|
September
17, 2010
Issue 30, Volume
4
It's All About the
Choices!
Greetings!
Hope all is well with everyone. I am very excited about some
changes here in our editorial department. Firstly, our new blog is
ready! All the items that we feature here in the newsletter, as
well as those we put on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and elsewhere
will be featured in our blog. Learn more below.
Also starting with this issue, our newsletter will feature one
or more Guest Bloggers. These are folks who have their own
independent blogs in the pediatric therapy world and have caught
PediaStaff's attention with quality things to share and say. While
they are not at all affiliated with our company, we feel that the
more resources we can steer your way, the better you will be able
to serve your kiddos!
We've also decided to shorten our introduction here in this
very block and will simply put the titles of our various features
in this space rather "than tell you what we are going to tell you"
in a wordy fashion each week. The newsletter is getting pretty
long and I would rather spend the time it used to take me to write
the intro to bring you more content. So here it is:
News Items:
- PediaStaff Daily News Moving to a Blog Format
- US Vaccine Payout Provokes Confusion
- No Link Found Between Thimerosal and Autism
- Video: 20/20 Special on Progeria
- Kids with Autism Don't Yawn Contagiously
Tips, Activities
and Resources:
-
Therapist Resource of the Week: Mr. Potato Head
-
More Resources of the Week: Backpack Awareness
-
Activity of the Week: Proprioceptive, Tactile and Fine Motor
Painting Activity
Upcoming Events:
- Unlocking the Mystery of Selective Mutism and Social Anxiety:
Evidence-Based Intervention for Schools and Parents - A
Workshop
Articles and Blogs
-
Pediatric Therapy Corner - Ask Gwen: How to Decrease Hand
Flapping
-
Guest Blogs This Week: Joni Redlich and Pamela Ullmann
-
Worth Repeating - The Rights and Reasons of
Left-Handedness
Feel free to contact us with any questions about our openings
or items in these pages. Have you discovered our RSS feed? Click on
the orange button below to subscribe to all our openings and have
them delivered to your Feed Reader! Don't have an RSS Feed Reader
set up? Sign up at
Feed My Inbox and have any feed you like
delivered to your email inbox!
Have a great weekend and Take Care!
Heidi
Kay and the PediaStaff Team
|
|
|
The Career Center
The links to the right are "live" and reflect the most
recent jobs with PediaStaff. To further narrow your search
by state use the drop down menus on the search page to select a
specific state. If a particular search is returning no hits it is
possible that we do not currently have new
openings
for you in that state.
To see ALL
our openings click HERE
and select the checkbox for your discipline.
|
|
|
|
Hot School Based Job of the Week |
School Based Occupational Therapist -
Olympia, WA
Position:
Occupational Therapist
Location: Olympia Washington
Hourly Rate: $37/hr (new graduate) and up based on experience
Status: Full Time Contract for SY 2010/11
We're paying a $1,500 bonus
for a full-time contract OT to work in Olympia, Washington for the
balance of SY 2010/11. You'll likely have an opportunity to return
for SY 2011/12 if desired. Caseload may include preK through 12th
grade. Specific assignment will be based on your personal
strengths and preferences along with the district's needs -- you'll
learn more details when you interview. Olympia is the capital of
Washington and offers everything you want in a city. If you'd
rather live in a small town it's a short commute to several
communities near by.
Must hold at least a Bachelor's degree in Occupational Therapy and
a current WA state license. New graduates welcome.
Pediatric therapy is our specialty - and our expertise is backed by
excellent hourly rates and per diem offered based upon IRS
eligibility. Additional benefits include: nationally recognized
medical insurance, 401K, generous relocation and continuing
education assistance, optional paid leave, reimbursement for state
licensure and/or teacher certifications, and completion
bonuses.
Our management team provides 24/7-telephone support to our
therapists - you are not alone when you are on assignment with us.
In addition, we provide Clinical Coordinators to assist our
therapists in managing their caseloads effectively. Our Clinical
Coordinators are experienced therapists who have excelled within
their profession and are able to help you succeed. Respond now and
learn how YOU can be a part of our team! There is never a charge to
applicants and new graduates are always encouraged to
apply.
Interested in this job? Contact PediaStaff
today!..
...IT'S ALL ABOUT THE CHOICES!
|
Hot Outpatient Job of the
Week |
Pediatric Occupational Therapist -
Austin, TX
Austin,
Texas is one of the most popular places to live not only in the
state of Texas, but in the USA. We always have candidates looking
for new opportunities in Austin and here's another great position.
Our client is a relatively new pediatric outpatient clinic serving
children ages birth through 18. They typically see diagnoses that
include autism spectrum disorders, dysgraphia, developmental delay,
injuries, conversion disorder, CP, and Down's syndrome. Most
clients are moderately impaired. They are the only pediatric
facility in Austin, TX to offer traditional therapy as well as
progressive therapies such as yoga and music therapy. As their
clinic grows, so does the need for qualified therapists. They seek
an OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST with 3-5 years of pediatric experience to
join their team full time. Monday thru Friday 9AM-6PM. Salary is
$56,000-65,000 dependent on experience. Full time therapists are
salaried with benefits such as health insurance, paid time off,
liability insurance, license renewal and continuing education.
$1500 relocation assistance (reimbursable) or $500 sign on bonus
for local candidates. Qualifications: Must hold a Bachelor's Degree
in Physical Therapy; a current state license (or eligible) if
applicable
Interested in this job? Contact PediaStaff
today!..
...IT'S ALL ABOUT THE CHOICES!
|
Exciting News from
PediaStaff: We
Have Moved our Daily to a Blog Format!
|
PediaStaff
is excited to announce that as of this week, links to the daily
news stories, videos, research reports, articles, therapy
tips/resources and upcoming events that you come to expect from the
company, will now be posted in the new PediaStaff WordPress
blog.
"Collecting our daily posts in a readily accessible blog will allow
our readers from all the corners of the internet, a chance to come
together to comment and discuss the stories and information that is
important to them," said Heidi Kay VP of Marketing for
PediaStaff. "regardless of whether the reader subscribes to our
news from Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, the PediaStaff Newsletter,
or an RSS feed." Added Kay, "Don't worry. If you don't have the
time to keep up daily, the PediaStaff Newsletter will still pull it
all together on Friday."
Check out our Blog and
Subscribe today!
|
Autism in the News: US
Vaccine Payout Provokes Confusion
|
[Source:
The Great Beyond, Blog of the Journal Nature]
The
US Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) will pay over $1.5
million to the family of a child whose parents allege acquired
autism after routine vaccinations in 2000. CBS called the payment
to the family of Hannah Poling the "first court award in a
vaccine-autism claim" (9 September 2010, CBS).
However, the payment does not acknowledge a vaccine-autism link.
The payment was made for a mitochondrial disorder and
encephalopathy which fall under a category of so-called "Table"
injuries for which parents do not need to show proof that the
vaccine aggravated the condition as long as it appeared within a
certain amount of time after vaccination. The VICP, which was
established in 1988 (US Court of Federal Claims), has made
thousands of such payments since its establishment. The same court
found no compelling evidence of a link between vaccination and
autism in a ruling last year, which was upheld in a federal appeals
court on the same day as the Poling payout decision, (27 August
2010, Associated Press).
Read and Comment Through a Link on
our Blog |
Autism Research in the News: No
Link Found Between Vaccine Preservative and Autism
|
[Source:
MSNBC]
MONDAY, Sept. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Infants exposed to the highest
levels of thimerosal, a mercury-laden preservative that used to be
found in many vaccines, were no more likely to develop autism than
infants exposed to only a little thimerosal, new research
finds.
The study offers more reassurance to parents who worry that
vaccination raises their children's risk for autism, the
researchers said.
"Prenatal and early life exposure to ethylmercury from thimerosal
in vaccines or immunoglobulin products does not increase a child's
risk of developing autism," concluded senior study author Dr. Frank
DeStefano, director of the immunization safety office at the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Read More About this Study Through
a Link on our Blog
|
And More Autism Research in the
News: Kids with Autism Don't Yawn
Contagiously
|
[Source:
ScienceDaily]
If someone near you yawns, do you yawn, too? About half of adults
yawn after someone else does in a phenomenon called contagious
yawning. Now a new study has found that most children aren't
susceptible to contagious yawning until they're about 4 years old -
and that children with autism are less likely to yawn contagiously
than others.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of
Connecticut, appears in the September/October 2010 issue of the
journal Child Development.
To determine the extent to which children at various stages of
social development are likely to yawn contagiously, the researchers
studied 120 typically developing 1- to 6-year-olds. Although babies
begin to yawn spontaneously even before they leave the womb, most
of the children in this study didn't show signs of contagious
yawning until they were 4.
Read More About this Study Through
a Link on our Blog
|
Video of the Week: "7
Going on 70" - Watch this 20/20 Special on Progeria on our
Website |
Inside
the lives of three young girls who have progeria - a rapid aging
disease. Barbara Walters Reports for 20/20 Original air date,
September 10, 2010.
Editors
Note: As of this posting, "Part Two" of the special is missing." We
will continue to check back on the ABC site for updates.
Watch
this Special Through Links on our Blog |
Therapist Resource of the
Week: Mr. Potato Head!
|
Let's
hear it for blogger and relatively new SLP, Shareka Benkham with
our choice for Therapy Resource of the Week! Great ideas,
Shareka. We will be featuring Shareka's blog regularly here on this
pages! Shareka's post proves that you can learn a lot from a
newbie! Keep bringing those fresh ideas!
He may seem like just an ordinary
guy but Mr. Potato Head has a secret. He is the life of the party
in so many clinics, homes and schools around the world. He has
proven to be extremely useful so far as a valuable resource for
speech and language intervention. Therefore he gains the title of
"Resource of the Week!" I thought I'd share with you readers 4
different ways in which I used good old Mr. PH today in my therapy
sessions.
|
More Therapy Resources of the
Week: Backpack
Awareness |
Backpack
Awareness Day was this Wednesday, but it's never too late to tell
your kiddos and their parents and teachers about the risks posed by
overloaded backpacks.
Did
you know?
-
More than 79 million students in the United States carry
school backpacks.
-
More than 23,000 backpack-related injuries were treated at
hospital emergency rooms, doctor's offices, and clinics in
2007.
-
It is recommended that a loaded backpack should never weight
more than 15% of the student's total body weight (for a student
weighing 100 pounds, this means that the backpack should weight no
more than 15 pounds)
Access Downloadable Fact and Tip
Sheets Through our Blog Post |
Therapist Activity of the
Week: Proprioceptive, Tactile and Fine Motor
Painting Activity
|
Special
Thanks to Your Therapy Source for this week's Therapy Activity of
the Week! Here is a simple activity that you can modify depending
upon the skill level of the child. We chose to do a name but you
could make this activity much more simple by just doing lines or
random designs. It could also be done on a canvas bag to make a
great tote bag gift for someone special.
Purpose of activity: Encourage fine motor skill development, upper
extremity muscle strengthening and proprioceptive/tactile
input.\
Materials: painter's tape (low adhesion), paint and paper. Easel is
optional or you could do the activity on the floor.
Check out this Activity on our
Blog
|
Upcoming Events: Unlocking the Mystery of Selective
Mutism and Social Anxiety: Evidence-Based Intervention for Schools
and Parents - A Workshop
|
Friday,
Oct. 15 9:00am-3:30pm
Aimee Kotrba, Ph.D.
Pediatric Clinical Psychologist
www.selectivemutismtreatment.com
"Understanding Selective Mutism: Evidence-Based Intervention for
Schools and Parents" is a one day workshop designed for mental
health care professionals, school personnel, and
parents. Workshops are generally held twice per calendar year.
Topics include how to identify Selective Mutism, specific
behavioral strategies for intervention, and practical techniques
for reducing anxiety. The cost of the workshop is $140; this
includes continental breakfast, workshop informational packet, and
lunch. For more information or to register for the next workshop,
please contact Dr. Kotrba at 734-416-9098, ext. 4 or register
online below.
Learn More/Register
for this Workshop
|
Pediatric Therapy Corner -
Ask Gwen: How to Decrease Hand Flapping
We would like to welcome Gwen
Wild, OTR/L as an occasional contributor. This is one of Gwen's
recent blog posts. We feature it here in Pediatric Therapy Corner
to give her a warm welcome.
|
By: Gwen Wild, OTR/L
Question: What do you recommend to decrease hand flapping besides
heavy work and deep pressure and verbal cues for "quiet hands" for
a sensory seeker?
Gwen's Answer: Hand
flapping can be a difficult habit to replace, especially if this is
an older child or adult. Another complicating factor is that even
if this child is a sensory SEEKER with regards to movement and
proprioception, he/she may be an AVOIDER in other sensory areas
that could be causing the need to use hand-flapping as a form of
self-calming.
Here are a few more things to
try:
Behavior Analysis -
try to figure out what times of day the hand flapping increases and
if there are any environmental issues that cause an escalation in
the frequency of the behavior. Often, frequency of this type of
behavior increases in response to transitions, fluorescent or
bright lights, excessive noise or "chaos" in the room, or task
demands. Use environmental modifications to try to reduce
stressors/behavioral triggers.
Wrist or hand Weights
- leave on during times of day when the behavior is the most
prevalent. An appropriate length of time would be 20-40 minutes.
Amount of weight will depend on size and strength of the
client.
Read the Rest of this
Article on our Blog
|
Guest Blogs This Week: Joni
Redlich and Pamela Ullmann
We have a new weekly feature for you starting this week. As our
reach has grown, so has the number of bloggers in our field
interesting in reprinting their work here in the PediaStaff
Newsletter. This section will feature links to blog posts
contributed to our site by some great folks out in the therapy
community. Got anyone in mind who blogs about pediatric therapy
topics? Let us know and we will consider reaching out to
them.
|
Tippy Toes - By: Joni Redlich,
DPT
Children walk on their toes for various different reasons.
Medical causes such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy must
be ruled out. This link is a good overview of toe-walking in
general. I want to address some of the physical therapy specific
aspects of toe-walkers.
When a child who toe walks comes to me, I first rule out any red
flags. Did they always toe walk or is this new? Does the child have
any stiffness or responses to a rapid stretch?
Read the Rest of this
KidPT post on our Blog
|
Integrating Art Therapy and the
DIR/Floortime Model - By: Pamela Ullmann, ATR-BC, LCAT
Children walk on their toes for various different reasons.
Medical causes such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy must
be ruled out. This link is a good overview of toe-walking in
general. I want to address some of the physical therapy specific
aspects of toe-walkers.
When a child who toe walks comes to me, I first rule out any red
flags. Did they always toe walk or is this new? Does the child have
any stiffness or responses to a rapid stretch?
Read the Rest of this
Full Spectrum post on our Blog
|
Worth Repeating - The Rights
and Reasons of Left-Handedness
|
By Dr David McNamara and Dr Hugo Van
Odyck of Saint John of God Hospital
[Source: The Irish Medical Times]
As specialists in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry, the
developmental perspective assumes a great importance in the science
of our discipline. We have been struck by the impact of
left-handedness on many aspects of life and take this opportunity
to inform the right-biased world.
It is believed that approximately 13 per cent of people are
left-handed. The majority of the population are also right-sided,
in general (that is, they prefer to use the right eye, right foot
and right ear if forced to make a choice between the two).
The reasons for this are not fully understood, but it is thought
that because the left cerebral hemisphere of the brain controls the
right side of the body, the right side is generally stronger. It is
suggested that the left cerebral hemisphere is dominant over the
right in most humans, because in approximately 90 per cent of all
humans, the left hemisphere is the 'language' hemisphere.
Read the Rest of this
Article Through a Link on our Blog
|
Sign up for Our
Newsletter!
|
Would
you like pediatric and school-based therapy tips, resources,
articles, and news delivered to your computer once a week? Sign up
here for our newsletter!
Sign up HERE
|
Quick Links to PediaStaff
|
|
If
you would like to opt out of receiving this newsletter, there is a
link located in the footer below. However, please note that once
you've opted out, we will be unable to send you any future
correspondence via newsletter. |
Please Note: The views and
advice expressed in articles, videos and other pieces published in
this newsletter are not necessarily the views and advice of
PediaStaff or its employees but rather that of the author.
PediaStaff is not endorsing or implying agreement with the views or
advice contained therein, rather presenting them for the
independent analysis and information of its readers.
|
|
|
|
|
|