Daily Reports Improve Productivity

A recent study indicated that providing students with daily report cards on their progress was beneficial.  Sixty three elementary students, mostly white male with ADHD, received daily reports and a control group did not receive daily reports.  Significant improvements where seen in productivity and following the classroom rules in the group that received the daily […]

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Pencil Grasp and Handwriting

The Australian Occupational Therapy Journal published research on the effect of pencil grasp on handwriting speed and legibility in 120 fourth grade students after a 10 minute copy task.  A standardized handwriting assessment was completed before and after a 10 minute copy task by typically developing students and students with handwriting issues. The results indicated […]

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Bell Maze

Here is a simple, super cheap activity to make.  Clean a recycled Styrofoam meat tray.  Cut a pipe cleaner in half and then fold it in half.  Poke the pipe cleaners into the tray to make a small arch.  You can put the pipe cleaners in any order you wish.  Toss a jingle bell into […]

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Orthotic Use and Down Syndrome

A single subject, alternating treatment design was used to analyze the effectiveness of two different supramalleolar orthotics.  Two children with Down syndrome each participated in three phases: without orthotics, SureStep orthotic and the DAFO #4 orthotic.  Using the Gross Motor Function Measure, results indicated improvements in both children with the SureStep orthotic and child #1 […]

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Tablet Computers and Shunts

A recent study indicates that tablet computers may interfere with programmable shunts.  The researchers discovered the following when exposing programmable shunts to the iPad2: at distances between 0 and 1 cm, the settings had changed in 58 percent of the valves.  after exposure at distances between 1 and 2.5 cm the settings had changed in […]

Visual Dysfunction and Cerebral Palsy

A study in Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology reports on visual dysfunction in children with cerebral palsy.  Since 60-70% of children with cerebral palsy have cerebral visual impairment, this study wanted to explore the visual dysfunction further.  One hundred twenty nine patients with cerebral palsy ranging in age from 3 months to 15 years old […]