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
NASET's Early Intervention series
Parent Participation in Early Intervention Families, most particularly parents, are vital participants in early intervention. Parent contributions are invaluable: - at the individual level where you are intimately involved in determining the services that your own child will receive; and
- at an organizational level determining policies and scope for EI programs.
This issue of NASET's Early Intervention series will provide resources that have been identified because they address the many dimensions of parent involvement, including the parents' right to be involved in decision making regarding their child and the early intervention services he or she receives. There are also resources to help early intervention systems promote the active involvement of families at either the organizational or individual levels. Read More
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NASET's Q & A Corner Emotional Disturbance
The mental health of our children is a natural and important concern for us all. The fact is, many mental disorders have their beginnings in childhood or adolescence, yet may go undiagnosed and untreated for years. (1) We refer to mental disorders using different "umbrella" terms such as emotional disturbance, behavioral disorders, or mental illness. Beneath these umbrella terms, there is actually a wide range of specific conditions that differ from one another in their characteristics and treatment. These include (but are not limited to): - anxiety disorders;
- bipolar disorder (sometimes called manic-depression);
- conduct disorders;
- eating disorders;
- obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD); and
- psychotic disorders.
This issue of NASET's Q & A Corner comes from the Center for Parent Information and Resources. It will address what different emotional disturbances have in common, how they are defined in federal law, and where to find more detailed information on specific disorders. Read More |
Exposure to Childhood Violence Linked to Psychiatric Disorders Investing in diminishing socioeconomic status inequalities and in preventing violent events during childhood may improve the mental health of youths from low socioeconomic status backgrounds, according to a study conducted by researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and Federal University of São Paulo. The results showed that having experienced any traumatic event and low socioeconomic status were associated with an internalizing disorder such as depression and anxiety and an externalizing disorder including attention-deficit hyperactivity. The results are published online in the Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry. The study was conducted in two different neighborhoods in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, one urban and one more rural. One-hundred and eighty 12-year-olds from public schools and their caregivers were interviewed to determine the influence of previous violent events and of socioeconomic status on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders. Read More |
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Many Adolescent Cancer Survivors Have More Social Connections than Peers Survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer often have stronger social networks than their non-cancer peers, according to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital researchers, who hope to translate that support into better lives for the nation's growing population of cancer survivors. The findings appear online today in the journal Cancer. "Cancer survivors need healthy social connections, and to the best of our knowledge this is the first published study to quantify social networks of adolescent and young adult cancer survivors compared to their peers," said I-Chan Huang, Ph.D., an associate member of the St. Jude Department of Epidemiology and Cancer Control, who led the study. "The study introduces a method we developed and validated for evaluating social networks of these cancer survivors." Read More |
Air Pollution Linked to Brain Alterations and Cognitive Impairment in Children A new study performed in the Netherlands has linked exposure to residential air pollution during fetal life with brain abnormalities that may contribute to impaired cognitive function in school-age children. The study, published in Biological Psychiatry, reports that the air pollution levels related to brain alterations were below those considered to be safe. "We observed brain development effects in relationship to fine particles levels below the current EU limit," said lead author Mònica Guxens, MD, of Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Spain, a center supported by the "la Caixa" Foundation, and Erasmus University Medical Center, the Netherlands. This finding adds to previous studies that have linked acceptable air pollution levels with other complications including cognitive decline and fetal growth development. "Therefore, we cannot warrant the safety of the current levels of air pollution in our cities," said Dr. Guxens. Read More |
Living in a Sunnier Climate as a Child and Young Adult May Reduce Risk of MS People who live in areas where they are exposed to more of the sun's rays, specifically UV-B rays, may be less likely to develop multiple sclerosis (MS) later in life, according to a study published in the March 7, 2018, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Exposure in childhood and young adulthood may also reduce risk. While UV-B rays can cause sunburn and play a role in the development of skin cancer, they also help the body produce vitamin D. Lower levels of vitamin D have been linked to an increased risk of MS. "While previous studies have shown that more sun exposure may contribute to a lower risk of MS, our study went further, looking at exposure over a person's life span," said study author Helen Tremlett, PhD, of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. "We found that where a person lives and the ages at which they are exposed to the sun's UV-B rays may play important roles in reducing the risk of MS." Read More |
The Brain Can be Trained to Avoid Dyslexia, Study Suggests The ability of the brain to synchronize with the tone and intonation of speech influences how language is processed. This concludes a study by the Basque research center BCBL, whose results could help design more effective activities to train the brain in order to avoid future disorders such as dyslexia. Over the years, several neuro-scientific studies have shown that the auditory regions of the brain synchronize with external auditory stimuli. That is to say, the brain is able to naturally adjust the frequency of its brain waves with the oscillations or the rhythm of what it listens at each moment. However, little was known so far of the consequences of the effect of brain synchronization, also known as brain-entrainment, in brain regions directly related to language processing. Read More |
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.Read More |
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TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Congratulations to: Angie Schweble, Rachel Hornbarger, Diane Campbell-Mitchell, Patsy Ray, Darlene Desbrow, Sharon Johnson-Hiltz, Melody Owens, Olumide Akerele, Cindi Maurice, Hilary Hollihan-Leavitt, and Laurine Kennedy who all knew the answer to last week's trivia question.
QUESTION: According to recent research done at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, young adults who were undernourished as preschool children were approximately twice as likely to suffer from what type of loss when compared to their better- nourished peers?
ANSWER: HEARING LOSS THE TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK WILL RETURN ON MARCH 23, 2018. |
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For Blind Gamers, Equal Access to Racing Video Games Brian A. Smith, a PhD candidate in Computer Science at Columbia Engineering, has developed the RAD -- a racing auditory display -- to enable gamers who are visually impaired to play the same types of racing games that sighted players can play with the same speed, control, and excitement that sighted players experience. The audio-based interface, which a player can listen to using a standard pair of headphones, can be integrated by developers into almost any racing video game, making a popular genre of games equally accessible to people who are blind. "The RAD is the first system to make it possible for people who are blind to play a 'real' 3D racing game -- with full 3D graphics, realistic vehicle physics, complex racetracks, and a standard PlayStation 4 controller," says Smith, who worked on the project with Shree Nayar, T.C. Chang Professor of Computer Science. "It's not a dumbed-down version of a racing game tailored specifically to people who are blind." Read More
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Preschoolers Exposed to Nighttime Light Lack Melatonin Exposing preschoolers to an hour of bright light before bedtime almost completely shuts down their production of the sleep-promoting hormone melatonin and keeps it suppressed for at least 50 minutes after lights out, according to new University of Colorado Boulder research. The study, published today in the journal Physiological Reports, is the first to assess the hormonal impact nighttime light exposure can have on young children. The study comes at a time when use of electronics is rapidly expanding among this age group and adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that-because of structural differences in their eyes-children may be more vulnerable to the impact light has on sleep and the body clock. Read More |
Strong Relationships in Midlife May Offset Health Risks for Victims of Childhood Abuse Research has linked childhood abuse to many adverse health outcomes in adulthood, including premature mortality, but according to new Northwestern University research, supportive relationships in midlife can partly compensate for the mortality risks linked to childhood abuse. "This is one of the first studies to provide evidence suggesting that experiences long after exposure to abuse can mitigate the mortality risks associated with early abuse," said Jessica Chiang, lead author of the study. Given the serious health consequences of childhood abuse later in life, such as heart disease, stroke and some cancers, Chiang and her co-authors wanted to examine whether there's anything that can be done to compensate or reverse these effects. Read More |
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FDA Didn't Issue New Statement on Vaccines and Autism Some health websites have misrepresented the fine print on an old vaccine label to falsely claim that the "FDA announced that vaccines are causing autism." Vaccines do not cause autism and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not make any new statement this week about the long-debunked claim. Autism was listed as one of many "adverse events" on the 2005 label of Sanofi Pasteur's Tripedia childhood vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. When the vaccine was first approved, such reports were generated voluntarily by consumers and were automatically added to the FDA label, even if there was no plausible connection to the product. The 2005 label notes that such reports do not "establish a causal relationship" to the vaccine. Since then, the FDA has changed its labeling rules and now only includes adverse events "for which there is some basis to believe there is a causal relationship," the agency said in a statement. Read More |
Researchers Pinpoint Gene Responsible for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Including Autism A study led by researchers at McMaster University has pinpointed a gene that is responsible for neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism. Researchers found alterations of the gene thousand and one amino-acid kinase 2, known as TAOK2, plays a direct role in these disorders. This is the first comprehensive study that supports previous research suggesting the involvement of this gene. The study was published in Molecular Psychiatry. "Our studies reveal that in complex brain disorders that have a loss of many genes, a single deleted gene is sufficient to cause symptoms for the patients," said Karun Singh, study co-author and researcher with McMaster's Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute. "This is exciting because it focuses our research effort on the individual gene, saving us time and money as it will speed up the development of targeted therapeutics to this gene alone." Read More |
Mothers Who Smoke While Pregnant Contribute to the Severity of Asthma and Poor Lung Function in their Children Tobacco smoke exposure during pregnancy is worse for children with asthma than postnatal secondhand smoke exposure, according to a new study in the journal CHEST®. A new study published in the journal CHEST® highlights the burden of obstructive lung disease in US children and implicates tobacco smoke exposure (TSE) through maternal smoking during pregnancy as more strongly associated with worse lung function than current, ongoing TSE in school-aged children with asthma. "Childhood asthma is a significant source of morbidity for US children; those with poor lung function have an even greater burden of disease," explained lead investigator Stacey-Ann Whittaker Brown, MD, from the Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY. Read More |
United Airlines Announces a Groundbreaking Plan to Help Passengers with Disabilities United Airlines and Special Olympics International are teaming up in an effort to help end discrimination against individuals with intellectual disabilities. The Chicago-based airline made the announcement Thursday morning at its annual Global Leadership Conference. "It represents humanity," United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz said of the partnership in an interview with Business Insider. "This isn't about commercial valuation. This isn't about anything like that. This is something that's always been near and dear to many of our employees." A major part of the Special Olympics partnership is the airline's plan to train its 90,000 employees on how to make flying for individuals with intellectual disabilities a more pleasant experience. Read More |
Sensory Aspects of Speech Linked to Language Issues in Autism Children with autism pay just as much attention to speech that doesn't match lip movements as to speech in which sight and sound are coordinated, according to a new study. Typical children prefer speech in which the sensory cues are in sync. Some people with autism have trouble learning to speak and understand words. Some people with the condition have minimal verbal skills or don't speak at all. The new work suggests that these problems may be partially rooted in an inability to integrate sight and sound when other people talk, and inattention to these cues. "There are underlying mechanisms that bring about these sets of skills that then translate into language learning," says lead researcher Giulia Righi, assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. "We really need to understand from a mechanistic view how these abilities come about." Read More |
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Study Results Challenge Concerns About ADHD Medication and Seizure Risk Medication for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was associated with lower seizure risk among patients with ADHD, according to results of a retrospective cohort study published in Neurology. These findings are not consistent with the current hypothesis that ADHD medication increases seizure risk and may offer new information on the safety of pharmacotherapy for those with ADHD. Researchers extracted patient and prescribed drug claim data from 2005 to 2014 from the Truven Health MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters databases. Read More |
Crackdown on Fake Service Animals: Rise in Fraud Hurting People with Disabilities The final straw might actually have been a colorful feather - attached to a peacock. A woman who tried to board a United Airlines flight in late January with a peacock, claiming it was an emotional support animal (ESA), set off a bunch of alarm bells. And not all of them were at the security check point. United told her "no" three times before she even arrived at Newark International Airport, but the encounter earned her 15 minutes of fame and spurred new travel guidelines by the airlines. It's part of a crackdown on suspected phony ESAs and service animals - a problem that people with legitimate, highly-trained service animals have been complaining about for quite a while. Read More |
Program Caters to Twice Exceptional Students What does it mean to be twice exceptional? A first-of-its-kind program in the state, called Twice Exceptional (or 2e), has started this year at Waterloo Schools. Kingsley Elementary School is the first to pilot the program in the district. Twice exceptional - or 2e - are students who are gifted with a disability. They have a high level of intelligence, but struggle when it comes to social relationships. Advanced Programming Administrator, Sherice Ortman, has been instrumental in getting this program off the ground and running in Waterloo. It all started with a donation to the Waterloo Schools Foundation four years ago. "What we found is that a lot of the students in this program are very strong within the area of spacial, logical, mathematical thinking," said Ortman. "So we created an environment where they can express that strength. And in the area of need, it might be interpersonal and peer relationships." Read More |
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LATEST JOB LISTINGS POSTED ON NASET
* Assistant Principal / BCBA - We are currently seeking a qualified and enthusiastic Assistant Principal / BCBA for our school in Sherman Oaks. This is an exciting hybrid role that will work directly with our current Assistant Principal, as well as serve as the BCBA. To learn more - Click here
* Special Education Teacher - Instruction demonstrates recognition of skill deficits and effective implementation of appropriate accommodations and supports to optimize student engagement.After thorough review of records, develop strong working knowledge of each student's learning challenges, from which IEP goals are formulated and appropriate instructional supports and materials are employed to facilitate progress. To learn more - Click here
* Early Intervention Teacher - Requires graduation from a four-year college or university with a bachelors and/or master's degree in early childhood special education, early childhood education, child and family studies, early intervention, deaf education, visual impairments, special education K-12, elementary education or communication disorders and speech language pathology. To learn more - Click here
* Early Childhood Special Educator - Sterling Medical has an opening for an Early Childhood Special Educator to work with children of American military families stationed at 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
* Full-Time/Tenure Track - EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION - To teach courses in early childhood special education, core curriculum, and/or required for the CA Child Development Permit; teach face-to-face as well as online classes; maintain currency in the field of early intervention; knowledge of the Child Development Permit process; participate in the SMC Early Childhood Education Lab School with a focus on the early intervention assistant program. To learn more - Click here
* Special Education Teacher - Jewish Child & Family Services (JCFS) provides vital, individualized, results-driven, therapeutic and supportive services for thousands of children, adults and families of all backgrounds each year. 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
* Educational Director - Do you enjoy leading a collaborative team, utilizing your leadership and behavioral skills while positively affecting children with significant disabilities? Then consider joining Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health!Being an Educational Director at Devereux has its Advantages. To learn more - Click here
* Special Education Teacher - At Mastery, all means all. Nearly one quarter of our students have individualized education plans (IEPs) to help ensure they get the educational opportunities they need. As a Secondary Special Education Teacher you will work with a team of teachers, case managers, school leaders, and central office support staff to help push the boundaries of what's possible for your students academically, emotionally, and physically while also developing your craft. To learn more - Click here * Special Education Teacher - Various - $50,000/school year (185 days), summers off with year round pay and year round appreciation. Special Education Teachers needed in Arizona (Phoenix and surrounding cities). Needs are in the self-contained and resource settings serving students with emotional disabilities (ED), Autism (A), Severe/Profound (S/P), and Intellectual Disabilities (ID). STARS is the largest school contract agency in AZ. STARS is owned and operated by Occupational Therapists. You will be an employee and receive full benefits. To learn more - Click here If you are an Employer looking for excellent special education staff - Click here for more information |
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