October 16, 2015
Issue 41, Volume 8
It's All About the Choices!     
          
Greetings and Happy Friday

Please enjoy our weekly newsletter!
 
News Items:
  • Poor Infant Sleep May Predict Problematic Toddler Behavior
  • Dyspraxia - "Is it a Battle of the Sexes?"
  • Design Could Revolutionize Cerebral Palsy Spinal Surgery
  • Dyslexia May Cause Impaired Speech Processing, Not Vice Versa
  • Study: Delaying Kindergarten Until Age 7 Offers Key Benefits
  • Imaging Study: How 'Social Brain' is Impaired in Autism
Hot Jobs 
  • Hot Job: Early Intervention Speech-Language Pathologist - Auburn, NY
  • Hot Job! School SLP - Indianapolis, IN
  • Hot Job!  School Psychologist Job - Martinsburg, WV
Therapy Activities, Tips and Resources
  • Hand Strengthening Activity of the Week: Shape People Punches Freebie
  • OT Activity of the Week: Fine Motor Fun With Straws?!
  • Playrific Needs Your Input!
  • Seasonal Activity of the Week: Thanksgiving Turkey Baster Relay
Articles and Special Features 
  • Early Childhood Education Corner: Disabilities No Barrier At All-Inclusive Preschools
  • SLP Corner: Fun Fall-Themed Articulation Ideas From The Frenzied SLPs
  • OT Corner: To the Therapist that Comes After Me 
  • School Psych Corner: Guidelines for Responding to Death of a Student or School Staff
  • School Nurse's Corner: Head Lice - Guiding Principals for School Policy
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 Blogtrottr and have our blog posts delivered right to your email.

Have a great weekend and Take Care!

Heidi Kay and the PediaStaff Team





The Career Center

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Recent Occupational Therapist and COTA Jobs 

Poor Infant Sleep May Predict Problematic Toddler Behavior
[Source:  Science Daily]

Temper tantrums and misbehavior, restlessness and inattention are the trappings of the typical toddler. But they may also be signs of developmental delays or disorders. Are infant sleep irregularities red flags for later developmental difficulties?
 
A study recently published in Developmental Neuropsychologyfinds a definite link between poor infant sleep and compromised attention and behavior at the toddler stage. The research discovered that one-year-olds who experienced fragmented sleep were more likely to have difficulties concentrating and to 

 Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
Dyspraxia - "Is it a Battle of the Sexes?
[Source: Medical News Today]
 
Urgent call from national charity for greater awareness of dyspraxia among females as new survey shows they may be "slipping through the net"
 
New findings released today [Monday 12 October 2015] have revealed a significant gap in the diagnosis - and therefore, treatment - of  dyspraxia, otherwise known as developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD), amongst young women and girls.

Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
Design Could Revolutionize Spinal Surgery
[Source:  Medical News Today]
 
Researchers have designed a way to improve the safety and efficiency of a complex surgical procedure for children with cerebral palsy by using wearable technology like Google Glass.
 
The design, by Nottingham Trent University in collaboration with Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust, allows clinicians to be given crucial surgical information live in theatre via an optical head-mounted display unit during the operation on a child's spine.
 
The procedure - a selective dorsal rhizotomy - involves the severing of two-thirds of a nerve root in order to improve the muscle stiffness children with cerebral palsy experience in their limbs.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog 
Dyslexia May Cause Impaired Speech Processing, Not Vice Versa
[Source: Psych Central]
 
This longstanding definition of dyslexia is under review as a new study suggests the disorder may stem from how we acquire skills and habits. Notably, the trials associated with learning do not affect general intelligence.
 
Dyslexia's challenges in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols is often believed to result from difficulty processing speak sounds. But the new research suggests the cognitive skills used to learn how to ride a bike may be the key to better understanding the disorder.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog
Study: Delaying Kindergarten Until Age 7 Offers Key Benefits
[Source:  The Washington Post]
 
A new study finds strong evidence that delaying kindergarten by a year provides mental health benefits to children, allowing them to better self-regulate their attention and hyperactivity levels when they do start school.

The study, titled "The Gift of Time? School Starting Age and Mental Health" and published  this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that these benefits - which are obviously important to student achievement - persist at least until age 11.  Stanford Graduate School of Education Prof.Thomas Dee, who co-authored the study with Hans Henrik Sievertsen of the Danish National Center for Social Research, was quoted in a Stanford release as saying:

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog
Imaging Study: How 'Social Brain' is Impaired in Autism
[Source:  Medical News Today]
 
A team of UCLA scientists has found that brain areas linked to social behaviors are both underdeveloped and insufficiently networked in youths with high functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to study participants without ASD.
 
The findings, which appear in the online issue of the peer-reviewed journal Brain and Behavior, provide insight into how the brains of children and adolescents with ASD might be organized differently than youths without the disorder, says study first author Kay Jann, a postdoctoral researcher in the UCLA Department of Neurology.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog
PediaStaff is searching for a Speech Language Pathologist to work with children ages birth to five in the Auburn, NY area. You will have the opportunity to work with children in grades K-12 in home, preschool and school settings.  Part time and full time caseload schedules are available on either a contract or direct hire basis.  The schedules are flexible and you may consider short or long term assignments.  The opportunity to work in other pediatric settings may be an option over time.

This area boasts a rich historical legacy - Ithaca is the birthplace of the Ice Cream Sundae!  Throughout the year, you will find an array of arts and cultural attractions.  Enjoy family friendly shopping on pedestrian malls, or wander through the diverse theater and museum 

Learn About / Apply for This Job on our Blog
We have an outstanding Speech-Language Pathologist position with a pediatric clinic northeast of Indianapolis. We need someone for 3-5 days per week (able to accommodate whatever you can offer) to work in the schools, with some potential for clinic work as well. The therapist will be working primarily with children with autism. This is amazing pay for a school position! This position offers PTO, paid holidays and an insurance stipend. Apply today.

Learn About / Apply for This Job on our Blog
Featured Job of the Week:  School Psych Job - Martinsburg, WV
We have an immediate opening for a contract School Psychologist in the quad state area of the Eastern Panhandle in the state of WV.  Ideally, interested candidates should be able to demonstrate knowledge of school laws, federal and state laws related to the position of school psychologist, interpret and communicate information obtained from the assessment process in a professional manner, exhibit excellent oral and written communication skills, and be able to administer and interpret various tests required of the position. This is a public school setting with the contract assignment beginning as soon as possible, and ending in early June.

Learn About / Apply for This Job on our Blog
Hand Strengthening Activity of the Week: Shape People Punches 
[Source: Your Therapy Source]

Here is a cute hole punch activity freebie - Shape People Punches!  Punch a hole in the matching shapes to the shape person.  

Download it Through a Link on Our Blog
OT Activity of the Week: Fine Motor Fun With Straws?!
[Source: Pocket Full of Therapy]
  
Who knew you could weave with straws?!! So fun and different!   You need straws,yarn, a piece of cardboard, and tape to get started.
 
1. Start with 3 straws: For each straw, cut a  piece of yarn a few inches longer than you want the finished piece to be.  Tie the strands together with a knot and tape it to the cardboard.

Read the Rest of This Post Through a Link on Our Blog
Your Expertise Needed!   Playrific Needs Your Input!  
A friend of ours, Gary Dietz of Playrific, has a project underway that connects physical toys with virtual activities on mobile devices. They believe that this move "back to toys" could have impact in many areas, including speech, language, and occupational therapies. 

They are gathering information to better inform their software and hardware design decisions.  Gary has asked me if they could poll our readership so that they might refine their technology based on real-world needs, and real-world challenges.    I told him we would be glad to help!


Connect with This Survey Through our Blog
Seasonal Activity of the Week:   Thanksgiving Turkey Baster Relay
Editor's Note:  I know it's early to share Thanksgiving activities but I just couldn't resist this one!   So adorable, and GREAT hand-strengthening therapy!
 
[Source:  The Inspired Treehouse]
 
For the past few weeks, I've been over on Pinterest pinning all kinds of Thanksgiving activities for kids.  I'm always on the lookout for great activities for kids, but you know what I've noticed?  There aren't very many gross motor activities out there for Turkey Day!

Learn More Through a Link on Our Blog
ECE Corner:   Disabilities No Barrier At All-Inclusive Preschools
[Source: Disability Scoop]
 
Teaching assistant Jillian Link looked over just in time to see the little girl, with her dark hair braids bouncing against her tan glasses, crawling away from the other children.
"Hey, you can't crawl away," Link playfully scolded. "If you're going to go somewhere, you have to walk away."
 
Link scooped up the child, decked out in her pink Hello Kitty jumpsuit, and placed her gently within the confines of her miniature sparkle-gold walker. The girl knew what to do instantly, marching her way around the classroom while she leaned on the sides of the walker.


SLP Corner:  Fun Fall-Themed Artic Ideas From The Frenzied SLPs
[Source:  Doyle Speech Works]

The  Frenzied SLPs are back this week with  Fun Fall-Themed Articulation Ideas. I am so excited to see what my talented SLP friends do in their therapy rooms!
 
When doing articulation therapy my aim to is get the maximum number of productions in a short window of time, therefore my activities need to be simple in order to give the biggest bang for the buck. The reinforcement is simply that and not the main thrust of therapy; twenty (or more) productions, then positive reinforcement.

Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog

OT Corner:  To the Therapist that Comes After Me
[Source: The Anonymous OT]

Most of us pediatric therapists work with children that have profound, life-long challenges. Sure, we have those patients that come in for a few months, make great progress, and get discharged - never to be seen again. But those are few and far between. (And seem to be fewer and father between now a days.) We build relationships, we get attached, and we work hard to enrich every aspect of a child's life. There's really no avoiding it. (Unless you are made of stone, you monster!)



School Psych Corner: Responding to Death of a Student or School Staff
[Source:  National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement via Cincinnati Children's Hospital]

These guidelines are designed to help school administrators, teachers, and crisis team members respond to the needs of students and staff after a loss has impacted the school environment, such as after the death of a student or staff member or when deaths occur that affect many people in the community. 

These guidelines are not intended to provide guidance on clinical care or bereavement counseling and are not intended to address personal losses that impact only one or a few members of the school community.

School Nurse's Corner: Head Lice - Principals for School Policy
[Source:  CDC.gov]

Students diagnosed with live head lice do not need to be sent home early from school; they can go home at the end of the day, be treated, and return to class after appropriate treatment has begun. Nits may persist after treatment, but successful treatment should kill crawling lice.
Head lice can be a nuisance but they have not been shown to spread disease. Personal hygiene or cleanliness in the home or school has nothing to do with getting head lice.

Both the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) advocate that "no-nit" policies should be discontinued. "No-nit" policies that require a child to be free of nits before they can return to schools should be discontinued for the following reasons:

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog

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