April 1st, 2016
Issue 13, Volume 9
It's All About the Choices!     
          
Greetings and Happy Friday!  Hope your spring is shaping up nicely!  I hear there is snow around!  Crazy!
 
News Items:
  • Babies Make Quick Judgements About Adults' Anger
  • Neuron Type-Specific Gene Loss Linked to Angelman Syndrome Seizures
  • Experts Make Breakthrough in Cleft Lip and Palate Research
  • "I Care for You", Says the Autistic Moral Brain
  • Drama Therapy: Unlocking The Door to Change
  • Universal 'Not' Face Gives Clues to the Evolution of Language

PediaStaff News and Hot Jobs 
  • Placement of the Week - SLP for Atlanta, Georgia
  • Hot Jobs! School-Based OT and SLP - Fort Washington, Maryland
  • Our Turn: A PediaStaffer Shares Her Pediatric Therapy Story
Therapy Activities, Tips and Resources
  • School Psych Idea of the Week: Mood Board
  • Rainy Day Gross Motor Fun! "Don't Step in the Lava!"
  • Pinterest Pinboard of the Week: Earth Day
  • DIY Sensory Blocks 
Articles and Special Features 
  • Pediatric Therapy Corner: Autism-It's Different in Girls
  • Literacy Corner: What Phonological Awareness Skill Should We Be Screening?
  • AAC Corner: Rethinking the AAC Prompting Hierarchy in Severe Apraxia
  • School Nurse Corner: Federally Funded Breakfast In New York City Schools
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





The Career Center

The links to the right are "live" and reflect the most recent SLP, OT, PT and related assistant jobs, and ALL our Bilingual and School Psychology Jobs. 
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Recent Occupational Therapist and COTA Jobs 

Babies Make Quick Judgements About Adults' Anger
[Source:  Science Daily]
 
Two new research studies with hundreds of 15-month-old infants demonstrate that babies form similar generalizations about others and make attempts to appease adults they consider prone to anger.
The research, by scientists at the University of Washington's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS), reveal for the first time that 15-month-old babies generalize an adult's angry behavior even if the social context has changed.
 
"Our research suggests that babies will do whatever they can to avoid being the target of anger," said lead author Betty Repacholi, an I-LABS faculty scientist. "At this young of an age, they have already worked out a way to stay safe. It's a smart, adaptive response."

Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
Neuron Type-Specific Gene Loss Linked to Angelman Seizures
[Source:  Medical News Today]
 
The gene UBE3A plays a critical role in early neurological development. If UBE3A is overexpressed - or if the enzymatic function of UBE3A protein is hyperactive autism ensues. A lack of functional UBE3A causes Angelman syndrome (AS), a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severe developmental delay, motor deficits, absence of speech, and, in most cases, epilepsy. Prevention of seizures in AS model mice by restoring UBE3A after birth has proved largely unsuccessful, indicating that the timing of gene expression is also important.

Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
Experts Make Breakthrough in Cleft Lip and Palate Research
[Medical News Today]
 
Leading scientists have identified an important gene that is associated with cleft lip and palate.
Experts say the discovery is a step closer to understanding how this birth defect arises, and will help in the development of medical approaches to prevent the disfiguring condition.
 
An international team, led by Newcastle University, UK, and the University of Bonn in Germany, has found that variants near a gene called GREM1 (Gremlin1) significantly increase the risk for cleft lip and palate.
 
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog
 
"I Care for You", Says the Autistic Moral Brain
[Source:  Medical News Today]

A new study disproves a common stereotype about autism.
"Autistic people are cold and feel no empathy." True? It is a pervasive stereotype, but when analyzed through the lens of science, reality turns out to be quite different. According to a study at SISSA, carried out in collaboration with the University of Vienna, when autistic people are placed in "moral dilemma" situations, they show an empathic response similar to the general population. The myth of coldness in autism is likely due to the presence of the subclinical trait of alexithymia, which is often associated with autism, 

Drama Therapy: Unlocking The Door to Change
[Source:  Medical News Today]
 
What if one key could unlock expression in a child with autism, turn a young woman away from substance abuse, or stop a hardened criminal from reoffending? There is perhaps not one key, but there may be one set of keys: drama therapy.
 
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog 
Universal 'Not' Face Gives Clues to the Evolution of Language
[Source:  Medical News Today]

The origins of human language are a tough knot to unpick. A study published in Cognition attacks the question from an intriguing angle; a team from The Ohio State University searched for, and found, a specific facial expression that spans multiple cultures.

Verbal language is an incredible ability. Evolved in humans over tens of thousands of years, we can barely conceive a time before it.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog 
Placement of the Week:  SLP for Atlanta, Georgia
Congratulations are in order to Kristin S., on her new SLP position with a PediaStaff client in Atlanta, GA.

Kristin will be working full-time, in clinic position serving a pediatric population (3 days a week) and working with seniors (2 days a week).

This is a fully benefitted position that will be paying Kristin generous pay, medical benefits, paid time off, 401K options, continuing education and other perks.

Great Job, Kristin!
We have a few fantastic opportunities with a school district located approximately 30 miles south of the Washington D.C. metro area. We are searching for two Speech-Language Pathologists; one for a middle/high school split position and one for Early Intervention and an Occupational Therapist.
Speech-Language Pathologists:  We are searching for two Speech-Language Pathologists; one for a middle/high school split position and one for Early Intervention. 

Our Turn: A PediaStaffer Shares Her Pediatric Therapy Story
Editors's Note:  When Lauren, one of our wonderful staffing consultants here at PediaStaff, approached me about writing a blog article about her family's experience with pediatric therapy, I was very interested but surprised.  It was nothing she had told us about in the company, so it was all news to me that Ariana had been receiving OT services.      

I hope you enjoy Lauren's deeply personal story.   This is just one more example of why we love what we do here at at PediaStaff.   All of you make a difference in children's lives each and every day, and for that we all are immensely grateful.

by Lauren Marino, PediaStaff Staffing Consultant
In my years of recruiting pediatric therapists, I have had a healthy level of respect for what they do on a daily basis. I knew the buzzwords: IEPs, consults, treatment time, evaluations, etc. What I didn't know was that they could grow to love children who didn't belong to them. I 

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog
School Psych Idea of the Week:  Mood Board
Editor's Note:  This looks like a GREAT idea to do for school based therapy!  FYI, I left the original poster's affiliate links in the article.

[Source:  Tinker Lab]

Are you interested in surrounding yourself with images that inspire more art-making? Could you use some ideas on how to make a mood board? Here are five tips that are sure to help inspire more creative energy.
 
Begin:  Start with a Board:   This could be a cork board, magnetic board, canvas frame, or a blank wall. It's entirely up to you.

Read More About this Activity Through a Link on our Blog
Rainy Day Gross Motor Fun! "Don't Step in the Lava!"
Editor's Note:  Since "a picture - of this particular activity - paints a thousand words," and the original bloggers deserve website traffic in exchange for their ideas,  we are going to ask you to visit their site today to see this activity in action!! 
 
[Source:  Make the Best of Everything via Hands On As We Grow]

Living in the Midwest, we always have at least a few days during the winter and early spring where the kids and I are stuck inside.

Learn About this Activity Through a Link on our Blog
Pinterest Pinboard of the Week: Earth Day
There are so many great activities that lend themselves to adaptation for therapy activities for earth day.   Bloggers, crafty moms and teachers are all getting into the act and sharing a plethora (I love that word) of terrific ideas on Pinterest and on the Internet in general.

Check out our Earth Day Pinboard Through a Link on our Blog
Sensory Idea of the Week:  DIY Sensory Blocks 
[Source:  Red Ted Art]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE sharing crafts from my readers / viewers.  Here are some brilliant DIY Sensory Blocks that a reader shared with me via Facebook.    She made this for her 2-year old granddaughter.

Learn How to Make These Through a Link on our Blog
Peds Therapy Corner:  Autism-It's Different in Girls
[Source:  Scientific American]
 
New research suggests the disorder often looks different in females, many of whom are being misdiagnosed and missing out on the support they need

When Frances was an infant, she was late to babble, walk and talk. She was three before she would respond to her own name. Although there were hints that something was unusual about her development, the last thing her parents suspected was autism. "She was very social and a very happy, easy baby," says Kevin Pelphrey, Frances's father.
 
Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog

Literacy Corner: What Phonological Awareness Skill Should We Be Screening?
[Source:  Reading Rockets]
 
by Timothy Shanahan
 
Teacher question: I read a research study (Kilpatrick, 2014) that questions the value of segmentation tests for measuring phonemic awareness, because such tests did not correlate well with first- and second-grade reading achievement. At our school we have used DIBELS in Kindergarten and Grade 1 to identify children at risk for reading difficulties. Is this really useful or are we identifying kids as needing help when they do not? Should we be using measures of blending and manipulation instead?


AAC Corner: Rethinking the AAC Prompting Hierarchy in Severe Apraxia
[Source: Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs]
 
Prompting Hierarchies have been a staple in special education, behavioral methodology and communication therapy for some time. However, when it comes to children with severe apraxia, with or without coexisting anxiety, (Rett Syndrome, Angelman Syndrome, ASD, etc) the commonly used prompting hierarchy can complicate instead of simplify teaching augmentative and alternative communication.

Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog

School Nurse Corner: Report on Subsidized Breakfast In NYC Schools
[Source:  Medical News Today]
 
Serving free breakfast in New York City's classrooms has boosted the number of students eating what some consider the most important meal of the day at school, according to research by New York University's Institute for Education and Social Policy and the Center for Policy Research at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
 
The study, published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, finds that this increase in school breakfast participation did not raise the prevalence of obesity in New York City schools, as some critics may have feared. At the same time, breakfast in the classroom did not appear to improve students' attendance or academic achievement.

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