Funding for children with Disabilities; a letter from the National Center from Learning Disabilities1/25/2014  Fact: Schools are punishing kids with disabilities at higher rates than other students.
Now the U.S. Department of Education is doing something about it. They’ve provided guidance for schools to make discipline fairer and decrease suspensions and expulsions: Read how the new guidelines affect your child - here - http://www.ncld.org/ld-insights/blogs/government-gives-new-guidance-on-school-discipline-but-what-about-students-with-disabilities?utm_source=ldaction_jan_23_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=ldaction Get advice from a mother whose child was labeled as “disruptive” here - http://www.ncld.org/learning-disability-resources/special-needs-stories/parent-stories/african-american-mother-be-wary-disruptive-label?utm_source=ldaction_jan_23_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=ldaction Fact: President Obama signed the federal budget, but the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is still not fully funded. Money isn’t everything, but schools need the right resources so they can provide special education services. To help you understand the stakes, we’ve put together a brief update about which education programs got funded and which didn’t here - http://www.ncld.org/ld-insights/blogs/budget-update-idea-not-fully-funded-but-special-ed-research-increases?utm_source=ldaction_jan_23_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=ldaction At the end of the month, President Obama gives his state of the Union. Among the many things needed to be discussed, one vital issue is that the President should promise to fully fund IDEA in the next 10 years and the National Center for Learning Disabilities is asking Congress to sign a letter urging him to do so. Awareness of the needs of students with learning and attention issues is growing—for proof, check out the new Congressional resolution on dyslexia here http://www.ncld.org/learning-disability-resources/ld-in-the-news?utm_source=ldaction_jan_23_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=ldaction It’s time to turn that awareness into real gains for our kids. GET INVOLVED! HELP OUR CHILDREN! Click here: http://www.ncld.org/disability-advocacy??utm_source=ldaction_jan_23_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=ldaction
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Why do children have tantrums & meltdowns?; Guest blog post by Adam J. Holstein, P.D., L.P1/25/2014 We have to be mindful that while Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is integrated into how first responders; Early Intervention Providers, CPSE, and CSE work within their interventions and disciplines, it does not address the whole of the motivations of a child’s behavioral difficulties.
Behavior is over determined. That is, there are many reasons behaviors come into being. Behavioral issues are not necessarily a function of developmental delays such as sensory, motor, speech, or cognitive delay. While these delays may contribute to the behavioral problems, how much they contribute is an unknown until interventions have had a chance to enable the child to reach their developmental potential. Interventions might resolve the behavioral difficulties, reduce them, or have no effect. At times, the behavioral difficulties could be so significant that the first responders are not able to clinically intervene as the behaviors interfere with their intervention and the child’s learning. I often find that parents who have children who have special needs, may have been good enough parents with a typical child. However, because the child has special needs, parents are not sure how to adjust their parenting to meet the needs of the child. In some cases, the parents have significant internal conflicts and don’t use the best approach as they draw on their experience from their parents. A parent of a special needs child has to be a better parent then most as they constantly have to adjust their expectations to the reality of their child’s abilities. This is no easy process. A parent’s ability to adjust their parenting style is pretty limited in most cases. A parent’s ability to adjust to their child’s needs, will depend in large part how traumatic the parent’s childhood was. In extreme cases, where Grandparents were emotionally or physically abusive; emotionally disturbed, and/or a grandparent may have been physically and/or emotionally absent, among many other potential issues, the now parent is not likely to be able to adjust to the emotions and developmental abilities of their special needs child. In typical children with parents who have had a poor parenting experience, the child calls for help by acting out either physically, socially, or verbally. When the child has special needs, the call for help can be masked by his/her other developmental issues. There is the notion that the interventions are going to resolve, not only the developmental issues, but the behavioral issues as well. However, there is a larger context that must be considered when addressing behavioral difficulties in children. For example: Consider the impact on a special needs child where a parent;
The interventions of speech, OT, PT, and ABA would not necessarily be addressing this child’s emotional development and needs. Consider the possibility of a child in preschool who is constantly disrupting the classroom routines, is always in motion, and not attending. Ah, ha! ADD/ADHD, I knew it! But consider the possibility at that within this child’s first 4 years of life a sibling is born with cancer.
Are behavioral interventions going to stop the demonstrated behaviors? If applied expertly, they can and should. Are we ready to move on without addressing the emotional communications of the behavior? When clinicians are presented with a child exhibiting behaviors they set up positive contingencies to get the child to cooperate, engage, and learn. If they are on target the treatment outcome will be a success. If a clinician to able to gain the attention and work successfully with a child a parent would be well advised to watch the interaction and ask; “Why their child works with the clinician and does not act out?” Alternatively a parent can ask the clinician; “Why they think the child acts out at home?” The parent can ask themselves the last question as well. If they are able to both listen to the response and learn to respond differently than the acting out behaviors might diminish. Another potentially helpful tactic for the Parent is to ask the clinician if they can watch and then practice working with their child in the treatment session. Ask the clinician to tell you honestly what you are doing right and wrong and provide suggestions how to do things differently. When behaviors don’t stop we can assume there is a problem behind the identified need(s). In conversations with other clinicians and parents, I’ve heard statements, “The child is still acting out.” Or, “His mother gets into fights with him in the waiting room.” An honest dialogue with your child’s clinician could go a long way in resolving a child’s acting out. By looking at the larger context (the parents’ parenting and the parents’ feelings about their own parents, as well as their feelings, attitudes, and thoughts about their child) the emotional communication(s) and needs of the whole family can be addressed. It is my hope that in working with parents and first responders we can look beyond ABA and while behaviorally addressing the acting out, address these other motivators for a child’s difficult behavior(s). We can discuss how to emotionally intervene to resolve the behavioral issues from the inside at the same time we are addressing the manifest behaviors on the outside. I am always available to work with parents and first responders to privately discuss concerns about a child. I find great joy in talking with parents and my colleagues, learning about their lives and work, and supporting them to help their children. Adam J. Holstein, P.D., L.P. Psychoanalyst/Behavior Therapist Cell: 516.297.5705 www.BehaviorTherapists.org Adam@BehaviorTherapists.org Early Intervention with ABA There has never been a more accurate mantra in the field of developmental disability: “Early diagnosis leads to timely intervention…timely intervention leads to better outcome.” We know that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate signs of the disorder even before the age of nine months. However, the average child with ASD is not diagnosed with the condition until the age of six. As a result of this delay, there are several years of lost opportunity. This is especially important because the years from birth to three are so crucial in a child’s life. So what’s the best way to implement early intervention strategies? Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy is considered by many researchers and clinicians to be the most effective evidence-based treatment approach for children with ASD. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, thirty years of research on the ABA approach have shown very positive outcomes when it is used as an early intervention tool for ASD. Studies show about 50% of children with autism who were treated with the ABA approach before the age of four had significant increases in IQ, verbal ability, and social functioning. ABA teaches communication, social, and motor behaviors in addition to reasoning skills and self-help skills that are useful to promote independent living. ABA treatment specializes in teaching behaviors to children with ASD who may otherwise not learn on their own as other children would. The ABA approach can be used by a parent, counselor, or certified behavior analyst EVERYWHERE! It aims to help children with autism lead more independent and socially active lives. Research shows that this positive outcome is more common for children who have received early intervention, when the brain is critically developing during the preschool years. As a parent or educator working with a child with Autism obtaining the necessary training to implement effective ABA treatment can be difficult juggling a home and work schedule. So, Special Learning is bringing the convenience of online training to you! Our ABA Online Training Program provides comprehensive training in the methods if ABA implementation, so you can start helping your child TODAY! Visit www.special-learning.com/aba_online_training for more information or to register for one of our upcoming courses! Take the first steps in securing a brighter and more successful live for your child today! 
Land of Sounds – program stimulating development of children’s speech Parents often ask us: how can we stimulate the development of speech in our children? We present you with a great program, Land of Sounds, which will appeal to younger children, who are just learning to speak, as well as to already speaking preschool, who are just beginning to know their the world around them. It is also a perfect tool to stimulate speech for children with the delayed speech development. The Land of Sounds program may be also used as the supplement to the speech therapy. 
Where can you find this program? The program is available on-line at www.landofsounds.com Without registration you can play with several games and exercises. After a quick registration the users can use all resources of the program. You can find hundreds of animations and games supporting the development of children’s speech. And here’s more good news: until the end of October you can use the program completely for free! You just need to register. How does the Land of Sounds program work? After registering on the website and logging in you can use the resources of several major sections: “exercises”, “games”, “exercises with a guide” and “knowledge library”. Section “Exercises” for the youngest You will find a lot of animations with sounds made by animals, vehicles, devices and sounds associated with every day activities and situations. In next scenes there are presented different sources of sounds in the form of images and onomatopoeic words. The child by watching the cinematographic animations, listens to the onomatopoeic sounds of the speech. He can also try to repeat the expressions during the exercise. Using onomatopoeic words is an important stage in the development of child’s speech. In this way he replaces too difficult words with those that are easier to say. Because of that in a simplified way he names the surrounding world and achieves his first success in communication. As a result, he more likely establishes the language contact with the environment! For children, who move from the stage of onomatopoeic speech to the stage of words and sentences there are animations, in which they get to know the names of objects and activities. Games in this section will definitely interest the youngest children learning to speak and developing speech. They will also be great while working with children with the delayed speech development. 
The Land of Sounds program has a very large base of animations that is bound to find something to keep their interest. Doing the exercises – tests you can check how the child recognizes and associates the sounds with the sources making them. Section “Games” for preschoolers Using games and activities in this section, the children perpetuate the sounds of onomatopoeic words learned in the section “Exercises”. To use the games you just need basic skills of using the mouse and keyboard. The level of difficulty of games is adjusted to the age of the children. You can find labyrinths, memory games, tasks involving collecting objects and many others! 
“Virtual advisor” or the exercises with a guide Apart from access to hundreds of animations, you can use the aid of the virtual advisor, who will tell you how to preferably begin the work with the Land of Sounds program. You just need to fill in a short survey, and the virtual advisor will direct you towards the best place to start work and will look after your progress. At any time you can cancel the virtual advisor and move to the selected exercises and games. 
Library of Knowledge In the library you can find interesting articles in the field of speech therapy, as well as those from which the parents can learn how to stimulate the proper development of speech of their child. 
Exercises in the program are selected with great care, appropriately to the age of children and their cognitive areas. The Land of Sounds program is worth recommending for one more reason: it has a beautiful, calm, uncluttered with excessive number of elements graphics and beautifully recorded sounds. We can fully recommend this program as the tool to stimulate the development of the child’s speech! We recommend it!
Service landofsounds.com was created from the EU funds grant (Innovative Economy Operational Program, activity 8.1) The FDA has approved a clinical trial to implant a prosthetic hearing device (also known as the ABI) in children. The ABI will stimulate neurons directly at the human Brainstem, therefore bypassing the inner ear & auditory nerve completely. Different from a cochlear implant, the ABI can only be used on people who are deaf because their auditory nerve and cochlea are non-functioning or they cannnot benefit from hearing aids. If the patient wanted to qualify for a cochlear implant, their auditory nerve would have to had been intact.
To read more about the ABI go to this link http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130122101334.htm FDA warns infants face increased risk in developing life threatening conditions if fed Simply Thick9/23/2012 Article taken directly from the FDA website:
Go here for the direct link to the FDA website: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm256250.htm?source=govdelivery The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wants parents, caregivers and health care professionals to be aware that infants of any age may face an increased risk of developing a life-threatening condition if fed a thickening product called SimplyThick. Since May 2011, the agency has identified 22 infants who developed necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a condition in which tissue in the intestines becomes inflamed and dies, after being fed SimplyThick. Seven of those infants died. Further study is needed to determine if there is an actual link between consumption of SimplyThick and the development of NEC. But, FDA wants everyone involved in the care of a baby to be aware of the potential risk before deciding whether to feed SimplyThick to infants of any age. SimplyThick is a brand of thickening agent—available to consumers and medical centers—used to help manage swallowing difficulties. It is sold in individual serving packets as well as in 64-ounce dispenser bottles, which can be purchased from distributors and local pharmacies throughout the United States. Benson M. Silverman, M.D., director of FDA's Infant Formula and Medical Foods Staff—himself a neonatologist—explains that the thickening agent is added to breast milk and infants' formula to help the premature babies swallow their food and keep it down, without spitting up. The product is also used in older children and adults with swallowing problems caused by trauma to the throat, he notes. back to top The ProblemFDA first learned of bad side effects possibly linked to SimplyThick on May 13, 2011. Silverman says he was alerted by two reports in FDA's MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program. He followed up with the physicians who filed those reports and later with a network of other neonatologists, doctors who treat newborns in need of special care. Karl Klontz, M.D., a medical officer in FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, says the scope of the problem soon became apparent. At the time, the agency was aware of 15 cases of NEC, including two deaths, involving premature infants who were fed SimplyThick, reportedly as directed, mixed with mothers' breast milk or infant formula products. The mixture was fed to infants for varying amounts of time. In May 2011, FDA advised against feeding SimplyThick to infants born before 37 weeks gestation because it could cause NEC. (Gestational, or post-menstrual, age is calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period, which is about two weeks before ovulation.) After issuing that warning, FDA conducted an extensive review of reports of health problems potentially tied to SimplyThick. Its findings, published recently in The Journal of Pediatrics, included the discovery that among almost two dozen infants ultimately found to develop NEC after ingesting SimplyThick was a baby born at full term—not a premature baby. The other 21 infants, however, were born prematurely. The infants ranged from about 24 to 48 weeks post-menstrual age when they became sick. (An infant who is 24 weeks post-menstrual age is about four months premature.) Half of the infants developed NEC in the hospital, while half developed the condition at home following discharge from the hospital. Fourteen required surgery. Silverman and Klontz are among the authors of the report that concluded that further study is warranted to establish if there is a link between NEC and SimplyThick and other thickening agents. In the meantime, says Klontz, parents should contact their child's health care provider before using SimplyThick. back to top Symptoms to Watch for
You or your health care professional may report side effects related to using SimplyThick to FDA's MedWatch by:
Updated Sept. 18, 2012 For more information on Simply Thick http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm256253.htm http://www.jpeds.com/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/fdaphotos/sets/72157626641899297/ |
Amy Reinstein, M.S., CCC - SLP
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