Link:Tutoring
Preschoolers and kindergartners are among the fastest-growing markets for after-school tutors as anxious parents hope the early assistance will help their children get into the best colleges. Some child-development experts worry the trend is age-inappropriate, but a recent study may bolster the movement: Entering kindergarten with elementary math and reading skills was the best predictor of later academic success among nearly 36,000 U.S., Canadian and British preschoolers, according to the researchers' findings.
Link: Healing Thresholds
States would save money if they shifted their special education funding to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy for young children with autism.
This paper was designed to see how much the state of Texas would save if it were to pay for three years Discrete Trial Training (a type of ABA therapy) intervention for every child with autism. They conclude that Texas could save over two billion dollars in special education costs if they paid for Discrete Trial Training. The authors limited their study to savings on special education costs. They suggest that there will be even more savings when these students become adults. The authors conclude that a simple change of policy in the state of Texas can improve the quality of lives of many children with autism and save money.
Link: AL.com - Everything Alabama
There was a time when Nikko Holloway's 22-month-old daughter couldn't crawl like other children her age. She didn't speak. She couldn't stand or sit. But thanks to a round of therapies paid for through the state's Early Intervention program, which provides free care to children not developing normally, the Mobile girl can move on her own and is trying to walk. "And now she's making sounds, and getting words out," her mother said. "She can identify pictures she didn't know at all." Holloway and other parents praised the work that therapists do with the children, but some are worried about proposed cuts to the program.
Link: CNN Health
Parents who believe their children might have autism despite pediatricians' reassurances should take home videos of worrisome behaviors or ask preschool teachers to write a letter, advocates say, so critical years for behavioral therapy are not lost. "Teachers are seen as other professionals, and a letter saying, 'In 20 years of teaching, this behavior is really unusual,' can go far," said Alison Singer, executive vice president of Autism Speaks.
Link: 13 Wham TV
If your child is struggling to read or speak at an early age it could be due to a critical language problem often missed or misdiagnosed in pre-school aged children.
Link: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Children's games might help low-income preschoolers improve counting and other basic math skills and hold on to those gains for more than two months, according to a Carnegie Mellon University study, which tested the theory using a simple board game that researchers patterned after "Chutes and Ladders." "We [need to] improve preschool mathematics curriculum, especially for low-income children," said researcher Robert S. Siegler, a professor of cognitive psychology. "One of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to do this is to provide board games to Head Start centers, child-care centers serving low-income populations and perhaps individual parents."
Link: Green Bay Press-Gazette
LEDGEVIEW — With its colorful floor mats, assorted toys and pint-sized chairs, the gymnasium at Heritage Elementary School was the perfect place to play last week.
But for parents of the 100 or so children who popped in after school on Tuesday and Wednesday, it also was a place to get some valuable information.
Link: North Western Arkansas News
Arkansas’ early childhood education program for 3- and 4-year olds remains in the top tier of the nation’s preschool programs in terms of child access to the program, financial resources and quality standards.
Those are the findings of the National Institute of Early Education Research at Rutgers University in New Jersey in its latest review of state-funded prekindergarten initiatives.
Link: 100 Day Kit
The Autism Speaks 100 Day is created specifically for newly diagnosed families, to make the best possible use of the 100 days following the diagnosis of autism. The kit contains information and advice collected from trusted and respected experts on autism as well as from parents of children with autism. There is a week by week plan for the next 100 days, as well organizational suggestions and forms that parents/caregivers can use to help with the paperwork and phone calls, as they begin to find services for their child.
