Dogs are amazing creatures who can make a difference in our lives in so many ways!

Recently I came across an article about dogs helping children to read. I am sharing the article in its entirety as it appeared on http://www.supportdogs.org/Programs/PAWS-For-Reading.

The PAWS for Reading Program places dogs in a classroom or library setting in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. The dogs act as an incentive for the children to read. A dog is viewed as a non-threatening entity to promote reading, writing, and increased interaction and social skills in children.

The dogs that participate in the program have been trained through the TOUCH Program (Therapy of Unique Canine Helpers) and selected by the Support Dogs staff based on the qualities that make them suitable for the program. These dogs are especially calm and unobtrusive and settle in as part of the class. The children view the dogs as lovable and non-judgmental, which are the keys to success in this program. Children have said that the dogs give them confidence because the dog does not make fun of them if they read slowly or mess up pronouncing a word. The dogs are great listeners and give the child a sense of comfort while reading. Children have been known to practice with their personal pets at home in preparation for the Paws for Reading dogs.

Support Dogs, Inc. has developed an incentive program for the classroom in which children that read a specific number of books receive a special book of their choosing and a certificate signed by the canine classmate. If the child reads a high number of books, a special book is donated to the school library in the student’s honor. The incentive program can stand alone or be used in conjunction with a current incentive program already being offered by the school.

The PAWS for Reading Program serves children in first to tenth grades in St. Louis area schools and/or who attend the St. Louis Public Library program. Results have shown an increase in reading levels and word recognition, a higher desire to read and write, and an increase in intra and interpersonal skills among the children.

The following guest post is by Laura Sherman. Ms. Sherman wrote Chess Is Child’s Play with Bill Kilpatrick. Chess Is Child’s Play teaches any parent, of any skill level, to teach any child, of any age, to play chess. This book will be released April, 2012. www.laurasherman.com/books.

Imagine a world where people all have excellent problem solving skills, where they are patient and respectful of each other on a daily basis.  A society where citizens live for the future and plan long term, thinking of where their children’s children will be, following through, seeing each goal to its conclusion with ease.  Now add to that an indefinable quality of artistic imagination, dreaming for more than can be reasonably expected, reaching beyond the status quo.

Chess can teach our next generation all these skills and more!

I learned the game when I was young and to this day I see the world as a giant chess game where any barrier can be conquered and any victory can be achieved.  No goal is impossible and when I have a target in sight there is no stopping me.  The same glint I had in my eye when I faced an opponent at a chess tournament still exists today when I face a challenge, along with the insouciant grin that comes from the pure joy of the experience.

Intuitively most would agree that chess improves a student’s grades and ability to study.  Numerous studies have been done over the years throughout the world that show this to be the case.  IQ increases, reading test results improve as do math and science scores.  However there are so many other skills children pick up naturally from learning and becoming good at chess.

Imagination is a must in chess.  You cannot form strategies and tactical plans without being able to envision your goals.  It is impossible to win a game without first imagining the victory.  You are the one to make the pieces dance to the rhythm you choose.  Without the player the pieces just sit dormant on a dusty board.

A child’s self confidence soars as the victories pile up, especially when that child can routinely trounce adults.  Allow that child to teach other children or perhaps even the adults and he or she will master the game quickly.  Nothing helps someone learn faster than teaching others and nothing does more for one’s pride than to see someone improve under one’s tutelage.

In order to achieve a victory one must consistently play well throughout the game.  You can make forty excellent moves and one thoughtless blunder and lose the game instantly.  As a result you quickly learn to be thorough in your analysis and patient with your moves.  Imagine if we all applied this little lesson to our daily lives.  Thoughtless comments, heat of the moment bursts of anger, crimes of passion might just become things of the past to be studied as a part of a history lesson.

If every parent initiated regular family chess nights and if every school taught chess as part of their daily lesson plan imagine where our country could be. 

Children naturally are drawn to chess.  If you don’t believe me try an easy experiment.  Go to an area populated with children, put out a chess set and see what happens.  I promise you they will flock to the board and become immersed in a game.  We all have the power to fuel our children’s existing passion for learning and help our next generation soar.  Let’s make a difference!

The following post is courtesy of Coach Ned Campbell.

 Hi, my name is Ned Campbell, and I am a wrestling coach in New York City. While New York City is not typically well known for its wrestling, that is starting to change. With the generous and energetic support of Beat the Streets-NYC, wrestling programs in the city have increased in number and improved in skill.

In this brief video clip taken at the Brooklyn Wrestling Club, you see young boys and girls having fun doing something that comes naturally to them: wrestling.  They are doing it in a safe and structured environment under the watchful eyes of certified coaches with years of experience.

While it is clear these kids are having fun, there are other benefits of having your child wrestle.

Wrestling develops a child’s strength, flexibility, and stamina.  It will help build positive character traits in your child which will help them make better life choices and decisions.

As a USA Wrestling coach and the head coach of Brooklyn’s James Madison high school, I can tell you from first-hand experience how great an influence the sport of wrestling has been on my teenaged athletes. 

Their development and maturation has been unmatched by participants in other sports I have coached. They became better students, more self-confident, and positive role-models for our younger wrestlers. They grew into young adults with high personal standards that made others around them better people. In short, they became leaders.

A child’s development is a priority for Beat the Streets NYC and USA Wrestling.  Under the guidance of certified coaches, your child will learn to handle challenges—both on and off the mat—leaving you amazed at their transformation.

Wrestling will:

• Improve your child’s self confidence,

• Teach them to respect themselves and others,

• Promote excellence and encourage them to set goals,

• Teach them personal accountability and responsibility.

• Develop honesty, discipline and a strong work ethic-traits that will last a lifetime,

• Expose them to positive role models.

• There is no showboating or unsportsmanlike behaviors in the sport of wrestling.  The ideals of good sportsmanship are always upheld.

Beat the Streets NYC and USA Wrestling believe strongly that today’s wrestlers will excel at whatever careers they pursue later in life.

For more information please visit:

James Madison high school in Brooklyn New York, the home of the Golden Knights wrestling team and club. http://madisongoldenknightswrestling.com/

The Brooklyn Wrestling Club, is an authorized training center and chartered club. It is located at 128-130 Brighton Beach Avenue, 2nd floor,  Brooklyn, New York 11235.  It has wrestling classes for kids of all ages and skill levels. http://wrestlingnewyork.com/

Beat the Streets-NYC is a non-profit organization dedicated to developing and expanding the sport of wrestling with youth league wrestling programs and expanded opportunities for high school wrestlers.   The Beat the Streets Manhattan Training Center is located at 145 Thompson Street, New York City 10012.http://www.beat-the-streets.org/

USA Wrestling is hosted by TheMat.com at http://www.themat.com/

There is a movement in the U. S. for parents to opt out of having their young children vaccinated.

Twenty states currently allow “personal belief exemptions” when it comes to having a child vaccinated: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued findings that with more kids not being vaccinated, the United States is now experiencing its largest measles outbreak in 15 years. Experts have also blamed a recent resurgence in cases of whooping cough (pertussis), especially in California, on fewer children being vaccinated.

A new study finds that at some schools in California, where parents can opt out of having their children vaccinated, one out of every five kindergarten students is not vaccinated.  This puts those not vaccinated at risk of preventable infectious diseases, as well as other children at the school.

These are schools “where we might be concerned that ‘herd immunity’ has been compromised,” warned lead study author Alison Buttenheim, an assistant professor in family and community health at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

“Herd immunity is the protection offered to unimmunized people when most people are immunized or otherwise unsusceptible,” she explained. “For example, our herd immunity against measles protects infants, up to age 1, who are too young to receive the MMR [measles, mumps, rubella] shot.”

Dr. Buttenheim added that “schools are an important site of exposure for children. All of our measures point to increasing exposure to intentionally  not vaccinated children among California kindergarteners, a worrisome trend.”

The researchers deemed as “hot spots” schools where more than 20 of 100 children claimed personal belief exemptions.

The researchers found that in 2010, for every 100 children in a California kindergarten, 2.3 had not been vaccinated due to one or more personal belief exemptions. These exempted children tended to cluster in certain schools, typically attending schools where an average of almost 16 of every 100 of their peers also claimed exemptions.

In some schools, more than one in five kindergartners had parental exemptions for not being vaccinated, the study found.

“This looks like an important study, one that’s consistent with what we’ve been learning about philosophical and personal exemptions,” said Dr. Lance Rodewald, director of the immunization services division at the CDC. “Studies done in the past show that the easier it is to get an exemption, the more likely a child will get one. Other studies show that the easier it is to get an exemption, the lower the coverage levels.”

Rodewald said climbing exemption rates can have far-reaching consequences — even for children who get vaccinated.”It does matter for non-exempted children. While with measles vaccination, one dose gives 95 percent protection, the pertussis [whooping cough] vaccine is very good but not perfect. Pertussis wears off over time. [So] even if a child was vaccinated, it’s still possible to get pertussis,” Rodewald explained. “With a lot of exempters, you can attract an outbreak. We’re seeing a lot of pertussis right now.”

Dr. Buttenheim agreed. “Making sure your children are up to date on the recommended immunization schedule is an easy, safe and effective way to protect your child’s health,” she said. “However, no vaccine is 100 percent effective. Your vaccinated child still has a very small — but not zero — probability of contracting a vaccine-preventable disease if exposed.”

Why are parents opting out of having their children vaccinated?

According to Dr. Buttenheim “Parents choose not to have their children vaccinated for many reasons. To generalize across this diverse group, they perceive the risks associated with vaccines to be greater than the risks associated with vaccine-preventable diseases. While there is a very strong scientific consensus that this calculation is not correct, we cannot simply ignore or dismiss parental vaccine hesitancy.

One big fear that many parents have but now has been proven false,  is the fear that having their child vaccinated for measles-mumps-rubella might raise the autism risk for their child. In 1998, a small but widely publicized study appeared to link childhood MMR vaccination to nine cases of autism. The study appeared in the medical journal The Lancet, which retracted the study in 2010. In January of this year, an investigation by another leading British journal, BMJ, denounced the findings as deliberately fraudulent. But the damage was done.”

“In general, parents do value vaccines but exemptions do happen,” said Dr. Rodewald, a pediatrician with the CDC and director of their immunization services division,  “Parents have a lot of questions and they want to make sure that vaccines are effective and safe. It’s important that health professionals like pediatricians, nurse practitioners and school nurses be able to answer questions for parents so they can make informed decisions; decisions of knowledge and strength.”

For a detailed illustration of  Herd Immunity, go to http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/pages/communityimmunity.aspx

SOURCES: Alison M. Buttenheim, Ph.D., assistant professor, nursing, department of family and community health, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia; Lance Rodewald, M.D., pediatrician and director, immunization services division, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the Journal of Pediatrics news release of Oct. 6, 2011 there is a report on a study illustrating that food commercials have a strong impact on children’s food choices, but parents can lessen the effects of these ads.

The study encompassed 75 children aged 3 to 5 watching two cartoons, with a commercial between each cartoon. Half the children viewed a commercial for apple slices with dipping sauce and half viewed a commercial for French fries.

When the cartoons and commercials were over, the children were given the choice of a coupon for one of the advertised food items, with input from their parents. Half of the parents were told to encourage their child to select the healthy food, while the other half were told to remain neutral.

Of the children who viewed the commercial for French fries, 71 percent chose the coupon for French fries if their parents remained neutral, while only 55 percent chose the coupon for French fries if their parents encouraged them to choose the healthy food.

Of the children who saw the commercial for apple slices, 46 percent chose the coupon for French fries if their parents remained neutral, while only 33 percent picked the coupon for French fries if their parents encouraged them to make the healthy choice.

“Children were clearly influenced by the commercials they saw; however, parents are not powerless,” noted study author Dr. Christopher Ferguson of Texas A&M International University, in a journal news release.

While the impact of food commercials on children is considerable, Ferguson said that, “Parents have an advantage if they are consistent with their long-term message about healthy eating.”