Welcome to the August edition of CanChild Today! We hope you've had a great summer and that everyone is gearing up to return to school. This edition of CanChild Today is designed with that in mind, and includes some back-to-school resources and a related workshop on the topic of Developmental Coordination Disorder.
We are also excited to announce the publication of
Ethics in Child Health: Principles and Cases in Neurodisability. This book explores ethical issues faced by clinicians in neurodisability and was edited by a team that includes Peter Rosenbaum and Gabriel Ronen, with chapters authored by several other CanChild members.
Please feel free to share CanChild resources and this newsletter with family, friends and colleagues. They can subscribe to the CanChild Today e-Newsletter for free by registering
here
. Our past issues are archived on the CanChild website and can be accessed
here!
|
|
 |
Starting high school is a big step in an adolescent's life. For teenagers with CP, some of the challenges they face can be unique. While most teenagers with CP find that the first few weeks can be challenging, they also describe things getting much easier!
This free, online resource provides advice from teenagers living with CP about the transition to high school. |
 |
Bullying occurs when someone repeatedly uses aggressive behaviour to intimidate or hurt another person. Bullying can occur in many forms; physical, verbal, relational or online. All forms of bullying have potential to hurt children, and can increase their risk of social and emotional challenges.
This free, online resource provides a review of the literature on bullying in children with disabilities.
|
|
 |
Workshop on Developmental Coordination Disorder
Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder can find the return to school to be particularly challenging. This free online workshop is designed to increase parents' knowledge of the condition, and its evid
ence-ba
sed content and focus on strategies is also useful for teachers, health professionals, coaches, family members, and friends.
The workshop takes about 60 minutes to complete, or can also be done in short segments. The workshop is available in
English and
French.
|
|
Shop Feature!
|
The McMaster Handwriting Assessment Protocol (2nd Edition) provides a structured framework for assessing the handwriting of school-aged children in kindergarten to Grade 6. This protocol was designed to identify the specific areas in which a child is having difficulty with handwriting and to help occupational therapists determine whether and where to intervene.
It is available in English, Dutch, French and Serbian.
|
|
|
Recent Publications by CanChild Members
Featured Book
Recently published by Mac Keith Press, this book addresses situations faced by clinicians in neurodisability on a daily basis. Each chapter is built around a scenario familiar to clinicians and is discussed with respect to how ethical principles can be utilised to inform decision-making. Useful 'Themes for Discussion' are provided at the end of each chapter to help professionals and students develop practical ethical thinking. Ethics in Child Health offers a set of principles that clinicians, social workers and policy-makers can utilise in their respective spheres of influence.
Featured Peer-reviewed Journal Articles
For students with disabilities, high-quality inclusive education is associated with health, academic, and social benefits. Recent studies have shown that only about 1/3 students with disabilities are educated in highly inclusive settings in Canada. Although educators are generally knowledgeable about curriculum and instruction design, many do not feel prepared to teach children with disabilities and many are not aware of how to support children with speech language and communication needs. Universal design for learning (UDL) offers a common foundation for educators and speech language pathologists (S-LPs) to build an accessible curriculum that can support the speech, language and communication needs of all students. UDL
emphasizes planning to proactively address the learning needs of all students simultaneously.
In this study, 91 S-LPs working in schools participated in an anonymous online survey. Although the majority of S-LPs were familiar with the term UDL and its definition, respondents were less satisfied with their competency of non-specific skills needed to implement it within the classroom. Barriers to implementing UDL included time, opportunity to collaborate with school personnel and administrative support. Findings point to the need for systemic change to support S-LPs in collaboratively implementing UDL.
Authors: Campbell WN, Selkirk E, Gaines R. Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (CJSLPA). 2016. DOI: 10.1111/dmcn.13162
A research team in the Netherlands followed 424 young persons living with CP over 1-2 years to examine how social participation changed over time. The Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scale was used to measure how one interacts with others, uses leisure time/plays and demonstrates responsibility and sensitivity to others. Associations were measured
for age, intellectual impairment, level of gross motor function, gender, type of CP, manual ability, epilepsy, hearing-, visual-, speech impairment and pain, internalizing- and externalizing behavioral problems, type of education and parental level of education. Both the presence of epilepsy and intellectual impairment were independently associated with the development of social participation. It was found that children in special education develop less favorably in social participation. Risk factors are identified to guide therapy and intervention, ultimately to improve social participation trajectories.
Authors: Tan S, van der Slot W,
Ketelaar
M, Becher J, Dallmeijer A, Smits D, Roebroeck M. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2016. DOI: 10.1080/11038128.2016.1201141
|
|
Staying Healthy in the Office!
This summer CanChild Staff & Students hosted a "Push-Up Club", involving increasing increments of push-ups, squats and planks in order to stay fit and healthy. We entered the #MacHealthySelfie contest, and were announced as their winners for promoting daily exercise on campus!
|
Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation
You are a member of the CanChild Today electronic newsletter generated by CanChild at McMaster University. If you believe that you should not be a recipient, you may withdraw your consent to receive these messages at any time, in accordance with Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) and subject to McMaster University policy, by contacting the sender of this message, or by clicking on the 'SafeUnsubscribe' link at the bottom of this newsletter.
|
|
|
|
|
