New This Week on NASET

 

Special Educator e-Journal

June 2015

 

Table of Contents

• Update from the U.S. Department of Education
• Partnering with Families of Students with Disabilities, Understanding the Concerns and Enabling Parental Involvement.
• Buzz from the Hub
• Legislative Announcements, Calls to Participate and New Projects
• Latest Employment Opportunities Posted on NASET  Upcoming Conferences and Events
• Funding Forecast and Award Opportunities
• Aknowledgements

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For Kids Who Stutter, Rhythm Perception May Be Key

Children who stutter may have difficulty perceiving musical rhythms, a small study suggests. Researchers say the findings could offer some clues to the origins of the speech problem -- and even hint at potential therapies. The study, reported online recently in the journal Brain & Language, involved 17 children with stuttering and 17 without. The investigators found that kids with the speech disorder tended to have trouble distinguishing drumbeat patterns during a computer game. Exactly what it all means is not clear. "But our hypothesis is, children with stuttering have difficulty with internal rhythm generation," said researcher Devin McAuley, a professor of psychology at Michigan State University, in East Lansing. To read more,click here

Study Casts Doubt On Rising Autism Rates

In the largest study of its kind, a Swedish group has determined that actual autism rates probably have not changed in recent years, even though diagnoses of autism cases continue to climb. The research, led by Sebastian Lundstrom and colleagues at the University of Gothenburg, found that about 1 percent of those in an ongoing study of twins met the criteria for having autism, even though the number of officially diagnosed autism cases in the country's national health registry had climbed steadily over a 10-year period. The power of the study, published last month in the British Medical Journal, comes from the fact that Sweden has comprehensive health records for its population, and the research covered nearly 20,000 twins whose families were asked about their symptoms, along with diagnostic records for more than a million children born between 1993 and 2002. To read more,click here

Demi Lovato Gets Vocal About Mental Illness

Demi Lovato huddled in the back of her tour bus, eyes wet with tears as she watched a horde of fans streaming into the venue where she was about to play. "I was young and successful and I was looking up at the venue where I was about to play, where I would be able to live out my dreams, something I dreamed of for years, and yet I was crying in the bus," Lovato, now 22, recalled. "I was feeling empty and for some reason I was feeling hopeless, even though I had hope right in front of me." She didn't know it at the time, but Lovato was deep in the throes of a depressive episode, a symptom of her as-yet-undiagnosed bipolar disorder. To read more,click here

MS May Raise Odds for Earlier Death, Study Finds

People with multiple sclerosis may have twice the risk of dying prematurely compared to people without MS, a new study suggests. And the study also found that for people younger than 59 with MS, the risk of an early death seemed to be tripled, compared to people without the disease. Overall, MS patients live an average 76 years, compared with 83 years for people who don't have the disease, the study revealed. "There are some suggestions that survival is improving over time, but there is still a gap of about six years," said lead author Dr. Ruth Ann Marrie. She is an associate professor of neurology and director of the Multiple Sclerosis Clinic at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. To read more,click here

Google Putting Up Millions For Disability Initiative

Google is looking to address the needs of a billion people with disabilities worldwide and it's putting big bucks behind the effort. The Internet search giant said this week that Google.org - the company's charitable arm - is offering up $20 million to nonprofits "using emerging technologies to increase independence for people living with disabilities." As part of the initiative dubbed "The Google Impact Challenge: Disabilities," the company is also asking people with disabilities to suggest problems that they would like to see addressed with the grant money. To read more,click here

Delaying Umbilical Cord Clamping Might Boost Child Development

Waiting about three minutes to clamp the umbilical cord following a baby's delivery may help improve children's fine-motor and social skills at age 4 years, new Swedish research suggests. The researchers said postponing the clamping of the cord allows continued flow of fetal blood from the placenta to the newborn. This, in turn, appears to be tied to improved infant iron levels by the critical 4- to 6-month mark, which may help prevent certain developmental problems, the study authors suggested. To read more,click here

More Babies Born to Mothers Addicted to Pain Meds

The number of infants born to American mothers addicted to prescription pain medications is rising, and so are the costs of treating those babies, researchers report. The new research supports recent recommendations to screen or test pregnant women for substance abuse, according to the study's authors. Done over three years at one U.S. hospital, the study included 40 painkiller-exposed newborns in the first year, 57 in the second year, and 63 in the third year. Researchers determined that 50 percent to 60 percent of the babies developed neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), which includes withdrawal symptoms and complications. To read more,click here

Soy Supplements Won't Ease Asthma, Study Finds

Despite hints from prior research that soy supplements might help asthma patients breathe easier, a major new study finds the nutrient has no beneficial effect on lung function. "This study highlights why it is so important to perform well-designed, placebo-controlled studies when associations are reported between specific nutrients and disease outcomes," study lead author Dr. Lewis Smith, professor of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a university news release. To read more,click here

Technology Breaks Silence For Nonverbal Students

Travis Pilcher, 20, didn't talk for most of his life. He was a mystery to his teachers, who couldn't find a way to help the young man with severe autism. By the time he was a teenager, his parents, Michael and Shannia Pilcher of Fort Worth, were exhausted from dealing with his mood swings and aggressive behavior. "When he couldn't get his point across, he became so frustrated that he would explode," Shannia Pilcher said. Three years ago, Travis was chosen to be the guinea pig in a Fort Worth school district effort to equip nonverbal special education students with iPads. Within months, he was swiping symbols on the screen that converted text to speech. He would mimic the sounds he heard from the iPad to talk to his parents. To read more,click here

Special Education Law Symposium

The 40th Anniversary of the IDEA: The Past is Prologue

REGISTER NOW: June 21 - June 26, 2015

Lehigh University's intensive one-week institute provides a practical analysis of legislation, regulations, and case law relating to the education of students with disabilities.The symposium is designed for special education coordinators and teachers, principals, psychologists, parent advocates, attorneys (on both sides), hearing officers, state officials, and other individuals interested in legal literacy concerning the education of students with disabilities.

The workshop is offered for graduate and continuing education credit. Weekly and daily options are available.  Full information is now available on our website:coe.lehigh.edu/law.  For any questions, email or call Shannon Weber or Donna Johnson atspecialedlaw@lehigh.eduor (610) 758-5557(610) 758-5557.

Animals May Ease Social Anxiety in Children With Autism

Being around animals may help reduce social anxiety in children with autism, new research suggests. The findings could lead to new treatment approaches that use pets such as dogs, cats and guinea pigs to help children with autism improve their social skills and interactions with other people, the researchers said. The study included 38 children with autism and 76 children without the disorder. All of the children wore special wrist devices designed to detect anxiety and other responses to social situations. To read more,click here

Heed the Warning Signs of Teen Suicide, Experts Say

Youth suicide is a major problem in the United States, but being alert to the warning signs can help avert tragedy, experts say. Thousands of teens take their own lives every year, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds, and the sixth leading cause of death among 5- to 14-year-olds, the academy explained in a news release. Many signs of symptoms of suicidal feelings are similar to depression and parents should be alert for such signs, according to the academy. To read more,click here

Low-Income Southerners at Highest Risk for Vision Loss

New U.S. government research connects eyesight problems with poverty, and reveals that people in the southern part of the country have the highest prevalence of both poverty and severe vision loss. In fact, most of the counties that rank in the top 25 percent for severe vision loss and poverty are in the South, according to Dr. Jinan Saaddine, team leader of the Vision Health Initiative in the Division of Diabetes Translation at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Severe vision loss is listed in the top 10 disabilities -- it affects activities of daily living, leads to depression and social isolation," Saaddine said. "Regular eye examinations and awareness of risk factors associated with vision loss need to be promoted, especially among local communities in the South." To read more,click here

Fine Particulate Air Pollution Linked to Risk of Childhood Autism

Exposure to fine particulate air pollution during pregnancy through the first two years of a child's life may be associated with an increased risk of the child developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a condition that affects one in 68 children, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health investigation of children in southwestern Pennsylvania. The research is funded by The Heinz Endowments and published in the July edition of Environmental Research. "Autism spectrum disorders are lifelong conditions for which there is no cure and limited treatment options, so there is an urgent need to identify any risk factors that we could mitigate, such as pollution," said lead author Evelyn Talbott, Dr.P.H., professor of epidemiology at Pitt Public Health. "Our findings reflect an association, but do not prove causality. Further investigation is needed to determine possible biological mechanisms for such an association." To read more,click here

Living at Higher Elevations Linked to SIDS Risk

Babies who live at very high elevations may have an increased risk of SIDS, a new study suggests. The findings are based on nearly 400,000 Colorado infants born between 2007 and 2012. Babies of families living at an elevation of 8,000 feet or higher had a SIDS risk that was more than doubled compared to babies from families living below 6,000 feet. Although the odds were doubled, SIDS was still rare, even at higher altitudes. There were about 0.8 SIDS deaths for every 1,000 infants who lived at the highest elevations. To read more,click here

American Indians Disproportionately Disciplined at School Compared to White Students

School disciplinary actions handed down to students at Utah public schools disproportionately impact American Indian children over all other ethnicities enrolled in the state's public education system, new research from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law Public Policy Clinic reveals. Researcher and law student Vanessa Walsh found that although American Indian students comprise the smallest student demographic in Utah, they have the largest percentage of students referred to law enforcement and arrested at school. The rates for disciplinary actions taken against American Indian students are much higher than for white students. Studies show that suspension and expulsion rates are closely correlated with dropout and delinquency rates, and have tremendous economic costs. Referrals to law enforcement and arrests at school are the harshest forms of school disciplinary action and expose students directly to the juvenile justice system, said Walsh. Such students often become part of the "School-to-Prison Pipeline," or STPP, which are practices by schools and law enforcement that steer schoolchildren out of the classroom and into the juvenile justice system, she added. To read more,click here

New Way of Preventing Diabetes-Associated Blindness

A summary of the study appears online May 25 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The disease, diabetic retinopathy, is the most common cause of vision loss in working-age adults in the United States. Diabetic eye disease occurs when the normal blood vessels in the eye are replaced over time with abnormal, leaky, fragile blood vessels that leak fluid or bleed into the eye, damaging the light-sensitive retina and causing blindness. Forty to 45 percent of Americans with diabetes have diabetic retinopathy, according to the National Eye Institute. To read more,click here

Torches To Travel Nation Ahead Of Special Olympics

Three torches will make their way across the country in the coming weeks reaching every state on foot or by bicycle before converging at the Special Olympics World Games this summer. The torch, known as The Flame of Hope, was initially lit May 14 in Athens, Greece. On Tuesday, torches set out from Miami, Washington, D.C. and Augusta, Maine on three separate routes. Over the next 46 days, the torches are expected to travel through communities in all 50 states passing hand-to-hand to thousands of participants who will run, walk or bike with the flame as part of the first-ever Special Olympics Unified Relay Across America. To read more,click here

Dyslexia Unrelated to Vision Problems: Study

Eye training or other vision therapies will not treat dyslexia in children, say researchers who found normal vision among most children with the learning disability. The findings confirm what eye doctors have known for a long time, said Dr. Mark Fromer, an ophthalmologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "Dyslexia is a brain dysfunction, not an eye disorder," said Fromer, who was not involved in the study. "There are no studies that clearly identify that visual training can be helpful for the dyslexic patient." Depending on the definition used, as many as one in five school-aged children in the United States may have dyslexia, the researchers said. If severe reading difficulties associated with dyslexia aren't addressed, they can affect adult employment and even health, they added. To read more,click here