Dear NASET News,

NASET News Team

NEW THIS WEEK ON NASET

Professional Development Courses - Free for Members

Introduction to Students with Severe Disabilities

This course will cover information that will introduce you to the population of students with severe disabilities. However, to understand who is included in this population we must first clarify several concepts, definitions, and foundational issues.

At the end of this course you should:

• Understand the legal rights of persons with severe/profound disabilities.
• Have knowledge of the physical, cognitive, and learning characteristics of persons with severe/profound disabilities
• Understand the difference between high and low incidence disabilities
• Understand students classified with a 504 Accommodation Plan
• Understand students not classified under special education who have special educational needs.
• Understand the causes of severe disabilities
• Understand the characteristics of students with severe disabilities
• Understand what teachers can do when working with students with severe disabilities

To Access this Course: Introduction to Students with Severe Disabilities 

Amber Tatro, Whose Suit Gave Rights to Students with Disabilities, Dies at 42

In 1979, just a few months before Amber Tatro turned 4, her family notified the Irving, Tex., school district that she would be ready for classes that fall. Born with spina bifida, a congenital defect that causes partial paralysis and impaired speech, she was unable to urinate on her own. She required catheterization every few hours to prevent kidney damage, a process that took only several minutes but that she was too young to perform herself. School districts that receive federal funds are required to provide handicapped students with "related services," which could include transportation, recreational facilities, occupational therapy and other benefits. But Irving school officials considered catheterization a medical service that was beyond the scope of the law. They refused to provide it. Read More

Study Identifies Distinct Origin of ADHD in Children with History of Brain Injury

According to a study in Biological Psychiatry, physical brain injury in children contributes to the development of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), distinct from genetic risk for the disorder. In the study, youth who reported ADHD symptoms and had a history of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), such as a concussion, did not have an increased genetic risk for the disorder. This is in contrast to developmental ADHD, which is caused in part by the small cumulative effects of multiple ADHD-related genes. "This article suggests that there are at least two forms of ADHD. One that is an expression of a risk inherited within families and the other which develops after traumatic brain injury," said John Krystal, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry. "The latter is of particular interest in light of the growing evidence that contact sports and combat are associated with higher rates of traumatic brain injury than we previously recognized," he added. Read More

Inside the Life-Changing Sports Camp for Children with Disabilities

At the age of 2, Mike Simmel was diagnosed with epilepsy. Raised in New Jersey, he spent many of his younger years wearing a helmet to protect him from injury, in case he had a seizure. He was eventually able to control the disease with medication. By the time he turned 16, he'd gone nearly a decade without having a major seizure - and had developed a passion for basketball. "I dribbled a ball everywhere I went, even in the house and when I walked my dog," Simmel, now 40, tells The Post. "I even slept with my basketball." But epilepsy came between him and the sport he loved. The summer before his junior year of high school, Simmel was attending a basketball camp when he blacked out in the shower and started convulsing. When he came to, he learned that he had suffered a massive grand mal seizure - and that his time at camp was over. "The director called my dad and said, 'You have to come get your son, because we can't have him [here],'" Simmel says. "I felt isolated and hurt." Read More

This Optical Illusion Could Help Scientists Detect Autism Traits

An optical illusion GIF has been revealed to be a new tool in helping diagnose autistic traits. Researchers from Australia and Italy have published a study that describes how the gif of a spinning column can be used by medical experts to screen for autistic traits. The study emphasizes this is only one tool among many in diagnosing the complex condition and is no means a standalone definitive test. The test works on the premise that a person's pupils change size depending on whether they are looking at dark or light images. This can be in turn used to analyze where a person's attention is focused. The images used in the test shows a sheet of white dots moving in one direction and a sheet of black dots moving in the other direction. For most people who observe the GIF, it will look like a 3D cylinder of dots moving in rotation But the way that people come to that conclusion differs. 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 

TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK

If you know the answer, email us at contactus@naset.org by August 27, 2018.  We will acknowledge your correct answer in the next edition of the Week in Review

Adult-Child Conversations Strengthen Language Regions of Developing Brain

Young children who are regularly engaged in conversation by adults may have stronger connections between two developing brain regions critical for language, according to a study of healthy young children that confirms a hypothesis registered with the Open Science Framework. This finding, published in JNeurosci, was independent of parental income and education, suggesting that talking with children from an early age could promote their language skills regardless of their socioeconomic status. Although decades of research have established a relationship between socioeconomic status and children's brain development, the specifics of this connection are not known. The so-called "word gap" -- the influential finding from the early 1990s that school-age children who grew up in lower-SES households have heard 30 million fewer words than their more affluent classmates -- and other evidence demonstrating an influence of early language exposure on later language ability suggests a potential influence of language experience on brain structure. Read More

Risk-Taking, Antisocial Teens 5 times More Likely to Die Young

Adolescents with serious conduct and substance use problems are five times more likely to die prematurely than their peers, with roughly one in 20 dying by their 30s, according to new CU Boulder research. The study, published in the journal Addiction, also suggests that while drug and alcohol use among adolescents draws more attention, antisocial behavior -- including rule-breaking tendencies -- may be a more powerful predictor of early mortality. "This research makes it clear that youth identified with conduct problems are at extreme risk for premature mortality, beyond that which can be explained by substance use problems, and in critical need of greater resources," said lead author Richard Border, a graduate student with the Institute for Behavioral Genetics. Read More

Eight and Nine-Year-Olds Experience Poor Body Image as Hormone Levels Rise

Dr Elizabeth Hughes, the lead author and a research fellow from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) and the University of Melbourne, said the study explored a link between hormones and body satisfaction in young pre-pubescent children for the first time. The study is based on data from more than 1,100 eight- to nine-year-old girls and boys in Melbourne, collected for MCRI's Childhood to Adolescence Transition Study. The research, 'Body Image Dissatisfaction and the Adrenarchal Transition' is published in the latest issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health. Dr Hughes said the study clearly indicated that there was a need for strategies in schools and at home to help children maintain a positive body image prior to the onset of puberty. Read More

Early Type 1 Diabetes as a Child Shortens Women's Lives by 18 Years

Women who developed type 1 diabetes before the age of ten years die an average of nearly 18 years earlier than women who do not have diabetes. Men in the corresponding situation lose almost 14 years of life. The lives of patients diagnosed at age 26-30 years are shortened by an average of ten years, according to research published in the British medical journal the Lancet. "These are disappointing and previously unknown figures. The study suggests that we must make an even greater effort to aggressively treat patients diagnosed at an early age to reduce the risk of complications and premature death," says Araz Rawshani, researcher at the Department of Internal Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, and the Swedish National Diabetes Registry. Read More

Personalized Learning Top Priority for Tech Usage in K-12

The top learning priority in education for technology use is personalized learning. More than nine in 10 respondents to a survey on the topic reported that in the pursuit of encouraging personalized learning their districts 1) provide software or digital curriculum to classrooms (designated by 96 percent of participants); 2) provide computing devices to classrooms (94 percent); and 3) provide professional development in personalized learning practices (92 percent). Two-thirds of districts (65 percent) also assess teachers on their implementation of personalized learning practices. Those results come from a survey conducted by the Center for Digital Education (CDE), which does this particular study every year. CDE invites public school districts nationwide. This year's survey drew responses from 120 school districts in 24 states. Results were fielded between November 2017 and January 2018. Read More

Defining Accessibility in STEM Programs 

Luticha Doucette always knew she wanted to be a scientist, even if no one else thought she could do it. "I was very much discouraged from going into the sciences. People would be like, 'Well, don't you want to be a teacher?' And I would be like, yeah, teachers are great, but that's not what my heart was in." Doucette ended up at Rochester Institute of Technology where she majored in bioinformatics -- but it wasn't easy. For instance, in organic chemistry, she had a problem using the fume hoods. They're basically these clear boxes that sit on a lab counter and you have to do your experiments inside them, so they can ventilate all the noxious fumes. The problem for Doucette is, they're made for people of a certain height. Read More

Mom Organizes Photo Shoots for Young Models with Disabilities, Inspired by Her Own Daughter with Down Syndrome

An Arizona mom is organizing photo shoots for young aspiring models with disabilities, inspired by her own 4-year-old daughter, who has Down syndrome. Maria Jordan MacKeigan of Tuscon hated that the other kids she saw in posters, commercials and television shows look nothing like her youngest daughter, Jordan Grace. Jordan Grace, 4, has Down syndrome and aspires to be a model. "She loves the camera," MacKeigan told InsideEdition.com. "She's very social. She loves to be around people. She loves to talk to people, she loves to play with kids." At a recent headshot clinic, MacKeigan couldn't help but notice every other tot in the room getting their photos taken was able-bodied and neurotypical. Read More

School Pairs Students with Special Needs with Shelters Dog Training to be Service Animals

Nick and Patriot are both students at Tampa's Dorothy Thomas School. Nick is there for behavioral issues, part of a program that caters to children with special needs. Patriot, a fluffy golden retriever, is there for the Kids and Canines program in which two-legged students like Nick help train four-legged ones for a future as a service dog. Many of the dogs are from animal shelters. If all goes well, the furry friends will be ready to assist military veterans with PTSD or a child with autism by the end of the school year. "We have two rules here that everyone has to follow," says Kids and Canines executive director Kelly Hodges. "You have to be calm and quiet. And you have to be kind." Read More

Three out of Four Illinois Kids Aren't Ready for Kindergarten. Why that's a Problem

Three out of four Illinois children starting kindergarten aren't prepared. This is according to data released by the Illinois State Board of Education in conjunction with a power list of early childhood advocates who've spent nearly a decade lobbying for a baseline assessment. Only 16 percent of low-income students, measured by those who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, demonstrated readiness in the three core benchmarks: social-emotional learning, literacy, and math. But perhaps more surprising, wealthier districts reported low readiness scores, too, challenging common assumptions that tend to link richer communities with higher test scores. Statewide, by race, 32 percent of Asian children and 29 percent of white children demonstrated readiness. The percentages of black and Latino children demonstrating readiness were lower, at 19 percent and 13 percent, respectively. Read More

Internal Recordings of Human Brain May Offer Insight into Autism

Neuroscientists have an array of tools for understanding the brain. One of the most impressive approaches involves implanting electrodes in the human brain to record neuron activity. It is invasive but is sometimes necessary for medical reasons. In severe cases of epilepsy, medications don't work and surgeons try to stop the seizures by removing the region of the brain in which the seizures originate. To find the right spots to remove, doctors implant electrodes into several brain regions and look for bouts of irregular activity. This approach, called intracranial electroencephalography, or iEEG, is gaining popularity. Numerous research groups now collaborate with hospitals to record iEEG for research purposes. The technique has much better spatial resolution than traditional electroencephalography (EEG); in EEG, scalp electrodes monitor the summed activity of millions of neurons through the skull. Read More

"Twice Challenged: I Have ADHD and Social Deficit Disorder"

I was always weird. I know now it was because of attention deficit disorder  (ADHD or ADD), but I was diagnosed as an adult, so the true reasons behind my social deficits slipped past my parents and teachers. I was constantly blurting things out, speaking out of turn. I cringe remembering some of the things I yelled out in second, third, and fourth grades. I couldn't follow a conversation; I never knew when it was my turn to talk. Ever since I can remember, I've always found myself thinking it was my turn to speak, then speaking, and finding myself being spoken over by whomever I'm talking to until I shut up in confusion and shame. This still happens regularly; conversational turns continue to elude me. I'm prone to disrupting the conversation with random thoughts. Someone will finish telling me something important, and instead of uttering the expected social responses, I talk about whatever unrelated thing is pressing on my mind, demanding I tell everyone about it. This is off-putting. It's against the social contract. It makes me seem callous and strange. Read More

Honor Society for Special Education Teachers

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Children and Women with Disabilities, More Likely to Face Discrimination

Children with disabilities are up to four times more likely to experience violence, with girls being the most at risk, according to the United Nations Children's Fund. "Children with disabilities are among the most marginalized groups in society. If society continues to see the disability before it sees the child, the risk of exclusion and discrimination remains," Georgina Thompson, a media consultant for UNICEF, told IPS. According to the World Health Organization, 15 percent of the global population lives with disabilities, making it the largest minority in the world-with children and women numbering higher among those disabled. Last month, more than 700 representatives of non-governmental organizations, private companies and governments got together to address the systemic discrimination that exists against people with disabilities at the Global Disability Summit in London. Read More

Potential Biomarker for Autism in Infancy

A study of young children with autism spectrum disorder published in JNeurosci reveals altered brain waves compared to typically developing children during a motor control task. The non-invasive neuroimaging technique used in this study could be employed to detect autism symptoms as early as infancy. People with autism show reduced inhibitory neural activity, reflected in gamma brain waves, and movement abnormalities. Mitsuru Kikuchi and colleagues investigated these two aspects of the disorder by recording the brain activity of five- to seven-year-old children diagnosed with autism as they played a video game that required them to press a button to feed a puppy. Compared to a matched group of typically developing children, the children with autism exhibited longer reaction times and reduced gamma oscillations that were associated with the severity of their symptoms. Read More

For Growing Number of Arizona Special Education Students, Private School is Paid by Public Districts

In special circumstances, Arizona public school districts pay for special education students to attend private schools. The number of kids in these placements has almost doubled in the last four years at the Arizona's largest school district. Statewide there's been a steady increase over the same time period. The situation is called a "private day placement." It's the highest level of intervention for a child with developmental, learning or other types of disability.  "It's not an easy decision," said Kathy Minnard, director of special education at the Tempe Union High School District. "It's a very thoughtful decision very purposeful. A very data-driven decision." Read More

LATEST JOB LISTINGS POSTED ON NASET

* Deputy Commissioner of Special Populations Austin, TX - The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the state agency that provides statewide leadership for the primary and secondary public schools. It is headed by the commissioner of education. The mission of TEA is to provide leadership, guidance and resources to help schools meet the educational needs of all students. To learn more - Click here

* Teacher - Special Education (all categories) Suwanee, Georgia - Responsible for planning and providing for appropriate learning experiences for students based on the district's AKS curriculum as well as providing an atmosphere and environment conducive to the intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development of individuals. GCPS offers full benefits and 2 Retirement Packages! To learn more - Click here

* Special Education Coordinator Eugene, Oregon  - The Special Education Coordinator is responsible for the development, implementation and coordination of Special Education services within the Riverfront School and Career Center for both middle and high school aged at-risk youth. To learn more - Click here

* SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER  Alexandria, Virginia - *****SIGN ON BONUS***** APTS offers teachers an extremely supported environment in and out of the classroom. In the classroom, Program Facilitators help to present individualized lessons as well as support students through behavioral episodes. Both in and out of the classroom, teachers can rely on their pod's Data Analyst, Behavior Analyst, and Education Specialist to assist in developing and reaching student academic and behavioral goals. To learn more - Click here

* Special Education Teacher San Francisco, California  - Oakes Children's Center's Counseling Enriched Education Program, or CEEP, is a school-based mental health program for children in grades K - 8, who present with significant emotional and academic needs. Most students are referred to Oakes' CEEP because they have been unsuccessful in small classrooms within their district and need a school with on-site mental health providers. To learn more - Click here

* Special Education Teacher Chester, Pennsylvania - Chester Community Charter School (CCCS) proudly serves students in grades K-8 on four campuses in nine school buildings in the Chester Upland Community. More than 4,000 students - two thirds of the district - call CCCS their school. We are offering competitive salaries AND a $6,000 signing bonus for full-time Special Education teachers hired for the 2018-2019 school year! To learn more -  

* Director of Diverse Learners/Special Education Chicago, IL - Responsibilities include; Supervise, direct, coach SPED teachers, Supervise, direct, coach paraprofessionals, Create/oversee all SpEd team structures Support teachers in progress monitoring for IEPs and Attend all Chicago Public Schools SpEd policy meetings and communicate outcomes/updates to team. To learn more - Click here

* Special Education Teacher Chicago, IL - will provide support to the instructional process by serving as a teacher with specific responsibility for developing diverse learners success in academics, interpersonal skills and other activities. The special education teacher will collaborate closely with all other teachers at Moving Everest Charter School to ensure the success of diverse learners. To learn more -  Click here

* Special Education Teacher San Jose, Hollister, Santa Rosa, California - EdTheory is currently looking for Special Educational Teachers (SPED) for multiple full-time positions in the Hollister,Santa Rosa and San Jose area in California. Candidates with certification and experience working with children preferably in school based settings are welcome to apply!. To learn more - Click here

* Certified Special Education Teachers: K-12 (TEXAS) Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas  - Uplift Education has Special Education Teacher positions open at primary, middle, and high school levels at our schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area. Uplift Education is the largest public charter school network in North Texas. Our schools have received national recognition and 100% of our graduates have been accepted to college.To learn more -  Click here

* Special Education Teacher Virginia - Rivermont Schools are now hiring special education teachers at multiple locations throughout Virginia. Sign on bonus of $2,000 and relocation assistance of $5,000 are available for those who qualify. To learn more - Click here

* Special Education Teacher Willmar, MN - DCD Center Based at Roosevelt Elementary School - Provides research-based specialized instruction to address the instructional goals and objectives contained within each student's IEP. Assesses student progress and determines the need for additional reinforcement or adjustments to instructional techniques. Employs various teaching techniques, methods and principles of learning to enable students to meet their IEP goals. To learn more -  Click here

* Special Education Teachers - All Areas Stafford, VA- Stafford County Public Schools is actively seeking certified Special Education-All Areas Teachers for the upcoming 2018-2019 school year. We also offer Travel Reimbursement for out of state applicants available ONLY with a signed contract. To learn more - Click here

If you are an Employer looking for excellent special education staff - Click here for more information

Food For Thought..........

Every child is an artist until he's told he's not an artist.  

                                                                     John Lennon