Week in Review - September 16, 2016

NASET

WEEK IN REVIEW

National Association of Special Education Teachers

September 16, 2016                                             Vol 12 Issue # 37



Dear NASET News,

Welcome to NASET'sWEEK in REVIEW.  Here, we provide you with the latest publications from NASET 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

Autism Spectrum Disorder Series#42


Five Things Every Teacher Must Know about Their Students with Autism
By Billy T. Ogletree, Ph.D., CCC-SLP ,Johanna R. Price, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Amy Rose, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Julie Ogletree, M.S., CCC-SLP
This article discusses five tenets central to the creation of effective instructional practices for children with autism. The ideas presented have support from both the professional literature and the experiences of the authors and include: (a) recognizing heterogeneity; (b) appreciating comprehension-production discrepancies; (c) utilizing visual supports; (d) understanding emotional dysregulation; and (e) intervening through strengths/preferences. It is the authors' contention that these tenets provide a foundation for any instructional efforts and are applicable to all members of school communities. Read More

Latest Job Postings - Click Here

Excess Pre-Pregnancy Weight May Slightly Raise Baby's Cerebral Palsy Risk

Some women who are overweight or obese before pregnancy may face a slight increased risk of having a baby with cerebral palsy, a new study suggests. After reviewing data from two Nordic countries, researchers also found that the risk of cerebral palsy was elevated in infants whose mothers' pre-pregnancy weight was in the upper-normal range. But experts stressed that the overall risks of having a baby with cerebral palsy (CP) remain very small, even among women carrying excess weight. "Even though an increased risk for overweight women of 60 percent seems high, the risk of having a baby with CP is still very low," said study author Ingeborg Forthun, a doctoral student at University of Bergen in Norway. Read More

Complaint: Early Dismissal Shortchanging Students in Special Education

Portland Public Schools is discriminating against students in special education by loading them onto school buses five to 15 minutes before school ends and costing them hours of classroom time over the course of an academic year, according to a federal civil rights complaint now under review. The filing comes months after the nearby Beaverton School District faced a similar complaint and changed its policies. "I was shocked that it is still going on. I figured that once it became known what happened with Beaverton, other districts would follow suit and correct their discriminatory behavior," attorney Diane Wiscarson, who filed both complaints, told The Oregonian/OregonLive. "It's not like it is gray and you could see it one way and I could see it another way. It's discriminatory and it's not allowed." Read More

New Biologic Drug Tackles Hard-to-Control Asthma

A new injectable drug reduces flare-ups in patients with severe asthma that is not controlled by steroid inhalers alone, two new trials show. The drug, benralizumab, is a biologic that works by killing white blood cells called eosinophils. These are present in large numbers in such patients, and they have been linked to severe asthma. If approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, benralizumab would join two similar drugs -- mepolizumab (Nucala) and reslizumab (Cinqair) -- in fighting hard-to-control asthma, the researchers said. "We can offer patients who frequently require courses of oral corticosteroids and have a certain level of eosinophils [an allergy-related cell easily measured in the blood] a very effective treatment," said study author Dr. J. Mark FitzGerald. He is a professor of respiratory health at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Read More

Top Films Seldom Feature Characters With Disabilities

An analysis of last year's 100 top-grossing Hollywood films finds that people with disabilities are rarely portrayed and, when they are, they often have minimal roles. Just 2.4 percent of characters with speaking or named parts were presented with a disability, according to a report released this week from the Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. "The findings reveal that Hollywood is an epicenter of cultural inequality," said Stacy L. Smith, founding director of the initiative and an author of the report. "While the voices calling for change have escalated in number and volume, there is little evidence that this has transformed the movies that we see and the people hired to create them. Our reports demonstrate that the problems are pervasive and systemic." Read More

Antibiotics Before Age 2 May Be Linked to Allergies Later

Taking antibiotics at a very young age could increase the risk of certain allergies later in life, new research suggests. "Early life exposure to antibiotics is related to an increased risk of both eczema and hay fever later in life," said Fariba Ahmadizar of Utrecht University in the Netherlands and colleagues. The researchers analyzed dozens of studies published between 1996 and 2015 that included hundreds of thousands of people. Treatment with antibiotics within the first two years of life was associated with a 15 percent to 41 percent increased risk of the skin condition eczema and a 15 percent to 56 percent increased risk of hay fever later in life, the study review found. Read More

UN Panel Calls For Inclusive Education

Being educated in an inclusive environment is a basic right for students with disabilities, according to a new set of guidelines from the United Nations. Governments must work together with people who have disabilities and other stakeholders to ensure that schooling is not just integrated, but actually inclusive. That's the recommendation of a 24-page document known as a "general comment" recently adopted by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Read More

Can iPads Detect Signs of Autism?

Tracking children's movement patterns while they play iPad games may be enough to identify which kids have autism, researchers say. Youngsters on the spectrum display measurably different movements when using tablets or smartphones, according to new findings published in the journal Scientific Reports. By analyzing the motor patterns of those with autism compared to typically-developing controls, researchers were able to distinguish the two groups with 93 percent accuracy. Read More

TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK


This week's question:
What is the term that refers to a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn and provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs?
If you know the answer, email us at contactus@naset.org by Monday, September 19, 2016.
We will acknowledge your correct answer in next week's edition of the Week in Review

Borderline Personality Disorder: As Scientific Understanding Increases, Improved Clinical Management Needed

Even as researchers gain new insights into the neurobiology of borderline personality disorder (BPD), there's a pressing need to improve diagnosis and management of this devastating psychiatric condition. A scientific and clinical research update on BPD is presented in the September/October special issue of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry, published by Wolters Kluwer. The special issue comprises seven papers, contributed by experts in the field, providing an integrated overview of research and clinical management of BPD. "We hope these articles will help clinicians understand their BPD patients, encourage more optimism about their treatability, and help set a stage from which the next generation of mental health professionals will be more willing to address the clinical and public health challenges they present," according to a guest editorial by Drs. Lois Choi-Kain and John Gunderson of the Adult Borderline Center and Training Institute at McLean Hospital, Belmont, Mass. Read More

Board Certification in Special Education Available to NASET Members

AASEP Logo
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

Numbers of People with Down syndrome in the US Since 1950 Estimated

A new study has estimated, for the first time, the numbers of people with Down syndrome in the U.S., from 1950 until 2010. The total number arrived at by the investigation, which also is the first to break down its findings by ethnic group, is considerably less than previously estimated by several organizations. "Almost every book, web page and research article about Down syndrome begins with what should be a simple fact -- the number of people living with the condition in the U.S. -- but what we found is that most of those statistics are gross overestimations of the actual data," says Brian Skotko, MD, MPP, of Mass General Hospital for Children, co-director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Down Syndrome Program and senior author of the report receiving advance online publication in the journal Genetics in Medicine. Read More

Negative Experiences on Facebook Linked to Increased Depression Risk in Young Adults


In the first study of its kind, public health researchers show that young adults who reported having negative experiences on Facebook -- including bullying, meanness, misunderstandings or unwanted contacts -- were at significantly higher risk of depression, even accounting for many possible confounding factors. "I think it's important that people take interactions on social media seriously and don't think of it as somehow less impactful because it's a virtual experience as opposed to an in-person experience," said lead author Samantha Rosenthal, an epidemiology research associate in the Brown University School of Public Health who performed the research as part of her doctoral thesis at Brown. "It's a different forum that has real emotional consequences." Read More

Telemedicine is as Effective as in-Person Visits for Children with Asthma

Allergists are the best-trained medical specialists to treat asthma, but not everyone lives close to an allergist. Children who live hundreds of miles from the nearest allergist may not be receiving the best and most cost-effective care. A new study in Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, the scientific publication of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) shows that telemedicine for the treatment of asthma can be as effective as an in-person visit. "We found that children seen by telemedicine using real-time video conferencing and digital exam equipment was just as effective as in-person visits," says allergist Jay Portnoy, MD, past ACAAI president and lead author of the study. "In addition, there were high levels of satisfaction by the kids and their parents, regarding the long-distance care." Read More

Cognitive Function Tests Reliable for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Researchers at the UC Davis MIND Institute have found that a battery of tests appears to have strong potential for measuring cognitive changes over time for people with intellectual disabilities. The work could open new doors to research into whether drugs and specialized educational programs or treatments can improve function in people with Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome and other causes of intellectual disabilities. The paper, entitled "The NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery for Intellectual Disabilities: Three preliminary Studies and Future Directions," was published today in the Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Read More

Maternal Smoking Could Lead to an Increased Risk for Tourette Syndrome, Tic Disorders

A study published in the September 2016 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP) found an association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and an increased risk for Tourette syndrome and other chronic tic disorders. The link seems especially strong for complex presentations of Tourette syndrome in which two or more psychiatric disorders are present. Smoking while pregnant has been associated with several behavioral manifestations in children, including neuropsychiatric difficulties such as chronic tic disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, reasons for this association have not been fully elucidated. Read More

Heredity a Major Factor in ADHD, Binge Eating and Alcohol Dependence

It is principally hereditary factors that lie behind adults with ADHD often developing alcohol dependence and binge eating. This is the conclusion of a doctoral thesis from Linköping University. Since heredity plays such a large role, it is important that ADHD is treated at an early stage, and that measures are taken to prevent individuals developing these disorders later in life. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has received most attention in children, but 2.5-5% of the global adult population also has ADHD. Andrea Johansson Capusan, consultant in psychiatry, focusses in her thesis on binge eating and alcohol dependence in adults with ADHD symptoms. Both disorders are more common in adults with ADHD than in the general population. Andrea Johansson Capusan has investigated in particular how much of the correlation between the disorders can be explained by hereditary factors and how much by environmental factors. Read More

Babies Born with a Low Birth Weight May be Less Active in Later Life

Individuals who are born with a low birth weight are less likely to be good at sports at school or participate in exercise later on in life. The study, published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, used data from the Medical Research Council (MRC) National Survey for Health and Development, a unique birth cohort that closely monitors a group of people all born in the same week in March 1946. This particular research involved data from 2,739 of study participants. Although previous studies have shown that a low birth weight can affect sporting ability and exercise levels at a younger age, this is the first study to show that it also relates to exercise across adulthood and into later life. Read More

Four-Year-Olds are not Physically Ready to Start School

New research from Loughborough University has revealed many four-year-olds are not physically ready to start school. Early Years specialists in the University's School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences tested 45 Foundation Stage children at two different schools and found a larger number than previously estimated are experiencing problems with balance and coordination that are impacting their ability to learn in class. Researchers used a range of tests to assess Foundation Stage children's physical development at the start of the school year and found just under 30% were 'of concern' with almost 90% demonstrating some degree of movement difficulty. Read More

New Hope for New Crohn's Disease Treatment

Scientists at the University of British Columbia have made a discovery that could potentially lead to treatments for a debilitating complication of Crohn's disease. Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease in which the intestines of some patients can become blocked by thickened and scarred connective tissue -- a condition known as fibrosis. When fibrosis occurs, surgical intervention is required to restore proper digestion. Repeated surgeries are not uncommon in Crohn's patients. In research outlined today in Science Immunology, scientists discovered a mutation that prevented mice from developing fibrosis after they were infected with a type of salmonella that mimics the symptoms of Crohn's. The mutation had switched off a hormone receptor responsible for stimulating part of the body's immune response. Read More
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LATEST JOB LISTINGS POSTED ON NASET


* Assistant Professor of Education - The Moravian College Education Department invites applications for tenure-track positions in mathematics, literacy, and special education. The positions begin Fall Term 2017. Members of the Moravian College Education Department view and carry out their work in the context of the College"s liberal arts ethos. To learn more - Click here
*Special Education Teacher - Is sought who will support HUSD Vision, Mission & Goals, implements instructional activities that contribute to a climate where students are actively engaged in meaningful learning experiences and identifies, selects, and modifies instructional resources to meet the needs of the students with varying backgrounds, learning styles, and special needs. To learn more - Click here
*Special Education Coordinator - BASIS Educational Group is seeking Special Education Coordinators for 2016-2017 whose primary responsibility will be to oversee the entire special education program at a school site. We have multiple locations; Prescott, Goodyear and Chandler with openings. The academic program is consistently ranked among the top 10 programs nationally and is competitive on an international scale. To learn more -Click here
*K - 2 RSP Teacher and Coordinator Position - The mission of Citizens of the World Charter Schools Los Angeles (CWCLA) is to provide a socio- economically, culturally and racially diverse community of students in the heart of Los Angeles with an intellectually challenging, experiential learning environment that develops each individual student's confidence, potential, and individual responsibility as citizens of the world in which we live.  To learn more - Click here
*Curriculum Coordinator - Is responsible for coordinating the curriculum resources (print, technology, and created) for the school in order to meet the needs of our students in accordance with the COMAR regulations set forth by the Maryland State Department of Education.  The CC serves as the school Test Coordinator for all state mandated testing (Alt-MSE, NCSC, etc).  To learn more  - Click here
*PRINCIPAL - STEM3 ACADEMY - We are seeking an engaged, knowledgeable, enthusiastic individual to take on the position of Principal for a new STEM Academy for students with social and learning differences, including autism. STEM3 Academy is for students in grades 9 through 12 who have a talent and passion for STEM-related activities. To learn more - Click here
*Intervention Specialist, Grades 9-12 - At Life Skills High Schools we strive to provide our unique students with the best education possible. It is our goal each and every day to Educate, Innovate, Inspire, and Love each and every individual that comes to our schools. We pride ourselves in knowing that our students are not only receiving the best education that they deserve, but also developing the necessary life skills needed in this day and age to become the successful person that is in us all. To learn more - click here
*Special Education Teachers - The special education teacher will develop, implement and monitor the students' Individualized Education Programs in collaboration with parents and other IEP Team members. The teacher will promote a collaborative relationship with school staff and parents that will foster inclusionary practices. To learn more - Click here

Food For Thought........

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.

William Shakespeare

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