November 2011

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November 15, 2011 - Special Early Edition of the PediaStaff Newsletter

It's All About the Choices!

Greetings!

We are pushing off today and looking forward to a great ASHA convention in sunny San Diego. For those of you who are traveling, here is our weekly newsletter a few days early so you might enjoy it enroute!

Are you coming to ASHA too? Stop by our booth #924!   We have free Toobaloos while supplies last!

Are you an #SLPeep, or follow us on Twitter or Facebook? Come to the ASHA Tweetup on Friday at 4:30 in the Community Lounge for a chance to win a gift bag full of Thumballs, courtesy of PediaStaff!

Here is our weekly newsletter offering for you!   Looking to incorporate fun activities for season into your therapy lessons? Don't forget to check out all our Holiday Themed Therapy Ideas on Pinterest!

News Items:

Senators Unveil Plan To Boost Down Syndrome Research
Most Kids Lack Early Intervention Services
'Glee' Star Tapped For President's Disability Committee
British Scientists Suggests Genetic Variant in Play in ADHD
Handwriting and OT in the News
Challenges In The Emerging Field Of Pediatric Palliative Care
Brains of Children with Autism Develop More Slowly Than Healthy Brains, Researchers Say

Therapy Activities, Tips and Resources

Pinterest Pin of the Week: Flipping Beanbags for Wrist Strengthening
493 Shared Speech Therapy Resources on Quia
Big Find of the Week - PictureSet: Downloadable Visual Support Collection

Articles and Blogs

Guest Blog: Having a Dangerously Good Time in Speech Therapy
Guest Blog: What's in Your OT Therapy Bag?
Pediatric Therapy Corner: Language Development and Bilingual Children
Worth Repeating: Motor Development For Individuals With Down Syndrome - An Overview
Also Worth Repeating: Celebrate Crawling! 8 Reasons Crawling Creates Capable Kids

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
Feed My Inbox and have any feed you like delivered to your email inbox!

Have a great weekend and Take Care!

Heidi Kay and the PediaStaff Team

Recent Physical Therapist and PTA Jobs

Bilingual Therapist Jobs

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

Down Syndrome in the News: Senators Unveil Plan To Boost Down Syndrome Research

[Source: Disability Scoop]

Efforts to expand Down syndrome research may be gaining traction after a pair of U.S. senators introduced legislation to increase funding and establish centers to study the disorder.

Two bills introduced in the Senate Thursday would allocate $6 million annually to create six centers of excellence for Down syndrome research. In addition, the measures call for the establishment of three research databases and would require the National Institutes of Health to maintain a Down syndrome research plan.

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

Early Intervention in the News: Most Kids Lack Early Intervention Services

[Source: Disability Scoop]

Just a fraction of the nation's children with disabilities and developmental delays may be accessing the early intervention services they need, a new advocacy group report suggests.

An analysis released Tuesday by Easter Seals indicates that fewer than 3 percent of kids are participating in the government-funded Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part C program, which offers early intervention services to children up to age 3. At the same time, estimates suggest that almost 13 percent of children across the country should qualify.

The report offers a state-by-state profile of the number of children served by the early intervention program. Six states stood out - Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Mexico, Wyoming, New York and New Hampshire - for serving at least 4 percent of children.

Developmental Disabilities in the News: 'Glee' Star Tapped For President's Disability Committee

[Source: Disability Scoop]

President Barack Obama is soliciting advice on disability issues from an actress with Down syndrome who has a regular role on Fox's "Glee."

Lauren Potter, who plays cheerleader Becky Jackson on Fox's "Glee," has been appointed to serve on the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.

Obama said he plans to appoint Lauren Potter, 21, to the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities. She is well-known for playing cheerleader Becky Jackson on the hit television show "Glee."

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

ADHD in the News: British Scientists Suggests Genetic Variant in Play in ADHD

[Source Medical XPress]

Cardiff University scientists revealed last year that children with the condition, like those with autism, were more likely than unaffected individuals to carry duplicated or omitted small DNA segments known as copy number variants (CNVs). The findings suggested that rare genetic variations contribute to ADHD risk. Similar findings have been found for autism, schizophrenia and intellectual disability.

Now a wider study by the same team and colleagues in Eire and Scotland has replicated the initial findings that these large, rare CNVs are more common in children with ADHD than amongst the

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

Handwriting and OT in the News: Chicago Tribune Blog Post on Benefits of Cursive

[Source: The Chicago Tribune]

Though handwriting is still a part of many school curricula, cursive writing - what once was an anticipated rite of passage for many third-graders - is disappearing from classrooms.

The writing style is left out of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, which means the 44 states that have adopted the criteria are not required to teach it in public schools. Instead, the initiative recommends typing and keyboard skills. (Though the Common Core initiative doesn't require cursive writing, school districts still may teach it.)

Some experts say parents should consider teaching cursive at home if their child isn't learning it in school, or augmenting the instruction if their school is cutting back

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

Pediatric Palliative Care in the News: Challenges In The Emerging Field Of Pediatric Palliative Care

[Source: Medical News Today]

When children are facing a life-threatening illness, bringing in palliative medicine specialists can help both the child and family improve the child's quality of life, for however long he or she lives.

Over the past decade, pediatric palliative care has emerged as a recognized medical specialty, including a subspecialty certification from the American Board of Medical Specialties and a certification from the Joint Commission for hospital palliative care programs.

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

Autism in the News: Brains of Children with Autism Develop More Slowly Than Healthy Brains, Researchers Say

[Source: ScienceDaily.com]

Researchers at UCLA have found a possible explanation for why children with autism act and think differently than their peers. For the first time, they've shown that the connections between brain regions that are important for language and social skills grow much more slowly in boys with autism than in children without autism.

Reporting in the current online edition of the journal Human Brain Mapping, senior author Jennifer G. Levitt, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA; first author Xua Hua, a UCLA postdoctoral researcher; and colleagues found aberrant growth rates in areas of the brain implicated in the social impairment, communication deficits and repetitive behaviors that characterize autism.

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

Pinterest Pin of the Week: Flipping Beanbags for Wrist Strengthening

Thanks to Your Therapy Source for recommending this Pinterest goodie - Flipping Bean Bags for Wrist Strengthening! We posted this pin on Thursday of last week and it had seen 60 repins by the weekend!

Take a Look at this Popular Activity on our Blog

Therapist Resource of the Week: 493 Shared Speech Therapy Resources on Quia

This week's Therapy Resource of the Week is website known to few outside of the teaching field. Quia - pronounced "key-ah" is short for Quintessential Instructional Archive. Quia provides a wide variety of tools, including:

Templates for creating 16 types of online activities using your own content.
A complete online testing system with automatic grading, immediate feedback, and detailed reporting.
Online surveys for gathering student and teacher feedback.
A class Web page creator to share Quia activities and class announcements with students and parents.

Learn More About Quia and the Shared SLP Resources On our Blog

Big Find of the Week: PictureSet - Wonderful Collection of Free Downloadable Visual Supports

PictureSET is a wonderful, user contributed collection of free, ready to use, downloadable visual supports that can be used by students for both receptive and expressive communication in the classroom, at home, and in the community. This searchable database allows you to find a wide range of useful visual supports for different curriculum areas, activities, and events. PictureSET resources are created and updated by dedicated professionals working with students in British Columbia. Files are primarily PDF and Boardmaker files. Vocabulary Cards, Sentence Strips, Social Stories and more for a wide variety of categories!!

Check out PictureSet Through our Blog. This is a GREAT Find!

Guest Blogs This Week: Artic Brain, My Special Needs Network

Having a Dangerously Good Time in Speech Therapy - By: Erik X. Raj, CCC-SLP

Regardless of what grade my students are in, I always make it a point to educate them about the importance of having a job that helps those around them. In my opinion, it is crucial that children learn about the neighborhood they live in and about who helps to make their community a better place through their job. Teaching our speech students about various occupations that men and women have can open their minds to jobs they never knew existed and also help to improve speech and language at the same time. It is a win/win situation!

Read the Rest of this Guest Post on our Blog

What's in Your Therapy Bag - by: Celia Cruse, OTR

I travel a good bit with my job so am a frequent flyer with the airlines. Typically the in flight magazines have a feature where they interview some movie star, CEO or savvy world traveler to ask them what they always carry in a flight bag. In the spirit of this theme (minus the celebrity status!) I have put together my favorite list of items that have been a part of my OT bag for many years...as an itinerant school therapist, a private home based practitioner and even during my days of working pediatric inpatient services at a busy hospital. Here are 6 things I always have on hand:

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

Pediatric Therapy Corner: Language Development and Bilingual Children

By: Lucy Windevoxhel, M.S., CCC-SLP

Editor's Note: This article was written for parents but is an excellent resource for therapists to share with the parents/guardians of the kiddos they work with.

This article comes as a response to a friend's question regarding her own child. In fact as a speech-language pathologist I have been asked many times if the cause of the language delay was exposure to two languages . The answer is No. Being exposed to two or more languages does not cause a child to have a language delay.

Many parents believe that if a child is exposed to more than one language then he will achieve typical language developmental milestones later than monolingual children. However, research indicates that bilingual children achieve those milestones at roughly the same time as monolingual children. As with everything in life though, all children achieve each milestone at a different age. Some children may say their first words at 9 months while others at 14

Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog

Worth Repeating - Motor Development For Individuals With Down Syndrome - An Overview

by: Ben Sacks and Sue Buckley

[Source: Down Syndrome Online

In the first year of life, infants begin to gain control over movements - they begin to be able to hold their heads steady, to reach out and grasp objects, to roll, sit and crawl and to hold cups or bottles for feeding. They then go on to walk, run, climb stairs, use a spoon, knife and fork, and dress themselves. Later they draw, write, use the computer, play football and dance. We tend to take our movement abilities for granted as, for most of us, they have developed effortlessly and most are carried out as we go through our day without conscious attention to them at all.

However, there is a large research literature devoted to trying to understand how the brain controls our everyday movements so skilfully, and the processes are still not fully understood. In the first section of this overview we will discuss the current views of the motor research experts, as it is relevant

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

Also Worth Repeating - Celebrate Crawling! 8 Reasons Crawling Creates Capable Kids

By: Sue Wilkinson

[Source: My Special Needs Network]

Did you know that this generation of kids is less likely to crawl than any generation in the history of toddlers? That is, if you live in the U.S. or the U.K. We have embraced the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) "Back To Sleep" program which trains new Moms to place their babies on their backs to minimize suffocation risk. Gratefully, there has been a decrease in SIDS. We've just forgotten the second part of the message..."Tummy Time for PLAY." Why care if kids don't crawl? Many pediatricians advise us to use a different developmental milestone to gauge a child's development. However, crawling creates capable kids.

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

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November 15, 2011 - Ohio BAEO Outreach Coordinator Shane Floyd Offered Seat on Cleveland Urban League Board of Directors

OHIO BAEO OUTREACH COORDINATOR SHANE FLOYD OFFERED SEAT ON CLEVELAND URBAN LEAGUE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 15, 2011
Contact: Susan Firey
Phone: 202.429.2236
Email: susan@baeo.org

Ohio BAEO Outreach Coordinator Shane Floyd Offered Seat on Cleveland Urban League Board of Directors

WASHINGTON - The Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) is pleased to announce that Shane Floyd, business and community outreach coordinator for BAEO's Ohio Chapter, has been offered - and accepted - a seat on the Board of Directors of the Cleveland Chapter of the Urban League.

Since joining Ohio BAEO in September, Shane has been charged with cultivating the Chapter's ties to Cleveland's business and faith-based communities. It was as a result of his meetings with the Urban League that he was asked to join its board.

"This is an outstanding coup for BAEO, and for the parent choice movement in Ohio," said Ohio BAEO Director Tracie Craft. "Shane's appointment to the Urban League gives BAEO - literally - a seat at the table of an organization that works tirelessly for social justice - including equal access to quality schools. It is a further testament to the fact that educational opportunity is the dominant civil rights issue of our time."

Announced at the League's November 9 board meeting, Shane will officially be acknowledged as a board member at the Cleveland Urban League's annual Equal Opportunity Day luncheon, which will be held on November 18 in downtown Cleveland. National Urban League President and CEO Marc Morial is slated to keynote the event.

#####

Black Alliance for Educational Options
888 16th Street NW | Suite 800 | Washington DC | 20006 | 202.439.2236
www.baeo.org

November 14, 2011 - EdConnection - Weekly Update from Stan W. Heffner, Superintendent of Public Instruction - Nov. 14, 2011

November 14, 2011

Good afternoon:

By now, you may have seen the Performance Index (PI) rankings of Ohio’s districts and schools that were released by ODE on Thursday. The rankings include city, local and exempted village school districts, as well as joint vocational school districts, community schools and STEM schools. To see the PI rankings and an explanation of how PI scores are calculated, click here.

Releasing school PI rankings is an important step in achieving full transparency about school performance. This year’s ranking system allows educators, parents and the public to see how their local schools compare to schools in other communities around the state and to schools with similar characteristics. Next year, the PI ranking will be coupled with financial data on each school to show which schools are delivering the best return on their community’s educational investment. In addition, ODE will soon develop an alternate student performance ranking system for schools that do not administer the types of assessments that yield PI scores.

Both the Performance Index and the alternate ranking system are required by House Bill 153. As Ohio shifts from a minimum-competency education system to a college- and career-ready system, Ohio’s school accountability system will need to undergo changes as well.

Thank you for your continuing hard work on behalf of Ohio’s students. Make it a great week.

Sincerely

Stan Heffner

Note: Below are news items of interest to all superintendents and principals. Please share these items as appropriate with other suggested educators who will benefit from the information.

For school superintendents and treasurers – Allocation calculations for USDoE supplemental Ed Jobs are complete
For curriculum directors, administrators and teachers – Providing IRN number may speed ODE response time to inquiries; Free workshop on Dec. 14 to focus on new Ohio physical education standards; Revised World Language Standards and Arts Standards available for public comment
Good news for everyone – Columbiana High School recognized as one nation’s most tech-savvy

For school superintendents and treasurers

Allocation calculations for USDoE supplemental Ed Jobs are complete
ODE has completed its calculation of the amounts that districts will receive in an upcoming reallocation of Ed Jobs funds. The $9.5 million to be reallocated includes a $5.3 million supplemental Ed Jobs award from the U.S. Department of Education and funds forfeited by LEAs from the original Ed Jobs allocations. Districts must obligate their reallocated funds by Sept. 30, 2012. For more information, contact Wendy Cantrell at wendy.cantrell@ode.state.oh.us or (614) 728-5002.

For curriculum directors, administrators and teachers

Providing IRN number may speed ODE response time to inquiries
ODE continually strives to streamline its response time to local education agencies. Once way to help ensure faster service is for school and district personnel to provide their district or school IRN number when contacting us. When school personal provide an IRN, ODE staff can research a request more quickly and can avoid confusion, since districts and schools often have the same or similar names.

Free workshop on Dec. 14 to focus on new Ohio Physical Education Standards
A Dec. 14 workshop at the Hamilton County Education Service Center is designed to help teachers align their own physical education curriculum to the Ohio K-12 physical education academic content standards and assessments. Participants will learn to use the Ohio standards, indicators and benchmarks in curriculum development; employ best practices in teaching K-12 physical education; and develop strategies to establish active, supportive learning environments. The session is free, but space is limited and registration is required by Dec. 12. For more information, contact Heather Vilvens, Buckeye Healthy Schools Alliance, at hvilvens.bhsa@gmail.com or (937) 725-2787.

Revised World Language Standards and draft Arts Standards available for public comment
Ohio’s Revised K-12 Academic Content Standards for World Languages and Ohio’s Arts Academic Content Standards, which also are under revision, have been posted on ODE’s Web site for general public review and comment. Click here to access a short, explanatory PowerPoint introduction, the draft standards document, and the survey that will be used to collect feedback on the revised Content Standards for World Languages. The revised drafts of Arts Content Standards also are available for comment. The deadline for feedback on both sets of standards is Jan. 6, 2012. Click here for supplemental information and the current draft standards for dance, drama/theatre, music or visual art. After reviewing any one of the four drafts, complete the survey to provide your feedback.

Please help us by disseminating this announcement widely. ODE greatly values the input of world language and arts educators, as well as other stakeholders interested in these projects.

Keynotes announced, registration open for fifth annual Ohio Economic-Education Summit
Rick Malir, City Barbeque cofounder and president, and Rhonda Reda, executive director of Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education, will be keynote speakers at Ohio Economic-Education Summit V on March 7, 2012, in Columbus. Registration for this fifth annual conference is open now. Traditionally targeted to secondary education leaders and college faculty, the conference this year will offer information for high school and career center teachers, as well. The summit will focus on bringing education together with business and industry to improve the state’s economy, emphasizing 10 current and future career areas. Click here for more information.

Good News for Everyone

Columbiana High School recognized as one of the nation’s most tech-savvy

Columbiana High School in Columbiana has been ranked seventh in U.S. News & World Report’s 2011 Top 10 Most Connected Classrooms. The ranking is based on a connectivity index that measures student-to-computer ratio, Internet access and speed, and technical support. All students receive a netbook at no cost for accessing online tutorials, wikis and other learning tools. The school also uses interactive SMART boards in each classroom, electronic student response systems and wireless slates. Every class has a teacher website and a means of submitting papers and student-teacher communication securely.

ODE is interested in your thoughts about how EdConnection fulfills your information needs. Please send any comments or suggestions to superintendent@ode.state.oh.us.

Follow our new Facebook page for Ohio families by clicking here.

Follow ODE’s Twitter feed by clicking here.

November 11, 2011 - News, Articles, Resources and More from PediaStaff

It's All About the Choices!

Greetings!

Are you going to ASHA in San Diego?? We will be there and can't wait to meet you! Please visit us at booth #924 to say 'Hello!' As usual, we will have free Toobaloos for all booth visitors, while supplies last!

Since we are headed off to ASHA and then will be coming home with much catch up to do we took some extra time to work on all our Holiday Pinboards on Pinterest. Feel free to check them out!

See you in San Diego!!
News Items:

Another Study Says Dyslexia Not Related to Intelligence
Special Font Helps Those with Dyslexia Mind Their Ps and Qs
Scientists and Autism, 'When Geeks Meet'
'Just Say "No" to Keyboarding in Kindergarten'
Dyspraxia in the News
Extra Brain Cells May be Key to Autism: Study
ADHD Brain Changes Appear to Persist Into Adulthood
Study to Address Effects of Hippotherapy on Autism

Therapy Activities, Tips and Resources

Read Write Think.org
Book Review: 'Learn to Move, Move to Learn'
Speakaboos!
Pinterest Pin of the Week: An Entire Blog of Hand & Footprint Crafts

Upcoming Events

ASHA Convention and Conference

Articles and Blogs

Guest Blog: Speech & Language Activities for 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear'
Guest Blog: Evidence Based and the Placebo Effect
Guest Blog: Speech & Language Activities for 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear'
Pediatric Therapy Corner: Cerebral Palsy - Facts & Figures from United Cerebral Palsy
Worth Repeating: Playground Pragmatics
Also Worth Repeating: Speech-Language Activity Suggestions for Multisensory Stimulation of At-Risk Children

Feed My Inbox and have any feed you like delivered to your email inbox!

Have a great weekend and Take Care!

Heidi Kay and the PediaStaff Team

Recent Physical Therapist and PTA Jobs

Bilingual Therapist Jobs

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

Dyslexia in the News: Another Study Says Dyslexia Not Related to Intelligence

[Source: Los Angeles Times]
One's intelligence appears unrelated to the specific brain pattern that causes dyslexia, researchers reported Thursday. The findings are important because they suggest that IQ shouldn't be considered by education specialists when diagnosing dyslexia. In fact, doing say may bar some children from receiving special education services to improve reading comprehension.

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was undertaken because many educators diagnose dyslexia based on a lag between reading scores and overall IQ scores.

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

More Dyslexia in the News: Special Font Helps Those with Dyslexia Mind Their Ps and Qs

[Source: ABC, MSNBC, Project Dyslexie]
Some of the letters are a bit askew, others gape open or slump slightly. But all the letters in the font Dyslexie are designed to make reading easier for people with dyslexia.

Christian Boer, the Dutch graphic artist who designed the font, is dyslexic himself, and knew firsthand that people with the disorder often mix up letters that look similar, MSNBC reports.

The letter "b," for instance, can easily flip into a "d" or even a "p." A lowercase "e" can be mixed with its simpler cousin, "c." A little "i" looks very much like a "j."

Autism in the News: Scientists and Autism, When Geeks Meet

Editor's Note: This article appeared in a special Issue of the Journal Nature, dedicated to Autism. Check out the Entire Issue HERE

[Source: Nature]

In the opening scene of The Social Network, Jesse Eisenberg portrays a cold Mark Zuckerberg getting dumped by his girlfriend, who is exasperated by the future Facebook founder's socially oblivious and obsessive personality. Eisenberg's Zuckerberg is the stereotypical Silicon Valley geek - brilliant with technology, pathologically bereft of social graces. Or, in the parlance of the Valley: 'on the spectrum'.

Few scientists think that the leaders of the tech world actually have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which can range from the profound social, language and behavioural problems that are characteristic of autistic disorder, to the milder Asperger's syndrome. But according to an idea that is creeping into the popular psyche, they and many others in professions such as science and engineering may display some of the characteristics of autism, and have an increased risk of having children with the full-blown disorder.

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

Handwriting in the News: As Seen in HuffPo - 'Just Say "No" to Keyboarding in Kindergarten'

[Source: Huffington Post]

In an earlier piece for Huff - and an earlier segment of Body, Mind and Child - I asked whether or not we should continue to teach handwriting in the digital age. I found the feedback surprising, as more individuals than expected unequivocally proclaimed that handwriting is a thing of the past. While I'm not pleased with that answer (and was essentially called a "dinosaur" for believing we should continue to teach handwriting), it does raise a second question: If handwriting is no longer to be used as a form of communication but the computer is, at what age should children be learning keyboarding skills?

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

Dyspraxia in the News: Excellent Article from the 'Other Side of the Pond'

[Source: Irish Times]

Aside from dealing with 'clumsiness' and pain, seven-year-old Luc struggles with the simplest of tasks - running, writing, dressing, eating. He suffers from the little-known condition dyspraxia, writes Sheila Wayman.

Luc Carpenter often cries all the way home from school, complaining that he is hungry or that he has had a bad day or that somebody has been mean to him.
As a seven-year-old boy with the "hidden disorder" of dyspraxia, the school day is a huge ordeal physically, academically and socially. He is exhausted afterwards.
The moment his mother, Michelle, gets him back to their home, in Clane, Co Kildare, she needs to give him food, as he will probably have eaten little if anything since breakfast. Then he has a break before they face the challenge of homework.

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

Autism Research in the News: Extra Brain Cells May be Key to Autism: Study

[Source: Reuters via Yahoo News]

Children with autism appear to have too many cells in a key area of the brain needed for communication and emotional development, helping to explain why young children with autism often develop brains that are larger than normal, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
Their study suggests the condition starts in the womb because brain cells in this area known as the prefrontal cortex typically develop during the second trimester of pregnancy.

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

ADHD in the News: ADHD Brain Changes Appear to Persist Into Adulthood

Editor's Note: This is disheartening news since as clinicians, we are fond of telling parents that kids will 'grow out' of their ADHD.

[Source: HealthDay via Yahoo News]

Adults who were diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as children have less gray matter in certain areas of their brains as adults than people who didn't have ADHD in their youth, researchers say.

"The majority of individuals with ADHD improve in adulthood, but it was still somewhat disappointing to see that even with improvement, there continue to be challenges for those with ADHD," said the study's lead author, Dr. F. Xavier Castellanos, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City.

Castellanos and his team also found a trend toward even more significant brain changes in people who continued to have ADHD symptoms as adults.

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

Hippotherapy in the News: Study to Address Effects of Hippotherapy on Autism

[Source: EquiMed.com]

The Horses and Humans Research Foundation has awarded its sixth $50,000 research grant recently to a team from the Program in Occupational Therapy, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. The team will measure outcomes from Occupational and Physical Therapy using horse movement (Hippotherapy) for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

The proposed project will follow fifteen children with Autism Spectrum Disorder as they participate in 12 weeks of weekly hippotherapy sessions. The project is especially innovative because it will use objective quantitative data collection in addition to qualitative standardized clinical scales that are typically used for such studies.

"Hippotherapy is commonly used for children with ASD," said Principal Investigator Tim L. Shurtleff, OTD, OTR/L. "However, no systematic evidence has been published on the impact of hippotherapy on children with ASD."

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

Upcoming Event : ASHA Annual Convention & Conference

Its nearly November and that means it's time for the American Speech-Language Hearing Conference and Convention to be held this year in sunny, San Diego from November 17-19th!

PediaStaff will be there of course with a free Toobaloo Fluency Device for all booth visitors while supplies last!

Stop by booth #924 and say hi! Our team is looking forward to meeting you face to face in the exhibition hall!. We will also have a representative of our newsletter team there as well, so please stop by and tell us of your ideas to make this weekly publication even better!

Therapist Resource of the Week: Read Write Think.org

Thanks to our friends at 2 Gals Speech Therapy Products for the lead on this excellent resource - The Student Interactives section on ReadWriteThink.org

ReadWriteThink is a project of the International Reading Association. Its mission is to provide educators, parents, and afterschool professionals with access to the highest quality practices in reading and language arts instruction by offering the very best in free materials.

Some of their most popular materials include a comic creator, Word Family sort, graphic organizers for prewriting and postreading, a plot diagram tool. Really good stuff!

Learn More About and Check out ReadWriteThink Through a Link on our Blog

Book Review : Learn to Move, Move to Learn by Jenny Clark Brack

Book By: Jenn Clark Brack; Reviewed By: Sunita Murty, M.S. OTR/L; Published/Produced By: Autism Asperger Publishing Company

Jenny Clark Brack's Learn to Move, Move to Learn series of books and DVD are great resources for any leader or participant of a small motor and sensory children's group. Being a pediatric occupational therapist myself, I found this resource to be a great way to help lesson plan for group activities as well as educate other staff about all the factors that help a child succeed in his or her school environment.

The Learn to Move, Move to Learn book and DVD nicely describe the sensory systems and the challenges that can occur when integration does not happen properly. Each system is simply broken down with easy to understand explanations. Each individual sense is related to

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

Therapy Resource of the Week: Speakaboos!

The best part about all the time I have been spending 'trolling' for activities to put on our various
Pinterest boards, are the gems I find !

Speakaboos is a beautiful online site that brings classic children's stories to the web for the digital world. The stories are beautifully illustrated and are narrated by celebrity voices like Tom Arnold, Clay Aiken, Kevin Bacon and Harry Shearer - of Simpson's fame!.
Stories are classic folk tales, fairy tales, fables, holiday tales, stories in Spanish, and my favorite, 8 of the Arthur books by Marc Brown! (that part alone makes the site worth visiting, IMO!)

Read More and Check out Speakaboos Through on our Blog

Pinterest Pin of the Week: An Entire Blog for Handprint, Footprint & Fingerprint Art

The pediatric and school based OTs that visit our Pinterest site are pretty excited about the blog 'Handprint and Footprint Art,' by Artsy Momma! We had to make it the Pinterest Pin of the Week! It's an entire site dedicated to Handprint, Footprint and Fingerprint arts and crafts. We will be tracking this site and bringing you all of her good ideas on Pinterest!

Visit our the Handprint/Footprint Artwork Blog Through a Link on our Blog

Guest Blogs This Week: Jezzabella's OT Experiences, Speech Lady Liz

Evidence Based and the Placebo Effect - by Jessica Shiel

So I found this fascinating video on the placebo effect through In Web we Trust (a site of geekery and science). Often many of the techniques that occupational therapists use have not been scientifically proven to create a difference. That does not mean they do not work; it just means the technique has not been tested yet. This makes it hard for occupational therapy to get respect as a profession. It is hard for me at the moment to figure out how a placebo would work for occupational therapy. I believe most scientific journals currently compare a technique versus if no intervention was done or against another technique working trying to achieve the same goal to see what is better.

Speech & Language Activities for 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' - By: Elizabeth Gretz, MS CCC-SLP

Articulation:
When reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear we work on syllableness. Syllableness focuses on producing the appropriate amount of syllables in each word or phrase. First I model the words for the children.

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

Pediatric Therapy Corner: Cerebral Palsy - Facts & Figures from United Cerebral Palsy

[Source: United Cerebral Palsy ]

What is cerebral palsy (CP)?
Cerebral palsy, also referred to as CP, is a term used to describe a group of chronic conditions affecting body movement and muscle coordination. It is caused by damage to one or more specific areas of the brain, usually occurring during fetal development; before, during, or shortly after birth; or during infancy. Thus, these disorders are not caused by problems in the muscles or nerves. Instead, faulty development or damage to motor areas in the brain disrupt the brain's ability to adequately control movement and posture.

"Cerebral" refers to the brain and "palsy" to muscle weakness/poor control. Cerebral palsy itself is not progressive (i.e. brain damage does not get worse); however, secondary conditions, such as muscle spasticity, can develop which may get better over time, get worse, or remain the same. Cerebral palsy is not communicable. It is not a disease and should not be referred to as such. Although cerebral palsy is not "curable" in the accepted sense, training and therapy can help improve function.

Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog

Worth Repeating - Playground Pragmatics

By: Joanne Hanson, MS CCC-SLP

Reading facial expressions, staying on the subject, joining in, developing ideas, and taking turns are as important for communication as articulation and vocabulary. Children who have not mastered these "pragmatics of language" find the playground to be a sensory nightmare, a social challenge, and a psychologically bewildering experience. Pragmatic language delays also impact most academic skills. Build these skills for youngsters age three to twelve with the activities below.

Also Worth Repeating - Speech-Language Activity Suggestions for Multisensory Stimulation of At-Risk Children

[Source: ASHASphere]

by Tatyana Elleseff
In recent years the percentage of "at-risk" children has been steadily increasing across pediatric speech-language pathology caseloads. These include adopted and foster care children, medically fragile children (e.g., failure to thrive), abused and neglected children, children from low socioeconomic backgrounds or any children who for any reason lack the adequate support system to encourage them to function optimally socially, emotionally, intellectually, or physically.
At times speech-language pathologists encounter barriers when working with this population, which include low motivation, inconsistent knowledge retention, as well as halting or labored progress in therapy.

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

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November 11, 2011 - Invitation to the AdvancED Corporation and Distance Education Winter Conference 2012

AdvancED Corporation and Distance Education Winter Conference 2012

An introduction to the new AdvancED Standards for Quality Corporations and Schools
An overview of the new AdvancED Accreditation Protocol for Corporations in both the Corporation Accreditation Process and the Corporation Systems Accreditation Process
An overview of the new AdvancED Accreditation Protocol for Distance Education Schools
The unveiling of the Adaptive System of School Improvement Support Tools (ASSIST™), a new web-enabled School Improvement and Accreditation Platform

View Event Summary

When

Corporations:
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Distance Education Schools:
Thursday, January 19, 2012 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Where

AdvancED Global Headquarters
9115 Westside Parkway, Alpharetta, GA 30009

Fee

$125 per person for Wednesday
$125 per person for Thursday
$200 per person for both days

November 10, 2011 - Why THIS Board Training?

Why this Board training?

Dear Leonard,

B & W logo

How is BCSB board training different from others currently being offered?

O - H - I - O !!!!

November 18 agenda is OHIO-based; OHIO experts in various aspects of OHIO charter schools, law and boards:

practicing Ohio Attorney who specializes in charter schools

Ohio Department of Education charter school experts

panel of Ohio Sponsors and an Ohio operator

Ohio lobbyist who knows the law and the legislators

Ohio charter school leader who actually led his school from academic emergency to excellent with distinction

Ohio virtual learning expert addressing blended learning

Your paid registration fee includes a FREE BCSB 6-month membership* for your Ohio Charter School Board!

Register today for this superior event !

Buckeye Charter School Boards, Inc. is an independent 501c3 created by Ohio Charter School Boards for Ohio Charter School Boards! We are NOT a sponsor, NOT a government-funded entity, NOT an out-of-state speaker hoping our message will fit for OHIO boards.  BCSB is your best source for Ohio-based board training. Our mission is to support and enhance the effectiveness of Ohio's charter school boards. One of the ways we do this is through our 2nd Annual Statewide Meeting.  Registeronline, by clicking here.

$25.00 - BCSB members                   $40.00 - non-members

Bring your school leader, for extra high impact!
$25.00 - school leader accompanied by a school Board member

With Sponsor approval this day = 6 hours professional development/required training.

*Free 6-month membership for any new (to BCSB) Ohio Charter School Boards with Nov. 18th paid conference attendance . Call if questions.

2nd Annual Statewide Meeting

for Ohio Charter School Board Members
November 18, 2011

Columbus Metropolitan Library

Downtown/Main Library

96 S. Grant Ave. Columbus, OH 43215 (attached parking garage)

networking & registration, 9:00 a.m.

conference, 9:30 to 3:30 p.m.

You are receiving this email because you are a public official-an Ohio charter school board member. Please add melanie@buckeyecharterboards.org to ensure receipt of important information just for charter school board members!

unsubscribe here if you no longer wish to receive these emails.

November 8, 2011 - You can register now!!!

B & W logo

Dear Leonard,

street sign image

The easiest way to register for the upcoming statewide meeting for charter school board members is to reply to this email!

Just send me your name, school(s) name, address and phone and you'll be all set! I look forward to meeting you on Nov. 18th in Columbus.

Buckeye Charter School Boards, Inc. is a non-profit organization that was created by Ohio Charter School Boards for Ohio Charter School Boards! This day is designed for you, an Ohio Charter School Board Member. Learn more about Ohio law pertaining to charter school boards, the new school, sponsor and instructional expenditure ranking system.

Hear school leader Chad Carr give the recipe for moving his school of 700 students from academic emergency to excellent with distinction in just 4 years. How did his board help?

You can also register online, by clicking here.

$25.00 - BCSB members $40.00 - non-members

Bring your school leader, for extra high impact!

$25.00 - school leader accompanied by a school Board member

With Sponsor approval this day = 6 hours professional development/required training.

2nd Annual Statewide Meeting

for Ohio Charter School Board Members
November 18, 2011

Columbus Metropolitan Library

Downtown/Main Library

96 S. Grant Ave. Columbus, OH 43215 (attached parking garage)

networking & registration, 9:00 a.m.

conference, 9:30 to 3:30 p.m.

unsubscribe here if you no longer wish to receive these emails.

November 7, 2011 - EdConnection - Weekly Update from Stan W. Heffner, Superintendent of Public Instruction - Nov. 7, 2011

November 7, 2011

Good evening:

I look forward to seeing many of you at the Ohio School Boards Association (OSBA) Capital Conference next week at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The conference theme, Focus on Ohio’s Children, says it all. On Monday, November 14, at 9:00 a.m. in rooms C-123–125, State Board of Education President Debe Terhar and I will discuss the need for all schools to increase their instructional rigor now, so that students are ready when the new academic content standards and new assessments take effect. In short, there is no reason to delay the transition to the new standards.

Also, following this presentation and in conjunction with the Capital Conference, the State Board of Education will begin its November meeting in rooms D233–235. As part of this meeting, we will unveil Ohio’s new Teacher Evaluation Framework in a 12:30 p.m. presentation. I hope you will be able to attend these events. Finally, the Ohio Department of Education is represented at Avenue for Answers throughout the trade show on Monday and Tuesday. If you have a question or are seeking information, ODE staff members are available to assist you. Please come see us.

As you know, Ohio law requires districts to observe Veterans Day, which takes place later this week. Commemorating the holiday allows students to honor our veterans, as well as understand the importance and price of our nation’s freedoms. In an earlier edition of EdConnection, we offered a teachers' guide that is approved by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The guide explains the history of the holiday, which began in 1919 as Armistice Day, and includes instructional ideas and guidelines for a school assembly. Please pass this information on to your administrators and teaching staff.

Thank you for your continuing hard work on behalf of Ohio’s students. Make it a great week.

Sincerely,

Stan Heffner

Note: Below are news items of interest to all superintendents and principals. Please share these items as appropriate with other suggested educators who will benefit from the information.

For school superintendents and treasurers – Allocation calculations for USDoE supplemental Ed Jobs award to be finished soon
For curriculum directors, administrators and teachers – New guide to ODE contacts to streamline access for schools and districts; ODE seeking more schools to enter HealthierUS School Challenge; Video contest opens to promote cyberspace safety
Good news for everyone – Superintendent visits Newark School of Promise

For school superintendents and treasurers

Allocation calculations for USDoE supplemental Ed Jobs award to be finished soon
The last two issues of EdConnection have kept districts informed about the status of ODE efforts to calculate district allocations, based on the U.S. Department of Education’s supplement to the initial Education Jobs Fund (Ed Jobs) program. Ohio’s supplemental Ed Jobs award totals $5,336,250, which must be distributed on the same basis as the initial Ed Jobs award.
ODE is still in the process of calculating district allocations, as well as determining possible reallocation of funds. We anticipate the reallocation to be completed this week. Once again, districts should submit their FY11 Final Expenditure Reports and finalize their fiscal year 2012 Ed Jobs applications. These funds must be obligated by September 30, 2012. For more information contact Wendy Cantrell at (614) 728-5002 or wendy.cantrell@ode.state.oh.us.

For curriculum directors, administrators and teachers

New guide to ODE contacts to streamline access for schools and districts
Just a reminder of news shared last month that a new, more comprehensive guide to ODE staff contacts is now available on the ODE website. The guide is organized by area of expertise so that district personnel can get answers on a wide range of topics more easily. To view the ODE Contact Guide, click here.

ODE seeking more schools to enter HealthierUS School Challenge
ODE is seeking 20 more schools to enter the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC), which promotes healthy school meals, nutrition education and physical education. Under a federal Team Nutrition Grant, ODE already has provided a training class for cooks in 10 schools. Each class was led by a professional chef and a school food service manager. New schools that apply for the HealthierUS School Challenge can attend future trainings, where participants will prepare a meal that meets HUSSC criteria. For questions or to apply, contact Susan Patton at susan.patton@ode.state.oh.us or (614) 387-7557.

The USDA recently recognized ODE as a HealthierUS School Challenge State Champion for the nutrition education support and technical assistance it has provided to Ohio schools so far.

Video contest opens to promote cyberspace safety
Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine’s office is accepting student entries for the 2011 Take Action Video Contest to promote Internet safety. Pupils in grades 9-12 must produce a 60-second video that encourages other students to protect themselves from scammers and desceptive advertizers in cyberspace. Entrants must focus their message on one of these topics:

Read the fine print;
Free isn’t always free;
Too good to be true? It probably is;
Research before you buy; and
Guard your personal information.

The top three winners will receive $2,500, $1,500 and $1,000 scholarships, respectively. The deadline for submission is December 15. For more information or to view last year’s winners, visit OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/TakeActionContest.

Good News for Everyone

Superintendent visits Newark School of Promise

Superintendent Stan Heffner chatted recently with students at McGuffey Elementary School in Newark, one of 122 Schools of Promise recognized this year. When asked about what sets their teachers apart, students said the extra effort their instructors make helps them learn more and “feel safe.”
Schools of Promise are distinguished for their strong learning supports systems, which work together with high-quality instruction to bring about high performance for students in all ethnic and socioeconomic groups.

Follow ODE’s Twitter feed by clicking here.

November 5, 2011 - News, Articles, Resources and More from PediaStaff

It's All About the Choices!

Greetings and Happy November! Boy I can't believe its time for the holiday season already.

Are you going to ASHA in San Diego?? We will be there and can't wait to meet you! Please visit us at booth #924 to say 'Hello!' As usual, we will have free Toobaloos for all booth visitors, while supplies last!

We continue to be thrilled with the feedback on our Pinterest Site. We are up to nearly 3500 followers already and have 72 separate boards of ideas and resources. Our staff is receiving all kinds of nice messages from therapists (and even parents) who have found great tools for specific children that they see.

This past week, we received a request for an Auditory Processing/Discrimination board, which we have created. We have broken up our Phonomic/Phonological Awareness board into three separate boards to make it easier to browse. We have also added an Introductory Board for newcomers to explain who we are and what the site is all about. Our staff will continue to build and fine tune the site. Pinterest is having growing pains like Twitter had in the early going, but we are firmly convinced that this is the best networking tool available for therapists and teachers on the entire net. Please contact us through Pinterest or via email with your suggestions.

This week we are featuring our board of Thanksgiving ideas. It is of course, still growing and has 316 pins at this writing. Please ENJOY.

In closing we have a quick procedural issue: We had a uncommonly low 'open rates' for the both the October 21st issue and the October Monthly issue. It appears that there was a national problem regarding Constant Contact (our email server company) emails being blocked inadvertently by one of the Internet Service Providers during mid October. Based on more typical numbers for last week, the problem appears to be fixed. If you did NOT get any of our recent issues, please grab them HERE from our archives. We do apologize for any inconvenience.
News Items:

ADHD Drugs Don't Raise Heart Risks for Kids
Parent Training Is Low Risk And Effective For Treating Preschoolers With ADHD
NY Mandates Insurance Coverage for Autism
Scientists Prevent Cerebral Palsy-like Brain Damage in Mice
At Ten Months Old Infants Are Able To Understand Thought Process Of Others
Slow Brain Growth Could Explain Autistic Behaviors

Therapy Activities, Tips and Resources

JigZone Online Jigsaw Puzzle Site
Disability Scoop
Activity of the Week: Sidewalk Chalk Fun and Games
Pinterest Pinboard of the Week: Therapy Activities (and Treats) for Thanksgiving

Upcoming Events

ASHA Convention and Conference

Articles and Blogs

Guest Blog: First Sound Series of Books
Guest Blog: For the Therapist, From the Mom
Pediatric Therapy Corner: Thoughts on Prognosis From a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP)
Worth Repeating: 30 Speech and Language Goals for the Thomas the Train Table
Also Worth Repeating: Classroom Strategies for Choral Reading

Heidi Kay and the PediaStaff Team

Recent Physical Therapist and PTA Jobs

Bilingual Therapist Jobs

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

ADHD in the News: ADHD Drugs Don't Raise Heart Risks for Kids

[Source:Yahoo News via the Associated Press]

Ritalin and similar medicines that millions of children and teens take to curb hyperactivity and boost attention do not raise their risk of serious heart problems, the largest safety study of these drugs concludes.

Heart attacks, strokes and sudden death were very rare and no more common in children on the drugs than in kids not taking them, the federally funded study found. That was true even for children and young adults with a higher risk of heart problems - a group doctors have long worried about when prescribing these drugs.

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

More ADHD in the News: Parent Training Is Low Risk And Effective For Treating Preschoolers With ADHD

[Source: Medical News Today]

A new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) shows that formal training in parenting strategies is a low-risk, effective method for improving preschool-aged children's behavior who are at risk for developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), whereas using medication for children below the age of 6 years shows less evidence.

Autism in the News: NY Mandates Insurance Coverage for Autism

[Source:Albany Times Union]

Following years of debate and false starts, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Tuesday requiring insurers to cover screening, diagnosis and treatment of autism.

"The children will get the help, the families will get the support," Cuomo said before signing the measure, which was passed by lawmakers last session.

The law could save families with autistic children tens of thousands of dollars, although it will likely contribute to an increase in health insurance premiums in the state. The law takes effect on Nov. 1 of next year.

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

Cerebral Palsy Research in the News: Scientists Prevent Cerebral Palsy-like Brain Damage in Mice

[Source:Medical XPress.com]
Using a mouse model that mimics the devastating condition in newborns, the researchers found that high levels of the protective protein, Nmnat1, substantially reduce damage that develops when the brain is deprived of oxygen and blood flow. The finding offers a potential new strategy for treating cerebral palsy as well as strokes, and perhaps Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases. The research is reported online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Under normal circumstances, the brain can handle a temporary disruption of either oxygen or blood flow during birth, but when they occur together and for long enough, long-term disability and death can result," says senior author David M. Holtzman, MD, the Andrew and Gretchen Jones Professor and head of the Department of Neurology. "If we can use drugs to trigger the same protective pathway as Nmnat1, it may be possible to prevent brain damage that occurs from these conditions as well as from neurodegenerative diseases."

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

Pediatric Development in the News: At Ten Months Old Infants Are Able To Understand Thought Process Of Others

[Source: Medical News Today]

New research from the University of Missouri indicates that at 10 months, babies start to understand another person's thought process, providing new insights on how humans acquire knowledge and how communication develops.

"Understanding other people is a key factor in successful communication, and humans start to understand this at a very young age," said Yuyan Luo, associate professor of developmental psychology in the MU College of Arts and Science. "Our study indicates that infants, even before they can verbally communicate, can understand the thought processes of other people - even if the thoughts diverge from what the infants know as truth, a term psychologists call false belief."

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

Autism Research in the News: Slow Brain Growth Could Explain Autistic Behaviors

[Source: Disability Scoop]
Kids with autism often think and act differently than their peers. Now researchers say they may know why.

Using brain scans, researchers from University of California, Los Angeles say they found that important connections between areas of the brain that control language and social skills grow more slowly in children with autism. The delayed development extends into adolescence, according to the study published online this month in the journal Human Brain Mapping.

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

Upcoming Event : ASHA Annual Convention & Conference

Therapist Resource of the Week: JigZone Online Jigsaw Puzzle Site

Thank You to Barbara Smith of the Recycling Occupational Therapist for her lead to this great web tool for clients!
Jigzone is an online jigsaw puzzle site (and sister site of the JigZone Puzzle Shop) where you can create and complete your own jigsaw puzzles online. Puzzles can have as few as six pieces, as many as 247 and there are several "cuts" available in addition to the most familiar "classic cut."

There are many hundreds images to choose from in categories such as Animals, Art, Flowers & Garden, Holidays, Ocean, Sports, and more. Users can time themselves on completion, email a puzzle to a friend, or even embed a puzzle into a website or blog page. You can also upload your own photo to create a custom puzzle with your clients' own image!

Learn More About and Check out Jigzone Through a Link on our Blog

Resource of the Week: Disability Scoop

As I was posting a news item today, I realized that while I cite plenty of articles and studies that we have found on Disability Scoop, that I have never actually featured them as a 'Resource of the Week!'
Disability Scoop is an EXCELLENT website and is definitely, like their site claims, 'the premier source for developmental disability news.'

The site features sections on special education, health & behavior, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, autism and more. Hot topics are featured on their home page. They have an email list to get regular news updates. I read their posts through an RSS Feed Reader.

If you put together a resource list for the parents and guardians of your clients/students, this would definitely be a good one to share!

Visit Disability Scoop Through a Link on our Blog

Therapy Activity of the Week: Sidewalk Chalk Fun and Games

This is a sample activity from the book, Sidewalk Chalk Fun and Games. This activity encourages gross motor skills, motor planning and muscle strengthening in the hands. Great pediatric OT activity.

Video provided by Your Therapy Source

Check out this Great Activity on our Blog

Pinterest Pinboard of the Week:Thanksgiving Themed Therapy Activities and Treats

The word on the street is that our readers very excited about our thematic pinboards on Pinterest. I would like to thank all of you that email me (and blogged about) our Halloween Pinterest Pinboard.
That said, let's move on to Thanksgiving!

Please enjoy our compilation (growing by the day) of great Thanksgiving Themed Therapy Activities Pinboard on Pinterest. At this writing there are over 300 items!

Learn More About and Visit our Thanksgiving Themed Therapy
Activities Pinboard on Pinterest

Guest Blogs This Week: Speech Gadget, Uncommon Sense

First Sound Series Books - By: Deb Tomarakos, SLP-CCC

This blog is titled Speech Gadget and my goal is to spread the word about various gadgets, software and web sites that promote speech/language development. There are times, however, when I might want to share a product that does not fall into my "gadget" category. Today is one such time, as I want to talk about the First Sound Series set of books.

This is a series of children's books that use repetition of functional vocabulary and familiar phrases while targeting early acquired speech sounds. The series was created by two Prompt Certified SLP's, Lavinia Pereira, M.A., CCC-SLP, PC and Michelle Solomon, M.A., CCC-SLP, PC. Currently the series includes books that target the following sounds: /k, o, g, p, b, m, h, a, t, d, n/.

For the Therapist, From the Mom - by Dana Nieder

It's been over 2 years since we started therapies. We are lucky to have a spectacular team of therapists who love Maya dearly, and I consider to be surrogate family members. But we went through a few others before we had our perfect team, and before I forget what the beginning was like, I thought that I should write this stuff down. So, here are my thoughts for the therapists, from the beginning.

Come on in, stranger.

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

Pediatric Therapy Corner: Thoughts on Prognosis From a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP)

[Source: Thinking Person's Guide to Autism]

By: Jordan S. Sadler, MS, CCC-SLP

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) sometimes ask, "What is my child's prognosis?" and that is understandable. As a parent, it is likely that I'd be asking it myself. However, it may be as difficult for therapists to answer as it is for parents to ask. For one thing, what do parents mean by "prognosis"? Does it simply mean, "What will the outcome be for my child after all this therapy? What will his future look like?" Or is it a way of asking, "How close to typical do you think my child will become? Will he eventually blend in with his peers more?"

Read the Rest of This Article on our Blog

Worth Repeating - 30 Speech and Language Goals for the Thomas the Train Table

Editor's Note: Thomas the Tank Engine is still a hot commodity with the kiddie set. Last week Mattel bought Hit Entertainment for almost $700 million dollars!! So, I guess the cheeky little engine and his friends will be around for a while. That said, check out this great article on how you can meet speech and language goals with this popular toy.by:

By: Rebecca Eisenberg, MS CCC-SLP, [Source: Advance for Speech-Language Pathologists]
After working in home-based early intervention for many years, one of the most common and challenging toys I have worked with has been the Thomas the Train™ Table. Children consistently gravitate to the table, and it has been a struggle at times to work on activities that do not involve it.

Recently, I decided to write speech and language goals that I could target with the Thomas the Train Table. After writing the goals, my therapy with this activity became clearer and more focused. These goals may be helpful for other therapists who work in the home and for parents to carry over goals the therapist is working on with their child.

Also Worth Repeating - Classroom Strategies for Choral Reading

Source: Reading Rockets

Choral reading is reading aloud in unison with a whole class or group of students. Choral reading helps build students' fluency, self-confidence, and motivation. Because students are reading aloud together, students who may ordinarily feel self-conscious or nervous about reading aloud have built-in support.

Why use choral reading?

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

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