Diabetes is becoming an epidemic in the U.S. and the Western World.  The ties to obesity are often direct, so the potential treatments are often directly tied as well.  We did a recent dig down for the next $170 billion opportunity for eight different major diseases and conditions, and now we have conducted a much deeper dig down specifically in the field of diabetes over at BioHealthInvestor.com.  We have recent and upcoming FDA action and data being presented from Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO), MannKind Corp. (NASDAQ: MNKD), Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN), Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), Alkermes Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS), Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) and AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN).  There is a mini-race going on between some of the later stage studies from obesity and diabetes candidates from Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA), VIVUS, inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS), Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OREX) and Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN).  Geron Corporation (NASDAQ: GERN) and StemCells Inc. (NASDAQ: STEM) were noted as two of the stem cell hopes, although stem cells may later rather than sooner.

Generex Biotechnology Corporation (NASDAQ: GNBT), Spherix Incorporated (NASDAQ: SPEX) and Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTCBB: ORMP) were all noted in the much smaller or emerging plays.  Home Diagnostics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HDIX) and Insulet Corporation (NASDAQ: PODD) have both recently had key events as the interest in test equipment companies continues to remain high.

FULL STORY with much more detail at BioHealthInvestor.com.

It’s been AGES since we’ve had a speech therapy session.

BC’s early intervention centre does a lot of individual assessments in the first term of the year, so it takes a while for actual therapy sessions to get started.

I’ll be honest and say a big part of me doesn’t mind the break. It’s exhausting fitting everything into our week. We spend a lot of time in the car.

Also, these days, I feel a lot more confident about helping  BC developing effective communication skills because let’s face it, I know a lot more about this sort of thing than I did 4 years ago .

Having a background in teaching English as a Second Language has helped a little too.

I know what a phoneme is. I know what a plosive is.

But, now that we’ve had a break from therapy and BC’s speech has made such gains, it was great to get some feedback on where we are at the moment and also build on  some new strategies.

BC’s speech therapist was VERY impressed with his willingness and ability to attempt making long sentences. It has reminded me that this time last year, we were really happy if he’d just say single words.

A year ago, if he wanted something to eat, he would use the makaton sign and maybe say ‘eat’. These days, he says ‘I’ve got a rumble in my tummy’ (thank-you Bananas in Pyjamas!).

A year ago, he never asked questions. Now, he asks them all day long – ‘Where are we going tomorrow?’, ‘Where are we going after that?’, ‘Who’s looking after me today?’, ‘What are we having for dinner?’.

His articulation is still not great. I understand most of what he says, but others often get it wrong.

He has a PODD communication book. Man, are these ever great. Now that BC is a little older, he LOVES his book. He brings it to people, he navigates his way around it and he gets frustrated when he’s unable to use it to find what he wants to say.

BC’s speech therapist was very impressed with his progress. She was able to point out some things that I don’t know much about -like the fact that he has much better control of his jaw movements. That his tongue is moving more independently. Cool.  We’re going to do some work on his open mouth ‘oo’ sounds and his ‘b’, ‘p’, ‘f’, ‘d’ sounds which he’s still having a lot of trouble controlling. Saliva control remains a priority too.

I’m also going to do some training in the ‘PROMPT’ system that his therapist uses. I LOVE this system. I can’t wait to learn more.

In the car on the way home, BC asked ‘Mum, when are we having a talking lesson again? I love talking lessons’.

Me too BC, me too.

Dagen börjar med att vi lär oss om lite Poll (typ undersökning) man kan ställa fråger och sedan kan folk svara på dem… de e nice, kan man hålla igång med lite saker på det =) sen gör vi lite också på podd cast .. fast de e lite segt med det … måste tjata på killarna ..

Imon är det champions league … Barcelona spelar nice som fan !! ..Messi :):):) 

Och jag måste säga att denna lektion var hittils den bästa lektionen … fullt upp hela dagen .. soft att äntligen ha nått att göra =)=)=) …Kennet kom också in och skrek på oss .. damn … Just jah …tog ett break under lektionen för att ta reda på vilka personen i klassen skulle följa med på student-kryssningen =) så om du vill kan du dra bort tid från det Mats ..no hard offence =) … 

“Tell Dry to pick up his phone before i climb through his window like Doktor i’m home”

Of all the challenges that we are faced with due to BC’s cerebral palsy, the one which has taken me most by surprise is the speech issues. I have mentioned this before. I just had confidence that given he left hospital fully breastfed and never really had feeding issues, that he had good oral motor control. I was wrong.

If I had done my research into ‘Athetoid cerebral palsy’ (which is what BC has) I would not have been so surprised. Speech issues are synonymous with this kind of CP.

Speech therapy takes up a good part of our time. We are INCREDIBLY lucky to have an amazing speech therapist and this year we’ve doubled our sessions so we have 3 a fortnight. We also have a lot of ‘mini sessions’ at home, with the skills that I’ve learnt from watching the therapist, who uses a variety of techniques to help BC communicate, including using ‘PODD’  (Pragmatic Organisation Dynamic Display) communication books, Makaton signing and  a technique called ‘Prompt’ (PROMPTs for Restructuring Oral Muscular Phonetic Targets) which is being incredibly beneficial in helping him articulate specific sound. And in the coming months, BC will be receiving a ‘Voice Output Device‘.

Phew.

So it could never be said we are not doing enough to help BC faciliate communication.

And the most important thing is, he LOVES all the therapy. He LOVES his ‘talking lessons’ and he (naturally, for a four year old!) LOVES to communicate.

It’s a LONG SLOW road, but I am so glad we’ve started early. The benefits from this very specialised therapy are slowly but surely being revealed.

Which brings me to the point of this post. BC has been very good for a long time using whatever method is most convenient to convey what he WANTS, what he LIKES and what he doesn’t WANT or LIKE. More recently he’s done great when I have elicited information from him (eg ‘Where are we going?’, ‘Whose ball is this?’ etc). It’s all great. However, it’s not quite a conversation and he has NEVER asked a question.

Until yesterday.

Out of the blue, as we were walking back from the park, he pointed to the nearby TAFE school and asked, quite clearly – ‘What’s that?’. I nearly cried. I still haven’t stopped doing that when he does amazing things .

So I told him.  And he was fascinated. It’s like all of a sudden a huge light switched on. And now he’s trying to catch up asking all the questions he’s been curious about for ages but never thought to ask about.

In the last 24 hours, the questions have been nonstop -

‘What’s that?’, ‘Who’s that?’ (eg on the phone), ‘Where’s Dad?’ I could go on and on.

I’m exhausted from answering questions, but TOTALLY exhilarated.

It’s a conversation I’ve been waiting for for a very long time .

by Samuel Sennott

How did you learn to talk? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Did you learn to speak english as a child? Did you learn spanish? I ponder these questions as Linda Burkhart starts the hour long workshop reminding us about the importance of modeling, as she brings us back to the classic Engineering the Environment texts and the concept of aided language stimulation.  This receptive before expressive concept and the idea of constantly modeling the use of components in an AAC system makes so much sense!  Here are some notes from the hour:

Partner Assisted Scanning

Asking the right questions is key. Automaticity with yes and no is a goal. Keeping the yes and no on consistent sides is helpful in the process. : )

Parter assisted scanning, while still English, has:

• Different Structure
• Different Pace
• Different Pragmatics
• Different Interactive Strategies

The Organization

Pragmatically Organized Dynamic Display (PODD) Communication Books (Gayle Porter)

Find out more by checking out:

http://www.lburkhart.com/handouts.htm

*NEW – Instructional Course – Presented at ISAAC in Germany – July 2006*

Partner-Assisted Communication Strategies for
Children Who Face Multiple Challenges

PODD Communication Books – Gayle Porter

Linda J. Burkhart and Gayle Porter

SEE KID SEE BOOK is such a good catch phrase to take from this workshop. It keeps it simple when you are trying to help a learner and the team surrounding the learner.

Practice, Practice, Practice using it yourself. (the system)

Tänkte tipsa om denna radioshow, som man kan prenumerera på gratis som podcast. De är flitiga och producerar ett tvåtimmarsprogram varje dag utom söndagar.

Programmet går i frihetens tecken och samtliga programledare är libertarianer – dvs vill ha en mycket liten stat (en vill t o m inte ha någon stat alls). Friheten sätts alltid i första rummet, och det betyder att de t ex vill legalisera droger och avskaffa (nästan) alla skatter. De tar upp aktuella ämnen och folk får ringa in och ta upp vad man vill.

Hemsidan hittar du här och om du vill prenumerare på deras podradio, så är adressen http://freetalklive.com/netcast.xml