Autism Risks in the News:  Hospital Infection in Pregnancy Tied to Higher Risk of Autism

Visual Perception in the News: Podcast on One-Eyed Depth Perception

The following story appeared a couple of years ago but is excellent reference!

Eye movements combined with the motion of objects in the field of vision enable some depth perception even with only a single eye. Cynthia Graber reports.

Podcast Transcript: You probably take your depth perception for granted. It allows you to easily judge distances. Each eye sends a different signal to the brain, and the brain compares the two pictures. But even using just one eye, the world doesn't suddenly appear flat. So how can just one eye provide depth perception? A team at the University of Rochester recently published a possible answer to that question 

Visual Impairment and Balance in the News:  Research on Functional Balance  

[Source:  Pediatric Physical Therapy via Your Therapy Source]

Pediatric Physical Therapy published research on functional balance abilities in girls with visual impairment.  The participants included 26 girls, 10-15 years old, with visual impairment who were assessed with the Pediatric Balance Scale (PBS) and stabilography.  The following results were recorded: 

Media Impact on Children in the News:  Cultural Differences? Researchers Examine Media Impact in Multiple Countries 

[Source:  Science Daily]

A cross-cultural study, led by Iowa State University researchers, shows prosocial media and video games positively influence behavior regardless of culture. The study, a first-of-its-kind, tested levels of empathy and helpfulness of thousands of children and adolescents in seven countries.Researchers surveyed adolescents and young adults in Australia, China, Croatia, Germany, Japan, Romania and the United States for the study, published in Psychological Science.

Dyslexia in the News:  Naming Tests: Study On Dyslexic Versus Average Children 

[Source:  Science Daily]

In this article by Zoccolotti, De Luca, Lami et al, published in Child Neuropsychology,Rapid Automized Naming (RAN) tests were conducted on 43 average children and 25 with developmental dyslexia. The task involved naming colors, digits, pictures words and word lists displayed multiple times and in discrete form.  Participants' response times and error rates were recorded.  Dyslexic children not only have trouble identifying strings of letters, but also programming eye movements and synchronizing speech output. Thus reading is a multiple component task presenting difficulty for dyslexic children.  During the article the authors outline the results of the tests and analyze reasons for the differences between the two groups.

Cleft Lip / Cleft Palate in the News:  New Gene Responsible for Cleft Lip, Palate Syndrome Identified  

[Source:  Science Daily]

An international team led by researchers from Karolinska Institutet has identified a new gene related to the Van der Woude syndrome, the most common syndrome with cleft lip and palate. The study is published in the scientific periodical American Journal of Human Genetics and can lead the way to improved genetic diagnostic of individuals and families with orofacial clefts.

Cleft lip and palate is one of the most common birth defects and can be found in the form of cleft lip or cleft palate alone; or cleft lip and palate together. They may occur together with other malformations, forming a syndrome. There are more than 350 syndromes with clefts, of which Van der Woude syndrome (VWS) is the most common. Approximately 70 per cent of the individuals with VWS have a mutation in a gene called interferon regulatory factor 6 (IRF6).

PediaStaff Featured Resource of the Week:  The PediaStaff Jobs Feed on Twitter  

PediaStaff Interview Question of the Week:  Handling Interruptions  

App of the Week:  Educreations Interactive Whiteboard  

"Greatest Hits" of Pinterest:  Velcro Under the Desk for Soothing Tactile Stimulation  

This past Pinterest Pin of the Week (originally pinned by Katie Danner) has been repinned over a thousand times since we shared it a couple of years ago.

To help a child with SPD receive soothing tactile stimulation, and reduce fidgety behavior, apply a strip of Velcro under their desk to provide them with an instant source of tactile input. Simple, but it can be effective!

Sensory Motor Activity of the Week:  Kid Boxing