Get the facts! This common-sense
parent guide clears up the confusion and answers key questions on the functionality, necessity, efficacy, and safety of vaccines.
Visit American Academy of Pediatrics-www.AAP.org/parents.html
LEGAL DRUGS CAN LEAD TO LETHAL HIGHS! Connect with Kidsis taking this opportunity to keep you informed of the latest trends faced by
our youth. In support of that, we are highlighting products that you can use -- at school and at home -- to help keep
your kids safe from drugs. Kids are getting high using over-the-counter drugs such as cold tablets and cough syrup.
They're also using prescription pain pills - stealing them from their parents or buying them online - as well as taking other
kids' ADD medicines or selling their own. At Pharm Parties (click for story), they're taking whatever is readily available. Just because these drugs are legal, they can
still be highly addictive, physically harmful and even deadly. Many kids don't know that. Get the Generation Rx DVD to help keep them informed -- and help start the conversation! Visit www.connectwithkids.com or call (888) 598-Kids (5437) for more informaion.
www.pta.org
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Lead poisoning is the number one environmental hazard threatening children throughout
the United States, affecting an estimated 310,000 children under the age of six. Children under 6 and pregnant women are at
the greatest risk for lead poisoning because lead inhibits the proper physical and cognitive development in children
and infants. Even low levels of lead poisoning can cause hyperactivity, aggressive behavior, learning disabilities, lowered
IQ, speech delay and hearing impairment. High levels of lead can cause severe mental disabilities, convulsions, coma, or even
death. More info contact www.leadsafe.org or www.alphalead.org.
Mission The mission of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is to advance
cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Consistent with the vision
of our Founder Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family's ability to pay. To make a
donation call 1-800-4stjude.
What is ExploraVision?
Now in its
16th year, ExploraVision encourages K-12 students of all interest, skill and ability levels to create and explore a vision
of future technology by combining their imaginations with the tools of science. All inventions and innovations result from
creative thinking and problem solving. ExploraVision offers a ready-made tool to put into practice many of the National
Science Education Standards — particularly in the areas of "science and technology" and "science in personal
and social perspectives." The competition is also an excellent way for students to learn how to work in collaborative
learning groups on an interdisciplinary project. Visit www.exploravision.org.
AcademicONE
Live e-tutoring!
AcademicONE, a Tec-Masters Incorporated company, is an online education service that provides tutoring in math and science
courses through a secured web site. Whether from home, school, library, or after-school program, AcademicONE allows students
to receive assistance with difficult homework problems from a live tutor. Wherever there is Internet access, help is just
a few clicks away. Visit: www.itutorlive.com.
Founded in 1988, Give the Gift of Sight is a family of charitable programs providing free
vision care and eyewear tounderprivileged individuals in North America and in developing countries around the world. Sponsored
by Give the Gift of Sight Foundation and Luxottica Group, these programs have helped five million people on five continents
and in hundreds of communities across North America. The program's goal is to help seven million people by 2008. Visitwww.givethegiftofsight.comfor more information and how you can help.
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****************************************************** How To Improve Education for African-American Students!
Edited by Sheryl J. Denbo and Lynson Moore Beaulieu Foreword by Vinetta C. Jones, Ph.D.
Dean School of Education, Howard University Washington, D. C.
WrightsLaw Advocacy Training! Special Education Law & Advocacy Trainingincludes all the content of the
live program ... and more than an hour of bonus content. The content is divided into four programs:
two about law; two about advocacy strategies. Each program includes several topics.
Dec. 3: Edmond, OK (Private Training)
Jan. 14, 2009, Waterbury. CT
Jan. 16-17.2009, Spring Hill, FL
Feb. 5, 2009, Charlotte, NC
Go to www.wrightslaw.com for more dates and important special education information!
Black
and Hispanic children have made significant gains in health, safety and income over the past two decades, narrowing gaps between
them and white children, according to a pioneering report on child development. They
still fare worse overall than whites, but they're catching up in several areas and are less likely to smoke cigarettes,
drink alcohol, abuse drugs or commit suicide, according to this report. It was sponsored by the Foundation for Child Development,
a philanthropy that funds research on children. Visit USAToday.com
************************************************* Sink Your Teeth into Teen Read Week! October,
2009.
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) sponsors Teen Read Week each year to encourage teens to explore and take advantage of all the great resources libraries have to offer. This year's Teen Read Week is in October.
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¡Colorín Colorado
Welcome
to Colorín Colorado, the leading website for teachers and parents of English Language Learners! Here you'll find
lots of articles, resources, and ideas to support ELLs at school and at home. Teachers:
Take a look at our For Educators section (also available in Spanish) to find more information about ELLs, teaching reading and content to ELLs, and classroom
strategies. Also be sure to check our Topics A to Z section for articles on everything from early literacy and assessment to learning disabilties.
Visit
Inspirational Quote:The end of all education should surely be service to others!
Cesar Chavez
Good Friends Know When You Need a Hug!
National School Backpack Awareness Day September, 2009.
National School Backpack
Awareness Day is an annual event held in September. Across the country, events are being held to educate parents, students,
teachers and school administrators, and communities about the serious health effects on children from backpacks that are too
heavy or worn improperly.
You are amazing. But many don't understand
your ADHD mind. So you can tell them ...
The ADHD mind is no more than this: A heroic soul born desperately in need of sensation.
To you
... a moment is an eternity, a rule is a tyranny, a process is a purgatory, a joy is an ecstasy, a daydream is a vision,
a hazard is a playground, silence is suffocation, and completion is death.
Add to this brutally expansive
spirit the overwhelming need to risk, create, and express -- so that without the creating of music or poetry or
books or businesses or buildings or something of meaning, your very breath is cut off ...
You must
create, must pour out your entire being in creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency you do not feel alive unless you are intimately involved in the risk of self-expression.
Thank you for having the courage to create. For without your creations the world would grow dull and listless And the rest of us who are like you would
not have your courageous act to lean on to inspire our own.
Rock on, Garret LoPorto Author of The DaVinci Method http://www.DaVinciMethod.comThe message above by Garret LoPorto is partially
inspired
by a poem by Pearl Buck. This poem is not intended to be an endorsement of the Davinci method.
TeenScreen
is a national mental health and suicide risk screening
program for students and adolescents. For more information
on teen depression and suicide:
Looking for a fun, low-cost summer activity for your child or teen? Sign them up for an
Amazing Kids! PenPal!
PenPals Building a Lifetime of New Friendships, Two Kids at a Time(TM) Just $10 per child. For ages 5-17. Learn more!
Sign up and make a new
friend today! Visit www.amazingkids.org. ********************************************
Attention Magazine
Ever struggled over whether to tell someone about your AD/HD? Or whether to tell extended family about how
AD/HD really impacts your family? Attention tackles the topic of disclosure in our April issue, with insight and guidance
to help whatever the circumstances. Read about juror questionnaires and your right to privacy. Get advice about how to avoid
vacation pitfalls when you’re dealing with AD/HD. Visit
this url to learn more...
Girls with ADHD: Overlooked, Underdiagnosed,
and Underserved byAnita Gurian, Ph.D
What happens to the girls? Because they don't disrupt the rest
of the class, it may take longer for girls to get a diagnosis of ADHD and to get the help they need. Most of the research
has been done with boys, and as many as 50 to 75% of girls with ADHD are missed. Those girls who do get identified are diagnosed
on average five years later than boys (boys generally diagnosed at age 7 and girls at age 12). Thus, they lose five critical
years during which they could have been getting help. Here's the good news: Educators, mental health researchers, and parents
are now becoming aware of the unique needs of girls with ADHD.
How
Teachers Can Help—Spotting the Signs in the Classroom? Teachers should be alert to the specific
symptoms of ADHD in girls, such as poor concentration, easy distractibility, difficulty focusing, disorganization (messy backpack,
loss of schedules and homework), and forgetfulness (forgetting to hand in papers, take assignments home). Other possible clues
include nonstop talking, bossiness, interrupting others, slow to pick up social cues, and difficulty paying attention to multi-step
directions.
The Sensitive Teacher Can
Use Strategies Such As:
seat girl in front of room to make sure her attention is not drifting
give her a task to help her refocus
have her buddy share
teach social conventions explicitly (how
to join a group, give a compliment)
To help her organize:
give
her organizing folders and notebooks
break down work into simpler component tasks
assign classroom responsibilities
to make her feel important
teach calming techniques, such as deep breathing and visualization when
she's overstimulated
