March 10, 2017
Issue 9, Volume 10
It's All About the Choices!     
          
Greetings and Happy Friday

 Please enjoy our weekly newsletter.
 
News Items:
  • An Oscar-Nominated Film Inspires a New Approach to Autism
  • Sensory Links Between Autism and Synesthesia
  • Autism Genome Database Shines New Light on "Many Autisms"
  • Study Tests the 'Three-Hit' Theory of Autism
  • ADHD:  Large Imaging Study Confirms Brain Differences
  • Weighing Special Ed. as a School Choice Option
PediaStaff News and Hot Jobs 
  • Early Intervention Pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist - SLP - Wichita Falls, TX
  • Bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist - SLP - Dallas, TX
  • Calling All Adventure-Seeking SLPs - Alaska Awaits!
  • Hot Job: Pediatric Outpatient PT - North Houston, TX
Therapy Activities, Tips and Resources
  • ADVOCACY ALERT: Call Your MoCs in Support of the "Hallways to Health Act"
  • Self Assessment Checklist for In Class Behavior and Self Regulation
  • 50 Flower Crafts for Kids 
  • A Color of His Own Inspired Mosaic Craft
Articles and Special Features 
  • School Psych Corner: 5 Tips for Preventing Dependency in Anxious Students
  • OT Corner:  Heavy Work Activities -- What's That??
  • Pediatric Therapy Corner:  What are Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia and Dysgraphia?
  • SLP Corner: Imagination Speech Therapy 
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

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 

An Oscar-Nominated Film Inspires a New Approach to Autism
[Source:  Scientific American]
 
Dinosaurs, Star Wars, train schedules, Disney princesses, maps, LEGO-subjects such as these can become all-consuming passions for children on the autism spectrum. What therapists and educators often call "circumscribed" or "restricted" interests (or, more generously, "special" interests) make up a characteristic symptom of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current edition of psychiatry's
 
Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
Sensory Links Between Autism and Synesthesia
[Source:  Medical X-Press]
 
Concrete links between the symptoms of autism and synaesthesia have been discovered and clarified for the first time, according to new research by psychologists at the University of Sussex.
The study, conducted by world-leading experts in both conditions at Sussex and the University of Cambridge and published in the journal Scientific Reports, found that both groups experience remarkably similar heightened sensory sensitivity, despite clear differences in communicative ability and social skills.

Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
Autism Genome Database Shines New Light on "Many Autisms"
[Source:  Autism Speaks]
 
Latest study from the Autism Speaks MSSNG program identifies 18 new autism-linked genes, deepening understanding of autism's broad spectrum
 
Eighty percent of the 61 gene variations discovered through MSSNG to date affect biochemical pathways that have clear potential as targets for future medicines
 
The newest study out of the Autism Speaks MSSNG project - the world's largest autism  genome sequencing program - identified an additional 18 gene variations that appear to increase the risk of 

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog
Study Tests the 'Three-Hit' Theory of Autism
[Source: Science Daily]
 
States in 1938, the causes of autism have remained elusive. Hundreds of genes, as well as environmental exposures, have been implicated in these brain disorders. Sex also seems to have something to do with it: About 80 percent of children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder are boys.
 
This striking bias caught the attention of Rockefeller University's Donald W. Pfaff. A neurobiologist who studies hormone effects and sex differences in the brain, Pfaff wondered if maleness might somehow amplify the genetic and environmental risk factors for the disease.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog
ADHD: Large Imaging Study Confirms Brain Differences
[Source: Medical News Today]
 
The largest imaging study of its kind finds that people diagnosed with ADHD have altered brains. It identifies size differences in several brain regions and the brain overall, with the greatest differences seen in children rather than adults. The researchers say that the findings - from brain images of more than 3,200 people - provide strong evidence that ADHD is a disorder of the brain.
 
The study - which was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) - is published in The Lancet Psychiatry. It is the work of the ENIGMA Consortium, an international multidisciplinary group that is investigating genetic and brain-imaging differences in psychiatric disorders.
 
Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog 
Weighing Special Ed. as a School Choice Option
[Source:  Education Week]
 
The notion of making federal special education funding "portable"-allowing money to follow individual students with disabilities so they can pay for the schools and services they choose-has been on the drawing board in conservative circles for several years.
Now, the idea has at least one well-placed supporter: U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who gave the concept a positive mention during a brief exchange at her confirmation hearing.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog
Are you looking for a full time position with a little versatility?  Our client is established and in need of a full time (40 hours/wk) bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist to provide clinic based services between our South Dallas clinic and either our Grapevine or North Dallas clinic. There may be some training on the Hanen It Takes Two to Talk program.

Learn About / Apply for This Job on our Blog
Calling All Adventure-Seeking SLPs! Alaska Awaits!
Calling all adventure-seeking Speech-Language Pathologists! PediaStaff is currently accepting applications for SLP-CFYs and SLP-CCCs to join our team in the Last Frontier: Alaska!
Both contract and direct hire opportunities are available throughout Alaska including Anchorage, Fairbanks, Palmer, Homer, and Soldotna! Rates are competitive, relocation or outbound travel allowances are generous and per diem is available based on eligibility.  Settings include school based, clinic and early intervention.

Learn About / Apply for These Jobs on our Blog
A great pediatric clinic with several locations in the Houston area seeks a pediatric Physical Therapist to join their team on a full time basis in their office on the north side of Houston. Previous pediatric outpatient clinic experience is a plus but not required. Strong and enthusiastic new grads will also be considered. Join this team that is over 90 therapists strong, privately owned and efficiently managed. You will grow as a therapist while enriching the lives of the children you treat.

Learn About / Apply for This Job on our Blog
Editor's Note:   This is an excellent program.  Please call your Members of Congress to let them know you support this innovative health delivery model.
 
[Source:  School Based Health Alliance]
 
On Monday, February 13, Senators Debbie Stabenow (MI), Gary Peters (MI), Sherrod Brown (OH), and Al Franken (MN), along with House Representatives John Sarbanes (MD), Debbie Dingell (MI), Eric Swalwell (CA), Rosa Delauro (CT), and John Larson (CT) re-introduced the Hallways to Health Act (S.356/H.R.1027), legislation that would provide federal support for high-quality comprehensive health 

Learn More About this Bill Through a Link on our Blog
Self Assessment Checklist for In Class Behavior and Self Regulation
[Source:  Your Therapy Source]
 
Are you looking to encourage students to improve self-regulation skills and maintain classroom expectations?  This free self assessment checklist will help students gain independence in school.

This checklist helps children:
  1. to understand what behaviors are expected of them.
  2. how to succeed in the classroom.
  3. to reflect on those behaviors during class time.
Download this Freebie Through a Link on our Blog
50 Flower Crafts for Kids
[Source:  Growing a Jeweled Rose]
 
Spring is finally here, and with that we have flowers on our mind.  We can't wait to plant and craft this Spring!  Are you excited, too?  Here are 50 fun and creative flower crafts to help get you started this Spring.

Take a Look at All These Crafts Through a Link on our Blog
A Color of His Own Inspired Mosaic Craft
[Source:  No Time for Flash Cards]
 
This activity is all about doing your own thing, making your chameleon whatever color or combination of colors you want. The benefits of this craft are numerous; the peel and stick foam requires children to peel the backing off which is wonderful fine motor practice, and placing the shapes and fitting them together is just like a puzzle. Children use their spatial skills too. That is why I was so excited when 

Read All About this Activity Through a Link on our Blog
School Psych Corner: Tips for Preventing Dependency in Anxious Students
Editor's Note:  Please share this with your classroom teachers! 
 
[Source:  Huffington Post]
 
Mrs. Chang passed out papers to each sixth grade language arts student. Not a second after the assignment hit Kayla's desk, her hand went up: "I need help!" This plea was followed by several other students creating a chorus of "Wait. What do we do?", "I can't do this", "How do we do this?" and "Can I go to the bathroom?"
 
Teachers are spending an inordinate amount of time supporting anxious students. One in four students struggles with anxiety, which can add up to many stops and starts in the lesson and crucial learning time missed. What's worse, many teachers' supportive efforts 


OT Corner: Heavy Work Activities - What's That?
[Source:  Goto For OT]
 
I was recently sitting at the IEP table with an educational team comprised of parents and school staff, all focusing their energies on writing a meaningful Individualized Education Plan for a 6-year-old girl at one of the schools I serve.  The OT evaluation identified upper extremity strength and endurance concerns as well as attentional and focusing challenges and delays in eye-hand 
 
Pediatric Tx Corner:  What are Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia and Dysgraphia?
Editor's Note:    Here is an excellent graphic that I saw in Facebook-land the other day that I wanted to share with you.   When I went to look up the original source, I discovered that this one is part of a set!  

The other three diagram Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia and Dysgraphia.  Click below to read and save the other three!!   They do not appear to be on About Dyspraxia.com any longer so I have linked to where I was able to find them.

Check out These Great Charts Through a Link on our Blog
 

SLP Corner: Imagination Speech Therapy
[Source:  Doyle Speech Works]
 
It's March already! Wow! I have been on winter break this past week enjoying balmy temperatures when suddenly the temperature dropped to 5 degree! It's hard to imagine it will ever be warm, but imagine I will.
 
As I dreamed of flowers and bird song, I started planning therapy for my return to work. I have so many St. Patrick's Day and spring activities, but I wanted something different. It's 

Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog

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