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Showing posts with label SPD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SPD. Show all posts

From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

GROWING RECOGNITION OF SPD. An article in the Chicago Tribune noted how more and  more parents and therapists are aware of sensory processing disorder. The article profiles several families who have SPD kids and describes approaches to treating the condition. Read the article.
AD/HD. Readers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter know that experts recognize at least three subtypes of AD/HD. Recent research indicates that AD/HD is an entire family of disorders. Further research is needed to better understand the subcategories in terms of both diagnosis and treatment. Read more. Separately, the title of an opinion piece in the Washington Post by Katherine Ellison is "We're not paying enough attention to AD/HD." She notes, "A conservative study in 2007 estimated the annual U.S. costs of AD/HD treatment and other related expenses, including parental work loss and juvenile justice, to be as high as $52.4 billion." And she urges parents, doctors, and schools to all pay more attention to ways to reduce that financial and emotional burden on all involved. Read the article.
DYSLEXIA. Other recent research indicates that visual attention deficits may be predictive of dyslexia even before children learn to read. The researchers tested children's ability to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant visual cues. Read more.
GENDER IN AUTISM. More boys than girls are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders, and a psychiatrist explores that issue at CNN.com, including differences in expression and possible explanations for a lower rate of diagnosis among girls. Read the article.
ATTENTION RESEARCH UPDATE. The March edition of David Rabiner's newsletter has been posted, and in it he examines a study of the over- and mis-diagnosis of AD/HD by clinicians. Find the newsletter.
GREAT POTENTIAL PRESS, publisher of books on gifted topics, is on Facebook. Drop in and "like" them. http://www.facebook.com/GreatPotentialPress,
SENG. On April 19, Terry Friedrichs will present a SENGinar titled "Teaching Academics to Gifted Youth with Asperger's." SENG says that the event is intended to allow attendees to discover "how to improve on the youths' skills in communicating, understanding directions, and predicting consequences in basic academic subjects at the elementary, middle and secondary levels." Find out more. 

PRUFROCK PRESS is offering another free partial download from one of their books, this one School Success for Kids with Autism. Go there.  


From the Publishers of 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter

NITE NEEDS ASSESSMENT SURVEY. The National Institute for Twice Exceptionality is surveying professionals about current intervention systems, and beliefs about, twice-exceptional students. "Professionals" include educators, counselors, and psychologists. If you fit the label, we urge you to help out our friends at NITE. NITE says the survey takes about 10 minutes. Find out about and take the survey. 

AD/HD AND DIET. Some parents of kids with AD/HD will tell you that diet "for sure" plays a part in their children's symptoms -- and a recent study may bear them out. The study indicates that a restrictive diet can significantly reduce AD/HD-related symptoms. In fact, one of the researchers told NPR, "AD/HD, it's just a couple of symptoms -- it's not a disease." Could be an understatement, but read more at the NPR site.
GIFTED AND SENSORY-SENSITIVE? And 18 or over? A PhD candidate in Australia invites you to participate in a survey investigating relationships between sensory-processing sensitivity, personality, and cognitive reasoning. She invites you to participate yourself or to share the survey with others you know who might be interested in furthering psychological research. Find out more about the survey at the survey site.
DYSLEXIA DIARY. A mom with a gifted and dyslexic daughter has started blogging the effect of the exceptionalities on life in her household. In a similar situation? Find the blog.
SLEEP PROBLEMS. The National Sleep Foundation has issued the results of a poll studying people's sleep habits -- whether they get good sleep, and what they might be doing to interfere with sleep. The study applies to a a number of age bands between 13 and 64, O Gifted One, so you might find information useful to both you and to that twice-exceptional child you raise or teach. For example: the study indicates that most of us spend time with electronics in the hour before bed, but also points out that "Artificial light exposure between dusk and the time we go to bed at night suppresses release of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin, enhances alertness and shifts circadian rhythms to a later hour -- making it more difficult to fall asleep" -- which was news to us. Find out more.

EFFECTIVE CHILD-REARING. An article in Scientific American Mind provides an analysis of effective child-rearing practices. Researchers distilled 10 skill sets from the "literature," then surveyed 2000 parents to determine which skills are most important  in "bringing up healthy, happy, and successful kids," according to the article. Number one: giving love and affection. Numbers two and three: managing stress and having a good relationship with the other parent. Low on the list: the use of behavioral management techniques, a finding that makes us personally happy because we never did as much of that as we thought we should. You can read some of the article at the SciAm Mind site.
MORE ON PARENTING. Science Daily points us to research showing that parents' efforts in educating their children is more important than efforts by the school or by the children themselves. The study also found that the socio-economic status of parents has an effect on the effort a school puts out. Read more.
ACCOMMODATIONS FOR ACT, SAT. If your gifted/LD child needs accommodations for college entrance exams such as the SAT or the ACT, check out an article in The New York Times, called "Accommodations Angst." The article provides statistics on the percentage of accommodation requests approved by the College Board and ACT. You'll also find background on the law and disability rights, plus some tips on how to gain the accommodations your child might need and deserve. Find the article.
VIDEO RESOURCE. The UC-Davis MIND Institute offers free online videos on a variety of topics of interest to those who raise, educate, and counsel twice-exceptional children. Topics include AD/HD, advocacy, ASD, assistive technology, learning disorders, treatment/therapy/intervention, and more. For example, under the topic "learning disorders," a visitor can choose from videos with titles such as:
  • Functional Brain Imaging Studies of Reading and Reading Disabilities
  • The Linguistic Basis of Reading Disabilities
  • Assessing Communication Skills of Young Children with Multiple Disabilities/Sensory Impairments: An Interdisciplinary Approach
The videos are presented by a variety of professionals; most are at least an hour long. Find the videos. 
NEW YORK SPD WORKSHOP.  Parents of children with a sensory processing disorder (SPD) and clinicians treating children with a SPD can learn about the latest research and treatment techniques at a full-day workshop to be held at Columbia University's Faculty House in Manhattan on December 3. The workshop will teach parents and clinicians how to create a tailored sensory experience for children, movement skills in the school and home environment and offer tips on seeking funding for the child's treatment. The workshop will also be available in Philadelphia. More information.
FAST FOOD AND YOUR CHILD. USA Today reported on research done by Yale University on nutrition and fast food. [That might be an oxymoron.] Research covered 3000 kids' meal combinations served up by eight chains. The findings: only a dozen or so of those meals are healthful. Read the USA Today article. Or, find out a lot more about the topic at the Fast Food Marketing site.

BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK IS MARCH 15-21. According to its sponsor, the Dana Foundation, "Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is the global campaign to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. Every March BAW unites the efforts of universities, hospitals, patient groups, government agencies, schools, service organizations, and professional associations worldwide in a week-long celebration of the brain." Find out more at the Dana Foundation site.

SCIENCE VIDEO CONTEST. If your bright young student is engaged by science -- especially by nuclear and other energy sources -- Westinghouse offers a contest for middle- and high-schoolers. The press release announcing the contest says this: "To be eligible, each video must outline three key advantages of nuclear power and two other forms of energy. The video can be staged as a short play, commercial, news broadcast, talk show, music video, documentary, etc. Students are encouraged to be creative, yet informative." Find out more.

SELF-ADVOCACY. Wrightlaw's Special Ed Advocate for March 2nd focuses on ways to allow a child with an LD to advocate for him- or herself -- so that "a student understands her strengths and needs, has knowledge about her legal rights and responsibilities, can identify personal goals, and has the chance to participate in decisions that are being made about her life." Find this issue.

SPD AND DSM? We've posted about AD/HD and the new DSM, as well as Asperger's. An article in the Boston Globe points out how "a group of researchers, families, and occupational therapists is aggressively lobbying to get sensory processing disorder included in the next edition of the association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders." The article covers both sides of the issue of SPD's inclusion in the next DSM. Read it.