Senior Dad Briefing Room

What is a learning disability?  Can you properly identify a learning disability? What should we do when our children seem to be behind in reading or math? Is it really a problem or is it just our imagination?  How do we get our children through the education process with their egos intact? Deborah Waber, researcher, clinical neuropsychologist joins me to discuss these issues among others and her new book, “Rethinking Learning Disabilities: Understanding Children Who Struggle in School”.

When politicians and pundits were trying to understand the motivations of voters in “heartland” America in 2008 they read Joe Bageant's watershed book "Deer Hunting with Jesus.” Joe grew up in Winchester, Virginia, then moved away and became a journalist. When he returned years later to write his book, Joe delved into the psyche of those he grew up with. A keen and aware observer, Joe is able to add clarity to the motivations of the working poor. Joe's insight and understanding of people is not limited to those who he grew up with. He joins me today to discuss not only the people of the heartland but why many people around the world seem to dislike Americans and why Americans, in our own myopic way, seem to be clueless. Joe Bageant, Author, Lecturer, and Marxist.

Inventors are lucky if they create many inventions through their lifetime. Barry Blesser has done that. In 1960s he along with a colleague at MIT converted analog sound into digital sound and put it on a computer, thus enabling all of the digital audio technologies we experience today. Barry is also a philosopher. He describes his philosophical outlook as “plasticity” nothing is inevitable. He joins me in a Skype video interview to discuss his philosophy and how he interprets the world in which we live in. How sound affects the way we live and how different types of minds have different types of strengths. How commercial interests force us to categorize natural occurrences into medical diagnoses. Barry Blesser Author, Inventor, Philosopher, University Professor and gentle human being.

How do you get across to the President of the United States that the education policy he is embracing will destroy public education? How do you make a president who panders to the wealthy understand that the push for education privatization is nothing more than an attempt to suck money out of the public coffers and will not benefit children? There is a movement in our country to commercialize education. In Seattle there is hotbed of testing and privatizations where Dora Taylor is fighting Bill Gates and Eli Broad. Dora is the founder of Seattle Education 2010 and one of the organizers of the recent Save Our Schools march to Washington DC. An active member of Parents for Public Schools (CPPS) and founder of parents across America (PAA) Seattle, Dora joins Senior Dad Stan Goldberg to share what is happening in the battle for Seattle, current events, and how she views the future. Dora Taylor- Two Billionaires and a Mom.

Bill Ring Director of TransParent® shares what he has learned about how the federal education stimulus money will be spent and an up coming parent action. 17:41 minutes

Senior Dad Brief- Ellie Goldberg tells us about Healthy School Day- 8:41 minutes