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July 15, 2011
Issue 22, Volume 5
It's All About the Choices!     
          
Hello and Happy Friday!   

Greetings!   Here is our newsletter offering for the week.  Hope everyone is having a great summer!
 
News Items: 
  • Girl Fulfills Dance Dream After Pioneering Surgery  
  • Parents of Down Children Taking New Zealand Government to Top Court 
  • Brain Imaging Study Of Preschoolers With ADHD Detects Brain Differences Linked To Symptoms    
  • Feel Good Story of the Week:  Miracle League is a Hit for Disabled Ballplayers!   
  • Parents Cry Foul Over Special Education Transfers 
  • Kids Who Bully Often Get Poor Sleep  
  • Autism More Common in High Tech Centers 
Therapy Activities, Tips and Resources
  • Therapy Resource for Picky Eaters: "I Like Vegetables Rap" 
  • Resource: NIDCD Fact Sheet: Speech and Language Developmental Milestones
  • Simulated Envelopes to Label 

Articles and Blogs

  • Guest Blog: Make Your Own Geoboard 
  • Guest Blog: Eliciting Sounds - /f/ 
  • Pediatric Therapy Corner: Visual Schedules for Special Needs Children  
  • Worth Repeating: 10 Resources And Devices For Wandering Children With Autism      
  • Also Worth Repeating: Cerebral Palsy News; Developmental Milestones Ages 3-4                                                           
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Have a great weekend and Take Care!

Heidi Kay and the PediaStaff Team






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Cerebral Palsy in the News:  Girl Fulfills Dance Dream AFter Pioneering Surgery
[Source:  The Daily Mail]

A little girl who doctors said would never walk has defied medics by taking up dancing lessons.   All her young life, six-year-old Sophie Nugent has wanted nothing more than to dance like her idols JLS and Rihanna.

But while the other children around her spent their afternoons learning moves in the dance studio, she was told she would spend most of her life in a wheelchair.

Now, a year after undergoing a groundbreaking �40,000 medical procedure in the US, little Sophie, from, Angmering, West Sussex is strutting her stuff in her brand new blue leotard.

Sophie, who at 18 months was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, had never walked unaided before undergoing the op last year.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog

Down Syndrome in the News:  Parents of Children with Down Syndrome in New Zealand Taking Government to Top Court
[Source: NZHerald.co.nz]

A group of New Zealand parents intending to lay charges in the International Criminal Court in The Hague says the Government is guilty of social engineering.

The group says NZ's genetic-screening programme condones selective breeding and aims to prevent the birth of children with Down syndrome.

"It devalues the lives of our children," said Mike Sullivan, spokesman for the group and father of a 3-year-old girl with Down syndrome.

"I would never accept my child is less human than anyone else's."

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog
ADHD in the News: Brain Imaging Study Of Preschoolers With ADHD Detects Brain Differences Linked To Symptoms
[Source: Science Daily.com]

In a study published June 9th in the Clinical Neuropsychologist, researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute found differences in the brain development of preschool children with symptoms of Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Results showed the region of the brain important for cognitive and motor control was smaller in these children than in typically developing children. Novel for its use of neuroimaging in very young, preschool age children with early symptoms of ADHD, this study's examination of brain differences may offer new insights into potential early interventions for the disorder.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog
Feel Good Story of the Week: Miracle League is a Hit for Disabled Ballplayers!
[Source: The Boston Globe]

Leslie Ma swings the bat. And misses the ball. It happens again. And again. "We don't know how far she can see,'' says her mother, Yuh-Feei Guo. "Maybe she'll hit the ball by chance.''

Leslie, 16, is legally blind.

On the fifth pitch, Leslie makes contact. As Leslie, breaking into full smile, negotiates her way around the bases, the people at the Blanchard Memorial School field applaud and shout out her name.

"This means a lot to her,'' says her mother, meaning this place, these Saturday mornings when the Miracle League of Massachusetts lets disabled youths ages 5 to 18 imagine they're Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, or Big Papi.

Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
Special Education in the News: Parents Cry Foul Over Special Ed Transfers
[Source: The Disability Scoop]

A group of parents is accusing the Philadelphia schools of illegally shuffling kids with disabilities from one school to another. Now, they're taking their case to federal court.

Under a Philadelphia School District policy, all students with autism are routinely moved to new schools after third and fifth grade. That's because the district's autism support classes are only available at select schools, none of which have the special classes for all grade levels.
  
Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
Pediatric Behavior in the News:  Kids Who Bully Often Get Poor Sleep
[Source: Yahoo News/HealthDay]

Poor sleep may be a factor in aggressive behavior among kids, according to new research that found that children who bully other kids are more likely to be sleepy during the day.

In the study, researchers from the University of Michigan Medical School found that children with conduct problems at school were twice as likely to have sleep-disordered breathing problems or daytime sleepiness as other children who reported adequate amounts of sleep.

"What this study does is raise the possibility that poor sleep, from whatever cause, can indeed play into bullying or other aggressive behaviors -- a major problem that many schools are trying to address," Louise O'Brien, assistant professor in the University of Michigan's Sleep Disorders Center and the departments of neurology and oral and maxillofacial surgery, said in a university news release.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog

Autism in the News: Autism More Common in High-Tech Centers 
[Source: MSNBC.com]

Cities that are hubs for jobs in information technology (IT) may have a higher prevalence of autism, a new study says.

The study, conducted in the Netherlands, found more children with autism living in Eindhoven, a region known for its IT sector, than in two other regions with fewer IT businesses.

The findings may apply to other IT-rich regions, including California's Silicon Valley, said study researcher Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Center at the University of Cambridge in England.

The findings are in line with the "hyper-systemizing" theory of autism. This theory proposes that people with autism have a strong desire to understand the workings of systems, the researchers said. Such skills are valued in IT-related fields, including engineering, physics, computing and mathematics.
 
Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
Video Resource of the Week: The "I Like Vegetables Rap" 
Here is a video that has been traveling the "Viral Video Circuit." Any of you who have elementary or middle school aged children might know have had Parry Gripp's music stuck in your head! (Do you like Waffles?)

We thought it might be a fun piece to share with your clients/kiddos who you who are picky eaters!

Watch this Fun Video for Picky Eaters on our Blog
Therapy Resource of the Week: NIDCD Fact Sheet - Speech and Language Developmental Milestones 
Editor's Note: Here's a great document to share with the parents/guardians of your kiddos, from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders

Check out the NIDCD Fact Sheet on our Blog
Therapy Activity of the Week: Simulated Envelopes to Label  
Here is an excellent activity for daily living / vocational training. Thanks to Barbara Smith of the Recycling Occupational Therapist for this clever idea.

Its easy to make simulated envelopes using cardboard or plastic. I prefer using cardboard with its natural color that is similar to the color of some envelopes.

Check out this Activity on our Blog
Guest Blogs This Week: PlayCreateExplore, 2 Gals Speech Therapy 
Make Your Own Geoboard - By:  Jessie Koller
 I had a small plastic Geoboard when I was a kid that I just loved to play with! I've been wanting to buy L one, but I just knew I could make one on my own!   Once again, the internet came to my "homemade how to" rescue.  I found the exact type of board I had envisioned for the kids HERE.

I bought wood PEGBOARD from Lowe's which comes in HUGE sheets and had it cut into 2x2 squares. I only needed that one piece but you still have to buy the whole sheet (around $10.00) so I had the rest cut into 2x2 squares as well. Perhaps i'll gift a few geoboards next Christmas!

I then asked for help finding some bolts and nuts that would fit.
I knew I wanted the bolt to stick up about 1 inch off of the board.
I ended up with the Machine brand Round Combo w/Nut. 10-24x1/M5.1x25.4 (to be exact)

Learn More About this Great Activity on our Blog
Eliciting Sounds /f/ - By:  Leah Musgrave and Dean Trout

Good Monday Morning to You! I hope you have a big cup of coffee or other caffeinated beverage to jump-start your day! Today we are going to talk about the /f/ sound. This is a relatively easy sound to teach and most therapists have few problems with getting correct production, so this entry should be fairly short.

TIP #1 "Bite Your Bottom Lip and Blow"

I find that to be standard instruction for telling a child what to do in order to produce the

/f/ sound. However, most kids will bite their lip and block the air and it will escape laterally in most all instances. So to get them to understand that you want the air to flow over the lip and under the teeth to produce friction for that fricative, simply begin that instruction with the word lightly. "Lightly bite your bottom lip and blow." To get the air to come straight out the center place the tip of your index finger vertically at the center of the child's mouth and tell them to blow on your finger. That helps cue where the center of their mouth is for them.

 

Read the Rest of this Guest Post on our Blog 


Pediatric Therapy Corner: Visual Schedules for Special Needs Children
[Source: The Starlights Newsletter, SPD Foundation]

The children we see at STAR Center face numerous challenges that impact their ability to function in everyday life. Some of these challenges require longer to address than others. However, we often make adaptations or "build bridges" to help them function more successfully as soon as possible.

One of these challenges is the ability to complete basic organizational tasks. For instance, it is not unusual for our children to have difficulty organizing basic dressing or self care tasks that would be typical for other children their age. It is highly frustrating for children and adults because transitioning to school or other morning activities is such a major hurdle.

Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog

Worth Repeating - 10 Resources And Devices For Wandering Children With Autism
by:  By Tzvi

[Source: Among Friends / Friendship Circle Blog]

In the United States, an estimated 13% of children have a developmental disability, such as cerebral palsy, autism, Asperger's Syndrome, intellectual disability (also known as mental retardation) or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Yet less than half are identified by the time they reach school age.

Wandering... The constant fear parents with an autistic child will always have. Every week there is another news story of a child gone missing and sometimes the results are tragic.

Read the Rest of this Article and Learn About the Ten Resources Through a Link on our Blog
 
Also Worth Repeating: - Cerebral Palsy News; Developmental Milestones Ages 3-4
By Teresa Kelly

In the United States, an estimated 13% of children have a developmental disability, such as cerebral palsy, autism, Asperger's Syndrome, intellectual disability (also known as mental retardation) or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Yet less than half are identified by the time they reach school age.

Most children with cerebral palsy are diagnosed by the age of 18 months when they are not walking as they should. Other children may not be diagnosed until much later because they have mild symptoms that may not be noticeable until the children are much older and still having trouble mastering some movements. Children who suffer head injuries that result in brain damage or accidents where they stop breathing (such as choking or near drowning), may also develop cerebral palsy at a later age.

The symptoms of cerebral palsy typically relate to movement, including speech. But speech is difficult to accurately assess before the age of three or four. A child can have cerebral palsy and not have any cognitive (thinking) problems. Or cognitive problems may only become evident as the child gets older. A number of other neurologic and metabolic disorders, such as mucolipidoses, can also mimic cerebral palsy.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog

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