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 NASETParent Teacher Conference Handout Issue #135What are Curriculum Adaptations?IntroductionThere are several factors that you will need to consider in adapting the curriculum. Adaptive instructional programs are characterized by combined teaching strategies, flexible scheduling, individualized instruction, mastery learning, large and small group instruction, individualized tutorials and cooperative learning. Further, while we will need to adapt the form of instruction to meet the individual needs of children with special needs we will also need to adapt the delivery and response factors that will face the child in school. Read More |
NASET's Special Education: What Do the Latest Numbers Tell Us?Infants and Toddlers Served Under IDEA, Part C: Five Key Findings
This first edition of NASET's new series, Special Education: What Do the Latest Numbers Tell Us?, will focus on the latest data under Infants and Toddlers Served Under IDEA, Part C. The Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1986 established the Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities under Part H (now Part C) of IDEA. Providing early intervention services to children with disabilities as early as birth through age 2 and their families helps to improve child developmental outcomes that are critical to educational success. Early intervention services are designed to identify and meet children's needs in five developmental areas: physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social or emotional development, and adaptive development. The early intervention program assists states in developing and implementing a statewide, comprehensive, coordinated, and multidisciplinary interagency system to make early intervention services available for all infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. Read More
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U.S. Supreme Court Likely to Boost Public Schools' Responsibilities to Children with DisabilitiesSupreme Court justices appear ready to clarify and strengthen the rights of the nation's 6.7 million children with disabilities, perhaps by requiring public schools to offer a special education program that will ensure they can make significant progress. The case of a Colorado boy with autism, Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, could have a far-reaching impact on millions of children and their parents as well as the budgets of school districts nationwide. At issue is a long-standing federal law that says children with disabilities have a right to a "free appropriate public education." Schools, courts and parents have been divided over what this promise means in practice. Read More |
Brain Deficits in Preemies May Start Before BirthProblems with brain wiring in premature babies appear to arise months before they are born, a small study suggests. The study authors said that roughly 10 percent of American babies are born preterm. The findings suggest that factors contributing to premature birth may also affect brain development, and might be associated with problems such as autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and cerebral palsy. In the study, the researchers used MRI scans to assess brain connectivity in 32 fetuses while they were still in the womb. Of those, 14 were born preterm -- at 24 to 35 weeks of pregnancy. Full-term is considered 39 to 40 weeks' gestation, according to the March of Dimes. Read More |
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Medical Experts Alarmed at Trump's Reported Support of Vaccine SkepticThe U.S. medical community is responding with reactions ranging from apprehension to dismay at reports that President-elect Donald Trump reportedly asked a renowned vaccine skeptic to head a new commission on vaccine safety. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has written articles and books claiming a link between childhood vaccines and autism, said Tuesday that Trump had offered him the post during a meeting earlier that day. A Trump spokeswoman threw some doubt on Kennedy's assertion, however, stating hours later that while the president-elect is interested in a commission on autism, no final decision has been made. Read More |
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Can Brain Scans Help Doctors Navigate Epilepsy Surgery?MRI scans might help doctors protect critical areas of the brain before surgery to treat epilepsy, new guidelines suggest. Scientists found the scans may be a safer and less invasive alternative to another more commonly used procedure, according to the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). When medication doesn't effectively control epilepsy, surgery may be recommended. Doctors can remove the part of the brain that triggers seizures or use certain procedures to control seizure activity. Before surgery, however, the brain must be "mapped" to ensure the regions responsible for language and memory aren't damaged during the procedure, the study authors explained. Read More |
How to Spot a Common, Potentially Dangerous, Childhood IllnessNearly all children get respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) by age 2. But just because the infection is common doesn't mean it should be taken lightly, one nursing specialist warns. Symptoms of this lung and respiratory infection -- coughing, sneezing and a runny nose -- are often mistaken for a cold, according to Alison Pittman, clinical assistant professor at Texas A&M College of Nursing. "Most healthy children will experience cold-like symptoms, but it can easily spread to babies with pre-existing conditions," and put them at risk for serious health problems, she said in a college news release. Those at greatest risk for a severe infection include premature babies, children born with heart or lung problems, and people of any age who have weakened immune systems. Read More |
New Guidelines Reaffirm Prenatal Folic Acid to Curb Birth DefectsIn a recommendation that reaffirms previous guidelines, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force said that folic acid supplements reduce the risk of neural tube defects. As it advised in 2009, the independent panel of experts said women who are pregnant or able to get pregnant should take a daily supplement that contains between 400 and 800 micrograms of folic acid to prevent these potentially fatal birth defects. Neural tube defects occur when the brain or spinal cord do not develop properly, leading to serious disabilities or even death. These birth defects take place very early in pregnancy. Sometimes they occur even before a woman knows that she is expecting, the task force explained. 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 |
Kids' Care May Suffer When Parents Clash With Medical StaffRude parents can rattle medical staff enough to compromise the quality of care their critically ill child receives, a new study suggests. Medical teams in a neonatal intensive care unit made worse decisions during simulated emergency scenarios if they had been treated rudely by an actress playing the role of an angry family member, the researchers found. Exposure to rudeness helped explain about 40 percent of the variance in good medical decision-making between different teams in the study, said co-author Amir Erez. He is a professor with the University of Florida Warrington College of Business. Read More |
Special Diet May Be Boon for Kids with Crohn's, ColitisChildren with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis may be able to achieve relief without medications by eating a special diet, a small study suggests. The diet includes non-processed foods, such as fruits, vegetables, meats and nuts. Over 12 weeks, the diet appeared to ease all signs of these inflammatory bowel diseases in eight of the 10 affected children, researchers report. "The study shows that without other intervention, other changes, we can improve individuals' clinical as well as laboratory markers," said study author Dr. David Suskind. He's a professor of pediatrics and director of clinical gastroenterology at Seattle Children's Hospital. Read More |
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TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Congratulations to: Patsy Ray, Olumide Akerele and Denise Keeling who all knew the answer to last week's trivia question.
QUESTION: According to the latest research in the field, families in the United States spend how much time each year providing home health care to their chronically ill or children with disabilities?
ANSWER: 1.5 Billion hours
This week's question: In November of 2016, Dan Berlin climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. What made Dan's trek up the 19,341-foot summit so special?
If you know the answer, email us at contactus@naset.org by ____. We will acknowledge your correct answer in the next edition of the Week in Review
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Kids' Asthma Flareups Fall Off After No-Smoking Laws
In many U.S. communities that have adopted indoor smoking bans, fewer children need emergency asthma treatment, a new study finds. ER visits for childhood asthma attacks fell 17 percent overall in 20 metropolitan areas that prohibit smoking in public places such as restaurants and hotels, researchers found. The study doesn't confirm that the clean air laws directly boost lung health in kids. But, it makes a strong case, according to the researchers from Brown University, the University of Chicago Medical Center and Kansas University. "Combined with other studies, our results make it clear that clean indoor air legislation improves public health," study co-author Theresa Shireman said in a University of Chicago news release. She's a professor at the Brown School of Public Health. Read More |
SPECIAL EDUCATION LAW SYMPOSIUM (JUNE 18-JUNE 23, 2017)
Lehigh University's intensive one-week institute provides a practical analysis of legislation, regulations, and court decisions relating to the education of students with disabilities. The symposium is designed for special education coordinators and teachers, principals, psychologists, parent advocates, charter school personnel, attorneys (on both sides), hearing officers, state education agency personnel, and other individuals interested in a thorough exploration of the special education legal landscape.
The program offers two parallel tracks, one for basic that offers in-depth foundation knowledge about the IDEA and Section 504: eligibility, FAPE, LRE, student discipline, and remedies. The other track is for advanced participants, offering brand new "hot topics," such as child find nuances, pending Supreme Court cases, the behavioral legal alphabet soup, current parental participation parameters, and settlement strategies.
Included in the symposium is a separable two-day (June 22-23) training for school district Section 504 coordinators, including the latest litigated Section 504 disputes, an in-depth comparison of the IDEA and Section 504, and a "nuts and bolts" how-to session about how to appropriately and effectively implement Section 504.
The Symposium is offered with the options of graduate or continuing education credit for week-long participants. Shorter, including daily, registrations are also available. For full information, go to http://go.lehigh.edu/spedlaw. For any questions, email or call Shannon Weber or Donna Johnson at specialedlaw@lehigh.edu or (610) 758-5557. |
New Wallet Card Aims to Help People with DisabilitiesWith the new year comes new changes and a new law aims to help first responders better serve people with a classified disability. The new law requires the Secretary of State to issue wallet cards that specify that a person has been medically diagnosed with a disability. The Department of Human Services is required to work with the Secretary of State to design, produce and distribute the card. According to DHS, the wallet card may only be available to applicants with a type 2 developmental disability or type 5 mental disability - that includes autism and down syndrome. Read More |
Adderall Uses and Effects on The Brain: How ADHD Medication Impacts Neural Connections Over TimeAdderall/Dexedrine can be neurotoxic in the long run (by damaging dopamine neurons) while Ritalin does not have as much neurotoxicity potential. Surprisingly, when Ritalin and Adderall are mixed together, Ritalin can actually help counteract Adderall's neurotoxicity potential. Whether or not Adderall's neurotoxicity applies to those who take doses relevant to ADD is unclear. Most of the studies use amphetamine does higher than those used for treating ADHD, but Amphetamine Treatment Similar to That Used in the Treatment of Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Damages Dopaminergic Nerve Endings in the Striatum of Adult Nonhuman Primates uses doses similar to those used for treating ADHD. Read More |
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Are Heartburn Meds During Pregnancy Linked to Asthma in Kids?Women who take certain heartburn medications during pregnancy may have a child at increased risk of developing asthma, new research suggests. For the new study, investigators analyzed eight studies that included more than 1.3 million children. The researchers found that kids born to mothers who were prescribed drugs for acid reflux during pregnancy were at least one-third more likely to have been seen by a doctor for asthma symptoms. Some of the medications come from drug classes that include Tagamet, Zantac, Prilosec, Nexium and Pepcid. Read More |
Poverty's Impact on a Child's Mental HealthGrowing up in poverty exposes children to greater levels of stress, which can lead to psychological problems later in life, a new study suggests. Researchers at Cornell University reported that kids who grow up poor are more likely to have reduced short-term spatial memory. The study also reported that such kids seem to be more prone to antisocial and aggressive behavior, such as bullying. Poor children are also more likely than kids from middle-income homes to feel powerless, the study authors suggested. Of course, the findings don't mean that all children growing up in poverty will have these problems, only that the risk is higher, the researchers said. Read More |
Crohn's Disease Risk and Prognosis Determined by Different GenesResearchers have identified a series of genetic variants that affect the severity of Crohn's disease, an inflammatory bowel disease -- but surprisingly, none of these variants appear to be related to an individual's risk of developing the condition in the first place. Crohn's disease is one of a number of chronic 'complex' diseases for which there is no single gene that causes the disease. In fact, to date around 170 common genetic variants have been identified that each increase the risk of an individual developing the disease. The conventional wisdom has been that there exists a 'tipping point': if someone has enough of these genes, they become very likely to develop the disease -- and the more of the variants they carry, the more the severe the disease will then be. Read More |
Breakthrough in MS TreatmentIn separate clinical trials, a drug called ocrelizumab has been shown to reduce new attacks in patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), and new symptom progression in primary progressive MS. Three studies conducted by an international team of researchers, which included Amit Bar-Or and Douglas Arnold from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of McGill University, have discovered that ocrelizumab can significantly reduce new attacks in patients with relapsing MS, as well as slow the progression of symptoms caused by primary progressive MS. Read More |
Impact of Parent Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior on Their Preschool ChildrenYoung children do follow in their parents' footsteps. Literally. That's the conclusion of NIH-funded researchers who found that in underserved populations, parents' physical activity -- and their sedentary behavior -- directly correlates with the activity level of their preschoolers. Researchers say these findings, published January 9 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, could lead to interventions that focus more on helping parents model -- not just encourage -- an active lifestyle for their children. In the U.S., children from low-income and ethnic minority families are more likely to be obese. A 2015 report shows that fewer than half of 2- to 5-year-old children achieve the recommended daily minimum of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity. This number is even lower for Latino and African-American children, who are at a higher risk of being overweight or obese. Read More |
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National Expert on Autism Says Research Has Come a Long Way, Still Has Far to GoA prominent psychiatrist and researcher on autism spectrum disorder told a Utah audience that he knows one thing for sure: "Vaccines do not cause autism." Dr. Eric Fombonne, of Oregon Health Sciences University, is discouraged by recent news that Robert Kennedy Jr. may have been asked by President-elect Donald Trump to lead a national study on vaccine safety. Fombonne said he hopes it isn't true - and that the public retains its trust in science. "Vaccines work," he said. "Any side effects are small, and they are a small price to pay for reduced morbidity and death." Fombonne said decades of evidence have shown there is no relation between autism and vaccinations, which were purported to contain mercury. Since 2001, he said, vaccinations given to children in the United States do not contain any of the potentially harmful substances, yet the autism rates have not gone down. Read More |
For People with Developmental Disabilities, Food Work Means More Self RelianceEvery child wants to grow up to be independent - to leave their parents' home, find work, build a life of their own. But that seemingly simple step into adulthood can be a monumental challenge for children with developmental disabilities like autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, or any of a range of other such disabilities that affect about one in six American children, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of them remain dependent on their parents and families for support well into adulthood, or they end up living in a home under the care of professional caregivers. Only a fraction of adults with developmental disabilities end up finding steady employment. Read More |
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LATEST JOB LISTINGS POSTED ON NASET*Special Education Teacher - JCFS is looking for a Special Education Teacher for our Therapeutic Day School located in West Rogers Park. The Teacher creates and delivers student centered, individualized and small group academic instruction within a therapeutic, highly structured classroom. To learn more - Click here *Project Program Manager - The duties of this position involve the performance of work involving the management or general business operations of projects for CCE and OBRE . The individual in this position will be asked to exercise discretion and independent judgement in project implementation. To learn more - Click here *Arizona: Special Education Teacher - $46,000/school year (180 days). Summers off with year round pay. 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). To learn more - Click here *EdWeek SpecEd Online Career Fair: 1/26 - Join a dynamic recruiting event dedicated to helping you advance your career from the convenience of your home, desk, or smartphone. To learn more - *ESS Coordinator / Special Education Teachers - Great Hearts Academies is committed to serving the students within our special education population in a manner that reflects and affirms their dignity and rightful participation within the larger student body. To learn more - Click here *Special Education Teacher - Provide special education services in small community/ies in northwest Alaska. Work with team, complete required paperwork, follow IEPs, assist with assessments. To learn more - Click here *Head of School - The Morrison School teaches students to master everything from attention problems, language processing disorders, personal or social problems, reading, math, written language, and comprehension deficits. Through a customized curriculum, the faculty and staff also create a challenging learning environment for students with superior intellect and special gifts and talents. To learn more - Click here *Special Education Teacher - Currently, looking for a Special Education Teacher that wants to join a growing team at New Hope Treatment Center. We specialize in providing an educational experience for residents between 12-21 years of age, whose emotional, mental, or physical disabilities make it difficult for them to learn. To learn more - Click here *Special Education Department Chair - The primary responsibilities of the department chair are instructional leadership of special education classes and administration of all departmental activities. The department chair is responsible for the supervision of all teachers and education support staff in the special education department. To learn more - Click here *Head of School for Dallas Academy - Dallas Academy is seeking an enthusiastic and committed Head of School who is knowledgeable in the full spectrum of special education and who possesses a heart for working with families and their children who have these learning differences. To learn more - Click here *Special Education Teacher - Alfred E. Smith CTE High School is seeking multiple Special Education Teachers in all content areas. Positions are for immediate hire or February 2017. To learn more - Click here *Special Education Teacher - The Hoffman Academy is a special education, private, academic school for students identified with social and emotional disorders. The school is aligned with, and located on the grounds of, Hoffman Homes for Youth- a psychiatric residential treatment facility outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Hoffman Academy educates approximately 100 students. To learn more - Click here *Special Education Specialist - The primary responsibility of the Special Education Specialist is to provide instruction and other related services to Special Education students. The Special Education Specialist will also facilitate diagnostic assessment including administration, scoring and interpretation. To learn more - Click here *Special Education Teacher - Under general supervision of the House Manager, the incumbent is responsible for teaching and supervising a class of special needs students utilizing various techniques to promote learning. Duties include planning, organizing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating class activities, developing Individualized Education Plans (IEP) and working with assigned staff, therapists and students to achieve the IEP goals and objectives. 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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