"Conservative principles are completely congruent with the value of social justice.."

I am reading an article I wanted to share with readers entitled Social justice: a conservative perspective by Bruce A. Thyera. It sheds light on what social justice looks like for a conservative in social work and the abstract is as follows:

Although political conservatives outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace, the conservative political ideology is largely absent from academic, practice and policy discourse within the social work and social welfare communities. This article describes a conservative perspective on the topic of social justice and illustrates how this view actually promotes a more socially just practice than a liberal orientation to practice and policy. Specific attention is given to the conservative perspective on the provision of social welfare programs, the use of the income tax as a means to redistribute wealth, on affirmative action, on the death penalty, and on abortion rights.

Kudos to Professor Thyera for writing on this topic. Social justice in academic programs is currently a buzz word for Democratic partisans to discriminate against conservatives and those who do not share their liberal agenda. There should be a diversity of political thought in academia--to reject those who hold conservative or libertarian political views is as damaging as rejecting those due to race or gender.

GM Roper has a tour of the Psych-bloggers up featuring an election special.

Are you a wimpy parent?

Okay, so we are hearing more about wimpy kids these days, but the country is also full of wimpy parents. The Dayton Daily News has a good article entitled, "Are you a wimpy parent? Check for these 7 signs." The article is written by psychologist Gregory Ramey, Ph.D who says:

I have evaluated numerous children whose only problems are that they live with loving and dedicated parents who are wimps. There is no psychological test yet to diagnose this disorder, but here is how you can assess yourself and perhaps avoid a visit to a therapist’s office.

Rule #7 is an important one:

7. Do you typically place your children’s needs above those of you and your spouse? Wimpy parents feel insecure in their relationships with their children. In this “kids first” type of family, personal and marital needs are of lower priority. The kids rule and infer an unrealistic sense of importance and power from the way they are treated.

I doubt Dr. Helen readers are wimpy parents but if you think you are or know someone who is, drop a comment below.

"The act of reading is so easily taken for granted that we forget what an astounding feat it is."

Do you ever take being able to read for granted? What's amazing is how complex a task reading can be. I received a book in the mail from Penguin Books entitled Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read that explains how we learn to read. The book discusses the psychology and neuroscience behind reading and asks a fascinating question, "How, then, did our primate brain learn to read?"

The book provides some good hypotheses for how we learned to read. I was most interesting in a chapter called "The Dyslexic Brain" that summarized thirty years of research on dyslexia. A definition of dyslexia is given:

a disproportionate difficulty in learning to read that cannot be attributed to mental retardation, sensory deficit, or an underprivileged background....Current estimates indicate that from 5 to 17 percent of children in the United States suffer from dyslexia.

The section on "Overcoming Dyslexia" reminds parents that genetics is not a life sentence. "The brain is a 'plastic organ' which constantly changes and rebuilds itself...."

Overall, the book looks like a worthwhile read if you are in the special ed field, a learning disabilities specialist, teacher, or have a child with a reading disability. If you can wade through the biological explanations, you will definitely learn much about the evolving science of reading and how to improve the ability to read.

I saw a promo for a show on Oprah that has 200 men on speaking about sexual abuse and a reader (thanks) just reminded me of it with a link to this post:

Oprah Winfrey dared speak the truth of her sexual abuse many years ago, giving millions of women permission to acknowledge their abuse. Today (Nov. 5) and next Friday (Nov. 12), Oprah has chosen to join forces with Tyler Perry to open doors for another huge group who need understanding and healing for the sexual abuse they've suffered: men. I honor the bravery and genius of Oprah and Tyler, who both dared to dream that they could help men heal by creating a safe enough place to tell their stories.

I didn't see the show but wonder if Oprah or the men had anything to say about the women who abused them or if they even had boys and men who were abused by women?