to find
documents
and discussions about this
topic going back as far as two
decades.
However, I could not
find any info about the benefits of
extending the school day or year.
It appears to be too early to observe
any
results as this is a recent
phenomenon.
The common aim from state to state
and country to country, appears to be:
improving student achievement,
assisting working parents, and keeping
children safe!
In my area, the New York City
school
system recently increased the
day
hours and increased the school year
by 5 days. My district in Long
Island,
New York has entered into
negotiations with our union this
school year with discussions on
this very topic. Although I was able
to send very pertinent research to
Nancy, please e-mail me and let me
know if you have any articles, research,
or information
on this topic. Let
me know if you've seen improvement
in your students since your district
implemented a longer day or year.
Send any comments you have about
extending the day, year, or after school
programs. Thanks!
Does My Child Need Speech Therapy?
Q.
My 3 year old son has just started
pre-school this
month. His teacher
recommended a speech and
language evaluation. When I told
her that his speech is clear, she
responded that his language skills
appear to be delayed.
Could
you clarify what she means and
what I should do?
Thanks,
R. Lewis
Hyde Park, New York
A. Thanks for your question and it's
a good one! When we talk about
speech disorders we are generally
referring to problems that interfere
with the ability to be understood like
stuttering or articulation deficits
and
the ability to communicate.
When we refer to language disorders
or delays, we are talking about a
wide
range of possible deficits. Since I haven't
evaluated your son, I will tell you some
language milestones
he should have
met by now or should be emerging,
and then you can decide whether
you
need to visit a speech-language
pathologist.
Three year old children
can speak in 3-5 word sentences.
They
can follow basic 2-step
directions
like "pick up your shoes and put them
under the bed."
They can identify about 3 basic
colors,
facial body parts, and other
common body parts like (knee, hands,
tummy), and common
articles of
clothing. They can also label these
items.
They understand simple spatial
concepts like up, down, under, and on.
They respond accurately to 'where, what,
who, and simple why" question
forms. They also ask where, what,
who, and why questions. They can
state their first and last names, imitate
whispering, and listen contentedly to
short stories. They also understand
'big and little,' gender (boy/girl) and
use I, me, mine, and you."
Their
play skills consist of
object-specific play (operates toy the
way it was designed) and
representational play (one object
represents
another) or imaginative
play. They like to play 'let's
pretend'
and begin to engage in cooperative
play and share with others ( a little).
Three year old children learn new
words
everyday and are very curious. Good
teachers are often right about any
challenges they observe in our
children. Years ago my son's 3rd
grade teacher stated that she thought
my son was having vision problems.
He had just had an eye screening
with his pediatrician and passed it.
I took him anyway and he had a
convergence problem that made
him see double. A simple eye
screening could not detect it.
If your son
is not exhibiting some or
all of these milestones, you should
follow the teacher's advice and seek
a speech-language evaluation.
