



Archive for January, 2011
Jan
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Over 2 million people struggle from sleep disorders. We can have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep or both. A barrage of thoughts often haunts us through the night, “I can’t believe I can’t fall asleep, tomorrow’s going to be horrible, please, please, please fall asleep.†The anxiousness grows as we fall further and further from a restful state of mind. So what can we do when it seems like sleep is an impossibility?
Perhaps we can take a lesson from poet Wendell Berry in his The Peace of Wild Things:
“When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s life may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light.Â
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”
One practice that we can develop when have difficulty sleeping is to intentionally and nonjudgmentally bring awareness to where the wild things are. In other words, bringing attention directly to the anxious thoughts and feelings themselves. One of the reasons anxious thoughts continue to spin is because we’re caught up in them relating to the problem of sleep from the anxious thoughts instead of stepping out of the whirlwind of the mind and relating to the anxious thoughts.
Read in Full:Â http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=41423&cn=100
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Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on December 16, 2010Â
If goofing off at the office makes people happy, it may result in more innovative thinking. That is one of the implications of a new study that suggests upbeat work environments can improve creativity.
The work settings can put people in a good mood so they can then think more creatively.
“Generally, positive mood has been found to enhance creative problem-solving and flexible yet careful thinking,†said Ruby Nadler, a graduate student at the University of Western Ontario. She and colleagues Rahel Rabi, also a grad student, and Dr. John Paul Minda carried out the study published in the journal Psychological Science.
For this study, Nadler and her colleagues looked at a particular kind of learning that is improved by creative thinking.
Students who took part in the study were nudged into different moods and then given a category learning task to do (learning to classify sets of pictures with visually complex patterns). The researchers manipulated mood with help from music clips and video clips; first, they tried several out to find out what made people happiest and saddest.
The happiest music was a peppy Mozart piece, and the happiest video was of a laughing baby.
The researchers then used these in the experiment, along with sad music and video (a piece of music from the movie “Schindler’s List†and a news report about an earthquake) and a piece of music and a video that didn’t affect mood. After listening to the music and watching the video, people had to try to learn to recognize a pattern.
Happy volunteers were better at learning a rule to classify the patterns than sad or neutral volunteers.
“If you have a project where you want to think innovatively, or you have a problem to carefully consider, being in a positive mood can help you to do that,†Nadler said.
And music is an easy way to get into a good mood. Everyone has a different type of music that works for them—don’t feel like you have to switch to Mozart, she said.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/12/16/positive-mood-improves-creativity/21879.html
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I loved these bits of advice from Beliefnet’s Renita Williams.
We all have experienced hurt and pain in our lives. Sometimes we are exposed to experiences so painful that they leave marks that are difficult to heal-especially if we feel somone has wronged us or harmed us.
1. Acknowledge the problem
Figure out what it is that’s causing you to hold a grudge. You have to know what the problem is in order to solve it. When you allow yourself to see the real issue you can then make a choice to move forward from there.
2. Share your feelings.
A grudge can form when an issue isn’t fully confronted. Without being judgmental about yourself or another, clarify your feelings on the situation. Then, decide if this is something you will work on in your own heart or by contacting the other person involved. Only when you are ready, communicate with the other person about the issue. Whether you work it out on your own or involved the other person, you may feel more relieved by releasing that built up tension and all involved can have a better understanding of the situation and able to resolve the issue.
3. Switch places.
To get a better understanding of the other person, try putting yourself in their shoes. This will give you a better understanding of their point of view and behavior. Maybe the person in question was in a lot of pain. This doesn’t justify their negativity, but it will help you understand it. The more you understand the other person and their behavior, the easier it is not to let go of a grudge.
A natural response may be to develop a grudge, or even a hatred of the person who has caused us pain. But the person who holds the grudge always suffers more!
The longer we hold a grudge the more difficult it is to forgive and move on. You can begin to free yourself when you begin to forgive. Here are eight ways to get a grip on the pain and find the strength to let it go.
4. Accept what is.
Choose to create your own healing, with or without an apology. Don’t wait for the person you are upset with to come around. For all you know they are already past the issue and not putting as much thought into it. Even if they don’t offer an apology, it doesn’t mean they are not remorseful. Some people are unable to apologize or may not fully understand that the person they hurt may need to hear one.
5. Don’t dwell on it.
Once you have decided to move on, keep on moving. Don’t put too much thought into the situation or continuously discuss it. It will only make things worse and harder to get over. If ever the issue is brought up in conversation, change the subject or just look at it as the past and leave it there.
6. Take the positive.
For every negative situation there is a positive. If you take this as a learning experience, you will benefit from knowing more about yourself and the other person. Choose to learn a valuable lesson or walk away with a better understanding that can help you let go of the issue and not resent the other person.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2010/12/11/8-tips-to-stop-holding-a-grudge/
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Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on December 15, 2010
Apparently, it is not solely an American phenomenon: A new European research effort suggests cyber bullying is becoming increasingly common among teenagers.
Research by the University of Valencia (UV) in Spain, based on a study carried out in the region, shows that between 25 percent and 29 percent of all teenagers have been bullied via their mobile phone or the Internet over the past year.
“The data from our study shows that technological bullying affects 24.6 percent of teenagers in the case of mobile telephony, and 29 percent with regard to the internet. In the large majority of cases, this abuse lasts for a month or less,†said SofÃa Buelga, Ph.D., co-author of the study.
The research, published in the latest issue of the journal Psicothema, was based on a survey in 11 secondary schools in 2009, with 2,101 teenagers between the ages of 11 and 17 responding, 1,098 of whom were boys and 1,003 were girls.
The cyber bullying lasted for less than a month for most teenagers. Out of the total surveyed, 17.4 percent were bullied via their mobile phones and 22.5 percent on the Internet.
Although cyber bullying is a short-lived problem for most adolescents, there is a “relatively small, but significant†percentage of teenagers who have been subject to bullying of moderate (less than one attack per week) and severe intensity (more than one attack per week) over the course of more than three months, 4 percent between 3 and 6 months and 3 percent for more than a year.
In cases where bullying is moderate and lasts for more than three months, the most commonly used means for it is the mobile phone.
“This could be explained by the availability and central importance that mobile phones have in life. Previous studies have shown that teenagers aged between 12 and 14 have had an average of three mobile phones, and 63 percent of them never switch them off,†Buelga said.
“More cyber bullying tends to take place in the first years at school than in the last ones, both by mobile and Internet,†she said. The study showed that girls suffer more bullying than boys in most cases, particularly verbal bullying, invasions of privacy, spreading of rumors and social exclusion.
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/12/15/cyber-bullying-of-teens-not-just-a-u-s-issue/21826.html
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Autistic boy kicked out of kindergarten gets $350,000 settlement
By BRIAN HAMACHERÂ Updated 9:16 AM EST, Thu, Dec 2, 2010
Alex Barton, the autistic South Florida kindergartener who was cruelly voted out of class by his schoolmates a few years ago, is about to have more money than any of them.
Melissa Barton, Alex’s mother, reached a settlement with St. Lucie County education officials to pay her son $350,000 for his ordeal, according to tcpalm.com.
The settlement was reached on Nov. 24 in Miami, and is awaiting a final approval. If approved, the family will get $200,000 immediately, followed by yearly payments when Alex turns 18 in 2020.
It’s a decent payday for Alex, who was kicked out of class “Survivor”-style in May 2008. His teacher, Wendy Portillo, put Barton’s fate in the hands of his 16 classmates after he was repeatedly disruptive in class. The students were allegedly allowed to go before Barton and tell him why they didn’t like him.
Melissa Barton said Alex was “forced to stand in front of his peers and be told why ‘they hated him,’ with such comments as [Alex] is ‘disgusting’ and ‘annoying,’ ‘He eats crayons,’ ‘Lies on the floor,’ ‘He eats paper’ and ‘He eats his boogers.”‘
The class voted 14-2 to give him the boot.
Barton didn’t return to the class and finished the year in homeschooling, and has since been diagnosed with a form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome, which may have caused his behavior.
Two years later, Barton made the honor roll.
Portillo was suspended for a year, but has returned to teaching in St. Lucie County and had her tenure reinstated.
Source:Â http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Big-Payday-for-Kid-Voted-Out-of-Class-111184954.html
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By Joe Callahan
Staff writer
Published: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 at 7:36 p.m.
A teacher’s aide allegedly caught verbally abusing a special-needs child at Maplewood Elementary School was fired Tuesday night by the Marion County School Board.
Deborah J. Adams did not challenge Superintendent of Schools Jim Yancey’s recommendation to terminate her contract. Adams was accused of making derogatory comments about a first-grader who has autism and cannot speak.
Philip Leppert, the district’s executive director of human resources, said since Adams did not ask for a hearing within 15 days, the board’s vote on Tuesday ended her employment.
The board also placed Maplewood teacher Rhoda Richardson on unpaid leave. The School Board did not comment on the vote, which was passed as part of the consent agenda.
Richardson, who works with Adams, is also accused of making derogatory statements about the child, documents state. She is being represented by Ocala attorney Robert Bradshaw, who filed a response to the allegation, asking for a board hearing.
At that hearing, the School Board can choose to uphold Yancey’s recommendation to fire Richardson or reinstate the 24-year veteran back into the classroom.
In October, a mother of a child in Richardson’s class thought something was wrong with her child, who reportedly has the mentality of a 2-year-old.
Since her child is non-verbal, the mother placed a digital recorder in her child’s backpack. When her child returned home, the mother listened to the comments.
The recording, made without the teacher and aide’s knowledge, revealed the child was called “a hippo,†“a beached whale sleeping†and a “hippo in a ballerina suit,†according to School District documents.
The women were also heard chastising the incontinent child for wetting herself. And they forced the child to wear soiled clothes and clean her own urine, a School District report states.
The mother shared the recording with School District administrators and the women were placed on paid leave. It took seven weeks for the district to verify who was speaking on the tape, officials said.
Bradshaw said in a written response that the evidence being used against Richardson was obtained illegally. Florida law forbids the recording of any private conversations unless all parties agree. Bradshaw said Richardson “had a reasonable expectation of privacy.â€
Bradshaw acknowledged the statements were improper. He also said teachers — just like other workers in high-stress jobs, firefighters and law enforcement officers, for example — say outlandish things in private. They do it to cope with stress.
Bradshaw also said his client should be presumed innocent and that he has the right to examine the evidence. He said he has not been allowed to hear the tape. Bradshaw also said it is not clear what statements his client may have made, if any, and whether the statements were even made in earshot of students.
Though Maplewood is a public school and the classroom could be deemed public, Bradshaw said that no one — with the exception of a few select administrators — can just walk into a classroom.
Most everyone must register at the front office and state a purpose for being there. If the person has been approved to go inside a classroom, the person then provides a driver’s license at the front office to get a badge. The teacher is then notified of the visitor. Therefore, the conversation between Adams and Richardson should be considered private.
Read in Full:Â http://www.gainesville.com/article/20101214/ARTICLES/101219754/1105/NEWS?p=1&tc=pg
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Article Date: 14 Dec 2010 – 2:00 PST
Elsevier Inc., the world’s leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information, announced that Alcohol has published a special year-end double issue on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). It fills an urgent need to bring the widest possible readership current perspectives on using new research methods to improve identification and diagnosis of offspring at risk for FASD and its associated brain damage and behavioral dysfunction.
Journal Editor-in-Chief Charles R. Goodlett said, “It has been nearly four decades since Kenneth Lyons Jones and David Smith published their landmark papers reporting their observation of a constellation of identifiable birth defects in infants of women who drank alcohol heavily during pregnancy. One might expect that, over several decades, some consensus about the basic elements of this neurodevelopmental disorder would have emerged, including the diagnostic features, the core cognitive and behavioral problems, and likely mechanisms of and potential interventions for abnormal brain development. In reality, there are more questions than answers …”
The Special Issue on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) features 15 articles covering emerging research on topics such as: new ways to identify pregnancies at risk for FASD using existing maternal self-report tools; the development of biomarker methods to help improve early identification and diagnosis of at-risk exposure to alcohol; the use of animal models to develop new diagnostic and intervention strategies; and a new framework to improve outcomes for children affected by prenatal alcohol-induced brain damage.
Also included will be three articles from the Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (CIFASD), a consortium of international researchers currently in the process of collecting the largest set of integrated clinical data on FASD ever compiled.
The online edition of Alcohol may be viewed via ScienceDirect and via Alcohol’s web site. The latter site includes two, free, selected articles namely “Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: new perspectives on diagnosis and intervention” and “Effects of moderate drinking during pregnancy on placental gene expression.”
Sources: Elsevier, AlphaGalileo Foundation. Â
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/211312.php

01 Nov 2010
Alcohol is the most damaging drug to the drinker and others overall, heroin and crack are the second and third most harmful, Professor David Nutt and colleagues wrote in the medical journal The Lancet today…
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A practicing speech and language pathologist in Dallas, has created 15 apps that are compatible with the iPhone, iPod Touch® and iPad engaging parents and helping children with a variety of speech delays or disabilities.
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Did you know that 8 to 9% of children in the United States struggle from a speech or language delay? Speech or language delay is a general term used to describe children who have difficulty communicating their basic needs and wants due to the presence of difficulties pronouncing some sounds, stuttering, autism, or a specific language disorder. These children need help from both speech pathologists and parents to practice and improve their skills. Often times, therapists may struggle finding something that will engage the student, and parents may struggle having any type of material to practice with at home. One determined speech therapist, named Barbara Fernandes, however, is determined to bridge the gap of accessible and engaging speech therapy materials. Mrs. Fernandes has been helping speech therapists and parents around the world to engage children in the process of improving their speech and communication skills using devices from Apple®.
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Barbara Fernandes, M.S, CCC-SLP, a practicing speech and language pathologist in Dallas, has created 15 applications that are compatible with the iPhone, iPod Touch® and iPad to help children with a variety of speech delays or disabilities. Barbara is the founder and director of Smarty Ears, a company that designs and publishes apps for improving communication skills in all areas such as stuttering, articulation and language. She is also the host of GeekSLP TV, a video podcast and blog dedicated towards educating parents and therapists alike in ways to incorporate technology into improving language skills.
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With over 200,000 applications on Apple’s app store, it is quite overwhelming for parents or therapists to identify the ones that were designed specifically by a qualified specialist in the area or to find the apps that target the specific areas in which children need to work on. Barbara Fernandes, a trilingual speech pathologist and a specialist in speech and language disorders, has created apps specifically for people who stutter, children with difficulty pronouncing sounds, children with language delays and even an app that will serve the Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device.
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Barbara comments on the importance of parental support in the process: “In my practice, I have had the opportunity to observe that children will make significantly more progress if they are engaged in the activity and if the parents are also practicing with the children at home. The apps I have created do not substitute the need for traditional speech therapy, but they allow parents to become active participants in their child’s speech and language development. It is wonderful to see speech therapists recommending my apps to parents as ‘homework‘ or to receive e-mails from parents that describe their children’s success. A common comment received is that their child is able to improve the pronunciation of the ‘r’ sounds after they have used one of my apps called ‘r intensive’. This app targets words that contain several forms of the ‘r’ sound in an intensive practice format.â€
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Barbara Fernandes has also recently designed an entry-level Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) app for children with a communication disorder called “Expressiveâ€. “Expressive†gives children the ability to express themselves through the use of pictured images and corresponding audio, and can also be used by individuals who have had a stroke and have lost their ability to communicate with family members.    “Expressive†offers simple and easy customization tailored to the individual’s communication levels and needs.
Additional information can be found at http://www.smartyearsapps.com
To access GeekSLP’s blog entries and videos, visit: http://www.geekslp.com
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PERRI KLASS, M.D.
Last Modified: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 at 5:17 a.m.
As recently as 2002, an international group of leading neuroscientists found it necessary to publish a statement arguing passionately that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was a real condition.
In the face of “overwhelming†scientific evidence, they complained, A.D.H.D. was regularly portrayed in the media as “myth, fraud or benign condition†— an artifact of too-strict teachers, perhaps, or too much television.
In recent years, it has been rarer to hear serious doubt that the disorder really exists, and the evidence explaining its neurocircuitry and genetics has become more convincing and more complex.
Even so, I’ve lately read a number of articles and essays that use attention (or its lack) as a marker and a metaphor for something larger in society — for the multitasking, the electronic distractions, the sense that the nature of concentration may be changing, that people feel nibbled at, overscheduled, distracted, irritable.
But A.D.H.D. is not a metaphor. It is not the restlessness and rambunctiousness that happen when grade-schoolers are deprived of recess, or the distraction of socially minded teenagers in the smartphone era. Nor is it the reason your colleagues check their e-mail in meetings and even (spare me!) conversations.
“Attention is a really complex cognitive phenomenon that has a lot of pieces in it,†said Dr. David K. Urion of Harvard, who directs the learning disabilities and behavioral neurology program at Boston Children’s Hospital. “What we’re specifically talking about in kids with attention deficit is a problem compared to age- and gender-based peers in selective attention — what do you glom onto and what do you ignore?â€
Read in Full:Â http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20101214/ZNYT04/12143014/-1/NEWS03?Title=Untangling-the-Myths-About-Attention-Disorder
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Getting closer: Jeff Brazier, right, and his brother SpencerÂ
By Nikki Murfitt
Last updated at 9:26 PM on 11th December 2010
Television presenter Jeff Brazier and his younger brother Spencer have always led very separate lives. Jeff’s has involved the hard graft (and glamour) of establishing a showbusiness career, while Spencer, who was born with cerebral palsy, has a sheltered existence, never straying far from home, with daytime TV and computer games replacing an active social life.
This acute disparity in their lives had been concerning Jeff, 31. Perhaps it was as a result of reflecting on recent tragic events in his own life, including the death of his former partner Jade Goody.
Overnight he became a full-time father to their sons Bobby, seven, and six-year-old Freddie when Jade died in March 2009, aged 27, from cervical cancer.
A month later his grandfather Jack Smith, 81, killed himself after being diagnosed with throat and mouth cancer.
So much of Jeff’s family life has been out of his control - including the tragic early death of his father, Stephen, who was skipper of The Marchioness pleasure boat which sank in the Thames in 1989 when Jeff was just ten years old.
But he was determined to change his relationship with Spencer.
Earlier this year, he set aside three weeks to improve his brother’s quality of life and their poignant journey is captured in a BBC documentary Me And My Brother. The programme does not make for easy watching and highlights how difficult it can be to reconcile two very different lives when divided by disability.
‘I’ve known for a while that Spencer isn’t happy,’ says Jeff. ‘He wants friends and maybe eventually a wife and family. That’s his dream, but he has lost the confidence to go out and look for it. He’s been wrapped up in cotton wool by my mum – a perfectly natural instinct – but I want to do what I can to help him achieve the best life possible.’
So far, Jeff admitted his contribution towards helping Spencer had been limited to turning up for family and festive celebrations and allowing their mother Janette, 47, to take responsibility for being Spencer’s sole carer.
‘I’m not critical of mum’s parenting,’ says Jeff. ‘I know that when it takes him hours to tidy or wash up, it’s easier just to step in and do it yourself. But over time, it’s taken Spencer’s independence.’
The presenter, currently training for ITV1’s Dancing On Ice, says: ‘With everything that has happened in my life, Mum agreed to leave her friends in Colchester and move, along with Spencer, near to me in Newhall, Essex, so that she could help bring up Bobby and Freddie.
‘She has made a big sacrifice for me and I wanted to repay that by helping in a constructive way. Since Spencer was born, Mum has looked after him full-time. But I think he has come to rely on her so much he’s become lazy. He’s more isolated and that in turn means he lacks confidence to meet people. As a result he’s bored and frustrated. It’s easy in this kind of situation to get stuck in a rut and I was determined to see what I could do to help them.’
Cerebral palsy is caused by damage to part of the brain called the cerebrum which controls communication skills, memory and the ability to learn. It usually occurs before, during or soon after birth and known causes include infection in early pregnancy, a difficult or premature birth, or bleeding in the baby’s brain. About 1,800 babies in the UK are diagnosed with the condition each year.
Symptoms normally become apparent during the first three years of a child’s life when they are slower in achieving important developmental goals such as crawling, walking or speaking. They also tend to have problems with muscle tone.
Although Spencer, 25, has a normal IQ, like many of those with cerebral palsy he is unable to speak and uses a series of hand gestures – which only close family understand - to help him communicate. He also has limited use of his hands, which means simple tasks such as shaving can take more than two hours.
Jeff was always protective of his brother when they were young. He remembers getting into fights when Spencer was ridiculed for dribbling, which is one aspect of his condition.
Inevitably, when Jeff left home at 16, to pursue a football career with Leyton Orient and subsequently a TV career, they drifted apart.
Jeff also points out that in a household that was not always happy, Spencer’s needs were sometimes not met.
‘Although he had physiotherapy and speech therapy and went to a school for children with physical disabilities, because there was a lot of arguing at home Spencer’s development was put to one side.
‘Because he can communicate only by using his own hand signals, I’ve felt for years that it was a massive stumbling block and the first thing I wanted to do something about.’
And with the help of the ACE Centre Advisory Trust in Oxford, which specialises in providing technology to help people communicate, Spencer was given a laptop and software which had a pre-programmed voice. By typing in messages, he was able to have his first ‘telephone conversation’ with his mother.
‘It was an incredible moment to hear him communicate properly. I had tears in my eyes and I thought it was such a breakthrough,’ says Jeff. ‘Mum was delighted - you could hear the catch in her voice, knowing that Spencer was effectively talking.’
But their hopes were dashed when, days later, Spencer refused to use the device, claiming it made him feel ‘disabled’. Despite his lifelong condition, he had never considered himself disabled, just different.
‘It was a real blow. I want to be able to have conversations with Spencer but without a communication device I can’t go beyond the most basic level, which I find incredibly sad. However, to hear that Spencer doesn’t consider himself disabled was something I never knew before. He believes that asking for help makes him appear disabled. To me it was just something to improve his life.’
…Â Jeff Brazier: Me And My Brother is on BBC3 on Thursday at 9pm.
Read in Full:Â http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1337593/Do-right-tell-disabled-live.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
