Kaitlynn's Place

I have never liked the idea of selective elective Cesarean deliveries. It is one thing if your health is at risk and you need to have a C-section early, but many parents are pressuring their OB provider to schedule early C-sections for convenience sake….for example,  a husband that works away and might miss the delivery.

Now comes a new study showing giving scientific backing as to why  selective elective Cesarean delivery is not really a wise thing to do.  It has been clear for a long time that extremely preterm babies, say 25 weeks gestation or so, have a much higher risk of special education needs. However, later term early deliveries, say 37-39 weeks gestation, have never been examined in relation to risk of special education needs.

The birth history of 400 thousand school aged children was  analyzed by Scottish researchers. They found that autism and or special education needs (dyslexia, poor vision, deafness, etc..) were 1.16 times greater for babies born at 37-39 weeks than those born at 40 weeks. 

Sources:
NHS: Early Babies and Special Needs

PLoS Medicine: Gestational Age at Delivery and Special Educational Need: Retrospective Cohort Study of 407,503 Schoolchildren

Medical News Today: Babies Born At 37 To 39 Weeks Have Higher Risk Of Autism And Special Educational Needs

Often parent's and medical professionals find the path to an autism diagnosis to be lengthy, difficult, and lacking in uniformity.  Medical professionals in the U.K. use a lengthy process of social interaction, communication, and imaginative skill testing to obtain a diagnosis.  Aside from this process taking sometimes years to complete, autism is often misdiagnosed as a different behavior related problem.  

This is unfortunate because we already know that early intervention can make a huge difference in how an autistic child is able to progress, and at what rate.

There may be a way to accelerate and solidify the autistic diagnostic process. Imagine if autism could be diagnosed before the child showed symptoms of it! Typical onset of autistic symptoms is between 1 and 5-years-old.  Read more.


                                                              source 

A simple urine test might just enable professionals to immediately identify children with autism and allow them to get that important early intervention. Researchers from Imperial College London and the University of South Australia have found that autistic children have different metabolic fingerprints in their urine than children without autism an non-effected children with autistic siblings.  Those with autism supposedly have a different makeup of bacteria in the gut. This is thought to be why many autistic people suffer from GI issues.

The National Autistic Society in Britain is skeptical of the accuracy of such a test, and the researchers admit that the method is still in the beginning phase of development . However, they are planning clinical trial studies with hundreds of children, and say that if the clinical trials go well, then the urine test could be available by 2015

A very good friend of mine, Chris Stonecipher, wrote an excellent article about special needs children and mainstreaming in education titled, "Special Education and Main-Streaming." Chris is an advocate for special needs children and their families. He has first hand experience with Autism, and has provided much needed attention to various issues related to special needs children.   A snippet of the article:

"Main-streaming is the inclusion of special education students in general educational classrooms. It has been widely debated as to how successful students can be using this system. In this article, I give some personal insight to my feelings on main-streaming."

Finding toys suitable for a special needs child is a disheartening and challenging task. Many area toy stores just do not carry toys that are congruent with a special child’s physical ability or understanding. Many standard toys also don’t provide the correct stimulation and skill building for special needs children.

For example, a child with Down Syndrome often has difficulty with fine motor skills.  A typical children’s puzzle with 20+ small pieces can be difficult for this child to work with. A large puzzle with just a few pieces works much better, but is hard to find. The same with CP. CP children have spastic and involuntary movements that make working with small tedious toys difficult. ADHD children would find focusing on in-depth detailed instructions difficult. Toys that have more creative leeway are better. And so on…

Able Play is a great resource to find physical, cognitive, age, and sensory appropriate toys for special needs children. Able Play does the research for the parent. The company does a comprehensive product evaluation, and then relates the evaluation to children’s special needs and abilities. The 1-5 rating system on cognitive, sensory, communication, and physical ability for every toy makes it easy to figure out what toy suits your child.

Special Needs Toys provides toys for senses (visual, auditory, tactile, proprioception, and balance) and skills (motor, cognition, independence, communication, and socialization.) I love the adaptive swing selection on this site.



More Toys:

Different Roads To Learning
School Specialty
Ability Station
Fat Brain Toys
Kids Scope Toys
PlayAbility Toys
Sensory Edge