Week in Review - August 10, 2012

WEEK IN REVIEW

New NASET Publications and Articles of Interest in Special Education and Disabilities That Were Reported This Week

August 10, 2012 - Vol 8, Issue 30


 

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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 the WEEK in REVIEW atnews@naset.org. Have a great weekend.

Sincerely,


NASETNews Team

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New This Week on NASET

The Parent Teacher Conference Handout
August 2012

Intelligence Tests

While intelligence tests are an integral part of an evaluation on any child with a disability, many parents do not understand what they do or what they measure. The following Parent Teacher Conference Handout explains intelligence tests and allows parents the knowledge of what the scores mean.

To read or download this issue -Click here (login required)
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Brain Development Delayed in ADHD, Study Shows

Is attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) due to a delay in brain development or the result of complete deviation from typical development? In the current issue of Biological Psychiatry, Dr. Philip Shaw and colleagues present evidence for delay based on a study by the National Institutes of Health. The cerebral cortex is the folded gray tissue that makes up the outermost portion of the brain, covering the brain's inner structures. This tissue has left and right hemispheres and is divided into lobes. Each lobe performs specific and vitally important functions, including attention, thought, language, and sensory processing. Two dimensions of this structure are cortical thickness and cortical surface area, both of which mature during childhood as part of the normal developmental process. This group of scientists had previously found that the thickening process is delayed in children diagnosed with ADHD. So in this study, they set out to measure whether surface area development is similarly delayed. To read more, click here

In-Person Bullying Still Bigger Problem Than Cyberbullying

Face-to-face bullying is far more common than cyberbullying among youth and should be the main focus of prevention programs, according to an expert. Psychologist Dan Olweus, of the University of Bergen, in Norway, said his findings in several large-scale studies challenge the widespread belief that cyberbullying is the major problem. He was scheduled to present his research Saturday at the American Psychological Association's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. "Claims by the media and researchers that cyberbullying has increased dramatically and is now the big school-bullying problem are largely exaggerated," Olweus said in an APA news release. "There is very little scientific support to show that cyberbullying has increased over the past five to six years, and this form of bullying is actually a less frequent phenomenon." To read more, click here

Did You Know That....

Before the school may proceed with the evaluation, parents must give their informed written consent. This consent is for the evaluation only. It does not mean that the school has the parents' permission to provide special education services to the child. That requires a separate consent.

Judging Adolescents' Actions: Teens Mature Intellectually Before They Mature Emotionally

Determining when a teenage brain becomes an adult brain is not an exact science but it's getting closer, according to an expert in adolescent developmental psychology, speaking at the American Psychological Association's 120th Annual Convention. Important changes in adolescent brain anatomy and activity take place far later in development than previously thought, and those findings could impact how policymakers and the highest courts are treating teenagers, said Laurence Steinberg, PhD. "Explicit reference to the science of adolescent brain development is making its way into the national conversation," said Steinberg, a professor of psychology at Temple University. To read more, click here

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Emotion Detectives Uncover New Ways to Fight-Off Youth Anxiety and Depression

Emotional problems in childhood are common. Approximately 8 to 22 percent of children suffer from anxiety, often combined with other conditions such as depression. However, most existing therapies are not designed to treat coexisting psychological problems and are therefore not very successful in helping children with complex emotional issues. To develop a more effective treatment for co-occurring youth anxiety and depression, University of Miami psychologist Jill Ehrenreich-May and her collaborator Emily L. Bilek analyzed the efficacy and feasibility of a novel intervention created by the researchers, called Emotion Detectives Treatment Protocol (EDTP). Preliminary findings show a significant reduction in the severity of anxiety and depression after treatment, as reported by the children and their parents. To read more, click here

Fragile X and Down Syndromes Share Signalling Pathway for Intellectual Disability

Intellectual disability due to Fragile X and Down syndromes involves similar molecular pathways report researchers in The EMBO Journal. The two disorders share disturbances in the molecular events that regulate the way nerve cells develop dendritic spines, the small extensions found on the surface of nerve cells that are crucial for communication in the brain. "We have shown for the first time that some of the proteins altered in Fragile X and Down syndromes are common molecular triggers of intellectual disability in both disorders," said Kyung-Tai Min, one of the lead authors of the study and a professor at Indiana University and the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Korea. "Specifically, two proteins interact with each other in a way that limits the formation of spines or protrusions on the surface of dendrites." He added: "These outgrowths of the cell are essential for the formation of new contacts with other nerve cells and for the successful transmission of nerve signals. When the spines are impaired, information transfer is impeded and mental retardation takes hold."To read more, click here

Did You Know That....

If parents refuse consent for an initial evaluation (or simply don't respond to the school's request), the school must carefully document all its attempts to obtain parent consent. It may also continue to pursue conducting the evaluation by using the law's due process procedures or its mediation procedures, unless doing so would be inconsistent with state law relating to parental consent.

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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:  Jessica L. Ulmer, Jayne Gray, Olumide Akerele, Prahbhjot Malhi, and Elaine Draper who all knew the answer to last week's trivia question:

According to the latest review commissioned by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), children with disabilities are 3.7 times more likely to experience violence than those without disabilities.


THIS WEEK'S TRIVIA QUESTION:
IDEA is a discretionary grant program in which states choose to participate. Though none currently opt out, states may forgo federal IDEA funds in order to avoid complying with IDEA's due process requirements. In fact, one state elected not to receive federal funds when the program was established in 1975. It finally decided to participate in 1984, thereby having all 50 states participate.  What was the last state to participate in receiving IDEA funding (the only one to "opt out" in 1975)?
If you know the answer, send an email to contactus@naset.org
All answers must be submitted no later than Monday, August 13, 2012 at 12:00 p.m.

Parents Get Physical With Unruly Kids, Study Finds

Parents get physical with their misbehaving children in public much more than they show in laboratory experiments and acknowledge in surveys, according to one of the first real-world studies of caregiver discipline. The study, led by Michigan State University's Kathy Stansbury, found that 23 percent of youngsters received some type of "negative touch" when they failed to comply with a parental request in public places such as restaurants and parks. Negative touch included arm pulling, pinching, slapping and spanking. "I was very surprised to see what many people consider a socially undesirable behavior done by nearly a quarter of the caregivers," Stansbury said. "I have also seen hundreds of kids and their parents in a lab setting and never once witnessed any of this behavior." To read more, click here

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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

Speaking Multiple Languages Can Influence Children's Emotional Development

On the classic TV show "I Love Lucy," Ricky Ricardo was known for switching into rapid-fire Spanish whenever he was upset, despite the fact Lucy had no idea what her Cuban husband was saying. These scenes were comedy gold, but they also provided a relatable portrayal of the linguistic phenomenon of code-switching. This kind of code-switching, or switching back and forth between different languages, happens all the time in multilingual environments, and often in emotional situations. In a new article in the July issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, psychological scientists Stephen Chen and Qing Zhou of the University of California, Berkeley and Morgan Kennedy of Bard College delve deeper into this linguistic phenomenon. To read more, click here

Childhood Defiance Correlated With Drug Dependence

Childhood defiance is correlated with drug dependence whereas inattention suggests a susceptibility to smoking. Children who exhibit oppositional behavior run the risk of becoming addicted to nicotine, cannabis and cocaine whilst Inattention symptoms represent a specific additional risk of nicotine addiction. Nevertheless, hyperactivity in itself does not seem to be associated with any specific risk of substance abuse or dependence. This is what researchers at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center's (UHC) Research Center and the University of Montreal concluded following a 15-year population-based study published in Molecular Psychiatry. To read more, click here

What Sets Allergies in Motion?

Allergies, or hypersensitivities of the immune system, are more common than ever before. According to the Asthma and Allergies Foundation of America, one in five Americans suffers from an allergy -- from milder forms like hay fever to more severe instances, like peanut allergies which can lead to anaphylactic shock. While medications like antihistamines can treat the symptoms of an allergic reaction, the treatment is too limited, says Prof. Ronit Sagi-Eisenberg, a cell biologist at Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine. Cells release dozens of molecules during an allergic reaction, and available medications address only a small subset. Now she and her fellow researchers are working to identify what triggers allergic reactions in the body, with the goal of stopping an allergic reaction before it starts. To read more, click here

Don't Trust 'Dr. Google' for Help on Infant Sleep Safety

New research suggests that parents shouldn't trust a Google search for accurate information on infant sleep safety. These Web searches commonly turned up results that contradicted current recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics aimed at reducing the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), suffocation, strangulation and other accidental sleep-related deaths, the study found. What is particularly worrisome, the researchers said, is that 72 percent of adults say they trust most or all of the health information they find on the Internet.

The study was published Aug. 2 in the Journal of Pediatrics. To read more, click here

Smooth Transition: Researchers Helping Freshmen With ADHD Succeed in College

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, affects 1 to 4 percent of college students, according to national studies. For freshmen with ADHD, the transition to college can be especially difficult. Kristy Morgan, recent Kansas State University doctoral graduate in student affairs and higher education, Leavenworth, Kan., has studied ways to help college students with ADHD plan a successful transition to college. Research shows that college students with ADHD have a tangible struggle with a medical condition that cannot be dismissed as an everyday struggle. "Nobody had really studied the transition from high school to college," Morgan said. "Transitions can be the toughest time for people. This can be especially true when the transition is from the home environment where parents have been involved in daily plans, schedules and medication." To read more, click here

Did You Know That....

If the child is home-schooled or has been placed in a private school by parents (meaning, the parents are paying for the cost of the private school), a school may not override parents' lack of consent for an initial evaluation of the child.

Psychological Abuse Puts Children at Risk

Child abuse experts say psychological abuse can be as damaging to a young child's physical, mental and emotional health as a slap, punch or kick. While difficult to pinpoint, it may be the most challenging and prevalent form of child abuse and neglect, experts say in an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) position statement on psychological maltreatment in the August issue of the journal Pediatrics. Psychological abuse includes acts such as belittling, denigrating, terrorizing, exploiting, emotional unresponsiveness, or corrupting a child to the point a child's well-being is at risk, said Dr. Harriet MacMillan, a professor in the departments of psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences and pediatrics of McMaster University's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and the Offord Centre for Child Studies. One of three authors of the position statement, she holds the David R. (Dan) Offord Chair in Child Studies at McMaster. To read more, click here

Infants Exposed to Specific Molds Have Higher Asthma Risk

In the United States, one in 10 children suffers from asthma but the potential environmental factors contributing to the disease are not well known. Cincinnati-based researchers now report new evidence that exposure to three types of mold during infancy may have a direct link to asthma development during childhood. These forms of mold -- Aspergillus ochraceus, Aspergillus unguis and Penicillium variabile -- are typically found growing in water-damaged homes, putting a spotlight on the importance of mold remediation for public health. Lead author Tiina Reponen, PhD, and colleagues report these findings in the August 2012 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the official scientific publication of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. To read more, click here

Pets May Help Kids With Autism Develop Social Skills

Introducing a pet into the home of a child with autism may help that child develop improved social behaviors, new research finds. The study, from French researchers, is the first strong scientific evidence that animals may help foster social skills in individuals with autism, but it also reinforces what clinicians have been hearing anecdotally for years. "We hear from parents a lot that having a pet or interacting with an animal really helps their child's social behavior, but there hasn't been a study so far that has looked at that scientifically," said Alycia Halladay, director of environmental research at Autism Speaks. "This offers some intriguing evidence to confirm what parents have been saying." Halladay was not involved with the study, which was published online Aug. 1 in the journal PLoS ONE. To read more, click here

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

No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.

Calvin Coolidge
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