October 18, 2019
Issue 30, Volume 12
It's All About the Choices!     
          
Greetings and Happy Friday!

Please enjoy our weekly newsletter.
 
News Items:
  • New Brain Research Could Change How Concussions are Treated
  • Handwriting and Autism
  • New Law in California: No Class Before 8:00 AM
  • Severe Morning Sickness May Be Risk Factor for Autism
  • Lego Starts Recycling Programs For Its Plastic Bricks
  • Neuroimaging Reveals Hidden Communication Between Brain Layers During Reading
PediaStaff News and Hot Jobs 
  • Hot, New Job! Pediatric Occupational Therapist - Rockville, MD
  • Hot, New Job! Community-Based BCBA - Carrollton, TX
  • Hot, New Job! Pediatric PTA - Annandale, VA
Therapy Activities, Tips and Resources
  • Frankenstein Contact Paper Sticky Wall
  • Speech Therapy Idea of the Week: S-Blends Flip Book for Fall
  • Basic Concepts: Temporal Directions (Halloween)
  • Roll A Frankenstein Activity
Articles and Special Features 
  • SLP Corner: Playing with Sounds Leads to Phonemic Awareness
  • OT Corner: 5 Evidence Based Factors That Affect Handwriting Speed
  • AAC Corner: How I Do It: A Year of Core Words in Action
  • Autism Corner: Autism and the Benefits of Exercise
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
8

The Career Center

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Recent Occupational Therapist and COTA Jobs 

New Brain Research Could Change How Concussions are Treated
[Source:  Medical X-Press]

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI), including concussions, can be caused by anything from sports injuries to battlefield trauma. And they can have fatal or lasting effects. The results of a severe concussion-problems with thinking, memory, movement, emotions-are clear. The causes, or underlying\

Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
Handwriting and Autism
[Source:  Your Therapy Source]

Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders published research on handwriting and autism.  The researchers investigated whether handwriting skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are related to visual perception, motor coordination, visual-motor integration, and executive functions.
Previous research provides additional information on handwriting skills:

Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
New Law in California: No Class Before 8:00 AM
[Source:  Education Week]

Hit the snooze button, kids. You now have a little longer to sleep in before your day starts.
A new law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on Sunday forbids California middle schools from ringing the opening bell before 8 a.m., and prohibits high schools from starting class before 8:30 a.m.
Schools must adopt the law before July 1, 2022, or sooner if they have collective bargaining units that allow negotiation before the deadline.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog
Severe Morning Sickness May Be Risk Factor for Autism
[Source:  Psych Central]

A new study discovers children whose mothers had a severe form of a morning sickness during pregnancy were 53 percent more likely to be diagnosed with  autism  spectrum disorder. Kaiser Permanente researchers said the condition, known as hyperemesis gravidarum, is rare and occurs in less that 5 percent of all pregnancies.

Nevertheless, researchers believe the findings are important because the research suggests that children born to women with hyperemesis may be at an increased risk of autism. "Awareness of this association may create the opportunity for earlier diagnosis

Lego Starts Recycling Programs For Its Plastic Bricks
[Source:  Washington Post]

Lego is looking to keep its plastic bricks out of the trash.

The Danish toymaker is testing a way for customers to ship their unwanted bricks back and get them into the hands of other kids.

It said Tuesday that customers in the United States can print out a mailing label on its site, dump their used Lego bricks in a box and ship them free. Lego said the pieces will be cleaned, put into boxes and given to Teach for America, a nonprofit group that will donate them to U.S. classrooms. Some bricks will be also sent to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston for their after-school programs.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog
Neuroimaging Reveals Hidden Communication Between Brain Layers During Reading
[Source: Science Daily]

How is a language represented in the brain? This question is challenging, as language involves many regions throughout the brain that interact in a dynamic way. For instance, when people read a word, they combine 'bottom-up' (lower level) visual information to recognise the letters, and 'top-down' (higher level) cognitive information to recognise the

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog
This is not your average therapy clinic! We have a need for a dynamic Occupational Therapist with afternoon and weekend hours. You would be joining a pediatric facility that uses a nonclinical model.

There is no traditional therapy equipment - they believe in helping children in the natural environment and showing parents what they can be working on during the week with the children. Here you will find a synthetic ice rink, bike riding, canoeing, kayaking, time spent in nature and music programs.


Learn About / Apply for This Job on our Blog
Are you a BCBA that is looking for that great community based full-time position in the North Dallas area?  We have an opening for a BCBA in our clinic that is near Carrollton, Texas. So, if you desire to help children achieve their highest level of self-esteem and independence, this position is for you!  

Learn About / Apply for This Job on our Blog
Are you a PTA? We have a Full-time Pediatric Physical Therapy Assistant opportunity with a pediatric outpatient clinic located near Annandale, VA.

* Physical Therapist Assistant will work M-F 11:00a-7:00p
* PTA will treat a mixed clientele of adults and children.
* Competitive Salary with Benefits.
* New PTA grads and experienced therapists welcome to apply.

Qualifications: You will hold an Associate's Degree in Physical Therapy and a current state license (or be eligible for same).

Learn About / Apply for This Job on our Blog
Frankenstein Contact Paper Sticky Wall
[Source:  I Heart Crafty Things]

It's been a while since we've made contact paper sticky wall art. Since I've had Halloween on the brain, I came up with this idea to use different materials to create a Frankenstein. My daughter had so much fun and ended up with a unique looking, spooky creature.  

Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
Speech Therapy Idea of the Week: S-Blends Flip Book for Fall
[Source:  Chitchat and Small Talk]
by Pam Dahm

Last week I posted a little  Halloween Flip Book that was extremely popular with my readers.  I was surprised by it's popularity, as it was something I made years ago and hadn't pulled it out in a few years.  But as I saw how much the kids enjoyed using it this past week, I decided to create another one.  This one is specifically designed to be used to work on S-Blend words and phrases, as I have several little buddies who struggle with those skills.  I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but basically I plan to use it just like the Halloween one.  The stack of pictures on the left side of the book are adjectives as in the Halloween Flip Book, and the stack on the right are objects/people.  The words on all

Read More Through a Link on our Blog
Basic Concepts: Temporal Directions (Halloween)
[Source:  Ms. Lane's SLP Materials]

These "before" and "after" temporal directions have a Halloween theme.  For example: "After you touch the bat, touch the skeleton."  I like using these worksheets to target following directions with basic concepts from the CELF-4 assessment.  This is also a fun concept to target using real-life objects or actions ("Before you bring me the pumpkin, say 'Boo!'").

Read More and Download Through a Link on our Blog
Roll A Frankenstein Activity
[Source:  Housing a Forest.com]

Anyone else love Frankenstein?  He has always been one of my favorite  Halloween Crafts characters.  I couldn't help but make a simple Halloween game focusing on the big green monster.  Its simple to set up and fun to play.

Learn More About This Activity Through our Blog
SLP Corner: Playing with Sounds Leads to Phonemic Awareness
Editor's Note:  Thank You to Reading Rockets for suggesting this article.]

According to Teresa Byington, associate professor of early childhood education, University of Nevada, "We can help our children develop their phonemic awareness and the best way is to play games with them as part of regular, daily routines."

Literacy experts tell us that reading and writing skills begin with the language skills of speaking and listening. As children develop language, their skills grow more and more refined. So, in the early years, even though they may be using words, they are not necessarily hearing the individual sounds in words-the phonemes.


OT Corner: 5 Evidence Based Factors That Affect Handwriting Speed
[Source:  Your Therapy Source]

Written output performance in the classroom is associated with handwriting speed.  If the child can not write with an appropriate speed it can be difficult to manage classroom assignments in a timely manner throughout the school day and during homework.

When trying to determine why a student may have slow handwriting speed you can start with these 5 evidence based factors that can affect handwriting speed:


AAC Corner: How I Do It: A Year of Core Words in Action
[Source: PrAACtical AAC]

Some of the best resources are the ones that we can modify to use in ways that fit our own specific needs. In this post, SLP Kim Hurley, a graduate of Indiana University, shares her experiences in experimenting with the Year of Core Vocabulary approach. Kim has spent the past 15 years as a specialist for students with moderate and severe disabilities

Autism Corner:  Autism and the Benefits of Exercise
[Source:  WGNtv.com]

Anthony Angelico is strong. His push-ups are performed with impressive stamina, and he can take on hurdles both forward and backwards. His coach, Dave Geslak, who has helped him implement this exercise regimen, is certainly proud of his many physical strides.

But it's not just his physique that's improved. His mother Mary has noticed the difference, "He has an improved attitude after with exercise because there are things that have always been a battle, like homework." Anthony agrees, "I feel a little bit more confident,

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

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