Johns Hopkins mortality rates. Of course we're not testing enough to know the true rate. I'm hoping there's a ton of asymptomatic transmission, so the rate's much lower. Or do I want asymptomatic? Ahh! So torn 😞 https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality

Ugh, no kidding. Especially since Trump has declined to join the world-wide effort to speed vaccine research. Not the time to go it alone! It's maddening.

NYT update about the Oxford vaccine: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/27/world/europe/coronavirus-vaccine-update-oxford.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

Looks like Germany, Italy, France, Spain are all reporting fewer new cases and deaths. Thank goodness.

So if states are (theoretically) supposed to wait for 14 days of declining cases before opening up more, how does it work with states testing more? As testing ramps up, I'm sure we're going to see huge increases in cases. Are we going to judge declining cases by the rate of increase going down, or something? And the studies of random people that are happening in various states... do those numbers show up in daily case totals?

I just read about this. They say, if it works, that a vaccine could be available to some of the public by September!

Yay!

This is what stands out to me the most. My dyslexic students know their letter sounds - they can list off on their fingers all the sounds that the letter E can make, can tell me allll the ways to make the long a sound, etc. If you know your letter sounds, you can do "phonic decoding." That is, say each letter sound in order, and then blend the sounds together to make a word. Kids can be very accurate with this... and also VERY slow. It's just a laborious process... like washing the floor with a toothbrush. It can be done, and done very well, but it takes forever and nobody would want to do it because it's so laborious. Phonological awareness is absolutely necessary to take phonic decoding and make word reading automatic. Phonological awareness includes the ability to count words in a sentences, clap syllables, and separate words into onset-rimes. Can your DS rhyme easily? Narrowing down even more, phonological awareness also includes phonemic awareness, the ability to identify, segment, blend, and manipulate the individual sounds (phonemes) in words. Take a word like "skip." Now change that /k/ sound to /l/. Now you have "slip." Change the /i/ sound to /a/, now you have "slap." Now say "slap" with out the /l/ sound ("sap"). This kind of manipulation is super hard for most dyslexic kids. Before starting Foundations in Sound or LiPS, I would buy a copy of David Kilpatrick's "Equipped for Reading Success." It's the best book about teaching reading that I've ever read. In it, he talks about phonological processing at length. He has an assessment you can do (the PAST, also found free online), and in the book, has a section with quick exercises that teach phonemic awareness from the easiest to most advanced level. Some levels will probably be easy, some difficult, but the great thing is that kids CAN master them, and CAN attain normal phonological processing. That, combined with knowing letter/letter combinations to automaticity, and a structured phonics program with plenty of practice, is what we know helps dyslexic learners. At this point, that's the "gold standard" for how to teach reading. I'm talking about the nitty-gritty of how to read the words, not comprehension, syntax, or anything like that, just the mechanics of reading. Does your son need all this? It certainly sounds like he needs a change, since he's so resistant to reading right now. Like PeterPan said, if he could easily do it, he would. If I were you, I would get a complete set of phoneme cards (I like the Fundations level 3 letter sound cards), the Kilpatrick book, and spend a few weeks just working on letter/sound automaticity, and phonological awareness. There are a bazillion ways to make sound cards fun - lots of jumping! competitions! challenges! - and the Kilpatrick exercises are pretty motivating because you always do easy ones for review so kids feel proud, and then a teeeeeny bit (like 3-5 minutes) of work on a slightly harder level. If you look up David Kilpatrick on YouTube, you can watch some of his lectures. The Reading League on YouTube has excellent videos about the science of reading (for some of the older ones, just sort the videos by oldest first).

Thanks so much! I never had to worry about yard work being strenuous until I Started Getting Old. Oy. You're definitely right about the hunching in front of a computer. I need to be deliberate about standing up and stretching during the day. Hope your pain gets better soon 🙂

Thanks! I'm taking ibuprofen. I hope your sis is right about speeding recovery 🙂

Thanks for the video, I'll try that later today. I never realized how heavy my head is until I have to think about holding it up! I actually got some sleep last night -seems about the same today but hopefully it'll loosen up as the day goes on.

Oww! I did something to my upper back, between shoulder blades, and neck. I think. I woke up sore and it's been getting stiffer all day. It's better when I walk around. It hurts to turn my neck side to side, and hurts to look up. Looking down is the only way it feels OK. I did some "weight lifting" yesterday, aka 2 minutes of lifting 5 lb weights. I also picked up sticks in the yard. It feels like the pain radiates to my shoulders and down my arms sometimes. Lifting the weights probably wasn't the smartest. I've got some arthritis in my hands, and there's one spot on my neck that's sore if I push on it. It's been that way for years. I haven't been to the doc for the joint stuff in forever, because all the tests are always negative, and super expensive. Xrays show nothing wrong. OR I'm just so out of shape that 5 lb weights are too much. That's pretty lame. Is this a situation where I add heat? I have a hot water bottle but no heated pad. THanks for any help!!

The liberal arts schools. Not sure about UMaine.

I heard that some colleges around here do not want to have online classes in the fall. If they have to delay, they would start the fall semester in October. Or, if that isn't safe, cancel the fall semester altogether and have spring and summer semesters. That seems better to me... college is about so much more than just the classes.... clubs, teams, eating in the dining hall, learning to live independently, exploring the college town, etc. that online classes just don't compare.

Yay!!

I'm confused, too. Do any states really have declining cases? From what I see, most states go up and down with new daily cases. Plus, when testing is ramped up, numbers are going to skyrocket.

Article about Georgia State University testing a rheumatoid arthritis drug (Auranofin) on Covid19; results in the lab show the drug able to eliminate 95% of the virus and also calm the inflammation: https://www.wthr.com/article/researchers-lab-tests-rheumatoid-arthritis-drug-reduce-or-eliminate-covid-19-human-cells I didn't know that research teams are testing many existing drugs to see if they're effective against Covid. Pretty cool.

I'm not high risk, but my DH has asthma, and my mom is older. A lot will have to change before I feel comfortable going back to school in the fall. I hate to even say that, but the way I feel now, I can't even picture being in a school. I've had a student sneeze and felt a droplet land on my lip. Kids sneeze on desks. They cough and droplets land on our books. That's gross in "regular" times, but now...

Lol! I was in elementary school in the 80s, and I thought there was a lot of busy work *THEN!* My first memory of school was thinking how boring and a waste of time everything was.

My kids are in grades K-5, for reference.

Wow. That sounds very difficult. Busy is good... overwhelmed is not! Poor guy.

Ugh. That stinks!

Let's hope the standardized testing goes away, or at least gets greatly reduced. NWEA, for example, makes a ton of money from schools across the country, and as far as I can tell, the data isn't useful in the slightest. As far as busywork, YES! My students are seeing that if they buckle down and just do their assignments, they can be done in an hour or two. There is a lot of sitting around in classrooms, waiting for other kids to talk, share ideas, etc. which is of course valuable in certain situations, but there is definitely a lot that can be changed.

Oh, I'm so sorry. ((Hugs))

Definitely wear one. If people see you, you'll set a good example and make them less worried about looking strange, too.