Teaching Children with Sensory Motor Integration Deficits

Teaching Children with Sensory Motor Integration Deficits
Sensory motor integration deficits are fairly common in
both children and adults. The following is a list of tips
for teachers who have children with sensory processing
disorders.

General Strategies

Have the child line up in the back of the line to minimize
physical contact with others.

· Don't have the child wait in line for long periods
of time.

· Permit the child to wear a sweater or jacket
indoors. This may help to relax the child.

· Keep enough space between children so that they
are not close enough to touch each other.

· When sitting on the floor, use markers or masking
tape to define the child's personal space.

· Allow the child to choose where he sits during
story time.

· Don't force a child who is showing fear or
distress to participate in activities.

· Place the child's desk along the side of the room
outside of traffic.

· Orient the child's desk so that he has a good view
of where others are moving.

For Children who Have Sensitivity to Touch

Many children who are sensitive to light touch prefer firm
pressure. This helps to relax them. The following tips
will help them:

· Never touch the child from behind.

· When you do touch the child, approach the child
from the front to give a visual cue that light touch is
coming.

· When touching the child, use firm pressure on the
back or shoulder rather than a gentle touch.

· Seat the child next to quiet calm children.

· Some children are disturbed by the hardness of the
chair.

· Allow the child to sit on a pillow on cushion.

Specific Advice For Children Who Need Extra Sensory Input

Some children need sensory input to help them to stay
focused. Here are some things you can do to help these
children.

· Allow the child to sit on an air cushion pillow
that is slightly filled with air. This allows for movement
without the child leaving his desk.

· Encourage the child to run or climb during recess.

· Give the child tasks requiring sustained
repetitive movements, such as washing the desks or erasing
the blackboard.

· Have these children move heavy objects like
rearranging books or desks.

· Give the child opportunities to move around by
making him your messenger. Let him run notes to other
teacher or to get things the class needs.

· Never discipline the child by taking away recess
privileges or physical education.

Some children do better if they are able to stimulate their
mouths or hands. Here are some things you can do to help
these children.

· Let them keep a water bottle at their desks.

· Let them chew on something like a straw or coffee
stick.

· Let them keep a small squeeze ball in their pocket.

Some Things to Remember

· Children with multiple disabilities often have
sensory motor integration deficits.

· These children may have difficulty with motor
planning and knowing the position of their body in space.

· These children often have poor balance.

· Being in crowded places and situations makes these
children anxious and uncomfortable.

Children with sensory processing disorders experience the
world differently. They may have extreme discomfort or
pain from sensations that other people might find pleasant.
This is a functional disorder. Remember it is not the
child's fault, nor can he control the problem.

----------------------------------------------------
Anthony Kane, MD has been helping parents of ADHD and
Oppositional Defiant Disorder children online since 2003.
Join over three thousand parents and get help for your
Oppositional Defiant Disorder child
(http://addadhdadvances.com/betterbehavior.html), help with
defiant teens (http://addadhdadvances.com/ntpcentral.html )
ADHD treatment and ADHD information
(http://addadhdadvances.com/childyoulove.html ) .

Getting Serious About Breast Cancer Prevention

Getting Serious About Breast Cancer Prevention
Few words produce a fear factor for women as the words
"breast cancer". The best protection against breast cancer
is knowledge of the ways you can reduce the risk of
acquiring this dreaded disease.

While it is currently true that there are some very
promising advances in breast cancer research and treatment,
it is still a prudent course of action to use prevention as
your best defense against getting this cancer in the first
place, and that is what we are ready to discuss.

Some of these promising treatments and detection tools for
breast cancer include genetic testing for certain risk
factors that can help women determine preventive courses of
action if they are at a higher risk, advanced ways of
detecting breast cancer earlier including more
sophisticated biopsy methods with minimal invasion, and new
and improved breast cancer drugs and tailored courses of
treatment.

Heck, I was even reading just the other day about one
company that is coming out with new, natural "biochemical"
remedies against cancer and other serious maladies for
which we have yet to discover excellent, non life
threatening treatments.

Perhaps the most obvious of all prevention measures is, of
course, eating a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables
and "live" foods instead of processed, dead foods.
Reducing alcohol or eliminating it completely helps to
protect against breast cancer. If you drink alcohol, limit
your consumption to less than one drink per day.

While there has been discussion and debate about whether
red wine may help fight cancer, it is still wise to watch
your consumption of even this, since it is, in essence,
processed and broken down as a sugar, which causes
inflammation.

Inflammation is thought to be a major contributor to all
types of cancer, and I tend to agree with this philosophy
from the information I've been privy to. Many of the
popular diets now that promote overall health, weight
maintenance and blood sugar stability are often "anti
inflammatory" in nature, they just aren't always advertised
that way.

Keep your weight at a healthy level for your age and
height. Be especially vigilant not to gain any
postmenopausal weight as this has been proven to increase
your odds of getting breast cancer. The excess fatty
tissue in your body increases your estrogen and the degree
of estrogen exposure in your lifetime is linked to breast
cancer.

Exercising can help with weight loss or maintenance of a
healthy weight, therefore lowering your risk of breast
cancer. If you do the weight bearing aerobics, you will
add the extra bonus of keeping your bones strong.

Limit the amount of fats in your dietary intake. A lower
fat diet has a moderate effect, but still decreases the
risk of breast cancer. Hormone replacement therapy taken
long term has been associated with an increase in breast
cancer. If you are taking hormone replacements, you should
probably talk to your doctor about other therapies to
minimize menopausal symptoms.

There is not clear cut evidence linking birth control pills
and a higher incidence of breast cancer. The newer oral
contraceptives have a lower dose than the older
contraceptives. Studies continue on this subject, but it
may be something to think about when considering forms of
birth control.

Excessive use of antibiotics is being scrutinized as a
possible risk factor in the development of breast cancer.
Exposure to pesticides is also being looked at in relation
to breast cancer. Use caution concerning long term use of
antibiotics and limit exposure to pesticides.

Areas of research that are promising and natural are
retinoids and flaxseed. Retinoids, a form of vitamin A,
may inhibit growth of cancer cells. Flaxseed lowers the
amount of estrogen circulating in your body.

Both flaxseed and retinoid compounds are being studied for
their role in breast cancer prevention, and are also known
to be of benefit in heart and circulatory health, and
flaxseed is known for it's digestive benefits as well.
Most foods that are beneficial for cancer prevention wear
many hats when it comes to health benefits, which is always
a good thing.

Regular screenings by mammograms and self examinations will
help to detect any early signs of breast cancer. Nothing
is guaranteed to eliminate the risk, however lifestyle
changes can reduce your risks significantly and are often
simple and easy steps to take. You just have to know what
they are...

----------------------------------------------------
Danna Schneider is the founder of
http://www.breastenhancepill.com , an online magazine about
breast health, and natural and herbal breast enhancement
options, reviews and news. She also runs a weblog and
discussion group on natural breast enhancement, celebrity
breast implant talk, and breast health related news at
http://www.breastnewsmagazine.com , which is updated with
the latest news, tips, product reviews and fun facts daily.

The time has come for you to lose weight

The time has come for you to lose weight
Ok, here you are. You've reached that point. You might
have been here a few times before, but this time it is
different. You are going to lose weight and nothing, but
nothing, is going to stop you.

So, it took you quite a while to get where you are today
quite a while. Don't think that shedding those pounds is
going to take any less time. It is going to take time and
maybe a bit of exercise. It's not going to take a great
deal else. In fact, you're going to be doing less than you
are now, of one thing at least!

The reason you've been putting on weight? You've been
taking in more fat than you've been using up. It pretty
much is that simple. So, if you turn it round and decide
to use up more fat than you take in, guess what? You'll
lose weight. You know that, I know that, we all know that.

It's not rocket science is it? But why then is it so
darned difficult. Well, as human beings we are creatures
of habit. We eat at the same times every day. We like to
eat certain things time and again despite the fact that we
know they will make us put on weight. We even eat when we
aren't hungry. And then we wonder why we put on weight.

Losing weight then should be about changing habits. Yes,
eat breakfast in the morning (would it still be called
breakfast if you ate it lunchtime? - probably not!) but
make changes to your habits. Not huge changes, because
huge changes will make you revert to your old habits
quicker than you can say "darn, I've out on another five
pounds!". Make small changes. Eat a tiny bit less than
you used to for starters.

You also need to have some fixed ideas about how much
weight you want to lose and how you are going to go about
it. Write yourself a plan. In that plan you need to
include how much weight you are going to lose, you're going
to identify the little things you want to change, you're
going to write down the exercise you're going to do and
you're going to set yourself some timescales.

You must remember however that it took you a while to put
that weight on so you need to give yourself some time to
lose it. That point is crucial to your weight loss. If
you try to rush it you know what will happen. I'll spell
it out just in case you need a reminder. "I've spent a
whole week being good and I've just lost one pound, I'm
going to have a lovely donut (where it says donut put in
whatever you eat to cheer yourself up)". The day you
decided to eat that donut was a Friday so you say to
yourself "I'll start again Monday". By Monday, the pound
you lost has been replaced by another two.

That's the way it works. You knew it already but I wanted
to remind you. So anyway, get your plan with the goals,
the new habits, the exercise and the timescales. You are
going to start implementing your plan as soon as you finish
it. It might take you an hour to do but as soon as it's
finished that is it. There is no going back, ever.

I'm not going to give you advice about what you should or
shouldn't eat because you already know and anyway, there's
enough of that stuff on the net for you to read. Plus I'm
not a dietician and you might sue me if your plan said
that you should only ever eat oranges again for the rest of
your life because they had lots of Vitamin C in them.

If you've ever tried to lose weight before, and you
definitely have otherwise you wouldn't be reading this, you
know the first couple of days or even couple of weeks are
going to be hard. But that's why the changes you make need
to be tiny, almost un-noticeable. You will lose weight. I
know it, you know it. You've lost weight before.

So what's different this time I hear you ask. You're not
going to give in. When you write your plan you are making
a commitment never to go back to your old ways. Your tiny
changes will soon become normal and you will never want to
go back.

----------------------------------------------------
http://weight-loss-pills-pages.com/bestweightlosspills/small
-changes-commitment-and-patience
http://weight-loss-pills-pages.com/bestweightlosspills/give-
yourself-time-to-lose-weight

Stress and Your Immune System

Stress and Your Immune System
We talk about the three most significant stressors, namely,
unwanted aloneness, loss of control, and loss of hope. If
you can address those three stressors, you can enhance the
power of the immune system, which may have an effect on how
it's able to fight those cancer cells and lessen the
effects of cold and flu symptoms. Many studies have shown a
link between stress and illness. Stress seems to have
become a constant factor in today's fast-paced society
which can weaken the immune system and accelerate the aging
process. An increase in heart rate, blood pressure, glucose
levels, adrenaline, cortisol, free radicals and oxidative
damage are also side effects of stress. As much as 80
percent of all major illnesses are attributed to stress.
Another upset is the delicate balance of the gut flora, the
microorganisms that help break down food.

What we are looking at is if you can enhance the power of
the immune system by doing things that make you happy, you
will be healthier. Immune cells spend much of their lives
circulating in those blood vessels.Immune systems of
optimistic people have been found to fare much better under
stressful conditions than those with a negative
attitude.Your immune cells, your red blood cells, and your
clotting cells (called platelets) are all sensitive to
chemotherapy.

There is no question that good nutrition is necessary for a
healthy immune system and that means a healthy variety of
proteins, carbohydrates, fat, minerals, vitamins, fluids,
etc. Your nutrition choices as well as your emotions can
have a big impact on your body's ability to keep up your
energy levels and immune system.

In one small study, researchers found that moderate
exercise (three or more times a week) increased the immune
cell counts of women undergoing breast cancer treatment
back to normal levels, and also improved the women's mood
and ability to handle their feelings comfortably. A healthy
immune system regulates our body's healing process and
protects it against infections and diseases. When stress
compromises our immune function, it can result in colds,
flu, fatigue, cardiovascular disorders and premature aging.
Sleep time is when your body and immune system do most of
its repairs and rejuvenation. Regularly drinking tea
throughout the day can help strengthen your immune system
and your body's ability to fight off germs and infections.

The field of study that examines the link between stress
and the immune system is known as psychoneuroimmunology.
Several studies in this area indicate that physical and
emotional stress can have either good or bad effects on the
immune system's response. The diseases that result from
this attack are known as autoimmune diseases; the more
commonly occurring examples include systemic lupus
erythematosus (lupus), Grave's disease of the thyroid, and
rheumatoid arthritis. There is also considerable evidence
that, in individuals with autoimmune diseases, symptoms are
worse during times of stress. It is also interesting to
note that many autoimmune disorders, such as lupus and
Grave's disease, occur more commonly in women than in men.
A positive attitude, connecting to other human beings, and
minimizing stress all have a lot to do with immune system
health, as well.

Protecting your immune system is a vital part of living
longer, feeling younger and being healthy. A healthy system
regulates our body's healing process and protects it
against infections and diseases. Stress influences our
health so profoundly because of the way it affects our
nervous and immune systems. Because of the connection
between stress and health, stress management should be a
cornerstone of your healthy lifestyle. Think about your
state of health for a moment. And also the health of those
you know. How we learn to deal with stress makes a huge
difference in how healthy we are. Research shows that the
way you cope with stress can affect your health.

----------------------------------------------------
Another fine article by Chuck Arnone in regards to our day
to day health and your immune system.
http://www.immune-system-healthy.com

5 Exercises For A Better Butt

5 Exercises For A Better Butt
I remember when I first realized how much women cared about
guy's butts. I was in University, working as a trainer, and
heard through the "grapevine" that one of the trainers
thought I had a great butt.

My first reaction was, "Huh? Girls care about guy's butts?
And here I've been wasting my time on my arms and pecs". So
after getting over that shock, my next thought was, "Hmm,
so what am I doing right? And how can I keep this
information all to myself so no other guys knows about it!"

So I went through my workouts, analyzing each leg exercise
for maximum "butt boosting", and came up with a list of 5
exercises that are essential to building a better butt for
a guy (and gal!), especially someone who wants a more
athletic type of workout and body.

After all, I trained "athletically", not with bulking
bodybuilding type workouts. And as the trainer who designed
workouts for the female basketball team, I could "see" that
those workouts were building better butts for girls as well!

Years have passed since my introduction to the female
interest in guy's butts, and I've become less selfish. I'm
now happy to share my "butt- boosting" exercises for every
other guy, and of course, every woman that wants to build a
lean, athletic body with a beautiful butt.

So here are my top 5 exercises for building a better butt
that you can do at home or at the gym, and with nothing
more than your bodyweight or a set of dumbells. Just like
all of my workouts, these exercises are designed to get the
most amount of results in the least amount of time.

1 - Squats

Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Keep your chest
up, push your hips back, and squat to parallel. Squeeze
your butt and push back up to the start position. Do 10
repetitions.

2 - Split Squats

Take a step forward with one leg, bend the front knee, and
keep your torso upright. Keep your front foot flat on the
floor, but rise up onto the ball of your back foot. Drop
your hips straight down and push through the front leg to
return to the standing position. Stay in the "split"
position for the entire exercise. Do 10 repetitions for
each side.

3 - Forward Lunges

Take a step forward with one leg, bend the front knee, and
keep your torso upright. Keep your front foot flat on the
floor, but rise up onto the ball of your back foot. Drop
your hips straight down and push through the front leg to
return to the start position where both feet are together
again. Do 10 repetitions for each side.

4 - Step-ups

Stand in front of a bench. Place one foot on the bench. Use
that leg to pull yourself up onto the bench. Slowly lower
yourself. Do 10 repetitions per side.

5 - Bulgarian Split Squats

Stand with a bench behind you. Step forward with one foot,
while placing the other foot on the bench, laces down. Drop
your hips straight down, then push through the front leg to
return to the upright position. Do 8 repetitions per side.

I use all 5 of these exercises in my Turbulence Training
workouts for men and women to help build better butts,
boost metabolism, incinerate fat, and sculpt beautiful
bodies. Add in interval training to burn off even more fat,
and you've got a set of abs to match.

So while things never worked out with the girl that liked
my butt, I learned a valuable lesson from her about the
importance of a guy's butt in a girl's dreams. And that's
helped me help thousands of men and women boost their butts
with these 5 simple exercises.

----------------------------------------------------
Learn the best fat burning workout routines and nutrition
tips from Men's Health expert Craig Ballantyne at
http://www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Central Auditory Processing Disorders

Central Auditory Processing Disorders
Some children have normal hearing ability but have
difficulty using information they hear in academic and
social situations. These children may have a Central
Auditory Processing Disorder. Children who have this
difficulty are able to hear well, but have trouble paying
attention to, remembering, and utilizing auditory
information for academic and social purposes. Central
Auditory Processing Disorders may have a very negative
impact on their language acquisition, social skill
development, and school performance.

Some researchers feel that many children are misdiagnosed
with ADHD and actually have a Central Auditory Processing
Disorder. This condition is particularly common if the
child has other sensory integration disorders, such as
touch sensitivity. In addition, children with ADHD may
also have a Central Auditory Processing Disorder.

What is a Central Auditory Processing Disorder

A Central Auditory Processing Disorder is an impaired
ability to attend to, discriminate, remember, recognize, or
comprehend auditory information in individuals who
typically exhibit normal intelligence and normal hearing.

When a person is exposed to a sound, the ears detect the
sound and transmit the information to the auditory part of
the central nervous system. In various parts of the
central nervous system the sound stimulus is processed. In
the end, the listener will know the direction from which
the sound comes, identify the type of sound, be able to
separate the sound from background noise, and interpret the
sound. The listener stores the memory of this sound
stimulus and develops a mental sound library, which he uses
to help him evaluate, interpret, and utilize new sound
information that he experiences in the future.

When a child has a Central Auditory Processing Disorder he
has an impaired ability to attend to, discriminate,
remember, recognize, or comprehend auditory information.
These processing difficulties become more pronounced in
challenging listening situations, such as noisy backgrounds
or poor acoustic environments, great distances from the
speaker, speakers with fast speaking rates, or speakers
with foreign accents.

What the Child Experiences

Distorted Speech Sounds

Nobody talks the same way. There are always slight
variations in pronunciation and emphasis that makes one
person's speech patterns differ from those of another. In
order to understand the speech of other people, a child
must make a series of mental adjustments. First he hears
words. Then based upon his memory of similar sounds, he
places the sounds of the words in context and decodes the
meaning that is being conveyed.

In a child with a Central Auditory Processing Disorder
there is a break somewhere in this decoding process. The
child isn't able to derive the correct meaning from words
because he cannot accommodate the different distortions of
different speakers.

Excess Background Noise

When we are in a noisy room, we need to block out the
extraneous noise in order to distinguish and understand
words that are being spoken to us. One way we do this is
by pinpointing the location of the voice of the speaker and
neurologically suppressing the sounds coming in from other
locations. A child with a Central Auditory Processing
Disorder may have difficulty pinpointing sounds. With this
in mind it is understandable why he can't block out
extraneous noise. As a result a child with a Central
Auditory Processing Disorder appears to be easily
distracted.

Misses Social Cues

Speech can be very complicated. Beyond understanding
simple instructions there are the nuances of language usage
that help convey the true meaning of the message being
transmitted. It is these nuances that allow for social
interactions. A child with a Central Auditory Processing
Disorder may have a deficit in receiving and understanding
the meaning of sounds. Such a child will be very slow to
follow the complexity of the message that is conveyed by
particular word usage and tones of speech.

Co-morbidity

Like other sensory motor defects, Central Auditory
Processing Disorders rarely occur alone. A child who
cannot effectively suppress extraneous noise may also not
be able to use his eyes to track words across a page or
co-ordinate his fine muscles in his hand to write easily.

Since a child with a Central Auditory Processing Disorder
may not be able to block out meaningless noise, he may
appear to the observer to be easily distractible. This is
one of the reasons children with a Central Auditory
Processing Disorder may be misdiagnosed with ADHD.
However, if a Central Auditory Processing Disorder child
also has ADHD and so that he already has a deficit of
inhibition, then the effects of his Central Auditory
Processing Disorder are much worse.

Symptoms

Children who have Central Auditory Processing Disorders may
behave as if they have a hearing loss. Here are some of the
common behaviors displayed by children who have Central
Auditory Processing Disorders:

· Don't respond to speech in a consistent fashion

· Frequently ask for words to be repeated

· Difficulty following speech in noisy surroundings

· Frequently misunderstand what is said

· Difficulty following long directions

· Poor memory for verbal information

· Difficulty pinpointing the direction from which
sound is coming

· History of middle ear infection

School Performance

In addition, children with Central Auditory Processing
Disorders show many of these characteristic deficits in
school performance:

· Difficulty expressing themselves

· Difficulty understanding language

· Poor reading, writing, and spelling

· Poor phonics

· Poor speech sound discrimination

· Difficulty taking notes

· Difficulty learning foreign languages

· Poor short-term memory

· Social or behavioral problems

· Poor language skills

· Poor academic skills.

Diagnosis

An audiologist uses a battery of tests to evaluate the
peripheral and central auditory systems. Peripheral
hearing tests are used to determine if the child has a
hearing loss, and, if so, the degree to which the loss is a
factor in the child's learning problems. Central auditory
tests evaluate the child's ability to understand and
respond to mild distortions of speech. It is also helpful
to have a speech pathologist evaluate the child's
perception of speech and receptive-expressive language use.

Treatment Standard treatment focuses on remedial help and
splinter skills to expand upon the child's strengths.

There are now a number of new treatment techniques that
directly address the hearing deficits. The pioneer of
these techniques was Dr. Alfred Tomatis, who began treating
Central Auditory Processing Disorders over forty years ago.

Auditory Integration Training is another effective
technique. This program was developed by the French
otolaryngologist, Dr. Guy Berard, one of Tomatis's students.

Finally, we should mention The Listening Program, a
technique that you can apply at home.

----------------------------------------------------
Anthony Kane, MD has been helping parents of ADHD and
Oppositional Defiant Disorder children online since 2003.
Join over three thousand parents and get help for your
Oppositional Defiant Disorder child
(http://addadhdadvances.com/betterbehavior.html), help with
defiant teens (http://addadhdadvances.com/ntpcentral.html )
ADHD treatment and ADHD information
(http://addadhdadvances.com/childyoulove.html ) .