Archive | 2013

The 07/17/13 Joy Jar

17 Jul

The ‘Joy Jar’ exercise is over half-way complete. The exercise began after the ‘Mayan End-of-the-World’ thing didn’t happen. Moi decided to develop an attitude of gratitude. So far, the exercise is developing a ‘rhythm of life.’ Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is a rhythm of life.

Life is like dancing. If we have a big floor, many people will dance. Some will get angry when the rhythm changes. But life is changing all the time.
Miguel Angel Ruiz

“Jumping from boulder to boulder and never falling, with a heavy pack, is easier than it sounds; you just can’t fall when you get into the rhythm of the dance.”
Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums

“Life has its rhythm ad we have ours. They’re designed to coexist in harmony, so that when we do what is ours to do and otherwise let life be, we garner acceptance and serenity. (285)”
Victoria Moran, Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit

“Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul”
Plato

“everything has rhythm. everything dances.”
Maya Angelou

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony.
Thomas Merton

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The 07/16/13 Joy Jar

17 Jul

Tonight a thunder storm hurried through Seattle. Thunder and lightening do not occur that often in Seattle. The storm raced through. That got moi thinking about the role of thunder in a life. Thunder charges and then clears the air. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the thunder which clears the air.

Thunder is good, thunder is impressive; but it is lightning that does the work.
Mark Twain

It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.
Frederick Douglass

Life is the fire that burns and the sun that gives light. Life is the wind and the rain and the thunder in the sky. Life is matter and is earth, what is and what is not, and what beyond is in Eternity.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

“We can never have enough of nature. We must be refreshed by the sight of inexhaustible vigor, vast and titanic features, the sea-coast with its wrecks, the wilderness with its living and its decaying trees, the thunder-cloud, and the rain.”
Henry David Thoreau

“If the thunder is not loud, the peasant forgets to cross himself.”
Russian Proverb

“Times of great calamity and confusion have been productive for the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm.”
Charles Caleb Cotton

“Be grateful for luck. Pay the thunder no mind – listen to the birds. And don’t hate nobody.”
Eubie Bla

“Disappointments are to the soul what the thunder-storm is to the air”
Friedrich von Schiller

God speaks to me not through the thunder and the earthquake, nor through the ocean and the stars, but through the Son of Man, and speaks in a language adapted to my imperfect sight and hearing.
William Lyon Phelps

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Harvard study: More children showing signs of adult illnesses like hypertension

16 Jul

Moi wrote in Study: Parental education reduces childhood obesity, but more physical activity may be needed:
The goal of this society should be to raise healthy and happy children who will grow into concerned and involved adults who care about their fellow citizens and environment. In order to accomplish this goal, all children must receive a good basic education and in order to achieve that goal, children must arrive at school, ready to learn. There is an epidemic of childhood obesity and obesity is often prevalent among poor children. The American Heart Association has some great information about Physical Activity and Children http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/Physical-Activity-and-Children_UCM_304053_Article.jsp#.TummU1bfW-c
Because many children are obese, they are at increased risk of adult diseases.

Alexandra Sifferlin reports in the Time article, Sick Before Their Time: More Kids Diagnosed With Adult Diseases:

Diabetes, obesity and elevated blood pressure typically emerge in middle-age, but more young children are showing signs of chronic conditions that may take a toll on their health.
The latest report on the trend, from researchers at Harvard Medical School found that children and adolescents are increasingly suffering from elevated blood pressure. Published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension, the study showed a 27% increase in the proportion of children aged 8 years to 17 years with elevated blood pressure over a thirteen-year period.
The scientists compared over 3,200 children involved in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III in 1988-1994 to over 8,300 who participated in NHANES in 1999-2008. The national survey records health, eating and lifestyle behaviors of the volunteers. More kids in the recent survey were overweight, with larger waistlines than those in the previous cohort. And the children with body mass index (BMI) readings in the top 25% of their age group were two times more likely to have elevated blood pressure than the kids in the bottom 25%.
The kids did not have diagnosed hypertension, which requires a threshold of 140 -90, but elevated blood pressure — anything above 120-80 — at such young ages could prime them for hypertension later. “High blood pressure is dangerous in part because many people don’t know they have it,” said lead study author Bernard Rosner, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in a statement.
The results are only the latest to reveal the first signs of chronic conditions that normally don’t occur until middle-age, in children and teens.

Sick Before Their Time: More Kids Diagnosed With Adult Diseases

Citation:

Childhood Blood Pressure Trends and Risk Factors for High Blood Pressure
The NHANES Experience 1988–2008
1.Bernard Rosner,
2.Nancy R. Cook,
3.Stephen Daniels,
4.Bonita Falkner
+ Author Affiliations
1.From the Childhood Blood Pressure Trends and Risk Factors for High Blood Pressure, Boston, MA; Professor and Chairman, Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora CO (S.D.); and Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA (B.F.).
1.Correspondence to Bernard Rosner, Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, 181 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115. E-mail stbar@channing.harvard.edu
Abstract
The obesity epidemic in children makes it plausible that prevalence rates of elevated blood pressure (BP) are increasing over time. Yet, previous literature is inconsistent because of small sample sizes. Also, it is unclear whether adjusting for risk factors can explain longitudinal trends in prevalence of elevated BP. Thus, we analyzed a population-based sample of 3248 children in National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III (1988–1994) and 8388 children in continuous NHANES (1999–2008), aged 8 to 17 years. Our main outcome measure was elevated BP (systolic BP or diastolic BP ≥90th percentile or systolic BP/diastolic BP ≥120/80 mm Hg). We found that the prevalence of elevated BP increased from NHANES III to NHANES 1999–2008 (Boys: 15.8% to 19.2%, P=0.057; Girls: 8.2% to 12.6%, P=0.007). Body mass index (Q4 versus Q1; odds ratio=2.00; P<0.001), waist circumference (Q4 versus Q1; odds ratio=2.14; P<0.001), and sodium (Na) intake (≥3450 mg versus <2300 mg/2000 calories; odds ratio=1.36; P=0.024) were independently associated with prevalence of elevated BP. Also, mean systolic BP, but not diastolic BP, was associated with increased Na intake in children (quintile 5 [Q5] versus quintile 1 [Q1] of Na intake; β=1.25±0.58; P=0.034). In conclusion, we demonstrate an association between high Na intake and elevated BP in children. After adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity, body mass index, waist circumference, and sodium intake, odds ratio for elevated BP in NHANES 1999–2008 versus NHANES III=1.27, P=0.069.
Key Words:
blood pressure
body mass index
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
nutrition surveys
pediatrics
sodium
waist circumference
Received December 10, 2012.
Revision received January 8, 2013.
Accepted May 13, 2013.
© 2013 American Heart Association, Inc.

The issue of childhood obesity is complicated and there are probably many factors. If a child’s family does not model healthy eating habits, it probably will be difficult to change the food preferences of the child. Our goal as a society should be:

A healthy child in a healthy family who attends a healthy school in a healthy neighborhood ©

Related:

University of Illinois Chicago study: Laws reducing availability of snacks are decreasing childhood obesity

University of Illinois Chicago study: Laws reducing availability of snacks are decreasing childhood obesity

New emphasis on obesity: Possible unintended consequences, eating disorders https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/new-emphasis-on-obesity-possible-unintended-consequences-eating-disorders/

Childhood obesity: Recess is being cut in low-income schools
https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/childhood-obesity-recess-is-being-cut-in-low-income-schools/

Where information leads to Hope. ©   Dr. Wilda.com
Dr. Wilda says this about that
Blogs by Dr. Wilda:
COMMENTS FROM AN OLD FART (c) http://drwildaoldfart.wordpress.com/

Dr. Wilda Reviews ©
http://drwildareviews.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda ©  
https://drwilda.com/

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UCLA study:Youth Empowerment Seminar helps to relieve adolescent stress

15 Jul

Moi wrote in Schools have to deal with depressed and troubled children:
Both the culture and the economy are experiencing turmoil. For some communities, the unsettled environment is a new phenomenon, for other communities, children have been stressed for generations. According to the article, Understanding Depression which was posted at the Kids Health site:

Depression is the most common mental health problem in the United States. Each year it affects 17 million people of all age groups, races, and economic backgrounds.
As many as 1 in every 33 children may have depression; in teens, that number may be as high as 1 in 8.
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/feelings/understanding_depression.html

Schools are developing strategies to deal with troubled kids. https://drwilda.com/2011/11/15/schools-have-to-deal-with-depressed-and-troubled-children/
A team of researchers has studied the Youth Empowerment Seminar.
Here is a description of the Art of Living Foundation which developed the Youth Empowerment Seminar:
Frequently Asked Questions about the Art of Living Foundation
 

Q: What are the goals of the Art of Living Foundation?
A stress-free and violence-free society; to encourage people from all backgrounds, religions, and cultural traditions to come together in celebration, meditation and service. To achieve these goals, we offer courses and humanitarian projects to eliminate stress from the mind and violence from society. Prevention is easier than cure: peaceful individuals do not contribute to conflict on an individual nor on a societal level. If people are materially poor or suffering from the effects of a natural disaster or war, their stress will be related to that. The International Art of Living Foundation offers material assistance or trauma relief. Take a look at some brief reports on our humanitarian activities, following the Tsunami and Kosovo conflicts. We offer education and empowerment programs so people can break the poverty cycle. On the other hand, those who are affluent may nevertheless be frustrated, depressed or simply wanting to grow spiritually in life. In the latter case, it is not material support that is needed but training programs like the Art of Living Part 1 course. These are for anyone who would like to learn some breathing techniques to release tension, and enable the individual to handle any challenge.
Q: What is the significance of the breath? Why is it so important?
Q: How long has the Art of Living Part I course been taught?
Q: What is a satsang? I noticed The Art of Living organizes events called satsangs where there is a lot of singing and dancing, like a party. It looks like a lot of fun, but what has that to do with stress relief or promoting human values?
Q: Is it a self development program or something spiritual?
Q: So, can anyone take part in a program?
Q: Where do the techniques come from? India? Yoga?
Q: How can I become a member of your organization?
Q: You often cooperate with the International Association for Human Values. What is the connection between the two organizations?
Q: How can I volunteer with your organization?
Q: In your press releases it is mentioned that your activities are ‘volunteer-based’? Why do so many people want to join in? What do they get out of it?
Q: What is meant by ‘seva’? You sometimes speak about it in your press releases.
Q: In your websites you speak about ‘spiritual’ values. Doesn’t that mean The Art of Living is a religious organization?
Q: How do the finances work? Some of your programs are paid, like the Part 1 course, and others like trauma relief support are sponsored by the organisation?
Q: What is the profile of the organization? Is the organization a charity? A training organization?
Q: You are a charitable organization – so why do you have course contribution for your courses?
Q: Is the ashram wheelchair accessible?
Q: Are there any rules and customs in the Ashram or on the program that I should be aware of?
http://www.artofliving.org/about-us-faq

Here is a basic description of the program:

The Youth Empowerment Seminar (YES!) is a dynamic and fun program that challenges teens to take responsibility for their life and provides a comprehensive set of practical tools for releasing stress, mastering emotions, and raising self-awareness. The program addresses:
Teens’ physical, mental, social, and emotional development
Breathing techniques to relieve stress and bring the mind into focus
Dynamic games and yoga
Practical knowledge to create awareness
Experiential processes to develop problem-solving strategies
Dynamic group discussions designed to help teens feel at ease in challenging situations, increase confidence, withstand criticism and peer pressure
http://www.artofliving.org/youth-empowerment-seminar-yes

Here is the press release from UCLA:

Note to teens: Just breathe
By Mark Wheeler July 09, 2013
In May, the Los Angeles school board voted to ban suspensions of students for “willful defiance” and directed school officials to use alternative disciplinary practices. The decision was controversial, and the question remains: How do you discipline rowdy students and keep them in the classroom while still being fair to other kids who want to learn?
A team led by Dara Ghahremani, an assistant researcher in the department of psychiatry at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior conducted a study on the Youth Empowerment Seminar, or YES!, a workshop for adolescents that teaches them to manage stress, regulate their emotions, resolve conflicts and control impulsive behavior. Impulsive behavior, in particular — including acting out in class, engaging in drug or alcohol abuse, and risky sexual behaviors — is something that gets adolescents in trouble.
The YES! program, run by the nonprofit International Association for Human Values, includes yoga-based breathing practices, among other techniques, and the research findings show that a little bit of breathing can go a long way. The scientists report that students who went through the four-week YES! for Schools program felt less impulsive, while students in a control group that didn’t participate in the program showed no change.
The study appears in the July issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
“The program helps teens to gain greater control over their actions by giving them tools to respond to challenging situations in constructive and mindful ways, rather than impulsively,” said Ghahremani, who conducted the study at the UCLA Center for Addictive Behaviors and UCLA’s Laboratory for Molecular Neuroimaging. “The program uses a variety of techniques, ranging from a powerful yoga-based breathing program called Sudarshan Kriya to decision-making and leadership skills that are taught via interactive group games. We found it to be a simple yet powerful approach that could potentially reduce impulsive behavior.”
Ghahremani noted that teens are often just as stressed as adults.
“There are home and family issues, academic pressures and, of course, social pressures,” he said. “With the immediacy and wide reach of communication technology, like Facebook, peer pressure and bullying has risen to a whole new level. Without the tools to handle such pressures, teens can often resort to impulsive acts that include violence towards others or themselves.”
Impulsive behavior, or a lack of self-control, in adolescence is a key predictor of risky behavior, Ghahremani said.
“Substance abuse and various mental health problems that begin in adolescence are often very difficult to shake in adulthood — there is a need for interventions that bring impulsive behavior under control in this group,” he said. “Our research is the first scientific study of the YES! program to show that it can significantly reduce impulsive behavior.”
For the study, students between the ages of 14 and 18 from three Los Angeles–area high schools were invited to participate, between spring 2010 and fall 2011. In total, 788 students participated — 524 in the YES! program and 264 in the control group. The program was taught during the students’ physical education courses for four consecutive weeks. Students were asked to fill out questionnaires to rate statements about their impulsive behavior — for example, “I act without thinking” and “I feel self-control most of the time” — directly before and directly after the program. The students who did not go through the program also completed the questionnaires.
The YES! program is composed of three modules focused on healthy body, healthy mind and healthy lifestyle. The healthy body module consists of physical activity that includes yoga stretches, mindful eating processes and interactive discussions about food and nutrition. The healthy mind module includes stress-management and relaxation techniques, including yoga-based breathing practices, yoga postures and meditation to relax the nervous system, bring awareness to the moment and enhance concentration. Group processes promote personal responsibility, respect, honesty and service to others. In the healthy lifestyle module, students learn strategies for handling challenging emotional and social situations, especially peer pressure. Mindful decision-making and leadership skills are taught via interactive games. Students also create a group community-service project, applying their newly learned skills toward that goal.
“There is a need for simple, engaging interventions that bring impulsive behavior under control in adolescents,” said Ghahremani. “This is important to the public because impulsive behavior in adolescents is associated with many mental health problems and, when left unchecked, can result in violent acts, such as those resulting in tragedies recently observed on school campuses.
“The advantage of this program over approaches that center around psychiatric medications is that it develops a sense of responsibility and empowerment in teens, allowing them to clarify and pursue their goals while fostering a sense of connection to their community. Although some medications can help control impulsive behavior, they often come with unpleasant side effects and the risk of medication abuse. Moreover, approaches that rely on them don’t necessarily focus on empowering kids to take control of their lives. ”
Non-pharmacologically–based programs like YES! for Schools that increase self-control are important to explore since they offer concrete tools that students can actively apply to their everyday lives with noticeable results, Ghahremani said.
To follow up on results from this study, the National Institute on Drug Abuse has awarded Ghahremani and his colleagues a grant to examine the effects of the YES! program by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the brain circuitry that is important for self-control and emotion regulation. The project also aims to examine how the YES! program can reduce cravings among teen smokers.
Other authors of the study included Eugene Y. Oh, Andrew C. Dean, Kristina Mouzakis, Kristen D. Wilson and senior author Edythe D. London, all of UCLA. Funding for the study was provided by an endowment from the Thomas P. and Katherine K. Pike Chair in Addiction Studies and a gift from the Marjorie M. Greene Trust.
The UCLA Department of Psychiatry is part of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, a world-leading interdisciplinary research and education institute devoted to the understanding of complex human behavior — including the genetic, biological, behavioral and sociocultural underpinnings of normal behavior and the causes and consequences of neuropsychiatric disorders. In addition to conducting fundamental research, institute faculty members seek to develop effective strategies for the prevention and treatment of neurological, psychiatric and behavioral disorders, including improving access to mental health services and the shaping of national health policy.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.

Citation:

Effects of the Youth Empowerment Seminar on Impulsive Behavior in Adolescents
Dara G. Ghahremani, Ph.D.,
Eugene Y. Oh,
Andrew C. Dean, Ph.D.,
Kristina Mouzakis,
Kristen D. Wilson, R.N.,
Edythe D. London, Ph.D.
Received 23 August 2012; accepted 8 February 2013. published online 17 April 2013.
Abstract
Full Text
PDF
References
Abstract 
Purpose
Because impulsivity during adolescence predicts health-risk behaviors and associated harm, interventions that attenuate impulsivity may offer protection. We evaluated effects of the Youth Empowerment Seminar (YES!), a biopsychosocial workshop for adolescents that teaches skills of stress management, emotion regulation, conflict resolution, and attentional focus, on impulsive behavior.
Methods
High school students (14–18 years of age) in the United States participated in YES! during their physical education classes. Students in a control group attended their usual curriculum and were tested in parallel. We used items from the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (framed to reflect recent behavior) to assess students’ behavior before and after they underwent the program.
Results
Compared with the control group, YES! participants reported less impulsive behavior after the program.
Conclusions
The results suggest that YES! can promote mental health in adolescents, potentially protecting them from harmful coping behaviors.

Moi discussed some of the possible implications of this type of program in Can’t yoga be watered down like Christmas was? Is there a ‘happy holidays’ yoga?
Here’s today’s COMMENT FROM AN OLD FART: Remember when the forces of secularism pushed the “Happy Holidays” maximum because no one should be offended by the expression of “Merry Christmas.” The forces of tolerance and celebrate diversity did not want YOUR religion forced on ME. So much for that “celebrate diversity” thing. Let’s fast forward to the yoga movement and the attempt to spread love, joy, and flexible limbs into the education setting….
The problem for many Christians and particularly Christian parents is NOT that kids don’t need exercise, they do. The problem is the spiritual aspects which emphasize the “Divine.” That is not what Christians believe.  The majority of Christians believe in the Trinity. Guess what, the FIRST AMENDMENT protects those beliefs.
So, what is a “celebrate diversity,” we are soooo tolerant, and hip to boot school district supposed to do when confronted with the “yoga conundrum?” Well, bucky, one waters down the concept as with “happy holidays’ and the new name is ” yocise,” the divine becomes your healthy life. “Yocise” focuses on YOU and fits with the culture’s philosophy of ME and we are no more tolerant with “yocise” than we were with “happy holidays.” “Celebrate diversity.”

Can’t yoga be watered down like Christmas was? Is there a ‘happy holidays’ yoga?

Related:

‘Becoming A Man’ course: Helping young African-American men avoid prison
https://drwilda.com/tag/therapy-helps-troubled-teens-rethink-crime/
Depression
https://drwilda.com/tag/depression/
Schools have to deal with depressed and troubled children https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/schools-have-to-deal-with-depressed-and-troubled-children/
School psychologists are needed to treat troubled children
https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/school-psychologists-are-needed-to-treat-troubled-children/
Battling teen addiction: ‘Recovery high schools’
https://drwilda.wordpress.com/2012/07/08/battling-teen-addiction-recovery-high-schools/

If you or your child needs help for depression or another illness, then go to a reputable medical provider. There is nothing wrong with taking the steps necessary to get well.

Where information leads to Hope. ©   Dr. Wilda.com
Dr. Wilda says this about that
Blogs by Dr. Wilda:
COMMENTS FROM AN OLD FART©                      http://drwildaoldfart.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda Reviews ©
http://drwildareviews.wordpress.com/
Dr. Wilda ©  
https://drwilda.com/                                  
                                      

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The 07/15/13 Joy Jar

15 Jul

No one is ever promised a rose garden, what you get is a chance to live as long as one is still breathing. Each day, moi gives thanks to God that she has another day to try and get it right and to try and be better. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is positive thinking.

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
Abraham Lincoln

In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.
Dalai Lama

Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation.
Michael Jordan

Like success, failure is many things to many people. With Positive Mental Attitude, failure is a learning experience, a rung on the ladder, a plateau at which to get your thoughts in order and prepare to try again.
W. Clement Stone

It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts.
Robert H. Schuller

People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?
Nhat Hanh

A lot of times people look at the negative side of what they feel they can’t do. I always look on the positive side of what I can do.
Chuck Norris

Winners make a habit of manufacturing their own positive expectations in advance of the event.
Brian Tracy

Positive anything is better than negative nothing.
Elbert Hubbard

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The 07/14/13 Joy Jar

14 Jul

This is one of those events that seats the national consciousness. The event is the verdict in the Travon Martin case. For some folk the emotion is all that matters. The murder was tragic for a life cut much too short and the loss felt by the family. Still, the murder rate in Chicago continues to build. See, Tracking homicides in Chicago
20 homicides in first week of July
By Tracy Swartz posted July 10, 2013 at 12:00 a.m.

Here is a list of the Chicago dead:

Victims
July 10
– Marlon Young, a 39 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Auburn Gresham.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 8
– Marquise Chandler, a 20 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in West Garfield Park.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 8
– Georgina Randell, a 30 year old black female, caused by a gunshot in North Lawndale.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 8
– Ed Cooper, a 15 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Humboldt Park.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 7
– Ramone Godfrey, a 19 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in New City.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 6
– Terry Patterson, a 48 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in East Garfield Park.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 6
– Patricia Martin, a 40 year old black female, caused by a assault in Roseland.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 6
– Jerimiah Milsap, a 24 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Near West Side.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 5
– Shavonte Howard, a 20 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Gage Park.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 5
– Aurelia Wilborn, a 64 year old unknown female, caused by a stabbing in Roseland.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 5
– Elliott Frazier, a 26 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Rogers Park.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 4
– Marlon Obanner, a 31 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in West Englewood.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 4
– Steve Mabins, a 21 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in East Garfield Park.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 4
– Theodis Young, a 36 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Greater Grand Crossing.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 3
– Ernest McMullen, a 26 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Woodlawn.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 3
– Rayford Brown, a 24 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in South Shore.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 3
– William Jones, a 26 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Auburn Gresham.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 3
– Damani Henard, a 14 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Austin.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 2
– Ashley Hardmon, a 19 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Austin.
> Read more about this homicide.
July 2
– Terrence Graves, a 23 year old black male, caused by a gunshot in Washington Heights.
> Read more about this homicide.
http://homicides.redeyechicago.com/

Moi appreciates those commentators, who at times of national tragedy urge rational thinking and rational action. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is rational thought.

Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.
Oscar Wilde

It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.
Bertrand Russell

When men sow the wind it is rational to expect that they will reap the whirlwind.
Frederick Douglass

If we did not have rational souls, we would not be able to believe.
Saint Augustine

I add this, that rational ability without education has oftener raised man to glory and virtue, than education without natural ability.
Marcus Tullius Cicero

A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational.
Thomas Aquinas

Be able to defend your arguments in a rational way. Otherwise, all you have is an opinion.
Marilyn vos Savant

Illogical thinkers throw names and slurs around because they have no arguments with which to rebut their opponents. Rational people have to keep hammering their points home.
Benjamin Carson

Rational behavior requires theory. Reactive behavior requires only reflex action.
W. Edwards Deming

“Feelings should never supersede rational thought… so, if you feel that you’ve got the answer, you should think some more.”
Julie Ann Elliott-Morton

Rational beliefs bring us closer to getting good results in the real world.
Albert Ellis

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Studies: ADHD drugs don’t necessarily improve academic performance

14 Jul

Moi wrote in ADHD coaching to improve a child’s education outcome:
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry discusses the primary symptoms of ADHD in the article, What Is ADHD:

The primary symptoms of ADHD are hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention.
Hyperactive children always seem to be in motion. A child who is hyperactive may move around touching or playing with whatever is around, or talk continually. During story time or school lessons, the child might squirm around, fidget, or get up and move around the room. Some children wiggle their feet or tap their fingers. A teenager or adult who is hyperactive may feel restless and need to stay busy all the time.
Impulsive children often blurt out comments without thinking first. They may often display their emotions without restraint. They may also fail to consider the consequences of their actions. Such children may find it hard to wait in line or take turns. Impulsive teenagers and adults tend to make choices that have a small immediate payoff rather than working toward larger delayed rewards.
Inattentive children may quickly get bored with an activity if it’s not something they really enjoy. Organizing and completing a task or learning something new is difficult for them. As students, they often forget to write down a school assignment or bring a book home. Completing homework can be huge challenge. At any age, an inattentive person may often be easily distracted, make careless mistakes, forget things, have trouble following instructions, or skip from one activity to another without finishing anything.
Some children with ADHD are mainly inattentive. They seldom act hyperactive or impulsive. An inattentive child with ADHD may sit quietly in class and appear to be working but is not really focusing on the assignment. Teachers and parents may easily overlook the problem.
Children with ADHD need support to help them pay attention, control their behavior, slow down, and feel better about themselves.
What Is Not ADHD?
Many children and adults are easily distracted at times or have trouble finishing tasks. To be ADHD, however, the behaviors must appear before age 7 and continue for at least six months. The symptoms must also create a real handicap in at least two areas of the child’s life—in the classroom, on the playground, at home, in the community, or in social settings.
If a child seems too active on the playground but not elsewhere, the problem might not be ADHD. It might also not be ADHD if the behaviors occur in the classroom but nowhere else. A child who shows some symptoms would not be diagnosed with ADHD if his or her schoolwork or friendships are not impaired by the behaviors.
Even if a child’s behavior seems like ADHD, it might not actually be ADHD. Many other conditions and situations can trigger behavior that resembles ADHD. For example, a child might show ADHD symptoms when experiencing
A death or divorce in the family, a parent’s job loss, or other sudden change.
Undetected seizures.
An ear infection that causes temporary hearing problems.
Problems with schoolwork caused by a learning disability.
Anxiety or depression. 

ADHD News has a synopsis of the ADHD diagnosis in the article by Mark Domoto, M.Ed. In the section, Diagnosing ADHD

ADHD coaching to improve a child’s education outcome

Julia Lawrence of Education News reports about a Quebec study in the article, Study: ADHD Drugs Don’t Improve Academic Performance in Kids:

Shirley S. Wang of The Wall Street Journal writes about one such study published in June which looked at academic outcomes of Quebec students prescribed ADHD drugs like Ritalin and Adderall over a span of 11 years. Researchers concluded that boys who were taking drugs academically underperformed peers with the same symptoms who were not medicated. The working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research also reported that girls who took ADHD drugs had higher incidence of emotional problems than ones who did not.
“The possibility that [medication] won’t help them [in school] needs to be acknowledged and needs to be closely monitored,” says economics professor Janet Currie, an author on the paper and director of the Center for Health & Wellbeing, a health policy institute at Princeton University. Kids may not get the right dose to see sustained benefits, or they may stop taking the medication because side effects or other drawbacks outweigh the benefits, she says.
Why drugs that claim to improve concentration, focus and emotional control don’t lead to academic improvement is a question that has puzzled researchers for some time — and answering the question could be the key to effective ADHD treatment in children. Finding an effective treatment regime could help a lot of kids; according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 2.7 million children currently on ADHD drugs of some kind in the United States alone.
http://www.educationnews.org/parenting/study-adhd-drugs-dont-improve-academic-performance-in-kids/#sthash.HkASci3N.dpuf

This study is in accord with research from Yale University.

Geneva Pittman of Reuters writes in the article, Be cautious of mind-altering drugs for kids: doctors:

Focusing on stimulants typically used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, researchers said the number of diagnoses and prescriptions have risen dramatically over the past two decades.
Young people with the disorder clearly benefit from treatment, lead author Dr. William Graf emphasized, but the medicines are increasingly being used by healthy youth who believe they will enhance their concentration and performance in school.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1.7 percent of eighth graders and 7.6 percent of 12th graders have used Adderall, a stimulant, for nonmedical reasons.
Some of those misused medicines are bought on the street or from peers with prescriptions; others may be obtained legally from doctors.
“What we’re saying is that because of the volume of drugs and the incredible increase… the possibility of overdiagnosis and overtreatment is clearly there,” said Graf, from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
In their statement, published in the journal Neurology, he and his colleagues say doctors should not give prescriptions to teens who ask for medication to enhance concentration against their parents’ advice. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/13/us-medications-kids-idUSBRE92C17H20130313

Here is the press release from Yale:

No attention-boosting drugs for healthy kids, doctors urge
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

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Read this article on YaleNews
 
Doctors at Yale School of Medicine and the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) have called upon their fellow physicians to limit or end the practice of prescribing memory-enhancing drugs to healthy children whose brains are still developing. Their position statement is published in the March 13 online issue of the journal Neurology, the medical journal of the AAN.
The statement was written to address the growing trend in which teens use “study drugs” before tests and parents request attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drugs for children who don’t meet the criteria for the disorder. The AAN spent several years analyzing all of the available research and ethical issues to develop this official position statement on the topic.
“Doctors caring for children and teens have a professional obligation to always protect the best interests of the child, to protect vulnerable populations, and to prevent the misuse of medication,” said first author of the statement, Dr. William Graf, professor of pediatrics and neurology at Yale School of Medicine. “The practice of prescribing these drugs, called neuroenhancements, for healthy students is not justifiable.”
Graf and a group of child neurologists provide evidence that points to dozens of ethical, legal, social, and developmental reasons why prescribing mind-enhancing drugs, such as those used to treat ADHD, for healthy people is viewed differently in children and adolescents than it would be in functional, independent adults with full decision-making capacities.
Some of the reasons not to prescribe neuroenhancements include: the child’s best interest; the long-term health and safety of neuroenhancements, which has not been studied in children; kids and teens may lack complete decision-making capacities while their judgments and cognitive abilities are still developing; maintaining doctor-patient trust; and the risks of over-medication and dependency.
“A physician should talk to the child about the request, as it may reflect other medical, social, or psychological motivations such as anxiety, depression, or insomnia,” said Graf, who notes that there are alternatives to neuroenhancements available, including maintaining good sleep, nutrition, study habits, and exercise regimens.
Other authors on the position statement include Saskia K. Nagel, Dr. Leon G. Epstein, Dr. Geoffrey Miller, Dr. Ruth Nass, and Dr. Dan Larriviere.
Citation: Neurology 80 (March 13, 2013)

Citation:
Pediatric neuroenhancement Ethical, legal, social, and neurodevelopmental implications
1.William D. Graf, MD,
2.Saskia K. Nagel, PhD,
3.Leon G. Epstein, MD,
4.Geoffrey Miller, MD,
5.Ruth Nass, MD and
6.Dan Larriviere, MD, JD
+Show Affiliations
| + Show Full Disclosures
1.Correspondence to Dr. Graf: william.graf@yale.edu
1.Published online before print March 13, 2013, doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e318289703b Neurology March 26, 2013 vol. 80 no. 13 1251-1260
2.
Abstract
Full Text
Full Text (PDF)
1.Also available:
2.CME Course
3.Data Supplement
Abstract
The use of prescription medication to augment cognitive or affective function in healthy persons—or neuroenhancement—is increasing in adult and pediatric populations. In children and adolescents, neuroenhancement appears to be increasing in parallel to the rising rates of attention-deficit disorder diagnoses and stimulant medication prescriptions, and the opportunities for medication diversion. Pediatric neuroenhancement remains a particularly unsettled and value-laden practice, often without appropriate goals or justification. Pediatric neuroenhancement presents its own ethical, social, legal, and developmental issues, including the fiduciary responsibility of physicians caring for children, the special integrity of the doctor–child–parent relationship, the vulnerability of children to various forms of coercion, distributive justice in school settings, and the moral obligation of physicians to prevent misuse of medication. Neurodevelopmental issues include the importance of evolving personal authenticity during childhood and adolescence, the emergence of individual decision-making capacities, and the process of developing autonomy. This Ethics, Law, and Humanities Committee position paper, endorsed by the American Academy of Neurology, Child Neurology Society, and American Neurological Association, focuses on various implications of pediatric neuroenhancement and outlines discussion points in responding to neuroenhancement requests from parents or adolescents. Based on currently available data and the balance of ethics issues reviewed in this position paper, neuroenhancement in legally and developmentally nonautonomous children and adolescents without a diagnosis of a neurologic disorder is not justifiable. In nearly autonomous adolescents, the fiduciary obligation of the physician may be weaker, but the prescription of neuroenhancements is inadvisable because of numerous social, developmental, and professional integrity issues

Increasingly, some families find that an education coach improves their child’s chance of success at school.
Jean Enersen’s King5 News story,  ADHD coaches help students tackle academic goals tells the about the success one family has had with an ADHD coach:

Middle school is all about keeping track of schedules, and getting assignments in on time. It can be complicated.
“I have eight teachers,” said 7th grade student Marcus Wesley.
When his mother asked, “Have you started writing your story?” Marcus could only tell her, “No, but I have all my outline and stuff.” The story was pivotal to his grade.
Keeping a handle on all his upcoming assignments is hard for Marcus. He was recently diagnosed with ADHD.
“I’m a little more hyper than other kids. So they give me the medicine to calm me down,” he explained.
But medicine is only part of the answer said his mother. Alone, it won’t assure his success in school.
“I personally think every student deserves a coach,” said ADHD coach Naomi Zemont.
Since last September, Zemont has been Marcus Wesley’s ADHD coach.
“Last time around, you really wanted to make up this work in humanities,” she reminded Marcus.
Zemont helps the 7th grader develop a plan to achieve his goals. He sets the goals himself, and decides the actions it will take to complete them. In doing so, Marcus is learning to break tasks into parts he can manage. http://www.king5.com/health/childrens-healthlink/ADHD-coaches-help-students-tackle-academic-goals–144024376.html

Before deciding what is the most appropriate therapy, the diagnosis of ADHD must be made by a competent health care provider.

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The 07/13/13 Joy Jar

13 Jul

Today was a glorious summer day and it made moi think about the Nat King Cole song, ‘Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days Of Summer’:

-artist: nat king cole
-peak billboard position # 6 in 1963
-words by charles tobias and music by hans carste

Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer

Just fill your basket full of sandwiches and weenies
Then lock the house up, now you’re set
And on the beach you’ll see the girls in their bikinis
As cute as ever but they never get em wet….
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/n/nat+king+cole/those+lazy+hazy+crazy+days+of+summer_20098114.html

This is truly a lazy, but not crazy summer. Although moi is busy, there is time to relax. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is summer relaxation.

Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.
William S. Burroughs

Relax and move with the flow of life by being unafraid of change.
Unknown

To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level.
Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970), Conquest of Happiness (1930) ch. 14

This art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry is probably one of the secrets of energy in our great men.
Captain J. A. Hadfield

Acquire inner peace and a multitude will find their salvation near you.
Catherine de Hueck Doherty

Sometimes the cure for restlessness is rest.
Colleen Wainwright, Communicatrix, 08-06-08

There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul’s estate.
Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862), Journal, February 11, 1840

When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 – 1680)

Never lose sight of this important truth, that no one can be truly great until he has gained a knowledge of himself, a knowledge which can only be acquired by occasional retirement.
Johann Georg von Zimmermann

Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.
Lin Yutang

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The 07/12/13 Joy Jar

12 Jul

Moi has a couple of watches that she really likes. Watches are all about time, perhaps, with a little bit of fashion thrown in. Time is precious because one can never get it back. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is a realization of the value of time.

Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.
Samuel Johnson

We have so much time and so little to do. Strike that, reverse it.
ROALD DAHL, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunderstorm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.
THOMAS MANN, The Magic Mountain

The habit of looking to the future and thinking that the whole meaning of the present lies in what it will bring forth is a pernicious one. There can be no value in the whole unless there is value in the parts.
BERTRAND RUSSELL, Conquest of Happiness

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard’s Almanac

Time
Like a petal in the wind
Flows softly by
As old lives are taken
New ones begin
A continual chain
Which lasts throughout eternity
Every life but a minute in time
But each of equal importance
CINDY CHENEY, “Time”

Nothing keeps. There is one law in the universe: NOW.
ALFRED SUTRO, The Open Door

r
Indifferent to the affairs of men, time runs out, precise, heedless, exact, and immutable in rhythm.
ERWIN SYLVANUS, Dr. Korczak and the Children

Time is a created thing. To say “I don’t have time” is to say “I don’t want to.”
LAO TZU,

The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience.
LEO TOLSTOY, War and Peace

Time is the great physician.
BENJAMIN DISRAELI, Endymion

Time ripens the substance of a life as the seasons mellow and perfect its fruits. The best apples fall latest and keep longest.
AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT, Table Talk

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UNESCO report: Link between absenteeism from school and violence

12 Jul

Moi wrote about school absenteeism in School Absenteeism: Absent from the classroom leads to absence from participation in this society:
Education is a partnership between the student, the teacher(s) and parent(s). All parties in the partnership must share the load. The student has to arrive at school ready to learn. The parent has to set boundaries, encourage, and provide support. Teachers must be knowledgeable in their subject area and proficient in transmitting that knowledge to students. All must participate and fulfill their role in the education process….

School Absenteeism: Absent from the classroom leads to absence from participation in this society

UNESCO has released the report, Children Battling to Go to School, about the link between absenteeism and violence.

Sarah D. Sparks writes in the Education Week article, UNESCO Probes Links Between Absenteeism and Violence:

In the United States, the push to improve school attendance often focuses on outreach efforts, better monitoring, and parent education. But in much of the world absenteeism is a matter of life and death.
“Children Battling to Go to School,” a report released this morning by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization’s Education for All initiative finds half of the world’s out-of-school children, 28.5 million primary-school-age kids, live in a country affected by conflict, from civil war to extreme gang violence. For adolescents, who were last measured in 2011, 69 million are not attending secondary school, and 20 million of those out-of-school students live in conflict zones.
Nearly all of these children live in middle- to low-income countries, UNESCO found, with more than 12 million in sub-Saharan Africa alone. Moreover, the report found schools and other education centers often become direct targets of fighting, as “Sita,” a 12-year-old refugee in Sevaré, central Mali, reported:
“On Monday I went to school. They came into the school. It made me scared. They broke our school desks, destroyed our school books and our things. I didn’t like what they were doing at all. School is supposed to be a place where we learn things. They came in and chased us all out. They shot at the doors. When we left the school, we all ran straight home and stayed there. We didn’t go back. We stayed at home from then on.”
The report notes that less than 1.5 percent of international humanitarian aid goes to education—virtually none is used for education in unstable, violent regions or the refugee camps to which children often are forced to live for months or even years….http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2013/07/unesco_absenteeism_violence.html?intc=es

Here is the press release from UNESCO:
10.07.2014 – Education Sector

11.07.2013 – UNESCOPRESS
UNESCO: Half of all out-of-school children live in conflict-affected countries
A new paper by UNESCO’s EFA Global Monitoring Report shows that half of the 57 million children out of school live in conflict-affected countries. Released in partnership with Save the Children to mark the 16th birthday on 12 July of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban on her way home from school in October 2012, the paper shows that urgent action is needed to bring education to the 28.5 million primary school age children out of school in the world’s conflict zones.
Globally, the number of children out of school has fallen from 60 million in 2008 to 57 million in 2011. However, the benefits of this slow progress have not reached children in conflict-affected countries; they now make up 50% of children who are denied an education, up from 42% in 2008.
The paper, Children battling to go to school, shows that 44% of the 28.5 million children affected live in sub-Saharan Africa, 19% in South and West Asia and 14% in the Arab States. The vast majority – 95%- live in low and lower-middle income countries. Girls, who make up 55% of the total, are the worst affected, as they are often victims of rape and other sexual violence that accompanies armed conflicts.
In addition to the boys and girls out of school, almost a third of the world’s out-of-school adolescents (20 million) live in conflict affected countries.  Some 54% of these are women.
“Education seldom figures in assessments of the damage inflicted by conflict”, said Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO.  “International attention and the media invariably focus on the most immediate images of humanitarian suffering, not on the hidden costs and lasting legacies of violence. Yet nowhere are these costs more evident than in education. Across many of the world’s poorest countries, armed conflict continues to destroy not just school infrastructure, but also the hopes and ambitions of a whole generation of children.”
The EFA Global Monitoring Report’s paper also shows that the share of humanitarian aid for education has declined from 2% in 2009 to just 1.4% in 2011. Not only does it receive a small share overall, but it also receives the smallest proportion of the amount requested from humanitarian aid of any sector: in 2010, of the modest amount requested for education in humanitarian crises, just over a quarter was actually received, leaving a funding gap of around $220 million.
“The decline in humanitarian aid for education is especially bad news because funds are needed more than ever,” said Pauline Rose, Director of the EFA Global Monitoring Report. “There are more refugees now than there have been since 1994; children make up half of those who have been forcibly displaced. Nowhere is this more painfully visible than in Syria today. These girls and boys face a disruption of their learning process at a critical time – and the risk of a lifetime of disadvantage as a result.”
                                                       ****
For more information, interviews, photos, case studies or quotes, contact:
Sue Williams, Head of Press, UNESCO: s.williams(at)unesco.org
Kate Redman, Communications Specialist, EFA Global Monitoring Report, k.redman(at)unesco.org +33(0)671786234
The policy paper is available at the following link
See also: Education For All Global Monitoring Report website http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002216/221668E.pdf

Moi featured research from Johns Hopkins University in Johns Hopkins University report about school absenteeism:

Missing school matters:
In a nationally representative data set, chronic absence in kindergarten was associated with lower academic performance in first grade. The impact is twice as great for students from low-income families.
A Baltimore study found a strong relationship between sixth-grade attendance and the percentage of students graduating on time or within a year of their expected high school graduation.
Chronic absenteeism increases achievement gaps at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.
Because students reared in poverty benefit the most from being in school, one of the most effective strategies for providing pathways out of poverty is to do what it takes to get these students in school every day. This alone, even without improvements in the American education system, will drive up achievement, high school graduation, and college attainment rates.
Students miss school for many reasons. These can, however, be divided into three broad categories:
Students who cannot attend school due to illness, family responsibilities, housing instability, the need to work or involvement with the juvenile justice system.
Students who will not attend school to avoid bullying, unsafe conditions, harassment and embarrassment.
Students who do not attend school because they, or their parents, do not see the value in being there, they have something else they would rather do, or nothing stops them from skipping school.
Despite being pervasive, though overlooked, chronic absenteeism is raising flags in some schools and communities. This awareness is leading to attendance campaigns that are so vigorous and comprehensive they pay off quickly. Examples of progress nationally and at state, district, and school levels give hope to the challenge of chronic absenteeism, besides being models for others.
In addition to these efforts, both the federal government, state departments of education, and school districts need to regularly measure and report the rates of chronic absenteeism and regular attendance (missing five days or less a year) for every school. State and district policies need to encourage every student to attend school every day and support school districts, schools, non-profits, communities, and parents in using evidence-based strategies to act upon these data to propel all students to attend school daily. Mayors and governors have critical roles to play in leading inter-agency task forces that bring health, housing, justice, transportation, and education agencies together to organize coordinated efforts to help every student attend every day.
Download the Full Report
Download the full report, available here in pdf.
Download the presentation tool, available here as a  PowerPoint show.
Report Coverage in the News
New York Times
Huffington Post

The Importance of Being in School: A Report on Absenteeism in the Nation’s Public Schools


https://drwilda.com/2012/05/17/johns-hopkins-university-report-about-school-absenteeism/

Both the findings of the UNESCO report and Johns Hopkins are that children belong in school because it not only benefits the individual student, but the whole society.

See:
Don’t skip: Schools waking up on absenteeism           http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44704948/ns/today-education_nation/t/dont-skip-schools-waking-absenteeism/
School Absenteeism, Mental Health Problems Linked
http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/12/25/school-absenteeism-mental-health-problems-linked/32937.html
A National Portrait of Chronic Absenteeism in the Early Grades 
http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_771.html
Don’t skip: Schools waking up on absenteeism           http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44704948/ns/today-education_nation/t/dont-skip-schools-waking-absenteeism/
School Absenteeism, Mental Health Problems Linked http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/12/25/school-absenteeism-mental-health-problems-linked/32937.html
A National Portrait of Chronic Absenteeism in the Early Grades
http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_771.html

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