Feel Good Story of the Week: Sam Berns - "My Philosophy for a Happy Life"

[Source:  The Boston Globe]

Sam Berns was scheduled to serve as an honorary captain at Saturday night's New England Patriots playoff game. Instead, the team planned to hold a moment of silence before the game in his honor. The Foxboro high school student, whose battle with progeria inspired a monumental effort to treat the rare and little-understood "accelerated aging" disease, died at home Friday night from complications of the disorder, his parents by his side, according to a family friend.  He was 17.

Orthoses in the News:  Orthotics and Children with Hypotonia  

[Source:  Pediatric Physical Therapy via Your Therapy Source]

Pediatric Physical Therapy published a systemic review on the efficacy and evidence of using orthoses for children with hypotonia. Ten articles met the inclusion criteria although none were Level I evidence (evidence from properly designed randomized controlled trials).

The results found that data was reported for body structure and activity components, but not participation outcomes.  Overall, the current evidence suggests that foot orthoses and supramalleolar orthoses may benefit children with hypotonia  but the evidence is low level.

Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury in the News:  Teen Concussions Increase Risk for Depression 

[Source:  Science Daily] 

Teens with a history of concussions are more than three times as likely to suffer from depression as teens who have never had a concussion, finds a new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

"What this study suggests is that teens who have had a concussion should be screened for depression," said lead study author Sara Chrisman, M.D., a pediatrician at Seattle Children's Hospital.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog

Treatments in the News:  Complementary Medicine Widely Used to Treat Children With Autism, Developmental Delay 

[Source:  Science Daily]

In a study of the range of treatments being employed for young children with autism and other developmental delays, UC Davis MIND Institute researchers have found that families often use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments and that the most frequent users of both conventional and complementary approaches are those with higher levels of parental education and income.

There is no Food and Drug Administration-approved medical treatment for the core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder, a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition whose hallmarks are deficits in social relatedness, repetitive thoughts and behaviors and, often, intellectual disability.

Another Feel Good Story of the Week:  The World's First Dog with 4 Prosthetic Paws!  

Editor's Note:  Kids love dogs.  What a great story to share with your students and clients to boost their "can-do" spirit

Autism Research in the News:  Study Reveals Senses of Sight, Sound Separated in Children With Autism   

[Source:  Science Daily]

Like watching a foreign movie that was badly dubbed, children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have trouble integrating simultaneous information from their eyes and their ears, according to a Vanderbilt study published today in The Journal of Neuroscience.

The study, led by Mark Wallace, Ph.D., director of the Vanderbilt Brain Institute, is the first to illustrate the link and strongly suggests that deficits in the sensory building blocks for language and communication can ultimately hamper social and communication skills in children with autism.

"There is a huge amount of effort and energy going into the treatment of children with autism, virtually none of it is based on a strong empirical foundation tied to sensory function," 

The Neuroscience of Speech:  Speech Means Using Both Sides of Brain    

[Source: Science Daily]

We use both sides of our brain for speech, a finding by researchers at New York University and NYU Langone Medical Center that alters previous conceptions about neurological activity. The results, which appear in the journal Nature, also offer insights into addressing speech-related inhibitions caused by stroke or injury and lay the groundwork for better rehabilitation methods.

"Our findings upend what has been universally accepted in the scientific community - that we use only one side of our brains for speech," says Bijan Pesaran, an associate professor in NYU's Center for Neural Science and the study's senior author. "In addition, now that we have a firmer understanding of how speech is generated, our work toward finding remedies for speech afflictions is much better informed."

Featured PediaStaff Job of the Week:  School Psychologist - Colorado  

PediaStaff is searching for a School Psychologist to start as soon as possible on contract and work through the end of SY13/14. This full time position will be varied and interesting as you'll work with kids from pre-K through 12th grade. There's a strong team in place, and you'll receive support as needed.

Outdoor enthusiasts will love this place!  Located in the San Luis Valley of central southern Colorado you'll be an hour from the ski slopes and close to a variety of recreational opportunities.

Featured Therapist Placement of the Week:  OTR/L - Minnesota  

Congratulations to Mary B., on her part-time school based occupational therapist position with one of PediaStaff's clients in a suburb of  Minneapolis.

Mary will work one day a week with children ages 3-5.   The majority of the children have developmental delay or autism.  Some have sensory and fine motor needs.  The position is for the remainder of the year and starts ASAP!

Thanks for helping out, Mary!

On the Road:  PediaStaff to Attend NASP in Washington, D.C.  

PediaStaff is very excited to announce that we will be at NASP 2014! - Booth #111!  Will any of you be there? Comment below!!    We are also pretty jazzed about the cool (and exclusive) School Psych tote bags we just designed to give away that you will want to use beyond convention!!

Learn More about NASP 2014 Through a Link on our Blog

App Review of the Week:  Question TherAppy 2-in-1 App Review 

Speech Language Activity of the Week:  Sticker Stop - an "Exit Slip" Strategy  

I give massive amounts of stickers. It's true. I give stickers for homework, I give stickers for holidays, and I of course give stickers at the end of sessions!

A recent visit from my supervisor led me to start thinking about how I can do an "exit slip" type carryover strategy. My supervisor suggested that as I'm giving them their sticker, I ask them what they learned. I tried this for a few weeks, with much success, but I found that we needed a visual.

Enter: Sticker stop. This is placed above the sticker chart wall, with a convenient makeshift sticker holder that I crafted from an index card. The kiddos have to make it from the "red light" - the why - to the "green light" - the how - in order to get their sticker.

Instagram Therapy Idea of the Week:  Snowman Bowling!  

Therapy Resource of the Week:  The Daily Autism Freebie  

The Daily Autism Freebie is a deceptively simple compilation blog that serves up a free resource every day without fanfare.    We would probably pin all of them into Pinterest, but the authors of this blog do not put an accompanying image on the posts so they "won't pin."

Therefore I suggest to you that you check this site often yourself, since I can't bring the goodies to you.