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CNN Live Today
Interview with Dr. Sheldon Horowitz
Aired August 29, 2002 - 11:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Today, we are paging Dr. Gupta on an issue that hits very close to home for many families, especially as kids are heading back to school.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. We are talking about learning disabilities this morning. Nearly 4 million school-age children have them. So how can you identify them, and what can you do about them once you figure out if your child has one?
Last hour, we heard from our Dr. Sanjay Gupta about that, and he returns this hour to answer your e-mail questions. All right -- good morning, doctor.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: How are you doing? Thanks for having me Leon, Fredricka.
We also want to bring in Dr. Horowitz right here from New York as well. He has been an educator for 30 years right here in New York City. Dr. Horowitz and I were talking earlier -- Leon, you and I were talking about this earlier as well. Early testing, that is the key. Don't wait. Isn't that right, Dr. Horowitz?
DR. SHELDON HOROWITZ, NATIONAL CENTER FOR LEARNING DISABILITIES: That is absolutely correct. The issue of learning disabilities evaluation is something that school districts can engage in and help parents out with, but early screening is also something that you can do with very young children, even as early as 4 years old.
GUPTA: Dr. Horowitz, we -- this has just been a topic of immense interest. We have got a lots of e-mail questions. I would like to get through as many of these as possible. Go ahead and bring up the first question for you, dealing with that very issue, really.
"At what age can children actually be tested for dyslexia? I was told that my son couldn't be tested until he was in second or third..."
HOROWITZ: One of the problems with the evaluation process is that school districts and the education laws set up to evaluate children once they meet a certain threshold. They have to reach a certain level of failure. That's one of the difficulties that we are working on through the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act now.
But children who demonstrate problems in early reading, for example, can be evaluated or assessed, basically, as early as 4-year- olds. We have a national reading initiative here in this country, and NCLD, our National Center for Learning Disabilities, has a program called Get Ready to Read that is actually there to help parents of 4- year-olds screen children for the signs of early emergent literacy difficulties that are the precursors to what may be learning disabilities later on in school.
HARRIS: Dr. Horowitz, Leon Harris here in Atlanta. I have got the next e-mail question for you. This is coming to us from Debbie in Pennsylvania.
She says -- she asks, "If learning disability is suspected or confirmed, how do you go about explaining this to the child without ruining whatever self-esteem the child has?"
HOROWITZ: I think it is very important to help children understand that learning disabilities are something that you have, and not something that you are. Everybody has difficulties in some areas. Some people remember numbers better than other children. Some people read more easily. Some people learn new information more easily. Everyone has some difficulties, but I think if the child understands that a learning disability can be viewed as a island of weakness in a sea of strengths, it will go a long way of helping the child and his self-esteem.
WHITFIELD: Hi, Dr. Horowitz, this is Fredricka Whitfield. We are doing team work here.
As it stands, I have got another e-mail question for you. "My 17-year-old son is dyslexic, and every year I have to educate his teachers. Why is the education profession so resistant to applying new information about how the brain works?"
Dr. Horowitz, can you hear me OK?
HARRIS: The doctor...
WHITFIELD: All right. Dr. Gupta, are you there? Are you able to hear us now?
HOROWITZ: Hello. I couldn't hear that question.
WHITFIELD: Let me read that question for you one more time.
"My 17-year-old son is dyslexic, and every year I have to educate his teachers. Why is the education profession so resistant to applying new information about how the brain works?"
HARRIS: Obviously, we are still having a problem with the doctor's earpiece as well. Let's see if we can get his earpiece and Dr. Sanjay's -- Dr. Sanjay Gupta, I should say -- microphone straightened out.
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