Patty Crawford, Ph.D. has joined the Parkaire clinical team as an Educational Consultant.  Dr. Crawford earned her doctorate from the University of Virginia in special education and has more than 20 years of teaching experience working with children and young adults with disabilities.  Her experience includes working with individuals who have Learning Disabilities (LD), Behavior Disorders (BD), Autism (AU), Mood Disorder, Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Tourette’s syndrome (TS). She will be working at Parkaire as a Behavior Specialist, Learning Coach, IEP Consultant, and Autism Specialist. Dr. Crawford specializes in designing and implementing Functional Behavior Assessments (FBA) and Behavior Intervention Plans (BIP) and is available to work with parents to develop behavior plans in the home.  She will also be providing Cognitive Behavior Intervention for Tics (CBIT) for individuals with vocal and/or motor tics.

  by Vicki Steine, LCSW

Eating a whole foods diet is important for all of us, but particularly important for children and adults who are struggling with issues like ADD, Autism, Learning Disabilities and Tourette syndrome.  Supporting one’s body with good nutrition is key to helping our brains function optimally.

Does this sound like real food to you?

• Natural Oil blend (soybeans, palm fruit, extra virgin olive oil, flaxseed, and canola), water, whey, salt, natural and artificial flavor, sorbitan esther of vegetable fatty acids, soy lecithin, Vitamin E, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, B6, B12, lactic acid, beta carotene for color, potassium sorbate, TBHQ, EDTA.

This list of ingredients is off a tub of margarine found at your local grocer.

How does this sound? 

• Sweet cream; salt.

This is the label from butter.

Which would you prefer to serve to your family?

Consider the details:

Margarine

• Calories: These range from 30 calories per tablespoon to 50 calories.
• Margarine is often made up of a blend of various fats.
• Some products add flax seed to increase Omega 3’s but margarine is primarily an Omega 6 oil. We tend to eat too many Omega 6’s without the proper balance of Omega 3’s.

Sherry and Dan Pruitt will be giving a speech titled “So You Expect Them To Leave Home? Transition Pitfalls to Independence” on Sunday. Click here for more detailed information.

 …

30 Minutes a Day Could Change Everything

 by Vicki Steine, LCSW

How much time do you spend outside during the week? If you’re lucky, an hour or two when it’s nice out… on the weekend?

Maybe even less when the weather is more extreme.

Most of us spend the majority of our time inside. When we go do go out, we’re either bundled up to stay warm or slathered with sunscreen to protect ourselves from damaging rays.

It is important to protect ourselves from the sun, but it is also extremely important to expose ourselves to the sun too. We need to be exposed for about 20-30 minutes every day to ensure we have enough Vitamin D.

Vitamin D’s Numerous Benefits To You

• Key to bone health and strength (particularly important in the elderly)

• Muscle strength

• Reduction of high blood pressure

• Helps prevent multiple sclerosis

• Prevents rickets

• May help prevent cancer of the colon, ovaries, lung, kidney, breast and prostate, in fact, maybe all cancers

• May help prevent rheumatoid arthritis

• Helps regulate blood sugar

• Reduces tooth loss in the elderly

• Enhances mood, particularly with seasonal affective disorder (SAD)

• Assists in brain function and development

Autism Spectrum and Vitamin D

In a recent meta-analysis of 18 studies, it was clear that Vitamin D deficiency has become a major health concern. 

Processing speed refers to the pace and automaticity with which the student accumulates, assimilates, and integrates incoming information; retrieves information stored in long-term memory; and performs cognitive tasks. Processing speed influences attention, executive functions, memory, academic achievement, behavior, and social competence. Cognitive processing speed gradually increases throughout childhood and adolescence. Behaviors suggestive of adequate processing speed include: processing oral/written information rapidly/fluently/automatically, sustaining attention to task, understanding and following instructions/explanations, retrieving on demand information stored in long-term memory, finishing tasks/activities/assignments/tests in the allotted time, and attending to/understanding/participating in social interactions.

Underarousal/Slow Cognitive Processing Speed/Sluggish Cognitive Tempo

• Underarousal and slow cognitive processing speed impact the ability to sustain focused attention, to quickly and efficiently assimilate information, and to perform tasks fluently and automatically. Retrieval of information from long-term memory may be slow and require extra effort, thereby reducing the resources available to manipulate and integrate material. Slow processing speed may be experienced in one or more academic areas or be observed when the student is required to process information through the weakest modality (auditory, visual, tactile, motor). Research suggests that students with ADHD have processing speed deficits. A sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) or slow speed of processing, characterizes ¼ to ½ of students with ADHD, Inattentive type.

Working Memory is one of the short-term memories that are impacted by attention and the executive functions. It is often compared to RAM on the computer that stores information online while the information is being processed. RAM is having enough short-term memory on the computer to open multiple files, compare them, and create new files based on the information. Working memory is where complex tasks are performed and problems are solved.

Working memory impacts retrieval of information from long-term memory. One interesting point is that when you have an interest or talent it can impact working memory.

Many people do not know at which age working memory develops. Here is a list of some of the developmental norms for working memory:

• 7-8 year old can hold 3 pieces of information
• 11 year old can hold 4-5 pieces of information
• 15 year old can hold 7 pieces of information

Some of the most effective strategies to improve working memory are to reduce the amount of material presented at one time, hook new concepts to previous learning, and translate complex material into meaningful examples.

Rehearsing what you just learned through discussion and then applying it to a meaningful activity also increases the ability to hold things in working memory.

Sheryl K. Pruitt, M.Ed., ET/P

“You break it you bought it!” is a wise saying.  The one that works well for teaching responsibility is, “if you break it, you fix it!” Holes in the walls requiring sheet rock or dry wall repair are one of the family secrets of some families with children with these disorders. This is why sheet rock classes are offered at our clinic.  Reparation is one of the most effective tools in the family’s behavioral arsenal, and they can be done by earning money or doing chores if the actual repair is too difficult.  Reparation teaches responsibility and allows the person to regain their self-respect by cleaning up the mistakes that have been made. Reparation also needs to be thought of when verbal mistakes are made. No matter what, it is not okay to make a mess and expect someone else to clean it up. Apologizing is not sufficient! For example, a chore should follow to make up for the time expended during an argument.  The chore should be work that is normally done by the person who was inconvenienced during the argument. If the argument took 45 minutes, then the parent assigns a chore that takes the child 45 minutes to complete.