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November 13, 2015
Issue 45, Volume 8
It's All About the Choices!
Greetings!!!
It's ASHA Week! We just arrived in Denver as I am writing this, and we even saw snow! Hope everyone has gotten there safely. We understand there were a lot of flight cancellations.
If you are in town, please stop by our booth #744 to say a great big "HELLO," and of course, get yourself a Toobaloo fluency device while supplies last! Oh, and if you are reading this on Friday there is still time to win our Apple Watch by posting a few pics on Instagram. You don't even need to be at ASHA to play and win! All you need is a Toobaloo from a previous ASHA convention.
See the article below ("Snap Away...) to learn all about the contest.
News Items:
- Too Much Stress Hormone in High-Risk Kids Tied to Anxiety, Daily Struggles
- Having to Wait Doesn't Help Young Kids Exercise Self-Control
- Brain Imaging Identifies Depression Biomarker in Traumatic Brain Injury
- Gray Matter May Show Whether You Better Recognize Faces or Objects
- Challenges for Extreme Preemies Can Last Into Teens
- Study Shows Why Four-Year Olds Don't Thrive in Head Start Classes
Hot Jobs
Therapy Activities, Tips and Resources
- Activity of the Week: Visual Perceptual Printables for Thanksgiving - Freebie!
- SLP Seasonal Activity of Week: Thanksgiving Persuasive Writing Task
- Game Recommendation! My Feelings!
- Sensory Activity of the Week: Corn Play Dough Exploration
Articles and Special Features
- OT Corner: 17 Ways to Build Fine Motor Skills Into Your Curriculum
- Technology Corner: Keyboard Accessibility for Motor Impairment
- Autism Corner: Motor Difficulties in Severe Autism
- SLP Corner: Creating a Great Schedule for #ASHA15
- Pediatric Therapy Corner: SNARC Effect and Motor Responses
Feel free to contact us with any questions about our openings or items in these pages. Have you discovered our RSS feed? Click on the orange button below to subscribe to all our openings and have them delivered to your Feed Reader! Don't have an RSS Feed Reader set up? Sign up at
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Have a great weekend and Take Care!
Heidi Kay and the PediaStaff Team
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The Career Center
The links to the right are "live" and reflect the most recent SLP, OT, PT and related assistant jobs, and ALL our Bilingual and School Psychology Jobs.
To further narrow your search by state,
setting, bilingual, or term, use the
check boxes drop down menus.
If a particular search is returning
no hits it is possible that we do
not currently have new openings for
you with that selection criteria.
To see ALL our openings
click HERE and further narrow your search.
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Too Much Stress Hormone Tied to Anxiety, Daily Struggles
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Editor's Note: I would venture to guess that too much anxiety in kids will translate to higher cortisol levels into adulthood with ALL kids,. not just high risk ones.
[Source: Psych Central]
New research finds that African-American youth whose anxiety levels are elevated by everyday struggles will overproduce the stress hormone cortisol into adulthood.
Researchers from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and Medical School found that anxiety among females and alcohol use among males in their teens predict their cortisol output seven years later.
Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
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Having to Wait Doesn't Help Young Kids Exercise Self-Control
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[Source: Science Daily]
Would your ability to resist a tantalizing cookie improve if you had to wait a few seconds before you could reach for it? The idea that natural urges 'die down' with time seems intuitive, but new research shows that it's being reminded about what not to do, not the passage of time, that actually helps young children control their impulsive behavior.
The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
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Brain Imaging Identifies Depression Biomarker in TBI
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[Source: Psych Central]
New research has identified a potential brain-based biomarker for depressive symptoms in people who have experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI).
About half of those who experience a TBI will also experience depression within a year, according to researchers. Patients with both are more likely to have reductions in cognitive performance, greater functional disability, increased suicide attempts, and other social and sexual difficulties.
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog |
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Gray Matter May Show Whether You Better Recognize Faces or Objects
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[Source: Psych Central]
Are you better at recognizing faces or inanimate objects such as cars? A new study has found that one's brain structure may reveal the answer.
According to researchers, the thinner the brain's gray matter, the better one is at recognizing faces, while thicker gray matter is linked to being better able to identify objects.
For almost two decades, neuroscientists have known that a particular area of the brain, called the fusiform face area (FFA), plays a vital role in the brain's ability to recognize and recall both faces and objects.
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog |
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Challenges for Extreme Preemies Can Last Into Teens
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[Source: Medical X-Press]
(HealthDay)-The complications and medical treatments that extremely preterm or extremely small newborns experience in their first weeks of life can have an impact years later, a new study reveals.
Preemies who had bleeding in their brain or who received corticosteroids were at particular risk for more difficulty with school or thinking skills, the researchers found, regardless of their environment growing up.
"The most surprising finding was that the effects of events occurring in the nursery had such long-lasting and persistent effects on thinking ability and academic performance, even into late adolescence," said study author Dr. Lex Doyle. He is a professor of neonatal pediatrics at the Royal Women's Hospital in Parkville, Victoria, in Australia.
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog |
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Study Shows Why Four-Year Olds Don't Thrive in Head Start Classes
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[Source: Science Daily]
Researchers found that 4-year-olds in Head Start classrooms that included higher concentrations of 3-year-olds were up to five months behind in academic development compared with their peers in classrooms with fewer younger children.
That's a problem because, as of 2009, about 75 percent of all Head Start classrooms were mixed-age. Head Start is a federal preschool program that promotes the school readiness of children in low-income families from age 3 to age 5.
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog |
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Going to ASHA? Try the Conference App!
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Are you attending ASHA in Denver? We cant wait to see you in just two days!!
Don't forget to download the Mira Mobile Conference App. In the Apple Store, or in Google Play, search for "Mira Mobile"
The conference app is a great way to follow all the goings on at ASHA. After you download the app, choose "ASHA 2015" and "Import the Conference." Its a very handy tool that will let you keep your agenda, access the map of the convention, find vendors (like PediaStaff) in the Expo Hall and more.
Oh, and since PediaStaff is an official sponsor of ASHA this year, you might even see our banner across the bottom!
We are looking forward to meeting you at ASHA at Booth #744. Want to win an Apple Watch from PediaStaff? Stay tuned and learn how!
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Toobaloo Love at ASHA15!
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We are having a great time at ASHA 2015 in Denver.
Thursday we hosted over 800 of you at our booth and can't wait to meet just as many if not more of you Friday and Saturday!
It is always so great to meet with such a wonderful group of enthusiastic clinicians. Thank you for making PediaStaff part of your ASHA convention experience!
Read More on our Blog |
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Snap Away This Week to Win an Apple Watch from PediaStaff!
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Are you going to ASHA in Denver this week??? Are you NOT able to attend but have a PediaStaff Toobaloo from years past? If you answered YES to either of those questions, you can win an Apple Watch just by showing your #SLPeep and PediaStaff spirit in pictures on Instagram! Here's how!
- Visit PediaStaff at Booth #744 in the Expo Hall, on Thursday and get your free Toobaloo while supplies last.
- Next, make sure you are following PediaStaff on Instagram.
- Starting Wednesday evening, November 11th, show us your #SLPeeps spirit by posting, on Instagram, up to six pictures of yourself (and your friends) either with your PediaStaff Toobaloo, OR in front of our booth or banner. Tell us about the picture, tag your friends, tag us at
Learn More About This Contest on our Blog |
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[Source: Your Therapy Source]
This freebie challenges visual perceptual skills with a Thanksgiving theme. Practice visual motor, visual discrimination, visual spatial, visual closure and overall visual perceptual skills with these printables. Print off multiple copies for your students and your activities are ready to go for fine motor centers in the classroom, visual motor skill practice, special education classrooms, early finishers and/or handwriting warm ups.
Download this Free Activity Through a Link on our Blog |
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One of my favorite activities we did last November was a really fun persuasive writing assignment from
Anna Brantley's Writing All Year Long
. This resources has provided some amazing writing resources for my students. Persuasive writing is particularly hard for my kids. There is a lot that goes into - forming an opinion, perspective taking, selection of necessary details, jeez I'm tried just writing all of those goals. Children with autism struggle with perspective taking so this is a great activity to work on both social/emotional skills and academics.
Read More About This Activity Through a Link on our Blog |
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My Feelings is a therapist-endorsed game that encourages children to explore emotions in fun, active (and sometimes very silly) ways! Therapists and parents gain insight while the child learns to recognize and manage his or her feelings in ways that are positive and socially appropriate.
Here's what the experts are saying!
The social and emotional issues of children are often not addressed. Therapists most often consider developmental skill acquisition in cognitive, language, motor, sensory and other domains. But frequently missing is identification and understanding of how emotions can be used in daily life. "The team at Sensational Learners has developed a one-of-a-kind game that not only identifies emotions, but also provides a way to talk about and work on coping and compensation skills for the feelings a child experiences.
Learn More About this Game on our Blog |
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[Source: Pre-K Pages.com]
Play dough is always popular with my children. They love molding their play dough into all sorts of things. They also enjoy using extra props and materials in their creations.
For this activity we used popcorn kernels, green play dough, and craft sticks. This activity could be included in a farm, harvest, or Thanksgiving theme.
Learn More About this Game on our Blog |
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OT Corner:
17 Ways to Build Fine Motor Skills Into Your Curriculum
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Editor's Note: This is a fantastic article that School Based OTs might like to share with the classroom teachers they work with!
{Source: Differentiated Kindergarten]
Some of our little ones come to our classes without ever having held a pencil, and suddenly, they are expected to show what they know and practice what we teach with grace and fluidity using a pencil. But those little muscles don't always have it in them to perform that way. It's why worksheets don't always belong in a kindergarten class. I know what you're thinking, 'But I have standards to meet and a curriculum to present. I don't have time to build fine motor activities into my schedule.' You don't have to build any extra time for fine motor, just use these ideas to meet your standards and provide invaluable experiences building those mighty muscles without ever picking up a pencil. (You'll find the common core standard in parenthesis after each activity!)
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Technology Corner:
Keyboard Accessibility for Motor Impairment
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[Source: OTs with Apps]
Among the updates in the new iOS 9 operating system, offered late October 2015, are additional features for touch accommodations. These setting are wonderful additions to students with motor impairments but also highly relevant when working with adults with motor impairment. Recent evaluations of adults with motor impairments who are interested in access to computers, whether tablets or standard computers, brought about questions of what is available currently for keyboard access for individuals with motor challenges.
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Autism Corner:
Motor Difficulties in Severe Autism
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Editor's Note: Thank you to Kimberly at Music Therapy Maven for the Link to this great article. Please thank her by supporting her blog!
[Source: Ido in Autismland]
by Ido Kedar
Introduction: Last year I was asked by two neuro-researchers to describe my mind/motor problems to be part of a scholarly research paper they were publishing in a neurology journal. My personal experiences helped support their clinical findings. In other words, their data was validated by my life experiences. Unfortunately, papers get rejected all the time in scientific journals. I believe and hope their findings will still be published, however
Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
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SLP Corner:
Creating a Great Schedule for #ASHA15
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[Source: Activity Tailor]
I attend the ASHA convention most years. While the beginning of the school year is a great time to replenish supplies and organize materials, by the time ASHA rolls around, and I've got a better idea of what my caseload is like, I'm ready to brush up on some new techniques and absorb the latest research.
If you don't regularly attend, and even if you do, deciding what sessions to attend can be daunting. Here's my system.
Check out the short courses. For years I ignored the short courses. I foot the bill when I go to ASHA so the idea of paying an additional charge for a short course seemed ludicrous. But I kept hearing other #SLPeeps rave about them and, I had to admit, the topics were often intriguing and
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Pediatric Therapy Corner:
SNARC Effect and Motor Responses
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[Source: Your Therapy Source]
Have you ever heard of the SNARC effect? I had not, so when I read about it in a research article I decided to find out more information. SNARC stands for spatial-numerical association of response codes. The SNARC effect is when someone is presented with smaller numbers people respond faster with the left hand and when presented with larger numbers people respond faster with the right. This results in an mental representation of a number line. Some research indicates that the SNARC effect is present in children as young as 5.8 years old. Preschool children are developing the SNARC effect.
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog
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