WEEK IN REVIEW

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

June 6, 2014 - Vol 10, Issue 23

Scientists See Environmental Changes to Genes in Kids With Autism

New research appears to confirm that environmental influences on genes, and not just gene mutations, play a role in the development of autism.Scientists from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York City said this may help explain why older pregnant women are at greater risk for having a baby with autism. Previous research has suggested that gene mutations account for only about half of the risk for developing autism, the study authors pointed out. Scientists know that men who are older than 40 are at greater risk for having a child with autism because of genetic mutations that accumulate over the years in sperm-making cells. Women who are 35 and older also face a greater chance for having a child with autism. The reason why, however, has been unclear.To read more,click here

In Emergencies, People With Disabilities Often An Afterthought

Serious barriers continue to jeopardize the well-being of people with disabilities in the wake of disasters and in other emergency situations, a new federal report finds. Problems with emergency communications systems are rampant including everything from evacuation maps and websites that are inaccessible to alerts featuring language that is unclear for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The findings come in areportreleased this week by the National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency tasked with advising Congress and the president on disability issues.To read more,click here

Annual Special Education Law Symposium at Lehigh University

Lehigh University offers its annual Special Education Law Symposium from June 22 to 27, 2014 on its Bethlehem, PA campus. Featuring experienced attorney presenters from various states and balancing school and parent perspectives, the week-long symposium offers a choice of two tracks: 1) one that addresses the needs of experienced professionals who desire an in depth update by exploring current "hot topics," and 2) an alternate one that addresses the foundational needs of individuals new to special education laws, regulations, and case law. The featured keynote speakers will be Michael Yudin and Dr. Melody Musgrove, respectively the leaders of OSERS and OSEP in the U.S. Department of Education. The symposium separately includes an inaugural ALJ/IHO Institute exclusively for administrative law judges and impartial hearing officers. The symposium concludes with a National Case Law Update by Dr. Perry Zirkel.  Registration options are available on a daily basis or for the week, as are graduate and continuing education credit. For program topics, fees, and other information, visit the website: coe.lehigh.edu/law or email or call Shannon Weber or Donna Johnson atspecialedlaw@lehigh.eduor (610) 758-5557(610) 758-5557.

U.S. Measles Cases at 20-Year High

Measles cases in the United States are at a 20-year high so far this year. And nearly all the cases involve unvaccinated U.S. residents who've traveled abroad to countries where the respiratory disease is much more prevalent, federal health officials said Thursday."The current increase in measles cases is being driven by unvaccinated people, primarily U.S. residents, who got measles in other countries, brought the virus back to the United States and spread [it] to others in communities where many people are not vaccinated," Assistant Surgeon General Dr. Anne Schuchat said in a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention news release. "Many of the clusters in the U.S. began following travel to the Philippines, where a large outbreak has been occurring since October 2013," added Schuchat, who's also director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.To read more,click here

Feds Pledge Millions To Tackle Disability Employment

The federal government is offering up millions of dollars for states to develop initiatives designed to increase employment of people with disabilities. The U.S. Department of Labor said this week that state workforce agencies can apply for a share of $15 million in grants to develop "flexible and innovative strategies" to help this population bolster their prospects on the job market. "People with disabilities have enormous contributions to make to our economy, and they are still disproportionately represented among the unemployed," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez. "These grants will help ensure that these workers have better access to training programs that lead to good jobs and economic self-sufficiency."To read more,click here

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY AUTISM LAB

My  name is Katherine Pickard and I am a clinical psychology Ph.D. student at Michigan State University, under the supervision of Brooke Ingersoll, Ph.D. I am running an IRB approved research study examining how professionals provide services and recommendations to families with a child on the autism spectrum. By doing so, I am hoping to get a better sense of how professionals  provide services to families, and the barriers that they experience in providing services. With this knowledge we can better understand how to improve ASD service access within the community.

I am not sure if this is the right email address for this, but I am wondering if there is any way you, or anyone in involved in the NASET could send this survey (an IRB-approved research study) out to any email list that you have that would have special education teachers on it who work specifically with children on the autism spectrum. I know that teachers are always busy and over-stretched, but they also consistently interact with children with ASD and are such important service providers. Any teacher that participates would be entered in a raffle to win one of 3, $50 Amazon gift cards. More information, including the study link, is provided below.

Thank you so much for your help, please let me know if you have any questions!

Best,

Katherine Pickard

Study Link: https://msupsychology.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_39OxgbB1QO6eFlX

Name of Study: Providers' Perspectives: Providing Services and Recommendations to Families of a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Eligibility Criteria: Professionals working with individuals with autism spectrum disorder

Principal Investigator: Katherine Pickard, M.A., M.Phil

Mentor: Brooke Ingersoll, Ph.D.

Contact Information: Email: pickar11@msu.edu Phone: (517)-432-8031

NASET Sponsor - Drexel University Online

Can Fire Retardants Raise Risk of Children Born With Lower IQs?

A new study bolsters the concerns of some scientists that hazardous levels of fire retardants in furniture and other products may harm children before they are born.A team of researchers from the University of Cincinnati, Canada and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the chemicals in the retardants may penetrate the bodies of pregnant women. This may boost the risk that their children will be hyperactive and have lower IQs. The findings don't definitively prove that fire retardants cause these problems; it's possible that other factors could be responsible for lower IQ levels and higher rates of hyperactivity. And even if there is an effect, it is small on an individual basis.To read more,click here

Supreme Court Rejects Bright-Line Test For Intellectual Disability

A closely divided Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Florida's strict IQ cutoff for determining inmate eligibility for the death penalty.In a 5-4 ruling, the court concluded that the state's rigid IQ cutoff of 70 "disregards established medical practice" and creates the "unacceptable risk" that an inmate with intellectual disability might be executed in violation of the Constitution. "Our society does not consider this strict cutoff as proper or humane," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote. Instead, Kennedy and the court's four liberal justices concluded, Florida must take into account other factors as well as the IQ testing's standard error of measurement in evaluating intellectual disability. This is already the practice in many other states.To read more,click here

NASET Sponsor - University of Cincinnati

Kids More Likely Than Adults To Be Resistant to HIV Meds: Study

Children born with HIV face a greater risk of developing resistance to life-saving antiretroviral drugs than HIV-infected adults do, according to new research.Antiretroviral drugs are used to treat people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. "The problem with drug resistance is that once you develop it, it never goes away," study author Dr. Russell Van Dyke, a professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Tulane University School of Medicine, said in a university news release."Some patients with very resistant virus have no effective treatment options. Resistant virus is the major reason for death among youth" who were born with HIV, he added. The study looked at 450 HIV-infected children across the United States and found that 74 percent were resistant to at least one type of HIV drug, and 30 percent were resistant to two classes of drugs. By comparison, the rates in HIV-infected adults were 36 percent and 12 percent, respectively.To read more,click here

Study Finds Reading Possible Despite Low IQ

For students with intellectual disability, functional skills are often prioritized over academics, but a new study finds that children with low IQ are capable of learning to read. With persistence and specialized instruction, researchers found that kids with mild to moderate intellectual disability can read at a first-grade level or better. They say the results could have life-changing implications for thousands of students with low IQ. "If these children, and any other struggling readers, can learn to read, that means they can go grocery shopping with a shopping list, read the labels on boxes and cans and read basic instructions," said Jill Allor of Southern Methodist University who led the studypublishedin the journal Exceptional Children. "Even minimal reading skills can lead to a more independent life and improved job opportunities."To read more,click here

When Teachers Are Depressed, Preschoolers May 'Act Out' More

A teacher's state of mind may be key to preschoolers' behavior, a new study finds.Researchers found that the students of teachers battling depression acted out more than preschoolers taught by other teachers. The study points to the importance of the mental health of teachers, the investigators said. "Most training for teachers is about managing the classroom and addressing behavioral problems," study lead author Lieny Jeon, a postdoctoral researcher in human sciences at Ohio State University in Columbus, said in a university news release. "They don't have the time or resources to address their own psychological difficulties, or access to any specialized mental health services."To read more,click here

Poor Diet Before Pregnancy Linked with Preterm Birth

For the first time, researchers have confirmed that women who eat a poor diet before they become pregnant are around 50% more likely to have a preterm birth than those on a healthy diet. The study shows that women who consistently ate a diet high in protein and fruit prior to becoming pregnant were less likely to have a preterm birth, while those who consistently ate high fat and sugar foods, and take-out food were about 50% more likely to have a preterm birth.To read more,click here

Pattern of Cognitive Risks in Some Children with Cochlear Implants Identified by Researchers

Children with profound deafness who receive a cochlear implant had as much as five times the risk of having delays in areas of working memory, controlled attention, planning and conceptual learning as children with normal hearing, according research. The authors evaluated 73 children implanted before age 7 and 78 children with normal hearing to determine the risk of deficits in executive functioning behaviors in everyday life.To read more,click here

Mice with 'Mohawks' Help Scientists Link Autism to Two Biological Pathways in Brain

Aha" moments are rare in medical research, scientists say. As rare, they add, as finding mice with Mohawk-like hairstyles. But both events happened in a lab at NYU Langone Medical Center, months after an international team of neuroscientists bred hundreds of mice with a suspect genetic mutation tied to autism spectrum disorders. Almost all the grown mice, the NYU Langone team observed, had sideways,"overgroomed" hair with a highly stylized center hairline between their ears and hardly a tuft elsewhere. Mice typically groom each other's hair.To read more,click here

Barriers to HIV Testing in Older Children

Concerns about guardianship and privacy can discourage clinics from testing children for HIV, according to new research from Zimbabwe published this week in PLOS Medicine. The results of the study, by Rashida A. Ferrand of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and colleagues, provide much-needed information on how to improve care of this vulnerable population. More than three million children globally are living with HIV (90% in sub-Saharan Africa) and in 2011 an estimated 1000 infant infections occurred every day. HIV acquired through mother-to-child transmission around the time of birth is often unsuspected in older children, and the benefits of treatment are diminished in children who develop symptoms of immune system failure before infection is discovered.To read more,click here

Honor Society for Special Education Teachers

Heavily Decorated Classrooms Disrupt Attention and Learning in Young Children

Maps, number lines, shapes, artwork and other materials tend to cover elementary classroom walls. However, new research from Carnegie Mellon University shows that too much of a good thing may end up disrupting attention and learning in young children. Published in Psychological Science, Carnegie Mellon's Anna V. Fisher, Karrie E. Godwin and Howard Seltman looked at whether classroom displays affected children's ability to maintain focus during instruction and to learn the lesson content. They found that children in highly decorated classrooms were more distracted, spent more time off-task and demonstrated smaller learning gains than when the decorations were removed.To read more,click here

Participants Sought for Study Being Conducted by U.S. Department of Education

We are seeking Special Educators to participate in an interesting study funded by the U.S. Department of Education.  Please forward this email to any people or groups you think might be interested in participating.  Participants must:

• Currently serve at least one student with complex communication needs at any grade level, including early intervention/early childhood special education.
• Be responsible for developing communication-related IEP/IFSP goals for one student, as described above.
• NOT currently use the Communication Matrix to evaluate students

Participants will receive an honorarium ranging from $200-$350 depending on the group they are assigned to.

If you are interested in further details about this study, please email cooal@ohsu.edu.

Grant #H327A110010

U. S. Dept. of Education

Dr. Charity Rowland, P. I.

'Girl Born Without A Face' Redefines Beauty: Juliana Wetmore, Treacher Collins Sufferer, Can Finally Talk After 45 Surgeries

A little girl from Jacksonville, Fla., can teach us a thing or two about beauty. Eleven-year-old Juliana Wetmore goes to school, talks, and plays with her classmates, beating all odds after being born with Treacher Collins syndrome, or without a face. It was after a complicated pregnancy, Juliana's parents, Tom and Tami Wetmore, discovered they gave birth to a girl who was missing 40 percent of the bones in her face. Despite critics on social media that suggested euthanizing Juliana, the Wetmores are rejoicing today, as Juliana can now talk and communicate in sign language after 45 surgeries in 11 years.To read more,click here