Week in Review - May 4, 2012

WEEK IN REVIEW

NewNASETPublications and Articles of Interest in Special Education and Disabilities That Were Reported This Week

May 4, 2012 - Vol 8, Issue 17


 

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In This Issue

TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK


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Dear NASET News,

Welcome toNASET'sWEEK in REVIEWHere, we provide you with the latest publications fromNASETto read and or download, as well as some of the most interesting articles that have happened this week in the field of special education. We hope you enjoy this publication.  Feel free to send us articles for this publication or let us know your thoughts about theWEEK in REVIEWat news@naset.org.Have a great weekend.

Sincerely,


NASETNews Team


AASEP Logo

NASET MEMBER'S BENEFIT -

Board Certification in Special Education Available to NASET Members

Through an agreement with The American Academy of Special Education Professionals(AASEP), NASET members now have the opportunity to achieve AASEP Board Certification in Special Education - (B.C.S.E.) at a reduced fee.  AASEP Board Certification in Special Education - (B.C.S.E.) is a voluntary choice on the part of the candidate. The candidate for Board Certification wishes to demonstrate a commitment to excellence to employers, peers, administrators, other professionals, and parents. From the standpoint of the Academy, board certification will demonstrate the highest professional competency in the area of special education. Board Certification in Special Education establishes a much needed standard for professionals, across disciplines, who work with exceptional children.

 

For more information on Board Certification in Special Education,click here


New This Week on NASET

Special Educator e-Journal

May 2012
In this Issue:

Update from the U.S. Department of Education

Legal Issues in Special Education:Recent Court Decisions of Significant Interest to Special Education Teachers

Calls to Participate

Special Education Resources

Update From The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities

Latest Employment Opportunities Posted on NASET

Upcoming Conferences and Events

Funding Forecast and Award Opportunities


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______________________________________________________

The Practical Teacher for May

Latin and Greek Word Root Study to Accelerate Spelling, Vocabulary,

and Reading Proficiency for All Students

 

 

This issue ofNASET's Practical Teacherwas written by Matthew J. Glavach, Ph.D.  While Latin and Greek word root study typically is found in more advanced academic English classes, it offers great benefit for English language learners, struggling readers, and younger students as well. Latin and Greek word root study is an important way to accelerate vocabulary and reading proficiency.Latin and Greek Word Root Study to Accelerate Spelling, Vocabulary, and Reading Proficiency for All Studentspresents a unique approach to Latin and Greek word roots for spelling, decoding, and vocabulary (comprehension) development that can be used with a wide range of student skill levels in middle school and high school.  An extensive list of Latin and Greek word roots and their meanings is included.


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20 Percent of Kids With Developmental Delays Identified Late

Today,Easter Sealsis trying tospread the wordabout the underidentification of young children who have developmental delays. The organization, which is pushing for a $100 million increase to the federal budget forservices to young children with disabilities, is pushing for better detection of developmental delays in infants and toddlers. The current budget is about $440 million. President Obamahas proposeda $20 million increase. Easter Seals says that each year there are about 5 million children at risk for developmental delays, but only about 1 million actually get early intervention services. To read more,click here


Did You Know That....

Major birth defects are conditions that cause structural changes in one or more parts of the body; are present at birth; and have a serious, adverse effect on health, development, or functional ability

Parents' Poor Math Skills May = Medication Errors

Parents with poor math skills are more likely than others to give incorrect doses of medicine to their children, a new study finds. The study included 289 parents of children younger than 8 years who were prescribed a short course of liquid medication after being seen in a pediatric emergency department. The parents were given three tests to assess their math and reading skills, and researchers also watched the parents as they measured out a dose of the medication prescribed for their child. Nearly one-third of the parents had low reading skills and 83 percent had poor math skills. Twenty-seven percent had math skills at the third-grade level or below. To read more,click here


AASEP Logo

NASET MEMBER'S BENEFIT -

Board Certification in Special Education Available to NASET Members

Through an agreement with The American Academy of Special Education Professionals(AASEP), NASET members now have the opportunity to achieve AASEP Board Certification in Special Education - (B.C.S.E.) at a reduced fee.  AASEP Board Certification in Special Education - (B.C.S.E.) is a voluntary choice on the part of the candidate. The candidate for Board Certification wishes to demonstrate a commitment to excellence to employers, peers, administrators, other professionals, and parents. From the standpoint of the Academy, board certification will demonstrate the highest professional competency in the area of special education. Board Certification in Special Educationestablishes a much needed standard for professionals, across disciplines, who work with exceptional children.

 

For more information on Board Certification in Special Education,click here

Fetal Membrane Transplantation Helps Prevent Blindness

Transplanting tissue from newborn fetal membranes prevents blindness in patients with a devastating disease called Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a Loyola University Medical Center study has found. The study by senior author Charles Bouchard, MD, and colleagues is published online ahead of print in the journal Cornea. Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) is a disorder in which skin and mucous membranes, including the eye surface, react severely to a medication or infection. SJS causes painful skin blisters, and as the disease progress, the skin sloughs off as if the patient had been burned. A more severe form of the disease, involving more than 30 percent of the body surface, is called toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). To read more,click here


Some Schools Don't Let Kids Carry Asthma Inhalers

Although all 50 states have laws that allow children with asthma to carry inhalers at school and 48 states have laws that let youngsters carry epinephrine pens for serious allergies, experts say that some kids are still being denied access to these lifesaving medications during the school day. "Every school district handles this a little bit different, and for those who don't allow children to carry their medications, I think may be due to a lack of knowledge. School officials may not appreciate the risk that having epinephrine pens and inhalers in a locked office, instead of with the child, can pose," said Maureen George, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing in Philadelphia.To read more,click here


Did You Know That....

About one in every 33 babies (about 3%) is born with a birth defect


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Lehigh University Special Education Law Symposium, June 24-29, 2012

Lehigh University's intensive week-long special education law symposium provides a practical analysis of legislation, regulations, and case law relating to the education of students with disabilities. The symposium provides a thorough analysis of the leading issues under the IDEA and Section 504. Special features include: parallel tracks for basic and advanced practitioners, starting with a keynote dinner and presentation by Dr. Alexa Posny, Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education, and ending with a post-luncheon crystal-ball session  by Chicago attorney Darcy Kriha; a balance of knowledgeable district, parent, and neutral perspectives; essential topics with proven effective presenters for the basic track; and a brand new set of "hot topics" and faculty presenters for the advanced track.For more information visit http://www.lehigh.edu/education/law. Questions? Contact Tamara Bartolet (tlp205@lehigh.edu or 610/758-3226).


Under Pressure, Feds Move Forward With Community Living Plan

Medicaid officials have agreed to release long-awaited rules for a new program designed to expand community living, caving to pressure after disability advocates blocked all of the entrances to their building. The move comes after members of the disability rights group ADAPT protested outside the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Washington headquarters on Wednesday, demanding that federal officials release regulations governing the new Community First Choice Option. To read more,click here


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MJ-2-2012

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TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Guess the answer to this week's trivia question and we'll recognize you in next week's Week in Review.

Congratulations to: Doreen Evans,Maricel T. Bustos, Alexandra Pirard,Joanie Dikeman, Vicky Gill,Heather Shyrer, Jessica L. Ulmer, Kay Hennes, Kris W. Cutright,Lois Nembhard,Olumide Akerele, Chaya Tabor, Elaine Draper, Eileen Buerano, Jacqueline Berman,Craig Pate,Marilyn Haile,Marlene Barnett,andPrahbhjot Malhiwho all knew that there are reports that Presidents James Madison, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt had varying degrees of epileptic seizures.
THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION:
Spastic, Athetoid and Ataxic are the three main types of what disability?

If you know the answer, send an email tocontactus@naset.org
All answers must be submitted no later than Monday, May 7, 2012 at 12:00 p.m.

More Babies Today Have Irregular Head Shape: Expert

The incidence of babies with irregular head shapes, such as a flattened section in the back of the skull, have increased in the United States since the Back to Sleep campaign was introduced in 1994 to prevent sudden infant death syndrome, an expert says. "There's no doubt that as we as a country began putting babies to sleep on their backs, the incidence of [sudden infant death syndrome] declined significantly," Dr. Sherilyn Driscoll, director of pediatric rehabilitation medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said in a Mayo news release. "Simultaneously, the incidence of positional plagiocephaly, or head-shape asymmetry caused by babies' sleeping position, increased." To read more,click here


Top Ten Toxic Chemicals Suspected to Cause Neurodevelopmental Disorders

An editorial published April 25 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives calls for increased research to identify possible environmental causes of autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders in America's children and presents a list of ten target chemicals including which are considered highly likely to contribute to these conditions. Philip Landrigan, MD, MSc, a leader in children's environmental health and Director of the Children's Environmental Health Center (CEHC) at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, co-authored the editorial, entitled "A Research Strategy to Discover the Environmental Causes of Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disabilities," along with Luca Lambertini, PhD, MPH, MSc, Assistant Professor of Preventive Medicine at Mount Sinai and Linda Birnbaum, Director of the National Institute OF Environmental Health Sciences. To read more,click here


Bullied Children at Greater Risk for Self-Harm, Study Finds

Children who are bullied are three times more likely than others to self-harm by the time they are 12 years old, according to a new study. A team of researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom said its findings, published online April 27 in the BMJ, could help identify those at greatest risk for this type of behavior. Examples of self-harming behaviors included cutting and biting arms, pulling out clumps of hair, head-banging and attempted suicide by strangulation, the study said. To read more,click here


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Drug To Treat Autism's Core Symptoms May Soon Be Reality

In what could signal a turning point, researchers say they've identified a drug compound that may address two key facets of autism - repetitive behaviors and socialization. The compound known as GRN-529 is showing significant promise when tested in mice, giving researchers hope that it could lead to a biomedical treatment for people with autism. In astudypublished Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers tested the compound on a strain of mice known to exhibit autism-like behaviors. They found that mice that received the treatment spent less time repeatedly grooming themselves and more time sniffing noses with other mice as compared to mice who did not receive the drug. To read more,click here


D.C. Says Work Will Take Special Education Services to 'Next Level'

The District of Columbia says it believes work being done now using Race to the Top money can be a "game changer" for special education. Using$800,000 of its $75 millionin Race to the Top money, the District'sOffice of the State Superintendenthas partnered with the American Institutes of Research to find ways to dramatically improve special education services. The District has hada reputationfor being subpar, and it is working to change that. "We really see it as closely aligned with the purpose ofRace to the Top," said Amy Maisterra, the assistant superintendent of special education for the state agency overseeing public schools in D.C. To read more,click here


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Dietary Changes Help Some Children With ADHD

Together with child and adolescent psychiatrists, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have just completed an extensive report which reviews the studies which have been done so far on the significance of diet for children and young people with ADHD. The report shows that there are potential benefits in changing the diets of children with ADHD, but that key knowledge in the area is still lacking. The comprehensive report covers the scientific literature on the significance of diet for children with ADHD: "Our conclusion is that more research is required in the area. There is a lot to suggest that by changing their diet, it is possible to improve the condition for some ADHD children," says professor in paediatric nutrition Kim Fleischer Michaelsen from the Department of Human Nutrition at the Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, who is heading the study. To read more,click here


Quality Nursing May Protect Very Low Birth Weight Babies

Infants with very low birth weights -- less than 3.3 pounds -- do better if they're born at hospitals that have been officially recognized for nursing excellence, a new study finds.

The "RNE" designation, recognition for nursing excellence, is awarded by the American Nurses Credentialing Center when nursing care achieves exemplary practice or leadership in five areas. Only about 7 percent of U.S. hospitals receive the RNE designation. For the new study, U.S. researchers looked at 72,000 infants with very low birth weights and found that those born at RNE hospitals had far lower rates of hospital infection (16.7 percent versus 18.3 percent), lower rates of a type of brain bleeding called severe intraventricular hemorrhage (7.2 percent versus 7.8 percent), and lower rates of death after seven days (7 percent versus 7.4 percent) compared to those born at non-RNE hospitals. To read more,click here


Did You Know That....

Birth defects are a leading cause of infant death, accounting for more than 1 of every 5 infant deaths. Babies born with birth defects have a greater chance of illness and long term disability than babies without birth defects

That Impulsive, Moody Preschooler May Grow Up to Be a Problem Gambler

Give me the child at 3 and I will give you the adult compulsive gambler. That is the striking finding of a new study in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science. Based on tests of over 900 individuals beginning in toddlerhood, the study found that "people who were rated at age three as being more restless, inattentive, oppositional, and moody than other three-year old children were twice as likely to grow up to have problems with gambling as adults three decades later," says psychologist Wendy S. Slutske of University of Missouri, who conducted the study with Terrie E. Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi, both of Duke University and University College/London; and Richie Poulton of University of Otago, in Dunedin, New Zealand. To read more,click here

Battling the Bullying of a Child with Autism

From the time she was a toddler, Abby Mahoney's parents knew she was different. She could name 200 dinosaurs by age 3, and offered up detailed theories about why they became extinct. Abby also had difficulty making friends. And teachers didn't understand why an intelligent child would crawl under her desk while the other kids sat in a circle reading a book. "She talked like a little professor. A lot of people remarked how amazing it was she was so brilliant," said Abby's mom, Patricia. "It took us awhile to figure out that the reason she had difficulty relating to her peers was that she had Asperger's." To read more,click here


Student Engineers Automate Limb Lengthening for Kids

Another day, another four turns of the screw. That's just a part of life for people, primarily children, undergoing the long and difficult process of distraction osteogenesis, a method to correct bone deformities that leave one limb shorter than the other. A team of Rice University undergraduates has invented a device they hope will make the process safer and easier. In collaboration with Shriners Hospital for Children in Houston, the students came up with "LinDi," a self-adjusting, automated linear distractor. It eliminates manual manipulation of the screw with a motorized process that makes the gradual growth of new bone a more natural process. And for the first time in such a device, they have built in a force-feedback loop that protects fragile tissues and nerves from being overstressed. To read more,click here


Food For Thought..........

Action is the foundational key to all success.
Pablo Picasso

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