Autism and diet

A study was done with 72 subjects. There was a control group and the test group. The diets of the test group used a gluten- and casein-free diet as an intervention for children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.  Analyses indicated a positive response to dietary intervention in terms of symptom presentation.  Participants aged between 7 and 9 years seemed to derive most benefit from dietary intervention and children with ADHD also showed benefits in altering the diet to improve behaviors. I found this article very informative and definitely an intervention that is worth attempting before more severe measures of medication need to be evaluated.

Citation:
Data mining the ScanBrit study of a gluten- and casein-free dietary intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders: Behavioural and psychometric measures of dietary response. (2014). Nutritional Neuroscience, 17(5), 207-213.

Improving Comprehension Skills

I chose an article that reviewed 9 different studies conducted by various companies between 2004 and 2009 to determine the best strategies for increasing reading comprehension in students labeled as EBD/ED. Residential students were excluded from the study as were children in a detention facility. Students in either a special education classroom or a self-contained setting were included. The article was noting the results of those 9 companies’ findings. The studies did not always relate the same exact information, but included such things as repeated reading strategies, use of comprehension maps, using text maps, listening while reading strategies and making predictions to increase reading comprehension in EBD/ED students. I find the visual strategies to help students connect to the story helpful in my classroom and we often times read the same passage out loud together and then split into groups to read to a partner to reread the same passage to help solidify the content. I think this article was helpful in presenting studies that related to students that I currently have in my classroom and directly supports the textbook by providing strategies to assist students with reading comprehension that often times fall behind.

Citation:

Garwood, J. D., Brunsting, N. C., & Fox, L. C. (2014). Improving Reading Comprehension and Fluency Outcomes for Adolescents with Emotional-Behavioral Disorders: Recent Research Synthesized. Remedial And Special Education, 35(3), 181-194.