WEEK IN REVIEW

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

October 19, 2012 - Vol 8, Issue 39

New This Week on NASET

Prenatal Mercury Exposure May Be Linked to Risk of ADHD-Related Behaviors; Fish Consumption May Be Linked to Lower Risk

A study of children in the New Bedford, Mass., area suggests that low-level prenatal mercury exposure may be associated with a greater risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related behaviors and that fish consumption during pregnancy may be associated with a lower risk of these behaviors, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a JAMA Network publication. ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood and affects 8 percent to 12 percent of children worldwide, although its cause is not well understood. The developmental neurotoxicity of mercury is known, but the findings from epidemiological studies are inconsistent with some studies showing associations between mercury exposure and ADHD-related behaviors and others reporting null associations, according to the study background. To read more,click here

Did You Know That....

Dyslexia Figures Rise as Debate on Diagnosis Validity Continues

As schools are reporting larger numbers of pupils diagnosed with learning disorder dyslexia, many have begun to question the validity of the diagnosis and whether there is an over-labelling of pupils due to laziness of schools. Dyslexia is a complex learning difficulty that affects a series of skills such as writing, spelling, maths, understanding sequences and patterns, knowing left from right, map-reading skills, organisation, short term memory, speaking and language.

In 2010 Philippa Stobbs, an expert on special educational needs (SEN), said teachers are "over-labelling" pupils to get extra funding. She claimed "perverse incentives", such as extra funding and inflating their position in the new style school rankings, are in place for schools to claim their pupils are suffering serious problems when too many are simply dropping behind in their education. To read more,click here

Netflix To Improve Disability Access

Internet movie giant Netflix will make major changes to accommodate those with disabilities rather than continue a legal battle over its responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. In a settlement reached last week, Netflix said it will provide closed captioning on all television shows and movie content it streams by 2014. The agreement is a win for advocates for the deaf and hard of hearing. The National Association of the Deaf along with the Western Massachusetts Association of the Deaf and Hearing-Impaired and Lee Nettles, a Massachusetts resident who is deaf, sued in 2010 to force the company to caption all of its content. To read more,click here

Many Teens Considering Suicide Do Not Receive Specialized Mental Health Care

Most adolescents who are considering suicide or who have attempted suicide do not receive specialized mental health services, according to an analysis published online August 15, 2012, in Psychiatric Services, a journal of the American Psychiatric Association. National survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that approximately 14 percent of high school students seriously consider suicide each year, 11 percent have a suicide plan, and 6 percent attempt suicide. Other research has suggested that less than half of teens who attempt suicide received mental health services in the year prior to their attempt. Kathleen Merikangas, Ph.D., of NIMH and colleagues analyzed data from the National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A), a nationally representative, face-to-face survey of more than 10,000 teens ages 13 to 18. They asked teens whether they had any suicidal thoughts, plans, or actions (ideation) over a one-year period prior to the survey. They also completed a structured diagnostic interview regarding the full range of mental disorders including mood, anxiety, eating and anxiety disorders and whether they had received treatment for emotional or behavioral problems in the past 12 months. Respondents were asked to differentiate between receiving care from a mental health specialist such as a social worker, psychiatrist or other mental health professional, and receiving care from a general service provider, such as a primary care physician. To read more,click here

Did You Know That....

Schools Falter at Keeping ELL Families in the Loop

As thousands of communities-especially in the South-became booming gateways for immigrant families during the 1990s and the early years of the new century, public schools struggled with the unfamiliar task of serving the large numbers of English-learners arriving in their classrooms. Instructional programs were built from scratch. Districts had to train their own teachers to teach English to non-native speakers or recruit teachers from elsewhere. School staff members had to figure out how to communicate with parents who spoke no English. But even as immigration has slowed or stopped in many places, and instructional programs for English-learners have matured, serving immigrant families and their children remains a work in progress in many public schools, especially those in communities that are skeptical, or sometimes hostile, to the newcomers. To read more,click here

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TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Attention Disorder or Not, Pills to Help in School

When Dr. Michael Anderson hears about his low-income patients struggling in elementary school, he usually gives them a taste of some powerful medicine: Adderall. The pills boost focus and impulse control in children withattention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Although A.D.H.D is the diagnosis Dr. Anderson makes, he calls the disorder "made up" and "an excuse" to prescribe the pills to treat what he considers the children's true ill - poor academic performance in inadequate schools.  "I don't have a whole lot of choice," said Dr. Anderson, a pediatrician for many poor families in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta. "We've decided as a society that it's too expensive to modify the kid's environment. So we have to modify the kid." To read more,click here

Parent-Clinician Communication About Children's Drug Reactions Needs Improvement, Study Finds

Many parents are dissatisfied with communication regarding adverse drug reactions experienced by their child, and the implications of such reactions for the child's future use of medicines, according to a new study published Oct. 10 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Bridget Young from the University of Liverpool, UK and colleagues. The researchers interviewed parents of 44 children who had a suspected adverse drug reaction for their study. They found that the majority of parents in their study were dissatisfied with the clarity and timing of communications from doctors and nurses, and were unsure whether a child's reaction to a drug affected future use of the medicine. To read more,click here

Does Neighborhood Income Affect Teens' Mental Health?

Moving from an area with a high poverty level to an area with less poverty benefits the mental health of some teen girls, a new study contends. Researchers looked at low-income families in public housing in five U.S. cities -- Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York -- between 1994 and 1997. The families were randomly selected to remain in public housing (high-poverty areas) or to receive government-funded rental subsidies to move into private apartments (low-poverty areas). The study authors analyzed the mental health of more than 2,800 children, aged 12 to 19, in these families for between four and seven years. To read more,click here

Gene Tied to Obesity, Depression, ADHD

Researchers have identified a genetic mutation that is linked to mental illness and obesity. The researchers found that deletion of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is associated with anxiety, depression and obesity. BDNF is a nervous system growth factor that plays an important role in brain development. The study screened more than 65,000 people in the United States, Canada and Europe. Overall, five people had BDNF deletions. All of them were obese, had mild to moderate intellectual impairment and had a mood disorder. To read more,click here

New Rehabilitation Research Demonstrates Functional Improvements in Patients With Spinal Cord Injuries

A series of rehabilitation studies published in the September 2012 issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation demonstrate that innovative treatments for individuals with spinal cord injuries can lead to significant functional improvements in patients and a higher quality of life. Sue Ann Sisto, PT, MA, PhD, Professor of Physical Therapy, Research Director, Division of Rehabilitation Sciences, Director of the Rehabilitation Research and Movement Performance (RRAMP) Laboratory, Stony Brook University School of Health Technology and Management (SHTM), and Co-Director of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation NeuroRecovery Network (NRN), says the findings suggest that a shift in both protocol and policy is needed at rehabilitation centers across the nation to advance and standardize rehabilitation care for patients with spinal cord injuries. To read more,click here

Could Stem Cells Treat Autism? Newly Approved Study May Tell

Autism researchers have been given the go-ahead by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to launch a small study in children with autism that evaluates whether a child's own umbilical cord blood may be an effective treatment. Thirty children with the disorder, aged 2 to 7, will receive injections of their own stem cells from umbilical cord blood banked by their parents after their births. All of the cord blood comes from the Cord Blood Registry, the world's largest stem cell bank. Scientists at Sutter Neuroscience Institute, in Sacramento, Calif., said the placebo-controlled study will evaluate whether the stem cell therapy helps improve language and behavior in the youngsters. To read more,click here

Nearly Half of Children With Autism Wander or 'Bolt' from Safe Places

A new study published October 8 in the journal Pediatrics found that nearly half of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are reported to wander or "bolt," and more than half of these children go missing. Led by researchers from the Interactive Autism Network (IAN), the nation's largest online autism research initiative and a project of the Kennedy Krieger Institute, this study provides the most comprehensive estimate of elopement occurrence in a United States community-based sample of more than 1,200 children with ASD. "Since the launch of IAN, we have heard from families of children with autism that their children often place themselves in danger by wandering or eloping," says Dr. Paul Law, senior author and director of the IAN Project at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. "These are the first published findings in the U.S. that provide an estimate of the number of children with ASD who not only wander or elope, but go missing long enough to cause real concern." To read more,click here

Did You Know That....

Kids With Hemophilia Should Be Active, But Avoid Risky Sports: Study

Children and adolescents with the bleeding disorder hemophilia are at increased risk for bleeds when they participate in some contact sports, but the overall risk is low and varies by sport, a new study shows. People with hemophilia lack one of the blood proteins necessary for clotting. Because clotting helps stop bleeding, people with hemophilia may bleed longer than people without this disorder. For a long time, they were told that they could not and should not exercise due to risks of bleeding. Times have changed, however, and thanks to better treatments, many are now encouraged to play some sports. The new study, published in the Oct. 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, puts real numbers on risks associated with specific sports for children and adolescents with hemophilia. To read more,click here

Millions Earmarked For Disability Housing Supports

Federal officials are sending millions of dollars to housing providers in three dozen states to help people with disabilities gain supportive living services. More than $31 million in grants will help over 14,000 people with disabilities and older Americans obtain assistance with everything from health care to meals, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said Tuesday. The funding is part of the housing agency's Multifamily Housing Service Coordinator Program, which pays for social services coordinators for people living in federally-assisted multifamily housing. To read more,click here

New Center: Concerns About Online Options for Special Ed. Students

Leaders of a new center designed to expand students with disabilities' access to online courses said in just a few months of work, they have some serious concerns about those students' participation in e-learning. "Our preparatory investigations have already raised a number of concerns that we think are urgent enough to report even now," wrote Don Deshler of the Center for Research on Learning, David Rose of the Center for Applied Special Technology, Bill East of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education, and Diana Greer of the Center for Research on Learning, in an open letter written this month. To read more,click here