WEEK IN REVIEW

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

September 27, 2013 - Vol 9, Issue 39

New This Week on NASET

New 'Double-Testing' Flexibility and Students With Disabilities

Stateshave been given the option by the Education Department of suspending for one year their own state exams for the 2013-14 school year, if they are administering the Common Core field tests being designed by the two common-assessment consortia in math and English/language arts. Digging further into theguidance from the department released Tuesday, this one-year flexibility waiver-intended to help states avoid "double-testing" their students-has some particular points relevant for students with disabilities. To read more,click here

Did You Know That....

Disability Caregivers Get Pay, Overtime Protections

For the first time, in-home care workers who assist people with disabilities will soon be entitled to federal minimum wage and overtime protections. The Obama administration announced last Tuesday that it is approving a new rule ensuring that most home care workers are paid at least minimum wage. The move updates a law dating back to 1974, which treats those who provide in-home assistance as "companions" - much like baby sitters - and does not grant such workers the same rights as other types of employees. To read more,click here

Honor Society for Special Education Teachers

Disney Reportedly Altering Special Needs Access At Parks

Big changes may be in store for a Disney program that has allowed theme-park guests with disabilities to skip to the front of the line for many rides. Disney is doing away with its current Guest Assistance Card program, according to a report on the websiteMiceChat. Instead, the company's parks will reportedly implement a new program known as the Disabled Assistance System. Rather than bypass wait times, under the new system guests with disabilities will be able to request access to a ride at special kiosks at the company's Florida and California parks and then return to the ride at a specified time. To read more,click here

Autism Often Misdiagnosed In Kids With Genetic Condition

Many children with a genetic disorder are being mistakenly diagnosed with autism as well, researchers say, and the mix-up could have big consequences. The social impairments common to those with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, or 22q, can resemble symptoms of autism, leading many children with the condition to be classified on the spectrum. However, findings from a studypublishedWednesday in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders suggest the two conditions may be unrelated. To read more,click here

Racism Takes a Toll on Kids' Mental Health, Research Shows

Being a victim of racism may trigger poor mental health, depression and anxiety in children and teens, according to a new review. The report, published in the October issue of the journal Social Science & Medicine, looked at 461 cases of links between racism and the health and well-being of youngsters. "The review showed there are strong and consistent relationships between racial discrimination and a range of detrimental health outcomes such as low self-esteem, reduced resilience, increased behavior problems and lower levels of well-being," lead researcher Naomi Priest, of the University of Melbourne in Australia, said in a university news release. To read more,click here

Child's Chronic Illness Can Affect the Whole Family

Parenting a chronically ill child can cause stress that affects the whole family. That's the finding of researchers who reviewed 96 studies conducted in 12 countries between 1980 and 2012. The studies included families in which there were children up to age 21 with asthma, cancer, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, epilepsy, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and sickle cell disease. The demands of care sometimes created greater stress for parents than the severity or length of their child's illness, according to the findings published recently in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology. To read more,click here

Braces Seem to Benefit Many Kids With High-Risk Scoliosis

For most children who otherwise might need surgery for scoliosis -- curvature of the spine -- having them wear a brace helps prevent their condition from worsening to the point where an operation is needed, a new study says. In fact, the study was stopped early because of the positive results from bracing, when researchers found that 72 percent of the children using the brace improved and surgery wasn't needed, compared with 48 percent of the children not using one. "Bracing significantly decreased the progression of patients who are at high risk for progression to the threshold where surgery would be indicated," said lead researcher Dr. Stuart Weinstein, a professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Iowa. To read more,click here

Did You Know That....

E-Readers Benefit Some With Dyslexia, Study Finds

E-readers such as Kindles and Nooks can make reading easier for some people with dyslexia, according to a new study. The short lines of text in e-readers, not the device itself, make the difference, according to Mathew Schneps, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and colleagues. Dyslexia is a reading disability that affects as many as one in five Americans. For this study, the researchers compared the reading comprehension and speed of more than 100 high school students with dyslexia when they read text on paper and e-readers. Those who struggled most with sight-word reading had faster reading speed on the e-reader than on paper. To read more,click here

NASET Sponsor - University of Kansas

TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK

NASET Sponsor - Smith System

Costs for Kids' Food Allergies Estimated at Nearly $25 Billion

Childhood food allergies cost the United States about $25 billion a year in medical fees, lost work productivity and family expenses, according to a new study. Food allergies affect about 8 percent of children in the United States. Along with significant costs to the health-care system, food allergies also cause financial burdens for families from needed expenses such as special diets and allergen-free foods, the researchers noted. The study was published online Sept. 16 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. To read more,click here

Bullied Kids Often Develop Physical Symptoms, Study Says

Kids who are the victims of bullies are often reluctant to report the abuse. But a new study shows that frequent and unexplained physical symptoms are common in bullied children, and experts say they can be signs that should alert parents and teachers to a problem. The research is a combined look at 30 studies representing almost 220,000 school-aged children from 14 countries. Taken together, the studies show that kids who are bullied are more than twice as likely as kids who aren't to report feeling bad or sick, even when there's no obvious explanation for their symptoms. To read more,click here

NASET Sponsor - University of Kansas

Diet During Pregnancy and Early Life May Affect Children's Behavior and Intelligence

The statement "you are what you eat" is significant for the development of optimum mental performance in children as evidence is accumulating to show that nutrition pre-birth and in early life "programmes" long term health, well being, brain development and mental performance and that certain nutrients are important to this process. Researchers from the NUTRIMENTHE project have addressed this in a five-year study involving hundreds of European families with young children. Researchers looked at the effect of, B-vitamins, folic acid, breast milk versus formula milk, iron, iodine and omega-3 fatty acids, on the cognitive, emotional and behavioral development of children from before birth to age nine. To read more,click here

Surgery Proving Effective With Epilepsy Patients

Melanie Vandyke can't wait to get her driver's license. "I just want to get back out in the world," she said. For nearly 15 years, Vandyke's world was severely restricted by epileptic seizures during which she couldn't control her speech or actions and didn't know what she was doing or saying, and afterwards couldn't remember what had happened. These unpredictable episodes prevented her from driving, pursuing a career, having a social life, living independently and doing countless other things that most people take for granted. But since undergoing a cutting-edge, minimally invasive surgical procedure called MRI-guided laser ablation at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Vandyke is poised to reclaim her life. To read more,click here

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Potential New Drug Target for Cystic Fibrosis

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and Regensburg University, both in Germany, and the University of Lisboa, in Portugal, have discovered a promising potential drug target for cystic fibrosis. Their work, published online today in Cell, also uncovers a large set of genes not previously linked to the disease, demonstrating how a new screening technique can help identify new drug targets. Cystic fibrosis is a hereditary disease caused by mutations in a single gene called CFTR. These mutations cause problems in various organs, most notably making the lining of the lungs secrete unusually thick mucus. This leads to recurrent life-threatening lung infections, which make it increasingly hard for patients to breathe. The disease is estimated to affect 1 in every 2500-6000 newborns in Europe. To read more,click here

Risk of Birth Defects Among Women Who Take Antihistamines in Pregnancy

Antihistamines are a group of medications that are used to treat various conditions, including allergies and nausea and vomiting. Some antihistamines require a prescription, but most are available over-the-counter (OTC), and both prescription and OTC antihistamines are often used by women during pregnancy. Until recently, little information was available to women and their health care providers on the possible risks and relative safety of these medications in pregnancy, particularly when it came to specific birth defects. To read more,click here

Ability to Move to a Beat Linked to Brain's Response to Speech: Musical Training May Sharpen Language Processing

People who are better able to move to a beat show more consistent brain responses to speech than those with less rhythm, according to a study published in the September 18 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings suggest that musical training could possibly sharpen the brain's response to language. Scientists have long known that moving to a steady beat requires synchronization between the parts of the brain responsible for hearing and movement. In the current study, Professor Nina Kraus, PhD, and colleagues at Northwestern University examined the relationship between the ability to keep a beat and the brain's response to sound. To read more,click here

Did You Know That....

New Teaching Method Improves Math Skills, Closes Gender Gap in Young Students

When early elementary math teachers ask students to explain their problem-solving strategies and then tailor instruction to address specific gaps in their understanding, students learn significantly more than those taught using a more traditional approach. This was the conclusion of a yearlong study of nearly 5,000 kindergarten and first-grade students conducted by researchers at Florida State University. The researchers found that "formative assessment," or the use of ongoing evaluation of student understanding to inform targeted instruction, increased students' mastery of foundational math concepts that are known to be essential to later achievement in mathematics and science. To read more,click here

Motor Control Development Continues Longer Than Previously Believed

The development of fine motor control -- the ability to use your fingertips to manipulate objects -- takes longer than previously believed, and isn't entirely the result of brain development, according to a pair of complementary studies. The research opens up the potential to use therapy to continue improving the motor control skills of children suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders such as cerebral palsy, a blanket term for central motor disorders that affects about 764,000 children and adults nationwide. "These findings show that it's not only possible but critical to continue or begin physical therapy in adolescence," said Francisco Valero-Cuevas, corresponding author of two studies on the matter -- one appearing in the Journal of Neurophysiology and the other in the Journal of Neuroscience. To read more,click here

Psychopathic Traits in Teenagers Not Cast in Stone

Most youths are concerned about other people's feelings, they feel bad or guilty when they have done something wrong and they adhere to social rules. A small group of youths, however, does not. These youths express psychopathic personality traits that are associated with adult psychopathy, a serious personality disorder that is linked with antisocial behavior and criminality. A study conducted by Selma Salihovic and her research team at Örebro University in Sweden shows that for this small group of youth, psychopathic traits remain quite stable over a period of four years. Their findings are published in Springer's Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment. To read more,click here

Students with Learning Disabilities and Autism Discover More Colleges and Services Are Available To Them

As understanding of autism and learning disabilities has grown over time, people have become increasingly aware that such disorders may not be linked to intellectual disability --- quite the contrary in some cases. Greater receptivity, then, has spread from individual to individual as well as among institutions. An article written by Justin Pope of the Associated Press explores the many new programs at colleges geared toward students with disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD).  It illuminates the ways in which our society is embracing as opposed to discarding these significant members.To read more,click here