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Reading Changes Body Mass Index in Girls
This study in Pediatrics is very creative and intriguing. Thirty one of 81 girls, ages 9-13, were randomly assigned to read an intervention novel which was a story about an overweight girl who discovers improved health and self worth. Thirty three girls read a control novel and 17 girls read no novel. Follow up occurred […]
Research: Sensory System and Predictability
Exciting research from the Journal of Neuroscience was published which indicates that is takes less effort for the brain to register predictable images than unpredictable images. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the researchers determined that the brain is not static waiting to process visual information, but attempts to predict visual information. When the brain is […]
New Use for a Therapy Ball
Have you ever heard of Drums Alive? It is an aerobic fitness class using therapy balls and drumsticks. This is a great activity incorporating rhythm, aerobic fitness, crossing midline, proprioceptive input and muscle strengthening. In the Drums Alive classes they put the therapy balls on aerobic steps but you could just put them in cardboard […]
Decline in Function in Adolescents with Cerebral Palsy
A recent study followed 76 males and 59 females with cerebral palsy with a mean age of 14 yrs. 6 months at the start of the study. The participants had quadriplegia (96), diplegia (32) and hemiplegia (1) with the majority having spasticity. For four years, data was collected consisting of: anthropometric characteristics, the Spinal Alignment […]
Grant for Children with Special Needs
The UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation is a non profit charity that offers grants up to $5000 for families to help pay for medical services and equipment for children with special needs. This can include physical and occupational therapy, wheelchairs, orthotics, eyeglasses and more. They will also help pay for certain services or items when insurance does […]
Fitness and Academic Acheivement
Leslie Cotrell, PhD, a researcher from West Virginia University will be presenting her research at the American Heart Association 2010 Conference on Health, Physical Activity and Metabolism. She studied the body mass index, fitness levels and standardized academic scores of 725 fifth graders and again when they reached seventh grade. The research indicated that students […]
Predicting Motor Skills In Children with ASD, ADHD and DCD
In a recent study published in Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 49 children with a mean age of 5 yrs 6 months were evaluated with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC). The children were diagnosed or at risk for developing ADHD, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), developmental coordination disorder (DCD) or no diagnosis. All the […]
Technology Idea for Tuesday
Here is a FREE open source drawing software for children – Tux Paint. It is suitable for children ages 3-12. There are many drawing tools such as paintbrush, line tools, shape tools rubber stamps and magic tools. There is even sound effects. You can translate any text into many languages. If you like Kid Pix […]
Social Story Resources
There are so many free social story resources on the web. I just thought I would mention a few. If you are not familiar with social stories, here is a great article, Creating Social Stories, to start off with on the basics of social stories and how to create your own. For free, ready made […]
Video Activity Idea – Kid Boxing
This fun activity encourages bilateral coordination, timing, eye hand coordination, visual tracking skills and upper extremity muscle strengthening. The key to this activity is teaching the child to hit each balloon or ball with the right hand and left in a rhythmic, controlled pattern. Have fun with it! Need more activity ideas? Turn fine motor […]