LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Congress is debating the issues in the Higher Education Act. There is a nationwide affordability crisis for tuition increase and Congress is trying to place a cap on the rate at which college tuition increases may advance. In addition, there is a re-evaluation of federally funded student loans in order that they may keep pace with the current rate of tuition increases.

Please write to your congresspersons and support this worthwhile legislation. The Senate bill number is S1793. If you are uncertain as to whom your representatives may be, please contact the National League of Women Voters with your home address information, and they will provide you with the names of your representatives.

IN MEMORIAM

PRISCILLA LUKE VAIL

November 20, 1932 ­ July 6, 2003

Priscilla Vail was a kind and gentle person, and her insightful genius opened the doors to perceptive thought, remediation and opportunity for the learning different, their families and teachers.

Her writings set the standard in the field. Smart Kids with School Problems, Things to Know and Ways to Help is encyclopedic in its scope, concise and witty, and filled with some of the best information available on every aspect of learning and related needs of the learning different. Her writings encompassed a wide range of the needs of the learning different and mainstream students. For instance, she explained the effect of emotion in relation to learning in Emotion: The On/Off Switch for Learning. Even the titles of her books demonstrate her abilities as a wordsmith, e.g., Seize the Meaning: Help Your Child Move from Learning to Read to Reading to Learn.

Then, there are at least three ways to gauge intellect: administering I.Q. tests, following the guidelines set by Howard Gardner in Frames of Mind on multiple intelligences as to the type of intellect such as musical or mathematical, and using the list of characteristics of the gifted set forth by Priscilla.

She shared her brilliance in writing and speeches, and befriended all who ever met her, offering her gifted and beneficial thoughts and support, and sharing her love of country with those about her. She is sorely missed, but her legacy in the wealth of information she left in the scores of books she wrote is still accessible.

Please visit her web site at www.priscillavail.com to read excerpts and for ordering information.