Developmental Discoveries is offering Relationship Development Intervention informational session on Tuesday October 21st, 2008.
The RDI® Program is:

- parent-based intervention program where parents are provided the tools to effectively teach Dynamic Intelligence skills and motivation to their child.

-a method that measures and begins at the edge of each person's capability and then carefully but continually raises the bar.

Sessions will be held at 103 Salem Towne Court, Apex, NC from 6:30pm-8pm. Interested parents can email developmentaldiscoveries@gmail.com or call 418-7175.

Abilitations Children's Therapy & Wellness Center presents:

ABILITIES INDOOR SOCCER LEAGUE

A soccer league for children with special needs
(no limitation on physical or developmental level)

2009 Winter Co-Ed Soccer League
Ages 5-12
January 4 - February 22
Sundays, 2-3 PM
Location: MVP Sports Center at The Factory MVP Sports Center
1839-360 S. Main St.
Wake Forest, NC 27587

Registration Fee: $75 per player
Teams meet 1x/week for practice and games. MVP requires all players to have shin guards & flat soled shoes.

This league has been formed by Abilitations Children's Therapy. Please contact either Jennifer Mock or T.R. Goins at (919)844-6611 for more information. Do not contact the MVP Sports Center.

Artistic Gymnastic School offers gymnastic classes for children with special needs (preschool and school age classes). The cost for 6 sessions is $100.00. Call 919.772.9463 or got to http://www.ArtisticGynmnastic.US for more information.

Emergency Stress Relief Tool Kit

The Real Simple website offers these preventive measures to save yourself time and a few headaches.

I've embellished on a few...

Keep stamps on hand.
Keep a few extra dollars and spare change stashed in a safe place in your car.
Always have a good book or magazine nearby.
Stash an umbrella in your office and your car.
Don't wear tight pants or uncomfortable shoes.
Keep snacks in your office drawer or work bag to avoid getting too hungry.
Keep Band-Aids and Tylenol in the same drawer with your snacks.
Always put your keys away in the same place. Make sure a trusted neighbor has an extra set.
Make at least one friend in your neighborhood (so you can give them your keys!)
Make your bed every morning (or better yet, have your spouse do it!)
Make lists.
Never let your gas level fall into the "empty zone." (Remember, you have a few $$ stashed in your car so you can at least get a gallon or two.)
Go to bed 30 mn. earlier than usual.
Wake up 15 mn. earlier than usual.
Find ways to laugh at yourself.

Upcoming Events:

Thursday, October 23rd - PTA videoclinics

9:00-10:30

Friday, October 24th- "Transition from Hospital to Home" WATCH videconference session. 1:00-3:00

Friday, November 14th- "Risk Factors, Outcomes and Services for Premature Infants" WATCH videconferecen session. 1:00-3:00

Friday, November 21st- PTA videoclinics

9:00-10:30

Friday, November 21st- Cerebral Palsy WATCH videoconference session

1:00-2:30

Tuesday, December 2nd-

Wake County LICC Family Resource Fair at Laurel Hills Community Center

10:00-12:00

Friday, December 5th-

"Teaching Functional Communication to Children with Autism" WATCH videoconference session. 12:30-2:30

Monday, December 8th-

Leo M. Croghan conference

Friday, December 12th

"An Introduction to Mindfulness" WATCH videoconference session

12:30-2:30

For more information on any of these sessions and for more professional development opportunities check out the TelAbility calendar.

Hello WATCH Members!

Better late than never, right? The last two months were filled with two successful WATCH Summits, the Honours Tournament and several informative videoconference sessions.

This newsletter features feedback from the Summits, a review of Dr. Alexander's Spina Bifida presentation, descriptions for several upcoming WATCH videoconference sessions, many WATCH Program updates, along with several Wake County area resources. We are lucky to have so many services available and a great collaborative and community in which to share them all. Many thanks to Terri Pratt, Gerry Highsmith, and our other contributors.

Happy reading!

~Juliellen

WATCH Summit Results

On September 3rd and 5th the WATCH Project hosted a WATCH Summit. Fifty engaged, energetic and committed participants offered there thoughts, ideas, and hopes for the WATCH Collaborative. Below is a short recap of what was discussed.

When asked "What is WATCH?", participants used words like: innovative, a reliable source of information, trusted, a model collaborative, cost effective, family friendly, generous, easily accessible, time effective, supportive, interesting, consumer driven, helpful, fast, a networking system, provider of training and education, a place to identify central and common themes, a linking system, a great example of capacity building, and a way to build leadership skills.

Several examples of great WATCH experiences were mentioned. Participants cited the generous, fast and incredible helpful responses from the WATCH listserv; the passion and caring they sense in the community; the ability to work with other providers on planing WATCH sessions; increased enthusiasm and learning among their staff; recognizing member's receptivity to new ideas; an increase in referral patterns to appropriate providers; and the ability to create a "virtual team" and problem solve with multiple providers as just a few of their personal stories.

Participants were overwhelmingly committed to finding ways to expand and extend WATCH beyond our 2010 funding from the John Rex Endowment. Ideas included seeking out other funding sources such as Kate B. Reynolds, the State legislature, NCPC/Smart Start, corporate sponsorship, and WATCH Membership fees.

As WATCH grows and expands, participants wanted to ensure that the core values and standards of the collaborative remain in-tact and are defined by the community, not outside sources. There is a desire to include more programs (such as Wake County Human Services, Governor Morehead Preschool and private practices) and more physicians, specialists and educators. Participants would like to see videoconferencing resources used to conduct IFSP, IEP and transition meetings. They also see potential in using videoconferencing for mentoring relationships, for providing "best practice" sessions, offering professional and family support groups, and increasing care coordination efforts among doctors, specialists and service providers. There was also great enthusiasm and support for using videoconferencing as a tool to expand professional development opportunities within Wake County and across the state network. Several specific national and international experts were mentioned as possible speakers. Members would also like to see WATCH educational sessions from their desktop or laptop computer when not able to attend on site and when more than 4 sites would like to be involved. Participants would also like sessions archived on the TelAbility website for easy viewing at a later date.

So what are the next steps?? Summit participants outlined the following strategies:

1. Secure a reliable and affordable tech support provider. Glowpoints, a video communications company, was offered as a viable option.

2. Seek out additional funding sources.

3. Ask each WATCH Site to consider its financial ability to contribute to the future of WATCH.

4. Leverage resources with partnering projects and agencies (such as Young Child Mental Health Collaborative, Wake County LICC, Wake County Smart Start, WATCH Sites)

5. Encourage parent participation in educational sessions and look into using videoconferencing as a way to enhance parent support groups.

6. Research ways to provide CEUs for WATCH educational sessions.

In order to put these steps into action we need YOUR help. Please continue to talk within your agencies about ways to financially support WATCH beyond 2010. Continue to share WATCH resources with new parents and providers. Talk with other networks of which you are a part about ways WATCH could help expand and enhance those missions.

We will continue to need your help in developing professional development sessions and support groups. We need you to feel confident enough to take the bold step to be the first to hold an IFSP meeting or transition meeting via videoconference. We need you to keep contributing to the listserv and newsletter. Please let us know what you feel energize and empowered to do through WATCH.

We thank everyone who participated in the Summit for the time and energy and we thank the entire WATCH Community for your commitment.

WATCH Videoconference Review:

Spina Bifida: Update 2008 with Dr. Alexander, M.D., Director of the Spina Bifida Clinic at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), written by Geraldine Highsmith, PT, Pediatric Therapy Associates

On September 19, 2008, participants at four Telability Sites gathered together across WakeCounty to hear Dr. Joshua Alexander, MD, Director of The Spina Bifida Clinic at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) give an exceptional presentation on Spina Bifida for the pediatric therapy community of WakeCounty. The presentation covered the following topics:
· Spina Bifida: A description including the history, prevalence, incidence, etiology and outcomes for children born with Spina Bifida.
·  Prenatal diagnosis and current medical options for intervention during gestation
· Incidence of Spina Bifida which is the second most common physical disability in childhood. Of 1000 live births nationwide, 1 child will be at risk for Spina Bifida. Of 1000 births in North Carolina, 1 to 2 children will be at risk for Spina Bifida.
·Those of Irish, German or Hispanic descent are at increased risk.
·In North Carolina, Latinos are twice as likely as other groups to have a child with Spina Bifida
·There is a decreased risk in Asians and Pacific Islanders

Why does Spina Bifida occur?
Four causes of neural tube defects including Spina Bifida, as discussed by Dr. Alexander were:
1.      Polygenic inheritance
2.      Environmental influences (nutrition, diabetes, heat and valporic acid use)
3.      MTHFR (the official name of this gene is 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase). A variant of the MTHFR gene may increase the risk of certain types of birth defects such as Spina Bifida.
4.      Folic Acid (Folic acid, also known as vitamin M and Folacin and Folate are forms of water-soluble Vitamin B9. These occur naturally in food and can be taken as supplements. Folate gets its name from the Latin word folium ("leaf"). To reduce the risk of neural tube defects by 50 to 70%, the recommendation is for every woman of childbearing age to take folic acid equal to 400 micrograms every day.

The prenatal diagnosis of a neural tube defect is obtained through testing of the Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP is a molecule produced in the developing embryo and fetus) in amniotic fluid at 16 to 18 weeks of gestation. If the AFP level is elevated, then Acetycholinestrerase (AChE) may be useful as a second test in providing a prenatal diagnosis of a neural tube defect. According to Morrow, McNay and Whittle (1991), ultrasound scanning had a 98% sensitivity and a 100% specificity for neural tube defects.1
If a neural tube defect is confirmed, the choices are termination of the pregnancy, fetal surgery to attempt to correct the defect during the time of gestation and the option for a C-section delivery followed by corrective surgery within the first 24 to 48 hours after birth.
The outcomes in a child with a neural tube defect include issues secondary to lack of afferent (sensory) transmissions reaching the brain and the lack of efferent (motor) transmissions reaching the muscles from the brain. The clinical manifestations of the interrupted nerve transmissions include spastic or flaccid muscle tone, muscle weakness, decreased sensation, neurogenic bowel and bladder and vasomotor dysfunction. The patterns of dysfunction may not be symmetric. Secondary conditions may include: fractures, charcot joints, hip dislocation, scoliosis, kyphosis, foot anomalies, pressure ulcers, burns, obesity, precocious puberty, UTI's (urinary tract infections), hydronephrosis, latex allergy, tethered cord, rotator cuff tears, CTS (carpal tunnel syndrome) and ulnar neuropathy.

With all of the worries and considerations for dysfunction, it is not a surprise that there is increased family stress, sibling stress, increased family dysfunction resulting in divorce, and a loss in family income. A team approach with the child's needs and the family's priorities being included should happen from day one. With Dr. Alexander taking a lead role this will always be a focus of the team.

1 Morrow, R.J. , McNay, R.B., Whittle, M. J. (1991). Ultrasound detection of neural tube defects in patients with elevated maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 78,1055-7.

***33 people attended this session and 21 evaluations were completed. 100% of the participants were comfortable attending the session and agreed the session provided them with new knowledge and skills. All participants were satisified with the videoconference session.

A total of $1178 dollars and 36 hours of travel time was saved by hosting this session via videconference.

Thank you to everyone who helped honor Jennifer and Ethan Pfaltzgraff and support the TelAbility/ WATCH program by contributing to the 7th Annual Honours Tournament.

We are still waiting on the total amount raised, but we are grateful for EVERYONE'S generousity. All procedes raised through the tournament will go directly to the TelAbility/WATCH Project.

Specials thanks and gratitude to the following individual donors: