Brain Waves Show How Teaching Method Affects Reading Development

Teen Brain Matures Differently in Bipolar Disorder

[Psych Central]
 

A new imaging study shows that for adolescents with bipolar disorder, key areas of the brain that help regulate emotions develop differently.
 

Researchers from the Yale School of Medicine discovered adolescents with bipolar disorder experienced a loss of "size" or volume in the right insula and frontal cortex brain areas, compared to adolescents without bipolar disorder.
 

Scientists found these individuals lose larger-than-anticipated volumes of gray matter, or neurons, and show no increase in white matter connections, which is a hallmark of normal adolescent brain development.

Breakthroughs: Providing 'Sensory Feedback' From Artificial Limbs

[Source:  Medical News Today]
 

Researchers are exploring new approaches to designing prosthetic hands capable of providing "sensory feedback." Advances toward developing prostheses with a sense of touch are presented in a special topic article in the June issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery?, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).
 

Emerging sensory feedback techniques will provide some sensation and enable more natural, intuitive use of hand prostheses, according to the review by ASPS Member Surgeon Paul S. Cederna, MD, of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues. They write, "These breakthroughs pave the way to the development of a prosthetic limb with the ability to feel."

Study Links Exposure to Common Pesticide with ADHD in Boys

[Source: Science Daily]

A new study links a commonly used household pesticide with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and young teens.
 

OT Student in the News!

We all know what it's like to wake up and wish we had another couple hours' slumber before beginning our day, but children with cerebral palsy have a hard time falling asleep in the first place.
 

University of Alberta student Risha Dutt says children with cerebral palsy can benefit from a cozy, quiet and darkened bedroom to help get a good night's rest. Dutt is studying the link between bedroom conditions and nighttime behaviour, and recently presented her early findings to the Delhi Branch of All India Occupational Therapists' Association.

Vestibulo-Ocular Dysfunction in Kids with Sports-Related Concussion

[Source: Science Daily]
 

Researchers from the Canada North Concussion Network in Manitoba investigated the frequency of vestibulo-ocular dysfunction in children and adolescents with sports-related concussion and found that its presence was predictive of a prolonged recovery. Findings in this study are reported and discussed in "Vestibulo-ocular dysfunction in pediatric sports-related concussion" by Michael J. Ellis, MD, and colleagues, published online, ahead of print, in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.

Hot Job: School-Based SLP Needed with ASL - Spartanburg, SC  

Hot Job: School-Based Bilingual SLP - Houston, TX 

Welcome to the South Side of Houston, TX!  We are currently interviewing for a Bilingual SLP to join our team and work with the wonderful kids of our district!  Ages from Pre-K through High School are available.  Your caseload would vary...as this district assigns case load on severity of need...not just numbers.  Bilingual Skills are critical in this school setting...we need to talk to exchange additional information.  Confidential interviews arranged quickly!

Hot Job: School based SLP - Detroit, MI

We have a fantastic school position southwest of Detroit for a Speech-Language Pathologist for the 2015-2016 school year. This opportunity is for 30-34 hours a week working with older elementary and high school students at two schools located within five minutes of one another. The caseload varies from year to year, but it was around 45 this past year and is expected to stay around that number. The therapist will see a range of disabilities with most of the elementary students having minor speech delays, and the high school caseload is mainly learning disabled students.

Therapy Idea of the Week: Agility Ladder for Nimble Minds  

I saw this article today online about the benefits of agility ladders for all around nimbleness, and thought that the agility ladder would make a GREAT brain break to get kids up and moving in therapy and the classroom!  It doesn't have to be about speed, either.  Just get through it!

I would love to hear YOUR ideas for how to use an agility ladder in therapy or as a brain break!

Sensory Idea of the Week:  Digging For Dinosaur Fossils Sensory Bin 

Source:  Learning 4 Kids.net]

Digging For Dinosaur Fossils Sensory Bin: I previously shared an activity here on How to make Dinosaur Fossils?  This is how we played with them!

We simply painted white circles onto the back of the dinosaur fossils and with a black permanent marker pen drew on uppercase and lowercase letter d.

The idea of the of the Digging for Dinosaur Fossils Sensory Bin is to search through the sand to find and sort the dinosaur figurines, dinosaur fossils with lowercase letter d and uppercase letter D into the matching baskets. It is a great opportunity to expose children to the letter D, and talk about words that begin with this letter sound.

Move & Learn! Giant Dot To Dot  

Editor's Note:  I absolutely LOVE this!!!!
 

[Source:  I Can Teach My Child]

My three year-olds are intrigued by dot-to-dot puzzles, but struggle with the fine motor skills required to draw the line from one dot to the next. They often can't tell what the picture is when they are done and are starting to lose interest in them. Dot-to-dot puzzles are a fun way to practice number and letter sequence as well as fine motor skills, so I really wanted to encourage them to keep working on dot-to-dot puzzles. I thought, "Why not turn it into a gross motor activity where they can't miss the next dot?" 

SLP Activity of the Week:  Snap! End of Year Craft

[Source:  Teach Speech 365 via Speechie Freebies]
 

Holy moly, the end of the year is upon us! There's so much going on at this time of year, I need something quick and easy. This is a simple one page worksheet. In the middle of the lens, the students can draw a picture and then write a sentence or two on the provided lines about what they liked best at speech therapy. You can mount them on construction paper and even make yourself a book with all the students' pages!