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Toddlers
learn complex actions from picture-book reading, says new
research
Parents
who engage in the age-old tradition of picture-book reading
are not only encouraging early reading development in their
children but are also teaching their toddlers about the world
around them, according to a study in the November issue of
Developmental Psychology, published by the American Psychological
Association (APA). This finding shows that interactions with
life-like color pictures can aid in children's learning.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/toddlers_learn.php
Traditional
Books Provide More Positive Parent-Child Interaction
Parents
and pre-school children have a more positive interaction when
sharing a reading experience with a traditional book as opposed
to an electronic book or e-book, according researchers at
Temple University's Infant Laboratory and Erikson Institute in Chicago. This shared positive experience from
traditional books characteristically promotes early literacy
skills.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/traditional_boo.php
Needs
of Families with Disabled Children Remain Largely Unmet
The social
and economic needs of families with a disabled child are high,
but remain largely unmet, argue researchers in this week's
BMJ. More than half of families with disabled children live
in poverty, yet the costs associated with bringing up a disabled
child are estimated to be three times those of bringing up
a non-disabled child. Parents with disabled children also
have higher levels of stress and lower levels of wellbeing
than parents with non-disabled children.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/needs_of_famili.php
Child
Care Assistance in 2005: State Cuts Continue
The Center
for Law and Social Policy finds that state spending on child
care assistance declined in 2005 for the second consecutive
year. Twenty-two states made cuts to their child care programs,
as the number of children living in low-income families that
received help from these programs continued to decline. Many
families turn to child care assistance programs to get help
paying for the child care they need in order to work and to
succeed.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/child_care_assi_3.php
**Civic
Engagement
Nonprofits'
Decade of Growth Outpaces Economy
While the
nation's gross domestic product grew by an inflation-adjusted
36.6 percent from 1994 to 2004, the nonprofit sector's revenues
increased 61.5 percent, according to a new compendium of nonprofit
facts from the Urban Institute's National Center for Charitable Statistics. "The
Nonprofit Sector in Brief: Facts and Figures from the Nonprofit
Almanac 2007," offers a statistical snapshot of the 1.4
million public charities and other nonprofit organizations
registered with the Internal Revenue Service.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/nonprofits_deca.php
**Community
Development
New
Orleans Catholic Charities' Operation Helping Hands Marks
Milestone
After nearly
a year of helping elderly and disabled homeowners
begin the clean-up process in flood-ravaged New Orleans, Catholic Charities volunteers their
1,000th home. To date, over 6,800 Operation Helping Hands
volunteers from have gutted given 178,641 hours of service.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/new_orleans_cat.php
**Economic
Security
Mental
health problems threaten the knowledge economy
The study:
"Mental Capital: a preliminary study into the psychological
dimension of economic development," was commissioned
by the Dutch Council for Health Research. While this report
deals with the situation in the Netherlands, the same is happening in all modern
economies. In the modern knowledge economy -- in which increasing
numbers of people are working in the services sector - workers
need to be autonomous, flexible, adaptive, and able to continuously
deal with new circumstances, tasks and knowledge. Research
shows that this is difficult for many workers, and it is leading
to greater levels of stress and mental health problems.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/mental_health_p_1.php
**Education
What
Works in Education - Reading Mastery
Research
shows that children's aggressive behavior and reading difficulties
during early elementary school years are risk factors for
adolescent problem behaviors such as delinquency, academic
failure, and substance use. The What Works Clearinghouse,
in their review of research on effective interventions for
English language learners, identified the reading program
used in ORI's Schools and Homes
in Partnership (SHIP) project as having potentially positive
effects on the reading achievement of English language learners.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/oregon_study_me.php
Child
Care and Early Education State-by-State Data
This set
of state-by-state data from the Center
for Law and Social Policy includes new individual state
pages analyzing 2005 child care spending from CCDBG and TANF
funds, along with data (published in March 2006) on states'
use of community-based child care to provide Pre-k programs.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/child_care_and_1.php
Schools
Face Loss of Federal Funds for Barring Drug Searches
The U.S.
House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would
strip schools of federal Safe and Drug-Free
Schools funds if they do not allow searches for weapons
and drugs. The bill comes in the wake of a string of violent
school incidents, but is opposed by educational groups like
the National Parent Teacher Association and the American Association
of School Administrators, as well as the American Civil Liberties
Union and Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/schools_face_lo.php
**Health
Administration
Policy Change Threatens Health Care Coverage for Poor Infants
According
to the Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities, now, without any change
in the law, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
has instructed states that they may no longer provide automatic
coverage to some babies, even though these babies have been
born in the United States and are U.S. citizens and Medicaid
has covered the cost of their birth. Many of the babies affected
by this reversal of policy will likely go without needed health
care services for some period of time.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/administration_6.php
**Hunger
and Nutrition
More
than 35 Million of Americans Lived In Food Insecure Households
in 2005
The Food
Research and Action Center (FRAC) announced that the food
insecurity rates in the United States dropped somewhat in 2005, but more
than 35 million people were still living in households considered
food insecure. Today's release of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
annual analysis of Census Bureau survey results follows five
years of straight increases in the number of Americans living
in households that were not able to afford the food they need.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/more_than_35_mi.php
Food
Insecurity and the Risks of Depression and Anxiety in Mothers
and Behavior Problems in their Preschool-Aged Children
Mathematica
Policy Research sought to determine if the prevalence of depression
and anxiety in mothers and the prevalence of behavior problems
in preschool-aged children are more common when mothers report
being food insecure. A cross-sectional survey of 2870 mothers
of 3-year-old children was conducted in 2001--2003 in 18 large
US cities. Mental health problems in
mothers and children are more common when mothers are food
insecure, a stressor that can potentially be addressed by
social policy.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/food_insecurity_1.php
**Substance
Abuse
Indian
Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program
Grants of
up to $250,000 will be awarded to Native American tribes to
help combat alcohol and other drug use in their communities.
The Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Program grants and
related technical assistance are available to federally recognized
tribal governments. Funds can be used to enhance anti-drug
policing and establish comprehensive community strategies
to reduce alcohol and other drug related crime.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/indian_alcohol.php
Study
Says Incentive-Based Meth Treatment
Works
A methamphetamine
addiction treatment regimen that combines the Matrix Model
of psychosocial therapy with rewards for patients who produce
clean urine samples works better than therapy alone, according
to researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The
Matrix Model of psychosocial treatment currently is thought
to be the most effective therapy for methamphetamine addiction,
and contingency management (CM) has shown itself to increase
the therapeutic effectiveness of treatments for other drug
abuse disorders.
http://webclipper.handsnet.org/mt-static/archives/2006/11/study_says_ince.php
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