Q&A - Dental Care for that Special Child

Q: Do special children have special dental needs?

A: Most do. Some special children are very susceptible to tooth decay, gum disease or oral trauma. Others require medication or diet detrimental to dental health.

Still other children have physical difficulty with effective dental habits at home. The good news is, dental disease is preventable. If dental care is started early and followed conscientiously, every child can enjoy a healthy smile.

Q: How can I prevent dental problems for my special child?

A: A first dental visit by the first birthday will start your child on a lifetime of good dental health. The paediatric dentist will take a full medical history, gently examine your child's teeth and gums, then plan preventive care designed for your child's needs.

Q: Will preventive dentistry benefit my child?

A: Yes! Your child will benefit from the preventive approach recommended for all children- effective brushing and flossing, adequate fluoride and moderation in snacking on sweets, .

Home care takes just minutes a day and prevents needless dental problems. Regular professional cleanings and fluoride treatments are also very beneficial. Sealants can prevent tooth decay on the chewing surfaces of molars where four out of five cavities occur.

Q: Are paediatric dentists prepared to care for special children?

A: Absolutely. Paediatric dentists have two or more years of advanced training beyond dental school. Their education as specialists focuses on care for children with special needs. In addition, paediatric dental offices are designed to be physically accessible for special patients.

Paediatric dentists, because of their expertise, are often the clinicians of choice for the dental care of adults with special needs as well.

Q: Will my child need special care during dental treatment?

A: Some children need more support than a gentle, caring manner to feel comfortable during dental treatment. Restraint or mild sedation may benefit your special child. If a child needs extensive treatment, the paediatric dentist may provide care at a local hospital.

Your paediatric dentist has a comprehensive education in behaviour management, sedation and anesthesia techniques. He or she will select a technique based on the specific health needs of your child, then discuss the benefits, limits and risks of that technique with you.

Dyslexia: The Dore's Programme, activities

This posting is for information only and we do not promote or recommend this programme.

If you are looking for more information on the Dore's Programme you can find it on their website Dyslexia

I would very much like to hear your comments and experiences of the Dore's Programme.

The Dyslexia Myth (2005) Video

Click on the car to see the video or click here .....

The Dyslexia Myth (2005) exposes the myths and misconceptions that surround a condition said to affect 10 per cent of the population.

The Dyslexia Myth argues that the common understanding of dyslexia is not only false but makes it more difficult to provide the reading help that hundreds of thousands of children desperately need.

Drawing on years of intensive academic research on both sides of the Atlantic, The Dyslexia Myth challenges the existence of dyslexia as a separate condition; but in doing so, reveals the scale and pain of true reading disability.

The programme examines the chasm between evidence and educational practice and shows that, after hundreds of millions of pounds of investment in the teaching of reading, the number of children encountering serious problems has hardly changed.

Dyslexia: The AlphaDancing Poster - Andrea Boff

Click on the Poster to visit the Blog site of the very talented Andrea Boff

Dyslexic Brian: Links to Free Workshops

We do not promote groups and institutions that we do not know but this website contains a lot of very interesting material and information for Dyslexia sufferers, their parents, familes and friends.

It is for the reader to decide on the relevance and significance of the material. I would very much like to hear your comments.

The Davis Method for Dyslexia and Dyscalculia

The Davis Method Learning Foundation in the UK

The Worst Winter Weather Makes us better Parents

My cat and my dog both love the snow. It seems to bring out their ebulient spirit but it's not just our pets that enjoy the snow. It also has a strong draw for the playful spirit inside our normally sedate selves.

I must confess that I do love the snow. It's bright and beautiful. It reflects the light and cheers the heart. In the evening it catches the moonlight and reflects it across the land as moonglow.

It's also a great material to touch and handle. To play with and sculpt into comical shapes but most of all I like the snow because it brings families together, in play.

Can you remember your joy as a child when you saw the first snow of winter? This winter, did you recall those feelings again, when you saw the snow fall? I did and I always do.

When the first snow fell here, the streets were strangely quiet, at least until the kids got home from school and then the whole neighbourhood came to life. Children started laughing and playing harmlessly together, throwing snowballs, drawing shapes and making snowmen in the snow.

They continued throwing snow at each other and generally running about, slipping, sliding, falling, laughing and fooling around, and all without concern about hurting themselves or their friends. This was a primeval event, a simple and spontaneous phenomenon; free flowing, uninhibited play that so rarely occurs in the absence of snow.

Suddenly, before we knew where we were, the startled children were promptly joined by the adults, unable to resist the allure of this fun. Within a few moments, parents and children were all playing together in a marvellous, inventive and joyful manner.

The other free flow of family playtime similar to this, is the fun that can be had in the soft sand of a sun-kissed beach in the summer, or when we are swimming at the ocean's edge. It may be similar but it's not the same. The adults are always more inhibited and withdrawn on the beach.

Perhaps, running around unclad on the beach makes it more difficult to be spontaneous and uninhibited. Is it so much more difficult to frolick about in soft sand than snow? Apparently yes!

Whatever the reason, I will continue to celebrate the coming of the snow as the bringer of fun and playfulness to families. Enjoy!

Ambidextrous children more likely to have mental health, language and scholastic problems, say researchers

Mixed-handed children more likely to have mental health, language and scholastic problems, say Imperial College London researchers

Children who are mixed-handed, or ambidextrous, are more likely to have mental health, language and scholastic problems in childhood than right- or left-handed children, according to a new study published today in the journal Pediatrics.

The researchers behind the study, from Imperial College London and other European institutions, suggest that their findings may help teachers and health professionals to identify children who are particularly at risk of developing certain problems.

Around one in every 100 people is mixed-handed. The study looked at nearly 8,000 children, 87 of whom were mixed-handed, and found that mixed-handed 7 and 8-year old children were twice as likely as their right-handed peers to have difficulties with language and to perform poorly in school.

When they reached 15 or 16, mixed-handed adolescents were also at twice the risk of having symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They were also likely to have more severe symptoms of ADHD than their right-handed counterparts. It is estimated that ADHD affects between 3 to 9% of school-aged children and young people.

The adolescents also reported having greater difficulties with language than those who were left- or right-handed. This is in line with earlier studies that have linked mixed-handedness with dyslexia.

Little is known about what makes people mixed-handed but it is known that handedness is linked to the hemispheres in the brain. Previous research has shown that where a person's natural preference is for using their right hand, the left hemisphere of their brain is more dominant.

Some researchers have suggested that mixed-handedness indicates that the pattern of dominance is not that which is typically seen in most people, i.e. it is less clear that one hemisphere is dominant over the other. One study has suggested that ADHD is linked to having a weaker function in the right hemisphere of the brain, which could help explain why some of the mixed-handed students in today's study had symptoms of ADHD.

Read more of the article here ....

Dyslexia: Learning Kung Fu Punctuation

Punctuation can be a very boring subject for children, despite the fact that correct punctuation is vital to the development of good writing.

Dyslexic children often find it particularly difficult to use the right punctuation and because of this they will very often miss it out completely. I have come across a better way of teaching pronunctiation and of making the rules stick. It is called the Kung Fu Punctuation game.

Ros Wilson, who is well known in the UK, advocates the use of Kung Fu punctuation, as part of the writing programme, called Big Writing or FCOP. This writing approach is used very succesfully in many UK primary schools.

In addition ,Phil Beadle a well – known inspirational teacher (the winner of the Secondary Teacher of the Year UK Award 2005) highlighted the use of Kung Fu punctuation in a UK TV programme where he demostrated that he could teach pupils who were previously dismissed as unteachable.

How does it work? All punctuation marks are given a corresponding kung-fu-style action and accompanied by sounds or noises, as in normal Kung Fu or Karate. In this way the child is using more of thier senses in experiencing punctuation. Here are some examples;

• Full stop - Throw a short, right-handed punch at the air in front of you and make the noise, Ha!
• Comma - With your right arm bent so that your hand is in front of your face, make a short twisting motion at the wrist to signify the comma shape and make the noise, Shi!
• Semi-colon - Do the full-stop punch, then the comma shape directly underneath it and make the noises, Ha! Shi!
• Colon - Make the Full Stop punch and follow it immediately with one directly beneath it. Make the noises, Ha! Ha!
• Question mark - Separate the curly bit into three cutting movements with the hand: one horizontal left to right, one curved around, and one vertical coming from the bottom of the curved one. Then at the bottom of the shape you have just drawn in the air, add a full-stop punch. Make the noises, Shi! Shi! Shi! Ha!
• Exclamation mark - Make a long vertical slash, from top to bottom, followed by a full stop punch and make the noises, Shiiiiii! Ha!
• Quotation marks - Stand on one leg, extend your arms diagonally to the skies and wiggle your index and middle fingers in an approximation of speech marks. Make the noise, Haeeeee!
• Apostrophe - With your right arm fully extended to the air, wiggle your index finger. Make the noise, Blubalubaluba! (the sound you make with your tongue, when you flap it up and down against the inside of your lips.)
• Ellipsis - Make three punches along a horizontal line. Make the noises, Ha! Ha! Ha!
• Brackets - To open the brackets, use your left hand first, draw a curved convex line in the air. To close the brackets, use your right hand to do the opposite motion. Make the noises, Shi! Shi!

Ideas on how to use Kung Fu Punctuation:

You can call out three punctuation marks and then your child has to put the moves and sounds for these together, in sequence, as quickly as they can.

You can later make up some sentences or a short story and leave out all the punctuation marks. Read through the sentences together and at the appointed places in the sentence get your child to do the kung-fu punctuation move he thinks is appropriate.

A link to Phil Beadle's book 'Could do Better'

For more information on this method of schooling please click on this link

Learning ABC song