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Showing posts from October, 2013

Autism Prevalence Is Now At 1 In 50 Children

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  By Emily Willingham     The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released new figures for autism prevalence in the United States. They now give a prevalence of 1 in 50, but this story, like most autism-related stories, goes deeper than the numbers. First, this prevalence estimate doesn’t focus only on 8-year-olds, the population used for deriving the 1 in 88 number reported in 2012. Instead, it encompasses the number of diagnosed autistic people walking around in 2011 and 2012 who were ages 6 to 17. The 2007 percentage of the population fitting that description was 1.16%. These new numbers put that value for 2011-2012 at 2%. From the CDC’s report: "The magnitude of the increase was greatest for boys and for adolescents aged 14–17. Cohort analyses revealed consistent estimates of both the prevalence of parent-reported ASD (autism spectrum disorder) and autism severity ratings over time. Children who were first diagnosed in or after 2008 accounted fo

Autisme and Food Issues

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By Jennifer Lingle Parents often tell me that their children with Autism have food issues. They say that their children are sensitive to certain foods, and can be very picky eaters. This article addresses three reasons why children with Autism can be picky eaters, followed by suggestions on how to help your child to eat better. Of course, some children with food issues may have sensory processing challenges, so please keep that in mind as you read on. Reason 1 Many children with Autism tend to be visual learners, so if the food looks different, your child thinks that it is different. Many of your children keep eating the same foods, because they find contentment in knowing that the food is predictable, looks the same, and will taste exactly how they remembered it. Have you ever gone to the grocery store to buy your child’s favorite cookies, only to notice that the cookie packaging had changed? There was a different picture on the front of the box. You didn’t think much about this,

Changing Education Paradigms

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Education is really important and should be prioritized. It will always lead every people for a better future. We need to totally rethink how we see learning. It seems that the purpose of education in the modern social environment is not to "educate" people but instead to condition them to support and perpetuate the current system, that which is detrimental to the lives of all on the planet. It seems also that the only way to change education drastically to encompase the methods discussed here would be to deal with the rout causes, the social system we currently live in. A myriad of influences can play a part in a student's attitude to learning not just teachers. Each country should have its own strategy of Education according to its own charactristics.  Sir Ken Robinson is suggesting that the Education System is part of the cause of the ADHD epidemic. Doctors often prescribe Ritalin to children who are hyperactive and want to run around instead of sit in a classr

Teaching Children About Self-Esteem Using the Simile of a “Self-Esteem Bank Account”

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Stephen R. Covey, author of the best-seller "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" , writes in his emotional bank account. The idea is that you have one emotional bank account with each other person with whom you have a relationship and the level of trust within a specific relationship depends on the balance of the bank account. If you have made many withdrawals, for example, by making mean comments, ignoring the person or hurting the person in some other way, the balance of your account will be very low or even overdrawn. In such a case the level of trust in the relationship will be low or very low. If you, on the other hand, have made many deposits, for example by listening actively to the person, encouraging the person or keeping promises to the person, your account balance will be high . The level of trust between you and the other person will be high and the relationship will feel very fulfilling and strong. You can use this simile of a bank account to teach childr

Tics and School Children

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Occasional tics found in one quarter of school children are not linked with behavioural problems     Background: Tics are repeated involuntary muscular movements, affecting either limb muscles, facial muscles (e.g. grimacing or eyelid flicking) or vocal muscles (grunting or saying words). While the classic multiple tic disorder, Tourette syndrome, is not common, some suggest that between five and 20% of all schoolchildren will have a simple or complex tic at some time during childhood (although most disappear).  This wide variation in estimates of the frequency of tics, probably reflects variations in research methods, including different methods of assessing tics, the transient nature of many tic problems in children, plus the fact that many studies are done just on children who present to health professionals rather than on whole population samples (the most accurate). While a lot is known about the behavioural issues linked to Tourette syndrome (e.g. obsessive compulsive

Teach children to have self-control

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Discipline is a stern-sounding word; it smacks of the military, of the submission of one's will to that of another person. To parents of an earlier generation, the word was synonymous with punishment . These strict authoritarians, concerned with securing unquestioning obedience, felt they would spoil their children if they paid them too much attention or showed them excessive affection. Today we know that warmth and love are necessary if children are to have full lives, and a better definition for discipline is learning how to behave. Our long-range aim is to teach our children to discipline themselves, to have self-control rather than to be blindly obedient to laws laid down by those who are bigger and stronger than they. Good behavior is relative , of course. Standards are personal, and conduct and manners unacceptable in your family may be regarded as satisfactory in other families. And times change. You may not require exactly the same behavior of your child that

How to Discipline a Child - Learning how to behave

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  By Michael Meyerhoff   Discipline is a stern-sounding word; it smacks of the military, of the submission of one's will to that of another person. To parents of an earlier generation, the word was synonymous with punishment . These strict authoritarians, concerned with securing unquestioning obedience, felt they would spoil their children if they paid them too much attention or showed them excessive affection. Today we know that warmth and love are necessary if children are to have full lives, and a better definition for discipline is learning how to behave. Our long-range aim is to teach our children to discipline themselves, to have self-control rather than to be blindly obedient to laws laid down by those who are bigger and stronger than they. Good behavior is relative , of course. Standards are personal, and conduct and manners unacceptable in your family may be regarded as satisfactory in other families. And times change. You may not require exactly the same behavior of yo

World Sight Day 10 October 2013

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  by Dr Rania Chiourea World Sight Day is celebrated annually on the second Thursday of the month of October, in a bid to focus global attention on blindness, vision impairment and rehabilitation of visually impaired people.  This year falls on 10 October 2013. The theme for World Sight Day 2013 is: "Universal Eye Health". ‘World Sight Day’ as the name suggests, is a day that is dedicated to: Awareness is created about blindness and vision impairment issues which are considered to be international public health concerns. To motivate health ministers and other government officials to understand the problems and take keen interest in listing viable solutions and allocating resources to fight for the cause. To raise awareness and educate people about issues related to vision impairment, the importance of a 2020 vision, the corrective steps to be taken in order to restore partially lost sight etc. Statistics related to World Sight Day: The World Health Organization est

Figure drawings are assessed with regard to self-image

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Definition  Figure drawings are projective diagnostic techniques in which an individual is instructed to draw a person, an object, or a situation so that cognitive, interpersonal, or psychological functioning can be assessed. Purpose  A projective test is one in which a test taker responds to or provides ambiguous, abstract, or unstructured stimuli, often in the form of pictures or drawings. While other projective tests, such as the Rorschach Technique and Thematic Apperception Test , ask the test taker to interpret existing pictures, figure drawing tests require the test taker to create the pictures themselves. In most cases, figure drawing tests are given to children. This is because it is a simple, manageable task that children can relate to and enjoy. Some figure drawing tests are primarily measures of cognitive abilities or cognitive development. In these tests, there is a consider