June 28, 2013
Monthly Edition 
Issue 6, Volume 6
It's All About the Choices!     
          
Greetings and Happy Friday!

Please enjoy our weekly newsletter.   Hope everyone is having a great summer!
 
News Items:
  • Interventions Offer New Hope For Autistic Children Who Never Learn To Speak
  • AAC in the Mainstream News: Technology Gives Special Needs Kids a Voice
  • 90 Percent of Pediatric Specialists Not Following Clinical Guidelines When Treating Preschoolers With ADHD
  • 16 Percent Increase Seen In Childhood Disability Over Past Decade
  • Survey Of High School Football Players Shows Many Would Not Report Concussion Symptoms To A Coach
  • Parents Help Detect Sleep Problems In Children With Down Syndrome 
  • Accelerated Aging in Children: Promising Treatment for Progeria Within Reach
PediaStaff News and Resources 
  • PediaStaff Featured Jobs of the Week:  Beautiful Northwest Arkansas 
  • PediaStaff Resource of the Week: TxTools 

Therapy Activities, Tips and Resources
  • OT Activity of the Week: Squeezing and Placing Clothespins for Strengthening and Color Matching
  • App Review: Expedition with Plurals 
  • Therapy Activity of Week for OT, PT or Speech:  Sticky Hands 
  • Pinterest Pin of the Week:  Musical Sight Words Game: Move, Groove and Read! 

Articles and Special Features 

  • OT Corner: Two Tips for Finding and Working with Great OT's for Autism
  • Pediatric Therapy Corner:Fears and Phobias in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)
  • SLP Corner: The Fun and Function of Using Silly Sentences in Articulation and Language Therapy 
  • Worth Repeating: A Look at ADHD in Europe 
  • Also Worth Repeating: Common Warning Signs of Dysgraphia in Children Pre-K to Grade 2
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Have a great weekend and Take Care!

Heidi Kay and the PediaStaff Team





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Recent Occupational Therapist and COTA Jobs 

School Psychologist Jobs 

Autism Research in the News:  Interventions Offer New Hope For Autistic Children Who Never Learn To Speak

[Source:  Medical News Today]

An Autistica consultation published this month found that 24% of children with autism were non-verbal or minimally verbal, and it is known that these problems can persist into adulthood. Professionals have long attempted to support the development of language in these children but with mixed outcomes. An estimated 600,000 people in the UK and 70 million worldwide have autism, a neuro-developmental condition which is life-long.

 

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

AAC in the Mainstream News: Technology Gives Special Needs Kids a Voice

[Source:  The Gainesville Times]

 

Four-year-old Edwin Molina smiles sweetly at his teacher as he presses a button on his iPad telling her he'd like to play with toy cars.

 

She smiles back at him placing two Hot Wheels in front of him as he presses the button over and over again - his way of expressing his eagerness.

 

Edwin, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, has difficulty using words to express his needs and wants. His condition also effects his mobility and fine motor skills.

 

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

Hearing Loss in the News:  90 Percent of Pediatric Specialists Not Following Clinical Guidelines When Treating Preschoolers With ADHD   

[Source: Science Daily]

 

A recent study by pediatricians from the Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York examined to what extent pediatric physicians adhere to American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) clinical guidelines regarding pharmacotherapy in treating young patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The results showed that more than 90 percent of medical specialists who diagnose and manage ADHD in preschoolers do not follow treatment guidelines recently published by the AAP.

 

  Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog

Longitudinal Studies in the News:  16 Percent Increase Seen In Childhood Disability Over Past Decade  

[Source:  Medical News Today]

 

More children today have a disability than a decade ago, and the greatest increase is among kids in higher-income families, according to a study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC.

 

The study also found that disabilities related to physical health conditions have decreased, while disabilities due to neurodevelopmental and mental health problems have increased greatly.

 

 Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog

Pediatric TBI in the News:  Survey Of High School Football Players Shows Many Would Not Report Concussion Symptoms To A Coach  

[Source: Medical News Today]

 

Many high school football players say it's OK to play with a concussion even though they know they are at risk of serious injury, according to a study presented Monday, May 6, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC.

 

The study of 120 high school football players in the Cincinnati area also found that one-quarter had suffered a concussion, and more than half acknowledged they would continue to play with symptoms of a concussion.

 

 Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog

Down Syndrome in the News:  Parents Help Detect Sleep Problems In Children With Down Syndrome   

[Source:  Medical News Today]

 

A recent study has found that parents play an important part in screening for sleep problems in children with Down syndrome.

 

These children often suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, a condition which affects their breathing during sleep. Health professionals rely on parents' reports about their child's sleep, including restlessness, snoring and other forms of noisy breathing, when screening for the condition.

 

 Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog

Progeria in the News:  Accelerated Aging in Children: Promising Treatment for Progeria Within Reach    

[Source:  Science Daily]

 

Pharmaceuticals that inhibit a specific enzyme may be useful in treating progeria, or accelerated aging in children. As reported in the journal Science, a new study performed at the Sahlgrenska Academy indicates that the development of progeria in mice was inhibited upon reducing the production of this enzyme.

 

This study is a breakthrough for our research group after years of work. When we reduce the production of the enzyme in mice, the development of all the clinical symptoms of progeria is reduced or blocked. We have also studied cultured cells from children with progeria, and can see that when the enzyme is

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog

PediaStaff Featured Jobs of the Week:  Beautiful Northwest Arkansas     

Our Client is a Pediatric Therapy Provider for the Northwest Arkansas area. They currently have 10 other therapists on their team...and are looking to grow by adding more Occupational Therapy help. Their current need is for an Occupational Therapist  to work in their pediatric daycare and clinic.  If working with a multidisciplinary team in a fast-paced environment is what you are looking for...then this just might be the place!   You would see pediatric patients from age birth to 21 years old, with various

Learn More About/Apply for this Job on our Blog

PediaStaff Resource of the Week:  Our Free App TxTools      

If you are new to our blog, you might not know about PediaStaff's very own (and free!) app - TxTools!   You can learn all about it on our blog!

Learn More About PediaStaff's Free App on our Blog
OT Activity of the Week: Squeezing and Placing Clothespins for Strengthening and Color Matching
[Source:  Pediatric Occupational Therapy Tips]

Squeezing and placing clothespins is a great way to strengthen the small muscles in the thumb, index, and middle finger and improve eye hand coordination, which are both important for handwriting and scissor skills. I like to have the child place the clothespins on a  paint stirrer to address bilateral skills.

 

Read About This Activity and View Photos on our Blog

App Review of the week:  Expedition with Plurals   

[Source:  Apps for Children with Special Needs]

Expedition with Plurals was created by a certified speech and language pathologist for PK-3 students to practice regular (e.g., cat/cats) and irregular plurals (foot/feet) in multiple contexts, targeting both receptive and expressive language skills and accompanied by recorded audio instructions. This fun and colorful app includes both an audio recording feature that allows students to hear their productions and a fun memory game that can be customized.

 

 Read the Rest of this App Review on our Blog

Therapy Activity of the Week:  Sticky Hands for Task Cards   

Editor's Note:   Jenna Rayburn at Speech Room News designed this activity to be used with speech and language drills/tasks, but we think this is a GREAT motivator for ANY OT, PT or Speech-Language activity that can be "snagged" by a sticky hand!

 

[Source:  Speech Room News]

 

Learn More About This Great Activity on our Blog

Pinterest Pin of the Week:  Musical Sight Words Game: Move, Groove and Read!   

Editor's Note:  We just love it when activities cross over into multiple therapy disciplines!

 

[Source:  Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas]

 

If your kids like to dance, hop, skip, crawl, move and play then this reading/sight word game is for them!

Both of the Lil Divas are doing great with reading - I am a proud mama. Most of our at home reading time is now focused on comprehension, fluency and enjoying books together but I still like to play games that review sight words, tricky words or phonics to keep them fresh.

 

 Learn More About This Great Activity Through a Link on our Blog

OT Corner: Two Tips for Finding & Working With a Great Occupational Therapist for Autism

Editor's Note:  This blog post was written for parents with kiddos with autism.   We think it is a nice reference piece in case you ever need to guide a parent or guardian on how to select an another OT in the community.

by Eric Peacock

Most parents of kids with autism constantly ask themselves, "Am I doing enough to help my child?"  And yet, thousands agree on a specific type of therapy that they feel has helped their child most: occupational therapy.  We've asked over 40,000 parents of kids with autism on MyAutismTeam "What therapies, if any, work best for your child?"  Out of all responses, the number one answer was occupational therapy (OT).

Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog


Pediatric Therapy Corner: Fears and Phobias in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

by Lee A. Wilkinson, PhD, CCBT, NCSP

Anxiety Disorders are a frequent co-occurring (comorbid) problem for children and youth with ASD. Although prevalence rates vary from 11% to 84%, most studies indicate that approximately one-half of children with ASD meet criteria for at least one anxiety disorder. Of all types of anxiety disorders, specific phobia is the most common, with prevalence estimates ranging from 31% to 64%. In contrast, estimates of phobias in children in the general population range from 5% to 18%.

 

Unusual fears have long been recognized as a feature of autism. In fact, 70 years ago, Leo Kanner

 

Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog

SLP Corner: The Fun and Function of Using Silly Sentences in Articulation and Language Therapy

by Holly Flynn, MS CCC-SLP

You might remember the phrase, "Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore." To some it's a silly tongue twister, but to a speech therapist it's a classic example of using silly sentences to stimulate language and articulation targets in speech therapy. These sentences are usually made up, use alliteration (using the same sound or letter to start every word), rhyming words or use made up characters in crazy situations. They usually involve a character (Mateo the matador), an action (makes millions on macaroni museums) and a location (in Madrid). Silly isn't just for laughs, silly can be fun and functional in speech therapy.

Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog

Worth Repeating: A Look at ADHD in Europe

[Source:  Special Ed Post]

by Susan Young

 

Unlike other neurodevelopmental disorders such as learning disability and autistic spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is missing from many European countries political agendas

 

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is one of the most neglected and misunderstood psychiatric conditions in Europe. In spite of international medical guidelines on the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of ADHD there remain many people affected who do not receive appropriate diagnosis and support. Furthermore, unlike other

  

Also Worth Repeating: Common Warning Signs of Dysgraphia in Children Pre-K to Grade 2

[Source:  NCLD.org]

Does your young child struggle with drawing and writing when other children of the same age don't seem to have the same difficulty? Does your child often get fatigued because the physical process of writing is so arduous? Dysgraphia is a learning disability (LD) that affects writing, which requires a complex set of motor and information-processing skills.

Writing is a developmental process (meaning that the ability to write doesn't happen all at once) so a person with dysgraphia may display different challenges at different ages. 

 

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

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