ChildUp, an Internet site for parents, ran an article by a staff member about the impact of playing in outdoor green space on the symptoms of children with ADHD.

The article is based on a study that appears in the journal Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being.

A study of more than 400 children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has found a link between the children’s routine play settings and the severity of their symptoms, researchers report. Those who regularly play in outdoor settings with lots of green (grass and trees, for example) have milder ADHD symptoms than those who play indoors or in built outdoor environments, the researchers found. The association holds even when the researchers controlled for income and other variables.

Previous research has shown that brief exposure to green outdoor spaces – and in one study, to photos of green settings – can improve concentration and impulse control in children and adults in the general population – individuals without ADHD.

These findings led researchers Andrea Taylor and Frances Kuo, University of Illinois to examine whether children diagnosed with ADHD, which is characterized by difficulties in concentration and impulse control, might also benefit from “green time.” In a study published in 2004, they analyzed data from a national Internet-based survey of parents of children formally diagnosed with ADHD and found that activities conducted in greener outdoor settings did correlate with milder symptoms immediately afterward, compared to activities in other settings.

The new study explores other data from the same survey to determine whether the effect also is true for green play settings that are routinely experienced – the park, playground or backyard that a child visits daily or several times a week.

“Before the current study, we were confident that acute exposures to nature – sort of one-time doses – have short-term impacts on ADHD symptoms,” Kuo said. “The question is, if you’re getting chronic exposure, but it’s the same old stuff because it’s in your backyard or it’s the playground at your school, then does that help?”

To address this question, the researchers examined parents’ descriptions of their child’s daily play setting and overall symptom severity. They also looked at the children’s age, sex, formal diagnosis (ADD or ADHD) and total household income.

The analyses revealed an association between routine play in green, outdoor settings and milder ADHD symptoms. “On the whole, the green settings were related to milder overall symptoms than either the ‘built outdoors’ or ‘indoors’ settings,” Taylor said.

The researchers also found that children who were high in hyperactivity (diagnosed with ADHD rather than ADD) tended to have milder symptoms if they regularly played in a green and open environment (such as a soccer field or expansive lawn) rather than in a green space with lots of trees or an indoor or built outdoor setting.

The researchers found no significant differences between boys and girls or income groups in terms of the relationship between the greenness of play settings and overall symptom severity.

Kuo noted that the findings don’t by themselves prove that routine playtime in green space reduces symptom severity in children with ADHD. But in light of all the previous studies showing a cause-and-effect relationship between exposure to nature and improved concentration and impulse control, she said, “it is reasonably safe to guess that that’s true here as well.”

Source : John_ChildUp

Susan Brady, Health News, recently reported on a study documenting the presence of BPA in canned foods that target children.

A new study by the Breast Cancer Fund—a non-profit organization dedicated to identifying and eliminating environmental links to breast cancer—tested six child-targeted canned products for traces of BPA (bisphenol A).

Connie Engel, science education coordinator at the Breast Cancer Fund, said that the focus was on canned products “Specifically marketed to kids: either ones with pictures of favorite cartoon characters or labels that said something about kids….. The levels of BPA we found in these canned foods were a little higher than those previously found in baby bottles and water bottles.”

BPA can be most harmful in developing fetuses, newborns and young children. Research has shown the link between the exposure of BPA and the increased risks of diabetes and heart disease, as well an association between the exposure to BPA and being obese.

The products tested in the study were:

• Annie’s Homegrown Cheesy Ravioli
• Campbell’s Disney Princess Cool Shapes, Shaped Pasta with Chicken in Chicken Broth
• Campbell’s Spaghettios with Meatballs
• Campbell’s Toy Story Fun Shapes, Shaped Pasta with Chicken in Chicken Broth
• Chef Boyardee Whole Grain Pasta, Mini ABC’s & 123’s with Meatballs
• Earth’s Best Organic Elmo Noodlemania Soup

The FDA reviewed the risk of BPA in the past and the National Institute of Health has invested $30 million to study BPA. While some states and countries have banned the use of BPA, the United States has not.

It’s recommended that if you are feeding a young child canned foods, it would be best to avoid processed items and stick with a diet of fresh foods, to prevent further build-up of the BPA in the body. Testing has shown that by eliminating all BPA-related foodstuffs for even just a few days, you can reduce BPA levels by up to 60 percent.

To avoid exposure to BPA, look for products labeled BPA free. There are more products available now than ever with no BPA, but they may cost more than the same items that contain BPA.

Yesterday’s “Can Do” Street kids blog introduces the idea that some children may have difficulties with reading and that there is nothing wrong with getting extra help.

The blog post plants the seed that needing help with reading is nothing to be ashamed of..that we all need help in one thing or another during our lives.

For many children developing reading skills  is a natural process. For other children,  reading is a continuous struggle. According to the National Institutes of Health, one out of every ten children has significant problems with reading skills.

An article on readingrockets.org, states that:

• Children may struggle with reading for a variety of reasons. Good readers are phonemically aware, understand the alphabetic principle, apply these skills in a rapid and fluent manner, possess strong vocabularies and syntactical and grammatical skills, and relate reading to their own experiences.

• Learning to read begins far before children enter formal schooling. Children who have stimulating literacy experiences from birth onward have an edge in vocabulary development, in understanding the goals of reading, and in developing an awareness of print and literacy concepts.

•  Children who are most at risk for reading failure enter kindergarten and the elementary grades without these early experiences. Frequently, many poor readers have not consistently engaged in the language play that develops an awareness of sound structure and language patterns. They have limited exposure to bedtime and lap time reading.

• Children raised in poverty, those with limited proficiency in English, those from homes where the parents’ reading levels and practices are low, and those with speech, language, and hearing disabilities are at increased risk of reading failure.

The article goes on to say that:

• Many children with robust oral language experience, average to above average intelligence, and frequent early interactions with literacy activities also have difficulties learning to read. Why?

• Programmatic longitudinal research, including research supported by  the national Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD), clearly indicates that deficits in the development of phoneme awareness skills not only predict difficulties learning to read, but they also have a negative effect on reading acquisition. Whereas phoneme awareness is necessary for adequate reading development, it is not sufficient. Children must also develop phonics concepts and apply these skills fluently in text.

•  Substantial research supports the importance of phoneme awareness, phonics, and the development of speed and automaticity in reading. Unfortunately, we know less about how children develop reading comprehension strategies and semantic and syntactic knowledge. Given that some children with well developed decoding and word- recognition abilities have difficulties understanding what they read, more research in reading comprehension is crucial.

According to a recent report in CNN Health, 5,000+ kids are hurt each year in the U.S. from window falls.

The Journal of Pediatrics reports that the number of children treated in U.S. emergency departments for falls from windows approached 100,000 between 1990 and 2008. The research shows that the number of injuries declined during the first decade of the study period, but has since plateaued.

“We still are seeing over 5,000 children a year treated in hospital emergency departments across the country for injuries related to window falls, said Dr. Gary A. Smith, study author and director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. “That’s 14 children a day. This continues to be a very common, important problem.”

Researchers studied data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System,which is maintained by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The group monitors injuries involving consumer products treated in emergency departments nationwide. Researchers divided data from almost 4,000 patients into two groups: 0-4 years and 5-17 years.

Boys were involved in more falls from windows than girls were. In addition, the younger children made up two-thirds of the injuries. The injury rate was highest at age 2.

“These are kids who don’t recognize danger – they’re curious, they want to explore and when they see an open window, they are going to investigate,” Dr. Smith said. “Kids at that age tend to be top heavy. Their center of gravity is up near their chest and so as they lean out of the window to see what’s going on, they’ll topple.”

Many of the young children experienced injuries to their head or face, and, often times, these led to hospitalization or death. On the other hand, children in the older group were more likely to have fractures to their arms or legs.

While a few children did fall from a third story or higher, many more fell from a first or second-story window.

“What we’re finding is that most of these window falls aren’t in these really high-rise buildings,” Smith added. “These are just often homes or apartments that aren’t high-rise, where children live. This is a problem that extends to small towns and even rural areas across the country.”

He reinforces the message that a screen does not offer protection and should give parents no feeling of comfort.

Dr. Smith, who is a pediatric emergency medicine physician, suggests:

Parents of children younger than 5:
Use window guards or locks
Do not allow any window to be open more than four inches
Move furniture away from windows so children cannot climb on it

Parents of children older than 5:
Educate children and teens of the risk of climbing out of a window or jumping from it

The authors also note that the landing surface made a difference. The patients who ended up on a cushioned surface often fared better than those who ended up on a hard surface.

“Our focus should be on preventing the child from falling in the first place, but cushioning the fall can help,” Smith noted.

“If a child falls from a window and they land on bushes or a planted flower bed, that often is enough to cushion the fall so that they’ll end up with bruises or scrapes instead of a severe injury,” he said.

The study points out that great reductions were seen in New York and Boston after programs were implemented there to combat the problem. The programs involved education in the community and among parents. Window guards were also made available. In New York City, window guards became mandatory in apartments where young children lived.

“We know what works,” Smith said. “We need to now go out and implement that.”

Dr. Smith said there were limitations with the set of data, especially with fatality numbers, and therefore these numbers under represent the problem.