Children Under Four and Children With Autism Don't Yawn Contagiously

ScienceDaily (Sep. 16, 2010) — If someone near you yawns, do you yawn, too? About half of adults yawn after someone else does in a phenomenon called contagious yawning. Now a new study has found that most children aren't susceptible to contagious yawning until they're about 4 years old -- and that children with autism are less likely to yawn contagiously than others. The...

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Handwriting Is Real Problem For Children With Autism

ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2009) — Handwriting skills are crucial for success in school, communication, and building children's self-esteem. The first study to examine handwriting quality in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has uncovered a relationship between fine motor control and poor quality of handwriting in children with ASD, according to research published in the November 10, 2009, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study, conducted by researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute,...

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Cognitive Skills in Children With Autism Vary and Improve, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (Sep. 16, 2010) — People with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are thought to have a specific profile of cognitive strengths and weaknesses -- difficulties appreciating others' thoughts and feelings, problems regulating and controlling their behavior, and an enhanced ability to perceive details -- but few studies have tracked children's cognitive skills over time. Now new longitudinal research provides clues that can inform our understanding of ASD. "Parents and clinicians already know that the behavioral signs of ASD wax and wane...

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Children's Brain Development Is Linked to Physical Fitness, Research Finds

ScienceDaily (Sep. 16, 2010) — Researchers have found an association between physical fitness and the brain in 9- and 10-year-old children: Those who are more fit tend to have a bigger hippocampus and perform better on a test of memory than their less-fit peers. The new study, which used magnetic resonance imaging to measure the relative size of specific structures in the brains of 49 child subjects, appears in the journal Brain Research. "This is the first study I know of that has used MRI measures to look at differences in brain between kids...

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如何教导自閉症學生

穩定而有規律的學習環境在有規律的學習環境裡，自閉症學生能夠慢慢掌握課堂一般的規律及要求。轉變前預告因為自閉症學生不容易適應轉變；在作出轉變前，教師宜在事前告訴學生需要作出甚麼轉變，為什麼要有轉變及如何去處理轉變。引導學生全面審視問題因為自閉症學生所了解的世界是由許多獨立的小節組成，他們往往不能掌握事情的因果關係，也不能解釋事件為甚麼會發生。故此，在幫助學生了解課題時，教師盡可能須引導學生全面審視問題。善用多感官學習活動及學生感興趣的學習活動由於自閉症學生感興趣的題材可能與一般學生不同，把學習信息融入學生感興趣的學習活動，可以提高他們的學習興趣及學習成效。例子一：透過學生感興趣的圖象、音樂或者旋律學習，從而帶出主題例子二：善用學生的固執行為，設計與行為有關連的活動，提升學生的學習動機。假如學生對各式的交通工具很喜愛，可以利用這些交通工具作為事例，請學生作出計算循序漸進的學習目標...

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Living with Siblings Who Have Learning Disabilities

By Sheldon H. Horowitz, Ed.D.Published: July 1 2008 "Don't forget about me!" Seeing the Forest Through the TreesRaising children is a wonderful journey that has rewards and challenges every step along the way. Parenting children with special needs (whether they have health issues, problems with learning and behavior, and even exceptional abilities) is especially labor intensive....

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当心少儿感觉统合失调症

日前，南京某医院在对南京市2486名6岁至11岁的学龄儿童测试中发现，有34.9%的学龄儿童存在着不同程度的感觉统合失调。专家介绍，感觉统合失调是指外部的感觉刺激信息不能在孩子中枢神经系统进行有效的组合，从而使整个机体不能和谐地运作，久而久之，便会造成各种各样的心理障碍与疾病。 感觉统合失调的表现 据儿童心理卫生研究专家介绍，儿童在学习与生活中患感觉统合失调症，将会在不同程度上削弱人的认知能力与适应能力，从而推迟人的社会化进程。人的感觉统合系统分为视觉统合系统、听觉统合系统、触觉统合系统、平衡统合系统与本体统合系统等。 一般来说，视觉统合失调的学龄儿童，在课内课外时，常会出现读书跳行、翻书页码不对、演算数学题常会抄错等等视觉上的错误，从而造成学习障碍。时间久了，必然会造成孩子学习成绩下降，跟不上学习进度，在心理上产生自...

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Inadequate Sleep Leads To Behavioral Problems, Study Finds

A recent Finnish study suggests that children's short sleep duration even without sleeping difficulties increases the risk for behavioral symptoms of ADHD. During the recent decades, sleep duration has decreased in many countries; in the United States a third of children are estimated to suffer from inadequate sleep. It has been hypothesised that sleep deprivation may...

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'Why' Just Has To Be The Most Often Used Word After 'No'

Children have a wonderful tendency to learn what it is that we attempt to teach them. In fact, they have an innate need to learn, evidenced by the “why” stage of their life. In their toddler years, the curiosity of children influences them to ask the question “why” in as many ways as they can think up in the course of a day. “Why is the sky blue?” the inquisitive child...

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Multiply your child's intelligence from birth!

Time: September 25 · 9:00am - 1:00pm Location: KidzGrow @ Ground Floor, 39 C Chong Thuah Building, Weld Quay Penang Brief: Over the last few decade, we have learned that given the right stimulation our learning capabilities can be enhanced. We also know that every child is born with certain reflexes and senses that needs to be stimulated from as young as possible,...

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Video Series: Norman Doidge on Brain Plasticity

A series of video of Norman Doidge, the author of "The Brain That Changes Itself", during speaking tour to Toronto, Denver, Beijing, and Australia. On the videos, he shared about the history of brain research, and current brain plasticity revolution....

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Brain Boost: Speed up Your Child’s Processing Rate

It’s a couple of weeks into the school year … how’s it going? If your answer is “not so hot,” maybe your child could use a boost to get onto the right track. On page 28 of our Fall issue (yes, it’s now available digitally as well as in print!!), writer Gina Parsons shares local educators’ insights into possible problems and solutions. Some kids will benefit from testing for learning issues; others may get all the help they need from a tutor.Another option is a computerized learning program that zeroes in on brain processing skills. Don’t...

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讓孩子主動，閱讀才會成功

閱讀是脫離貧窮、開啟世界之窗的改變力量...為什麼需要從小就開始？為什麼主動親近書本，才會有效？一起來看看洪蘭怎麼看待閱讀... 主動的學習才有用。如果不想學習，李遠哲站在這裡教化學還是沒有用，一定要自己願意學才有用。 閱讀障礙在現今無論哪個社會，大約都是六．五～六．七％左右，在學校一定會碰到閱讀障礙的孩子。這是基因的關係，所以你打他罵他都沒用。怎麼辦呢？我們可以用其他的方法開啟他。 歷史上有閱讀障礙的人非常多。比方說愛因斯坦、愛迪生。愛因斯坦是諾貝爾大師，但他到三歲才會說話。大家說，當時幸好有他媽媽，如果在現在的台灣社會，字不會拼、寫錯了，就重寫十個、一百個，把時間都拿去補強，把不會的變好，愛因斯坦再聰明也不會是愛因斯坦。 教育的觀念在改。大腦是有限的資源，它如果這方面好，一定有另一方面的不足。在高科技的社會，孩子不可能什麼都知道，所以我們應該順他的長處，把他的長處跟別人搭配，科技整合、團隊合作，就會成就一番事業。 另一位是李光耀。他退休時承認自己是語言障礙者，讓大家非常驚訝。為什麼願意說出來？他說，「新加坡小國小民，沒有自然資源，最大的資源是我們的腦力。」台灣也沒有自然資源，情形一模一樣。 腦神經和閱讀有何關係？ 中 國字有非常多的音義。比方說「天、天花、天花板」，只要加一個字，全部改變。如果要讓孩子學東西，不管學什麼，閱讀是根本。若心裡沒有這個詞彙，他根本沒...

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How Does Learning Coach Technology Work?

By Valerie Beattie, Ph.D Scientific Learning’s Reading Assistant software helps students develop their reading and fluency skills. Have you ever thought about the technology that was used when building this software? When students sit down in front of the computer and begin their session, what is going on “behind the scenes” as Reading Assistant presents students with a passage to read, records their reading and then gives them a quiz at the end of a passage in order to evaluate comprehension of the material? Let’s take a look...

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