ADHD in the News: Early-Life Traffic-Related Air Pollution Exposure Linked to Hyperactivity

[Source: Science Daily]

The research is detailed in a study being published Tuesday, May 21, in Environmental Health Perspectives, a peer-reviewed open access journal published by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), an institute within the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Pediatric Eating Habits in the News:  Overeating Learned in Infancy, Study Suggests   

[Source: Science Daily]

In the long run, encouraging a baby to finish the last ounce in their bottle might be doing more harm than good. Though the calories soon burn off, a bad habit remains.

Brigham Young University sociology professors Ben Gibbs and Renata Forste found that clinical obesity at 24 months of age strongly traces back to infant feeding.

"If you are overweight at age two, it puts you on a trajectory where you are likely to be overweight into middle childhood and adolescence and as an adult," said Forste. "That's a big concern."

Comparative Behavior in the News:  'Boys Will Be Boys' in U.S., but Not in Asia  

A new study shows there is a gender gap when it comes to behavior and self-control in American young children - one that does not appear to exist in children in Asia.

In the United States, girls had higher levels of self-regulation than boys. Self-regulation is defined as children's ability to control their behavior and impulses, follow directions, and persist on a task. It has been linked to academic performance and college completion, in past studies by Oregon State

ADHD in the News:  Brain Dopamine Transporter Levels Increased By Long-term ADHD Treatment  

Long-term treatment of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with certain stimulant medications may alter the density of the dopamine transporter, according to research published in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Gene-Jack Wang and colleagues from Brookhaven National Laboratory and the intramural program at NIH.

Pediatric Mental Health in the News:  In US, 20% Of Children Have A Mental Disorder   

[Source:  Medical News Today]

Nearly 20% of children in the United States suffer from a mental disorder, and the number has been increasing for over a decade, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The report covered the topic of mental disorders among children aged 3 to 17 for the first time. The investigators found that childhood mental illnesses affect up to one in five children and cost close to $247 billion per year in medical expenses, juvenile justice, and special education.

'Exergaming' in the News:  New Study Recommends Using Active Videogaming to Improve Children's Health    

[Source:  Science Daily]

Levels of physical inactivity and obesity are very high in children, with fewer than 50% of primary school-aged boys and fewer than 28% of girls meeting the minimum levels of physical activity required to maintain health. Exergaming, using active console video games that track player movement to control the game (e.g., Xbox-Kinect, Wii), has become popular, and may provide an alternative form of exercise to counteract sedentary behaviors. In a study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers studied the effects of exergaming on children.

Pediatric Anthropology in the News:  How Long Did Neandertals Breastfeed?     

[Source: ScienceMag.org]

Most child health experts agree that a minimum of 6 months of breastfeeding is essential for the welfare of growing babies, although how well such recommendations are carried out widely varies across the globe. Less is known about the breastfeeding habits of other primates-and much less still about those of prehistoric humans. A research team now reports a new technique for accurately detecting when babies were weaned, using chemical signatures in their teeth. The method was successfully applied to the tooth of a Neandertal child, raising the possibility that researchers could decipher the life histories of our  

PediaStaff Shout Out of the Week:  Patrick Moon      

Editor's Note:  We just got the sweetest photo that we had to share with everyone!    

Patrick Moon is a bilingual PT that has been working for one of PediaStaff's school district clients in New Mexico for the past three years.   Our client would have kept him forever, except that Patrick is a missionary, and it is time for him to move on....to the island of East Timor between Indonesia and Australia!

PediaStaff Featured Jobs of the Week:  SLPs for the "Gateway to the Shenandoah"       

Editor's Note:  We just got the sweetest photo that we had to share with everyone!    

OT Resource of the Week:  Pencil Grip 101     

[Source:  The Anonymous OT] 

{If you aren't familiar with pencil grasps or the anatomy of the hand, you might want to check out my post, "When to Fix a Pencil Grasp" as an introduction.}

Suppose you have a child that can't hold a pencil correctly... what do you do? I see way too many people slap a grip on a pencil and declare, "Job done!". Yikes. There is actually much more to correcting a grasp than using a grip, but I'll get to that later. 

OT Activity of the Week:  Water Drops on Wax Paper    

•     Wax paper.
•     Permanent marker.
•     Eye dropper (We found ours at Micheals, but you could also use an old Children's Tylenol bottle dropper.)
•     Small bowl.
•     Liquid water color or food coloring.
•     A piece of blank paper.

Game Review for Speech and Languge:  Scattergories - The Card Game   

This week's game is Scattergories: The Card Game by Winning Move Games.

Variants/Expansions: None.

App Review of the Week:  Story Wheel - Story Starter App