Andy Puddicombe: All it takes is 10 mindful minutes.
Pupils on free school meals for only a year become 'invisible underachievers' Children who qualify for free school meals for just one year become "invisible underachievers" who receive little government support but achieve similar results to those who remain on free school meals during their entire school career.
The search for intelligent life - This Britain - UK. Www.ashg.org/pdf/CDC Gene-Environment Interaction Fact Sheet.pdf. Funding rules on special educational needs are leaving inclusive schools with a cash shortfall. Louise Brock was keen for her daughter Ruby, who has Down's syndrome, to go to a mainstream school.
But finding somewhere that could offer her the support she needed was difficult. "I had to take her out of one school because she wasn't writing her name, her speech wasn't developing and they [staff] were ringing me every day, asking me to go into school because they couldn't handle her behaviour. I felt as if they were making it as difficult for me as possible so that I'd take her out of the school, which is what I did eventually.
" Eight-year-old Ruby is now thriving at Bromstone primary school in Broadstairs, Kent, where the headteacher, Nigel Utton, is committed to inclusion. Love hormone helps autistic children bond with others, study shows. A nasal spray laced with the "love hormone" oxytocin could help children with autism learn to handle social situations better, US researchers claim.
Scans of children with autistic spectrum disorder showed that a single dose of the chemical improved brain responses to facial expressions, a shift that could make social interactions feel more natural and rewarding for them. The scientists behind the research said a course of oxytocin might boost the success of behavioural therapies that are already used to help people with autism learn to cope with social situations. "Over time, what you would expect to see is more appropriate social responding, being more interested in interacting with other people, more eye contact and more conversational ability," said Kevin Pelphrey, director of the child neuroscience lab at Yale University.
Crashing the Pox Party « Alternative Medicine « Health « Skeptic North. There has been much abuzz about “pox parties” – the practice of parents getting a bunch of unvaccinated kids together with an infected one (pick one, really, though chicken pox is the focus of the recent article in Time) in the hope that their little sweethearts become ill and therefore “naturally” immune to the disease.
This deliberate infection involves things as seemingly innocent as breathing the same air as the infected to the stomach-turning sharing of bodily fluids (Saliva lemonade, anyone?). To compound the issue, it seems that parents aren’t always taking into account how the viruses are transmitted, and end up trying oral transmission to transmit a disease that is transmitted through the air.
And yes, the whole thing is as stupid as it seems. Given that the people partaking in these events have likely not vaccinated their children against anything else, these parties could be a source point for multiple highly contagious infections. Diet of Mother Can Lead to Alterations in Her Child’s DNA. A new study, published in Nature Communications, has found that maternal diet around the time of conception can influence certain properties of the child’s DNA.
This could have lifelong implications. The researchers that conducted this study weren't looking at the actual DNA sequences of the children; they wanted to see whether the diet of the mother was capable of causing epigenetic changes. Epigenetics refers to changes in gene expression that occur without alterations in the DNA sequence itself. One example of epigenetic modification is DNA methylation, which involves the addition of methyl groups to certain bits of DNA.
Methyl groups can be obtained from the diet by eating certain foods, for example those containing choline or particular vitamins such as B6 and B12. It was demonstrated previously that maternal diet prior to conception can induce epigenetic changes in the offspring of mice, but the same had not been investigated in humans prior to this study.
Is misused neuroscience defining early years and child protection policy? "Neuroscience can now explain why early conditions are so crucial," wrote Graham Allen and Iain Duncan Smith in their 2010 collaboration, Early Intervention: Good Parents, Great Kids, Better Citizens.
"The more positive stimuli a baby is given, the more brain cells and synapses it will be able to develop. " Neuroscience is huge in early years policy. This week, in what's been characterised as the largest shake-up of family law in a generation, the 26-week time limit for adoption proceedings has come into force, much of it justified by the now-or-never urgency of this set of beliefs, that the first three years (or sometimes first 18 months) hardwire a baby's brain, either give it or deny it the capacity for a full life.
This is the engine of what is known as the First Three Years movement, which has transfixed politicians from across the spectrum. Autism begins 'long before birth', claim scientists - Health News - Health & Families. In a study that examined brain tissue samples donated by children who had died, scientists discovered clusters of disorganised cells in regions important for regulating social functioning, emotions and communication - activities that can be difficult for children with autism.
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