Gross Motor Development in the News:  Early Walker or Late Walker of Little Consequence

[Source:  Science Daily]

On average, children take the first steps on their own at the age of 12 months. Many parents perceive this event as a decisive turning point. However, the timing is really of no consequence. Children who start walking early turn out later to be neither more intelligent nor more well-coordinated. This is the conclusion reached by a study supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Autism Research in the News: Gaze Shifting Delay Has Potential To Diagnose Autism At 7 Months

[Source: Medical News Today]

At 7 months of age, children who are later diagnosed with autism take a split second longer to shift their gaze during a task measuring eye movements and visual attention than do typically developing infants of the same age, according to researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Feel Good Story of the Week:  Maryland Gym Showcases Special-Needs Teams   

Chris Brown never thought any of her daughters would be involved in cheerleading. She thought that world was full of short skirts and superficial girls.

But Brown changed her mind when cheerleading became a life-altering experience for her daughter, who has Down syndrome.

Four years ago, Brown enrolled Laila in the Storm Chasers, one of two special-needs teams run by Maryland Twisters, a competitive cheerleading gym.

"It's been wonderful because she is able to have the confidence," Brown said. "It amazed me that they were able to teach them the routine, the discipline and for her be able to get in front of an entire stadium and perform a cheer."

More Autism Research in the News: Study: Infant's Risk of Developing Autism Provided by Placenta

[Source:  UPI.com]

U.S. researchers say they have developed a way to measure an infant's risk of developing autism by looking for abnormalities in his or her placenta at birth.  

Senior author Dr. Harvey Kliman, research scientist in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at the Yale School of Medicine, and colleagues at the MIND Institute at the University of California, Davis, said the finding allows for earlier diagnosis and treatment.

Pediatric TBI in the News:  Ice Hockey Causes 44.3% Of All Traumatic Brain Injuries Among Canadian Kids 

[Source:  Medical News Today]

Nearly half of all traumatic brain injuries among children in Canada who needed to be taken to an emergency department are caused by ice hockey, researchers from St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, reported in the journal PLOS ONE.

Feel Good Story of the Week:  Cerebral Palsy is Hilarious, According to This 14 Year Old Boy

[Source: Take Part.com]

Jack Carroll would rather laugh about his disability than hide it.

Jack Carroll is a 14-year-old stand-up comedian. He also happens to have cerebral palsy, which is the central theme of his act.

The teen recently appeared on the television show Britain's Got Talent, and received a standing ovation. But it's not because he's "good for a kid,"-he's just talented. And fearless. 

ADHD in the News:  Handedness and ADHD 

The Journal of Attention Disorders published research on hand preference and its association with ADHD, severity symptoms, age, gender, comorbid psychiatric problems, or parental characteristics. Participants included 520 children (mean age of 9.04 years). Each subject was assessed for handedness, inattention severity, hyperactivity severity, oppositional behavior symptoms, anxiety 

Toddlers and Aggression in the News:  Toddlers' Aggressive Behavior May Be Predicted By Their Sweat Response In Infancy 

[Source:  Medical News Today]

Infants who sweat less in response to scary situations at age 1 show more physical and verbal aggression at age 3, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Language Development in the News:  Reading Wordless Storybooks to Toddlers May Expose Them to Richer Language  

[Source: Science Daily.com]

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have found that children hear more complex language from parents when they read a storybook with only pictures compared to a picture-vocabulary book. The findings appear in the latest issue of the journal First Language.

"Too often, parents dismiss picture storybooks, especially when they are wordless, as not real reading or just for fun," said the study's author, Professor Daniela O'Neill. "But these findings show that reading picture storybooks with kids exposes them to the kind of talk that is really important for children to hear, especially as they transition to school."

Therapy Resource of the Week:  Autism and Legos�   

[Source:  The Autism News]

OT Activity of the Week:  Sensory Bottles 

App Review of the Week:  App Review of the Week: Multiple Choice Articulation   

by Danielle Reed

To say that artic therapy can get bland quickly would be an understatement!  I am constantly wracking my brain trying to find a new and fun way to target sentence and conversation levels.  Particularly for my oh-so-cool 3rd and 4th graders!

Book Review:  Language Lesson Making Comparisons "What If You Had Animal Teeth?"