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January 25, 2013
Monthly Edition Issue 1, Volume 6
It's All About the Choices!
Greetings!
Please enjoy our end of the month edition of the PediaStaff Newsletter.
News Items:
- Pediatrician Wendy Ross Makes Flying Easier for Kids with Autism
- American Idol Contestant with Stutter Truly Inspires
- Study suggests Childhood Apraxia of Speech is Influenced by Underlying Deficit in Sequential Processing
- Brain Structure of Infants Predicts Language Skills at One Year
- FDA Approves Clinical Trial of Auditory Brainstem Implant Procedure for Children in U.S.
- Study Looks at Worm Therapy to Treat Autism
- Whole-Exome Sequencing Identifies Inherited Mutations in Autism
- Children's Complex Thinking Skills Begin Before Going to School
- The Bosnia Autism Project Needs Your Help
- States Split On Mandating ABA Coverage Under Health Law
Therapy Activities, Tips and Resources
- OT Activity of the Week: Pencil Sharpening
- App Review of the Week: Scene and Heard
- Pinterest Pin of the Week: 'Book Lists By Speech Sound' by Speechy Musings
- SLP Resource of the Week: Maximal Oppositions Worksheets from Caroline Bowen
Articles and Special Features - Physical Therapy Corner: Working From the Ground Up: Teaching a Child to Stand
- Occupational Therapy Corner: Using a Visual Barrier When Doing Fine Motor Tasks
- SLP Corner: How to Use Books to Improve Toddlers' Communication Skills
- Focus on Bilingualism: Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology Web Resources
- Worth Repeating: Why Kids with ADHD Are at Risk for Articulation Disorders
- Also Worth Repeating: The Universal Language of Lullabies
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
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Feel Good Story of the Week: Pediatrician Wendy Ross Makes Flying Easier for Kids with Autism
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[Source: People Magazine]
The skies have gotten a lot friendlier for kids with autism and their families - thanks to Philadelphia pediatrician Wendy Ross and a newly expanded program she helped create.
It all started in 2009: Ross, 42, was in her office when the mother of a patient, a girl with autism, called frantically from a Florida airport. Rattled by the boarding process, the child had suffered such a terrible meltdown that the family decided to get off the plane.
"These families feel so trapped, it's heartbreaking," Ross tells PEOPLE. "I thought, 'What can I do to make this right?'"
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Stuttering in the News: American Idol Contestant with Stutter Truly Inspires
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[Source: Today on NBC]
By Craig Berman, TODAY contributor
"American Idol" returned to its roots on Thursday with a kinder, gentler episode filled with inspiring stories designed to tug at the heartstrings and make it even sadder when some of those getting good news in Chicago are summarily booted off in Hollywood.
The biggest story by far was Lazaro Arbos. Arbos has a stutter bad enough that even a simple sentence is difficult for him, and the judges had to help him get the words out when he told them the name of his song. But as soon as he broke out "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," all of that went away, and he got four yes votes from the overwhelmed panel.
Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
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CAS Research in the News: Study suggests Childhood Apraxia of Speech is Influenced by Underlying Deficit in Sequential Processing
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Thank you to Apraxia-Kids for calling our attention to this study/abstract
Associations among measures of sequential processing in motor and linguistics tasks in adults with and without a family history of childhood apraxia of speech: A replication study
Le Button, Beate PETER, Carol Stoel-Gammon, & Wendy H. Raskind, Department of Speech & Hearing Sciences, Department of Medicine, University of Washington,
The purpose of this study was to address the hypothesis that childhood apraxia of speech
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog |
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Language Development in the News: Brain Structure of Infants Predicts Language Skills at One Year
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[Source: Science Daily.com]
Using a brain-imaging technique that examines the entire infant brain, researchers have found that the anatomy of certain brain areas - the hippocampus and cerebellum - can predict children's language abilities at 1 year of age.
The University of Washington study is the first to associate these brain structures with future language skills. The results are published in the January issue of the journal Brain and Language.
Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
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Hearing Loss in the News: FDA Approves Clinical Trial of Auditory Brainstem Implant Procedure for Children in U.S.
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[Source: Science Daily]
L.A.-based House Research Institute and Children's Hospital Los Angeles announced today that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given final approval to begin a clinical trial of an Auditory Brainstem Implant (ABI) procedure for children. The trial is a surgical collaboration sponsored by the House Research Institute in partnership with Children's Hospital Los Angeles and Vittorio Colletti, MD of the University of Verona Hospital, Verona, Italy.
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog |
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Autism in the News: Study Looks at Worm Therapy to Treat Autism
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[Source: Fox News]
It's a medication technique that many may be reluctant to swallow, but it's slowly proving to be a valuable tool in treating autoimmune disorders - ingesting the eggs of parasitic worms.
The use of this alternative medicine is all part of the hygiene hypothesis - the idea that 'harmful' organisms might actually be protecting our immune systems. In the 19th century, people did not bathe as frequently as they do now, and many lived among 'filth' - but autoimmune diseases were virtually
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog |
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Autism Research in the News: Whole-Exome Sequencing Identifies Inherited Mutations in Autism
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[Source: Science Daily]
While autism clearly runs in some families, few inherited genetic causes have been found. A major reason is that these causes are so varied that it's hard to find enough people with a given mutation to establish a clear pattern. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have pinpointed several inherited mutations - among the first to be identified - through an unusual approach: using whole-exome sequencing to study large Middle Eastern families with autism.
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog |
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Cognitive Development in the News: Children's Complex Thinking Skills Begin Before Going to School
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[Source: Science Daily]
New research at the University of Chicago and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that children begin to show signs of higher-level thinking skills as young as age 4 �. Researchers have previously attributed higher-order thinking development to knowledge acquisition and better schooling, but the new longitudinal study shows that other skills, not always connected with knowledge, play a role in the ability of children to reason analytically.
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog |
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Therapists Needed: The Bosnia Autism Project Needs Your Help
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[Source: Speech Pathology Group: Children's Services International]
Over the years, Speech Pathology Group: Children's Services International (SPG: CSI) and the government of Bosnia-Herzegovina have combined their efforts to establish and implement a ground-breaking program - The Bosnia Autism Project. Our mission has been to "teach the teachers" and provide sustainable aid to children with communication impairments. Lisa Cameron has recently extended the SPG: CSI efforts to the Himalayan country of Bhutan, and Marci VonBroembsen remains active in South Africa. SPG: CSI is truly expanding and going international! But we need your help to keep the momentum flowing.
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog |
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ABA in the News: States Split On Mandating ABA Coverage Under Health Law
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[Source: Disability Scoop]
Despite a requirement that insurers start covering behavioral health treatment for individuals and small groups, a new analysis suggests less than half of states plan to include autism therapy.
Many autism advocates were hopeful when the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 that insurance coverage for behavioral therapy used to treat the developmental disorder would be mandated nationwide. Under the law, insurance providers are required to include 10 types of care - including behavior health
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog |
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OT Activity of the Week: Pencil Sharpening
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Thanks to Linday Mawdley of the Child's Play O.T. Blog for this very simple, but very smart OT exercise: It seems obvious, but sharpening a pencil is a really great bilateral integration task! The twisting of the pencil allows for some great rotation (pronation and supination of the wrist), which some kids really struggle with. To sharpen the pencil you need to be able to twist the sharpener in the opposite direction to the pencil, hence the need for bilateral integration. Happy sharpening! Read the Rest of this Article on our Blog |
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App Review of the Week: Scene and Heard
| Editor's Note: We are fully aware that this is an expensive app. It gets such excellent reviews however, that we feel compelled to feature it here on these pages. There is also a lite version of this app.
[Source: OTs with Apps]
Scene & Heard App, developed by Tbox Apps, is a multimedia scene communication tool compatible with iPhone, iPod and iPad. What does multimedia scene communication tool mean? It means it provides you with the possibilities of your typical multi-cell communication app as well as the ability to create interactive scenes using your photos, images, videos and make interactive "hot spots" or regions
Read the Rest of this App Review Through a Link our Blog |
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Pinterest Pin of the Week: 'Book Lists By Speech Sound' by Speechy Musings
| With over 450 repins, this freebie by Speechie Musings is our Pinterest Pin of the Week
Download this Freebie Through a Link our Blog |
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SLP Resource of the Week: Maximal Oppositions Worksheets from Caroline Bowen
| [Source: Speech-Language Therapy.com]
This resource page contains many examples of picture-and-word work sheets intended for use in speech-language pathology intervention. The sheets were made in Microsoft Word, using copyright-free pictures from Microsoft Clip Art and Media and converted into portable document files (pdfs) with Adobe Acrobat. The vocabulary represents (non-rhotic) Australian English pronunciation, and although most of the words and minimal pairs will 'work' in other dialects of English you may need to discard some. For example, pairs like saw-shore, and spa-star are minimal pairs in Australian English and in other non-rhotic varieties of English, but not in rhotic dialects such as Canadian, Irish, Scottish and most US 'Englishes'. Download these Great Resources Through a Link on our Blog |
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Physical Therapy Corner: Working From the Ground Up: Teaching a Child to Stand
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By Natan Gendelman, D.O.M.PLearning to stand, and eventually walk, is a major achievement in a child's progress. Each step is important, and whether or not a child has Down syndrome or another condition, properly preparing him for the steps to come will help prevent compensatory movements that may hinder his function in the future. To avoid these from occurring and to best move a child forward in his development, here's a few things to keep in mind in regards to a child's treatment. Ultimately the goal is to assist a child in learning to perform everyday functions for himself, by himself. 1. Know the importance of trunk control
From my standpoint and experience, developing a child's trunk is very important. Since the trunk acts as the pillar which supports the movement of the limbs and head, when left unaddressed a child may develop compensatory movements that will be more difficult to correct later on in life. For children with Down syndrome, this can be an issue as they often have hypotonic trunks. When steps are not taken to make improvements in this case, it can start a vicious cycle of irregular movements that carry through every aspect of a child's daily function. Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog
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Occupational Therapy Corner: Using a Visual Barrier When Doing Fine Motor Tasks
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by Tonya Cooley
The other day I was having a student practicing fastening some buttons, and he was very focused on tugging and pulling, and was not feeling the fabric and button with his fingers. I then covered his hands to try and get him to just feel where the button hole was and try to get the hole to slide onto the button just by feel. Of course, when you try to keep someone from looking at what their hands are doing, they will always try to look at what their hands are doing.
Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog
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SLP Corner: How to Use Books to Improve Toddlers' Communication Skills
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by Kimberly Scanlon, M.A. CCC-SLP
As a pediatric speech language pathologist who specializes in treating toddlers and preschoolers, I often use books during my speech therapy sessions. In fact, I LOVE using books as a way to get toddlers to open up and chitchat! In this article, I'm going to share some tips that have been successful for me in getting toddlers to talk while "reading" books.
Research tells us that it's never too early to start reading to children. Although, I'm sure a few of us have known a toddler or two who just aren't into books. They would much rather play with trucks than sit around and read picture books. So, what should you do? Should you force the child to sit down and read books? Probably not. But, before casting the books aside too quickly,
Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog
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Focus on Bilingualism: Bilingual Speech-Language Pathology Web Resources
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by: Alejandro E. Brice, Ph.D.,CCC-SLP
As we begin the new 2013 year, it is beneficial to review some web sites devoted to teaching and providing information regarding bilingualism, speech-language pathology, family support, and therapy issues. The below sites are not exhaustive; however, they provide a representative offering. The sites are listed alphabetically. In addition, this month's column provides the reader with some iPad applications that can be used in bilingual therapy with children. Most of these apps provide a free version and are also available for a minimal cost.
Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog
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Worth Repeating: Why Kids with ADHD Are at Risk for Articulation Disorders
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[Source: Special Ed Post]
by Mark Bertin, M.D.
Why do I have to repeat myself, I told you ten times already.
Out with it already! You better have a better explanation than that.
How was school today? And don't say 'nothing much,' something must have happened.
Managing ADHD is never about addressing attention or impulsivity alone. ADHD represents a deficit in executive function, a skill set that includes attention, impulse control... and far more. Seen as a disorder of self-regulation, ADHD potentially impacts anything that requires planning and coordination, from sleep and eating habits to laying out a long-term science project all the way to how someone speaks and listens in conversation.
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog
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Also Worth Repeating: The Universal Language of Lullabies
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Thank You to our twitter #SLPeeps friend Hannah Searle-Jones (@hanelba), for recommending this article!
[Source: BBC World Service]
By Nina Perry
Four millennia ago an ancient Babylonian wrote down a lullaby sung by a mother to her child. It may have got the baby to sleep, but its message is far from soothing - and this remains a feature of many lullabies sung around the world today.
Deeply etched into a small clay tablet, which fits neatly into the palm of a hand, are the words of one of the earliest lullabies on record, dating from around 2,000BC.
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog
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