December’s Resource of the Month is just in time for the holiday season!

from the American Physical Therapy Association. It has suggestions for types of toys that may delight children with special needs and various abilities. There is also a link to a podcast by two mothers raising children with special needs and a panel discussion of toy buying tips for the holidays.

So, check it out and maybe share it with parents of the students whom you serve.

Happy Holidays!

 November's  Resource of the Month is a pair of autism-spectrum-related websites from the Texas Education Agency’s Region 13 Educational Service Center.  

Texas Statewide Leadership for Autism Training (TSLAT) provides training, support, and resources for educators serving students with autism. It has an online course library with over 80 courses, a video library with short videos to support educators and parents as well as the Texas Autism Resource Guide for Effective Teaching (TARGET) which has a strong emphasis on evidence-based and peer-reviewed strategies in two sections, one on assessments and one on interventions.

Autism Circuit Academy offers professional development courses to help Texas educators acquire and implement evidence-based practices in educating students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Persons completing the training can earn an endorsement, a visible sign of the work accomplished to become skilled in the implementation of the evidence-based practices identified by the National Professional Development Center for Autism Spectrum Disorder.  The training is free for employees of local educational agencies in Texas. 

PEDro is the Physiotherapy Evidence Database and comes from Australia. It is a free database of thousands of randomized trials, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines for physical therapy. For each trial, review or guideline, PEDro provides the citation details, the abstract and a link to the full text, where possible. Trials on PEDro are independently assessed for quality. The quality ratings can quickly guide users to trials that are more likely to be valid and to contain sufficient information to guide clinical practice. One feature of PEDro that you may like is “Evidence in Your Inbox” which will provide monthly links to the latest clinical practice guidelines, systematic reviews and clinical trials for selected physical therapy topics.

PEDro is produced by the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, School of Public Health at the University of Sydney and is hosted by Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA). PEDro is in partnership with the Australian Physiotherapy Association.