Week in Review - November 10, 2017

NASET

WEEK IN REVIEW

National Association of Special Education Teachers

November 10, 2017                     Vol 13 Issue #44

Continuing_Ed


Dear NASET News,

Welcome to NASET'sWEEK in REVIEW.  Here, we provide you with the latest publications fromNASET to 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 at news@naset.org. Have a great weekend.

Sincerely,

NASET News Team
NEW THIS WEEK ON NASET
Parent Teacher Conference Handout
What is Traumatic Brain Injury
A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an injury to the brain caused by the head being hit by something or shaken violently. (The exact definition of TBI, according to special education law, is given below.) This injury can change how the person acts, moves, and thinks. A traumatic brain injury can also change how a student learns and acts in school. Read More
Bullying of Children
Becoming a Teacher Ambassador to Combat Bullying of Students with Special Needs in an Elementary School Setting

Many students with disabilities are bullied within their schools. This can lead to a negative self-image, depression, and even suicide. A way to combat the bullying of students with special needs, specifically Autism, is to help build a culture or acceptance and awareness within the school environment. This article summarizes the steps taken in one elementary school in Irmo, South Carolina to build acceptance for students with Autism. These steps are offered to give other educators of students with Autism or other special needs ideas of how they might build an inclusive and accepting community within their own schools. Read More
How to Detect the Risk of Dyslexia Before Learning to Read
Almost 10% of the world population suffers dyslexia. Establishing an early diagnosis would allow the development of training programs to palliate this disorder. We now may be nearer to reaching this goal thanks to a study carried out by the Basque Centre on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL), associating auditory processing in children to their reading skills. The results offer a new approach for detecting the risk before the children learn to read. Difficulty recognizing words, decoding and writing problems, limitation of reading comprehension... These are the main consequences of dyslexia, a cognitive disorder of neurological origin in which a late diagnosis is the main handicap. Read More


Virtual Reality Reduces Phantom Pain in Individuals with Paraplegia
In breakthrough research led by neuroscientist Olaf Blanke and his team at EPFL, Switzerland, the scientists show that phantom body pain can be reduced in paraplegics by creating a bodily illusion with the help of virtual reality. The results are published in Neurology. "We managed to provoke an illusion: the illusion that the subject's legs were being lightly tapped, when in fact the subject was actually being tapped on the back, above the spinal cord lesion," explains Blanke, lead author of the study and holder of the Foundation Bertarelli Chair in Cognitive Neuroprosthetics. "When we did this, the subjects also reported that their pain had diminished." Read More
Bilingual Preschoolers Show Stronger Inhibitory Control
For students in preschool, speaking two languages may be better than one, especially for developing inhibitory control -- the ability to stop a hasty reflexive response and instead select a more adaptive response. That idea isn't new, but a University of Oregon study took a longitudinal approach to examine the bilingual advantage hypothesis, which suggests that the demands associated with managing two languages confer cognitive advantages that extend beyond the language domain. The study appeared in the journal Developmental Science. Researchers looked at a national sample of 1,146 Head Start children who were assessed for their inhibitory control at age 4, and then followed over an 18-month period. The children were divided into three groups based on their language proficiency: Those who spoke only English; those who spoke both Spanish and English; and those who spoke only Spanish at the start of the study but were fluent in both English and Spanish at the follow up assessment. Read More
Umbilical Cord Blood Improves Motor Skills in Some Children with Cerebral Palsy
An infusion of cells from a child's own umbilical cord blood appears to improve brain connectivity and motor function in children with spastic cerebral palsy, according to a randomized clinical trial published this week by Stem Cells Translational Medicine. The placebo-controlled, phase two trial included 63 children with varied types and severities of spastic cerebral palsy, a condition usually caused by brain damage before or at birth. Children who received one intravenous dose of at least 25 million stem cells per kilogram of their body weight saw improvements in motor function a year later. The improvements were greater than those typically observed for children of similar age and condition, and exceeded the gains made by children who received a lower dose of cells or a placebo. Read More
Board Certification in Special Education Available to NASET Members
AASEP Logo
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.Read More
Artificial Intelligence to Evaluate Brain Maturity of Preterm Infants
University of Helsinki researchers have developed artificial intelligence software, which can evaluate the maturity of a preterm infant's brain directly from an EEG. Researchers at the University of Helsinki and the Helsinki University Hospital (HUH) have developed software based on machine learning, which can independently interpret EEG signals from a premature infant and generate an estimate of the brain's functional maturity. Published in the journal Scientific Reports, the method is the first EEG-based brain maturity evaluation system in the world. It is more precise than other currently understood methods of evaluating the development of an infant's brain, and enables the automatic and objective monitoring of a premature infant's brain development. Read More
Early Childhood Adversities Linked to Health Problems in Tweens, Teens
Adverse experiences in childhood -- such as the death of a parent, growing up in poverty, physical or sexual abuse, or having a parent with a psychiatric illness -- have been associated with physical and mental health problems later in life. But new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has shown that multiple adverse experiences in early childhood are linked to depression and physical health problems in kids as young as 9 to 15. Further, the researchers have identified a potential pathway in the brain to explain how such stressful experiences influence poor health in kids. The researchers found that a key brain structure involved in regulating emotions and decision-making is smaller in kids who have lived through three or more adverse experiences before the age of 8, compared with kids whose lives were more stable. Read More


TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Congratulations to: Kayla Pickney, Janis Hawkins, Sue Avery, Prahbhjot Malhi, Suzanne Osborne, Cindi Maurice, Denise Keeling, Christine Hartman, Patsy Ray, Ranyelle Lanier, Hilary Hollian Leavitt, Olumide Akerele, Melody Owens, Laura Malena, Mandy Stout, who all knew the answer to last week's trivia question.

QUESTION: Recently, a new line of clothes for an often overlooked set of customers - people with disabilities, has been formed. The collection uses magnets and Velcro to make it easier for people to get dressed. The line has 37 styles for men and 34 for women - shirts, pants, jackets, sweaters and dresses. The button-down shirts have buttons and cuffs that fasten with magnets to help people with disabilities take them off over their heads or get dressed with one hand. Pants, including chinos and denim jeans, feature magnetic flies and zippers and adjustable hems to accommodate leg braces and orthotics. They also have pull-on loops inside of waistbands. According to its founder, "inclusivity and the democratization of fashion have always been at the core of my brand's DNA....These collections continue to build on that vision, empowering differently abled adults to express themselves through fashion." What is the name of the founder and clothing line? 

ANSWER:  TOMMY HILFIGER

The Trivia Question of the Week will return on November 17, 2017
Brain Activity is Inherited, May Inform Treatment for ADHD, Autism
Every person has a distinct pattern of functional brain connectivity known as a connectotype, or brain fingerprint. A new study conducted at OHSU in Portland, Oregon, concludes that while individually unique, each connectotype demonstrates both familial and heritable relationships. The results published today in Network Neuroscience. "Similar to DNA, specific brain systems and connectivity patterns are passed down from adults to their children," said the study's principal investigator Damien Fair, Ph.D., P.A.-C., associate professor of behavioral neuroscience and psychiatry, OHSU School of Medicine. "This is significant because it may help us to better characterize aspects of altered brain activity, development or disease." Read More
Adolescents Don't Just Think of Themselves
Parents often see that when their sweet, socially-minded children become adolescents they change into selfish 'hotel guests' who think only of themselves. But adolescents become increasingly better at weighing up one another's interests. This discovery has been made by development psychologist Rosa Meuwese. PhD defense 31 October. 'Adolescents don't have a great reputation in terms of their social behavior,' Meuwese says. 'You often hear parents say that their sweet, socially-minded children turn into selfish, lazy hotel guests who only think of me, myself & I. But out of sight of their parents, adolescents learn a lot about social behavior from their peers.' That may not be much of a consolation for their parents, but if they have a better understanding of the purpose of these social experiences in the development of the adolescent brain, it can help them to trust in the social journey of discovery that their adolescent children are undergoing. Read More
Childhood Spankings Can Lead to Adult Mental Health Problems
Getting spanked as a child can lead to a host of mental health problems in adulthood, say University of Michigan researchers. A new study by Andrew Grogan-Kaylor and Shawna Lee, both U-M associate professors of social work, and colleagues indicates the violence caused by spanking can lead adults to feel depressed, attempt suicide, drink at moderate-to-heavy levels or use illegal drugs. "Placing spanking in a similar category to physical/emotional abuse experiences would increase our understanding of these adult mental health problems," Grogan-Kaylor said. Spanking is defined as using physical force with the intention of causing a child to experience pain, but not injury, to correct or control the youth's behavior. Read More
Largest Ever Collection of Patient Data of Inherited Epilepsy Conditions
Researchers from Swansea University Medical School have joined up with five other centers from around the world to compile the biggest recorded collection of families with forms of epilepsy where genetics may play a part in the recurring feature of the condition. The aim was to determine if specific clinical epilepsy features aggregate within families and whether this may constitute distinct family syndromes that could inform on subsequent genetic research. The study involved epilepsy researchers from six Centers (Melbourne, Swansea, Montreal, Columbia University, Dublin and Otago) assembling a cohort of 'genetically enriched' common epilepsies by collecting families containing multiple individuals with unprovoked seizures. 303 families with three or more individuals with unprovoked seizures were included in this study and collected across the six Centers and as part of the Epi4K consortium. Twenty-eight families collected from across Wales by the Neurology Research team met the study criteria. Read More
In Autism, too Many Brain Connections May be at Root of Condition
A defective gene linked to autism influences how neurons connect and communicate with each other in the brain, according to a study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Rodents that lack the gene form too many connections between brain neurons and have difficulty learning. The findings, published Nov. 2 in Nature Communications, suggest that some of the diverse symptoms of autism may stem from a malfunction in communication among cells in the brain. "This study raises the possibility that there may be too many synapses in the brains of patients with autism," said senior author Azad Bonni, MD, PhD, the Edison Professor of Neuroscience and head of the Department of Neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "You might think that having more synapses would make the brain work better, but that doesn't seem to be the case. An increased number of synapses creates miscommunication among neurons in the developing brain that correlates with impairments in learning, although we don't know how." Read More
Dogs May Protect Against Childhood Eczema and Asthma
"Good dog!" Two studies being presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting show there may be even more reason to love your dog. The first study shows babies born in a home with a dog during pregnancy receive protection from allergic eczema, though the protective effect goes down by age 10. A second study shows dogs may provide a protective effect against asthma, even in children allergic to dogs. "Although eczema is commonly found in infants, many people don't know there is a progression from eczema to food allergies to nasal allergies and asthma," says allergist Gagandeep Cheema, MD, ACAAI member and lead author. "We wanted to know if there was a protective effect in having a dog that slowed down that progress." Read More
Potential New Treatment for Fragile X Targets One Gene to Affect Many
In Fragile X Syndrome -- the leading genetic form of intellectual disability and autism -- the effects of a single defective gene ripple through a series of chemical pathways, altering signals between brain cells. It's a complex condition, but new research from Rockefeller University finds that inhibiting a regulatory protein alters the intricate signaling chemistry that is responsible for many of the disease's symptoms in animal models. The work, published in Cell, offers insight into how redundant mechanisms control the amount of protein in a cell and provides a path to possible therapeutics for the autism spectrum disorders. The work centers on a group of proteins -- known as chromatin remodeling proteins -- that control gene expression. Chromatin remodelers work by adding chemical tags to DNA, regulating the cellular machinery that transcribes genes into messages. Read More
Wait a Minute! Clamping the Umbilical Cord Later Saves Preterm Babies' Lives
Thousands of preterm babies could be saved by waiting 60 seconds before clamping the umbilical cord after birth instead of clamping it immediately -- according to two international studies coordinated by the University of Sydney's National Health and Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Centre. Approved for publishing in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the review led by University of Sydney researchers, assessed morbidity and mortality outcomes from 18 trials comparing delayed versus immediate cord clamping in nearly 3,000 babies born before 37 weeks' gestation. It found clear evidence that delayed clamping reduced hospital mortality by a third and is safe for mothers and pre-term infants. Read More
21 Percent Increase in Childhood Peanut Allergy Since 2010
Parents often worry about peanut allergies because the reaction to peanuts can be very severe. New late-breaking research being presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting suggests that peanut allergy in children has increased 21 percent since 2010, and that nearly 2.5 percent of U.S. children may have an allergy to peanuts. "Peanut allergies, along with other food allergies, are very challenging for children and families," says Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, ACAAI member and lead author of the study. "While 21 percent represents a large increase in the number of kids with a likely peanut allergy, the good news is that parents now have a way to potentially prevent peanut allergy by introducing peanut products to infants early after assessing risk with their pediatrician and allergist." Read More

jobs
LATEST JOB LISTINGS POSTED ON NASET

*Early Childhood Special Educator - Sterling Medical has an opening for Early Childhood Special Educators to work with children of American military families stationed at overseas. Positions currently available are located at Lakenheath UK, Naples Italy, and Okinawa Japan. Position works in a home-based early intervention program, providing services to infants and toddlers of American military families stationed overseas. To learn more -Click here

*Early Childhood Special Education Teacher - This private special education school services students with language, learning, sensory motor disabilities, and moderate to high functioning Autism. This special education teacher position is for an early education classroom. To learn more -Click here

*Licensed Special Education Teacher - Think is a multidisciplinary center offering services to children in Bahrain who have developmental and behavior disorders. We are a dynamic center with in-clinic and outreach programs, supervisors, leads and primary therapists in addition to SLT and OT services. We have a beautiful, custom facility that accommodates over 20 clinical staff. To learn more - Click here
*Special Education Teacher - JCFS is currently seeking a Special Education Teacher to work with individuals and small groups of children (K - 12) with emotional and behavior disorders in a therapeutic special education classroom. The Therapeutic Day School is located in West Rogers Park, Chicago, IL. To learn more - Click here

*Special Education Teacher - Various Positions Open: 2 positions for Special Education Resource 5th - 8th, Special Education Resource K-3rd, SPED - Social Skills le-4th, SPED - Social Skills 6th - 8th, Arizona certification required. To learn more - Click here

*Licensed Special Education Teacher - Now Offering $2,000 sign on payment** and **$2,000 relocation allowance (if applicable). Youth Villages' Residential Treatment programs serve children with emotional and behavioral problems. Our residential campuses provide the setting for an intensive treatment program that combines the unique balance of structure and freedom. To learn more - Click here

*Director of Student Services - The Director of Student Services is a Central Office 12-month position. The Director plans, directs, and reviews the activities and operations of student services. The position is responsible for Special Education staff, Guidance, 504, and District Nursing, as well as assessing needs, developing programs and implementing services. To learn more - Click here

*Teacher of the Visually Impaired - Lighthouse Louisiana is seeking a Certified Teacher of the Visually Impaired who is eager to use his/her skills and creativity to provide itinerant vision services and to develop youth programs for children with vision loss in the Greater New Orleans area. To learn more - Click here

*Private Teacher - Flexible start date between now and Spring/Summer of 2018! Family based in Lincoln Park, IL seeks a Private Teacher to co-develop, manage, and implement the education plan/home school program for an elite student athlete who is entering high school next year. To learn more - Click here
*Special Education - Bard High School Early College - Bard High School Early College (BHSEC) Queens, a ten-minute subway ride from central Manhattan, is founded on a partnership between Bard College and the New York City Department of Education. We invite applications for a full-time special education faculty position in mathematics and/or science beginning immediately. BHSEC, a national model in the field of public school reform, enables talented and highly motivated students to move in four years from the ninth grade through the first two years of college, earning an associate of arts (A.A.) degree from Bard College as well as a New York State Regents high school diploma. To learn more - Click here

*Lead ED Special Education Teacher - The Lead Special Education Teacher for Cornerstone is an integral member of the academics team whose focus is to guide students in their social-emotional and academic development. To learn more -Click here

To learn moreClick here

If you are an Employer looking for excellent special education staff - Click here for more information
Food For Thought..........

The best preparation for tomorrow is to do your best today
H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Return to Week in Review Main Page - Click here

forgot username or password?