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Three Areas Of Focus To Stay Fueled Through Busy Sports Seasons

Three Areas Of Focus To Stay Fueled Through Busy Sports Seasons

by | Oct 17, 2023 | Sports Medicine

Parents of student-athletes are familiar with the long days of practices before school, hours of schoolwork and games in the evening. Our sports dietitian, Taylor Morrison, M.S., R.D.N., CSSD, L.D., shares everything parents of busy young athletes need to know about fueling well, eating enough and staying hydrated to support their stacked schedules.

When trying to ensure your athlete is getting enough fuel and enough nutrition for sports and school, start by focusing on three key things:

  1. Maintain energy levels with meals and snacks that provide both quick and sustained energy.
  2. Stay hydrated.
  3. Recover well.

Maintaining Energy Levels
It’s important that young athletes keep their brains and muscles well-fueled throughout the day, starting when they get up in the morning. This is crucial so they not only perform their best in school but also so that they show up for sport practices energized with plenty of fuel in the tank to use for their sport. When athletes show up to practices with depleted energy stores, they run the risk of dizziness and fatigue in the short-term and decreased strength and overall performance long-term.

To know what foods to choose in their fueling strategy, it’s important that they have a basic understanding of the macronutrients, including carbohydrates, protein and fat:

  • Carbohydrates are the best and quickest source of fuel for the brain and muscles. This macronutrient can be used for energy in a young athlete in anywhere between 15 and 60 minutes after consumption, depending on the specific food they choose. These should be included in all meals and snacks throughout the day and can be a great snack 15 to 60 minutes before a practice. Foods high in carbohydrates include grains, such as bread or granola, and starches, such as potatoes or rice.
  • Protein is important for building and maintaining muscle and for injury recovery. It takes a little longer for the body to use protein for energy, so it is best left out of the pre-practice snack unless the athlete has a good 90 minutes or more before start time. It is, however, an important part of meals and the athlete’s recovery snacks. Foods high in protein include meats, such as beef, chicken, turkey, fish and seafood and eggs, and dairy products, such as milk or yogurt.
  • Fat is another important energy source for young athletes. These foods can also help fight inflammation and are crucial for the body to absorb certain vitamins (specifically A, D, E and K). However, it takes the body the longest to digest fat, so it should be kept out of the pre-practice snack and saved for the post-event meal or for meals and snacks that are a few hours away. Foods high in fat include certain cuts of meat, cheese, avocados, nuts and eggs.

For more information on how to incorporate meals and snacks around a busy training session, refer to our Tournament Nutrition guide.

Staying Hydrated
Athletes should understand the importance of drinking water and fluids throughout the day, starting when they wake up in the morning. Drinking 24 ounces from a water bottle 10 minutes before warmup will not make up for the fact that the athlete forgot to drink any water earlier that day. It will likely just leave him or her uncomfortable during the event and needing to take a bathroom break.
When asked what is best to drink, water should be the go-to drink of choice. If an athlete has trouble drinking fluids during the day, remember that foods can help hydrate as well. Sports drinks are best for when an athlete has been practicing for an hour or more or it is a very hot and humid environment.  There are a few other instances where a sports drink is helpful, and these special situations include:

  • The athlete has trouble eating solids before or during an event due to nerves.
  • The athlete is a salty sweater.
  • The athlete struggles with muscle cramping during events.

A factor to consider when choosing drinks and electrolyte packets is the age and stage of development the athlete is in. Before puberty, an athlete regulates body temperature differently than an adult, relying less on sweat to cool the body and, therefore, losing less electrolytes. An 8-year-old basketball player will likely not need the electrolyte replacement that a 17-year-old basketball player will need.

For more support in helping your young athlete hydrate, check out our Hydration for Young Athletes handout.

Recovering Well
Just because the game or practice is over does not mean athletes should forget about nutrition. This is especially true when the athlete is in back-to-back events or has a quick turnaround time between games. This could mean multiple games in a day, or it could look like a game ending in the evening and the next game early in the morning. During these small windows, the recovery fuel counts.

The three key components of a great recovery snack are:

  1. Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates replenish depleted energy stores in the muscle, which then prevents the body from breaking down protein (muscle) for fuel moving forward.

  1. Protein

Protein that the athlete eats helps to rebuild and repair the muscle that is naturally broken down a little with exercise. It will also help maintain the athlete’s strength.

  1. Fluid

 
Fluid will rehydrate the body to keep energy levels up and prevent dehydration.
For more info on recovery snacks, check out our handout, blog post or the below video!

For more sports nutrition information, visit www.scottishriteforchildren.com/nutrition.

Get to Know our Staff: Sheila Burton Adams, Center for Dyslexia

Get to Know our Staff: Sheila Burton Adams, Center for Dyslexia

by | Oct 11, 2023 | Dyslexia & Learning Disorders

What is your job title/your role at Scottish Rite for Children? 
I am an assessment specialist on the Diagnostic Team in the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders. 

What do you do on a daily basis or what sort of duties do you have at work?
My primary duties are two-fold. One, I provide a comprehensive evaluation for the child whose family has concerns that a learning difference is interfering with their child’s academic progress and performance. Secondly, I share the results of the evaluation, describing the child’s strengths and challenges, and provide recommendations for the next steps the family can take to support their child. Evaluation results and recommendations are shared during a telemedicine consultation and in a final written report.

What was your first job? What path did you take to get here or what led you to Scottish Rite? How long have you worked here?
I worked as a school psychologist in Dallas ISD’s Psychological Services department for nine years prior to joining the Center for Dyslexia staff.
I first learned of Scottish Rite for Children as a parent. A few years later, a coworker of my former husband told him about the job posting for the assessment specialist position in the Center for Dyslexia, and I applied. I celebrated my 25th anniversary as part of the Center for Dyslexia Diagnostic Team in August this year.

What do you enjoy most about Scottish Rite?
I enjoy learning from the children I evaluate, having the opportunity to help them and their families understand what their strengths and challenges and providing recommendations and resources that will support these children as they continue their academic journey. 
I also enjoy working with my colleagues in the Center for Dyslexia. They are my work family and some of the most compassionate, generous, intelligent and creative people I’ve ever had the privilege to know.

Tell us something about your job that others might not already know?
A comprehensive evaluation encompasses parent and teacher observations as well as the “whole child,” including his/her cognitive functioning, receptive and expressive language skills, educational opportunities, academic skills and behavioral/emotional functioning and health. 

Where is the most interesting place you’ve been?
I have visited the beaches at the Pacific Ocean (California) and Atlantic Oceans (Florida).

If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to?
I would travel back to 2019, which was the last year my family and I were together for Thanksgiving prior to the pandemic.

If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
My one and only meal would be pepper beef steak and broccoli, brown rice, egg rolls with sweet and sour sauce, iced tea (half-sweetened, half unsweetened), and frozen fruit bars for dessert.

What is your favorite Halloween costume that you have worn?
I once wore a toga.

What’s one fun fact about yourself?
I really enjoy oceanography and astronomy.

Students with Dyslexia Can Benefit from Classroom Accommodations

Students with Dyslexia Can Benefit from Classroom Accommodations

by | Oct 10, 2023 | Dyslexia & Learning Disorders

Why Students with Dyslexia Could Use School Accommodations
For students diagnosed with dyslexia, various accommodations can help them succeed in the classroom setting by improving their confidence and giving them the support they need to meet their educational goals. Academic accommodations are changes to materials, actions or techniques that enable students with disabilities to participate meaningfully in grade-level or course instruction. Because students with dyslexia can struggle with single word reading, accurate word recognition, poor spelling and poor decoding abilities, accommodations can be crucial to give the student the tools they need to accomplish their work with less difficulty.

What Kind of Academic Accommodations Are Helpful?
Accommodations for students with dyslexia or other learning disorders might look very different for each student based on their individual needs, and methods do not have a one-size-fits-all strategy. The impact of dyslexia on each individual student determines the level of accommodations. However, there are some common accommodations that might be offered for students with dyslexia:

  • Not marking or taking off points for spelling errors.
  • Allowing the use of assistive technology, e.g., speech-to-text or text-to-speech.
  • Grading written work primarily on content versus spelling.
  • Reducing the number of words to spell.
  • Providing a word bank for typically misspelled words.
  • Using a word bank to provide words to choose from.
  • Offering alternative projects instead of written reports, such as an oral report or an art project.
  • Reducing written work if possible.
  • Encouraging verbalization of ideas before writing (i.e., record then write, use mind mapping for ideas, use sentence starters, etc.)

How Spelling Accommodations Improve Performance and Confidence
Accommodations are intended to provide a student with a learning disability a ‘level playing field’ and not count the impact of their learning disability against them. Spelling can be particularly difficult for a student with dyslexia and can take a lot of time and energy to ensure proper spelling. 

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If the lesson’s primary focus is on conveying the main idea of the story rather than on spelling, not penalizing the student for spelling errors allows them to focus their time and mental energy on the key objective of telling the story’s main idea.

Using Assistive Technology to Complete Schoolwork and Homework
Allowing students to utilize assistive technology, such as text-to-speech or speech-to-text, can help the student by not requiring them to spend extra time and energy decoding words. Assistive technology includes any device, piece of equipment or system that helps bypass, work around or compensate for an individual’s specific learning deficits.

  • Speech-to-text software can help students who struggle with spelling and writing by converting spoken words into typed text, and it can help struggling writers and spellers get their ideas on paper.
  • Text-to-speech software is often a vital resource for students with dyslexia to aid in reading, promote comprehension and enhance overall literacy skills. Text-to-speech converts any written text into spoken words and is popular among students who have difficulties with reading. By presenting the words auditorily, the student can focus on the meaning on the words instead of spending their energy on trying to sound out the words.

Assistive technology doesn’t cure or eliminate learning difficulties, but it can help students reach their potential because it allows them to capitalize on their strengths and lessen the impact of areas of difficulty.

Accommodations That Harm More Than Help
Because accommodations are different for every student, what works for one student may not be beneficial for another. However, there are some common accommodations that have been found to be counterproductive or hinder students’ long-term academic journey.

  • Providing additional time for assignments or tests. While some students with dyslexia may benefit from additional time, in many cases this does not address the underlying issues that create difficulties for the student. For some students, extra time can cause stress or lead to procrastination.
  • Using color overlays or special fonts. Some students with dyslexia may find it easier to read or focus by using specific colors or fonts, but this has not been proven to be an effective method for assisting reading. These adjustments may even create extra distractions for some students and make it more difficult for them to read.
  • Grouping dyslexia students together or removing students from the class for individual instruction. By isolating students with dyslexia, students are not benefiting from the diverse learning environment that is provided in the classroom with their peers. Segregating students with dyslexia from others may make students feel different, less than or discouraged.

The Difference Between Accommodations and Modifications
In education, both accommodations and modifications are strategies used to support students with disabilities. However, they serve different purposes and involve different levels of adjustments to the classroom environment and curriculum.

Accommodations:

  • Minor adjustments: Accommodations make relatively minor changes to how a student works with general education curriculum without changing the content itself.
  • Same curriculum: With accommodations, the curriculum, or core content of what is being taught to the students, is not altered. Accommodations may change how the curriculum is taught to the student or how the mastery of that content is tested.
  • Same goals: educational goals and objectives remain the same as other students.
  • Grading stays the same: Students receiving accommodations are graded on the same scale using the same criteria as their peers. Accommodations may improve a student’s performance but do not change the method of how they are graded.

Modifications:

  • Substantial changes: Modifications involve making significant changes to curriculum content, assignments or assessments and alter the expectations for the student.
  • Different curriculum: With modifications, curriculum is often adjusted to meet the student’s needs.
  • Different goals: Students with modifications will be working toward different goals and will have a lower level of expectations.
  • Grading is changed: For students with modifications, the grading scale and criteria are altered to fit the student’s adjusted goals and expectations.

How to Find Accommodations for Students
Students with dyslexia benefit greatly from appropriate, customized accommodations that enhance their learning experiences and foster confidence in their abilities. These accommodations allow them to overcome challenges associated with reading, spelling and decoding. Accommodations vary for each student and should be carefully considered with the student, parents, teachers and dyslexia therapists to ensure the success of the plan. In Texas, there are laws that protect students with learning disabilities and guarantee them the resources they need to learn effectively. If you think your student would benefit from accommodations, start by contacting your child’s teacher or dyslexia therapist. Students need an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that is created by an Admission, Review and Dismissal (ARD) committee to solidify their accommodations throughout their academics. Learn more about dyslexia laws, interventions and accommodations in Dyslexia 411.

Learn more about our Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders.

Strength and Conditioning Training: It Is Not Just About Getting Strong

by | Oct 10, 2023 | Therapy Services

What is strength and conditioning?
Strength and conditioning may better be referred to as “physical preparation.” An athlete needs to be physically capable of accomplishing the goals set by the coach to compete in the game. Benefits of strength training go beyond just getting an athlete bigger, stronger and faster. Proper training improves an athlete’s resiliency and confidence in their performance as well. Though preventing injuries may not be directly related to movement and strength training, there are studies that suggest that overuse injuries may be reduced by as much as one-half with appropriate training.

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Ideally, an athlete participating in a strength and conditioning program is:

  • At a developmentally appropriate level.
  • At a physically appropriate level.
  • Receiving proper instruction and supervision.
  • In a setting with equipment that is appropriate for both the athlete and the sport.

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What is training age?
An athlete’s training age may vary across skills or activity. The “training age” is typically much lower than the chronological age. A soccer player may have started playing soccer at age 4 but didn’t start resistance training until age 12. Therefore, that athlete should not begin a strength and condition program at the level of an athlete with five years of resistance training who may be lifting weights and using other forms of resistance.

How should goals be set for a young athlete?
The goals of the program should also be individualized and progress should be tracked. Measures for strength, power, endurance and speed are commonly used. More importantly, an assessment of movement quality should be integrated in the progression. Proper form in fundamental movements should always precede increased resistance or other challenging elements of an exercise.

Younger athletes should learn that “bulking up” is not an appropriate goal for them. These changes will not occur until developmental stages where hormones are present to create those visual changes. What is more likely to occur with movement and strength training in this population are neurological changes that lead to improved neuromuscular control, which is believed to reduce the risk of knee and ankle injuries common in young athletes.

What happens after an injury?
After proper diagnosis, a transition to a supervised strength and conditioning program is ideal only after treatment and rehabilitation for a musculoskeletal injury. An athlete often completes formal physical or occupational therapy before they are ready to return to sport. Therefore, a continued progression of sport-related and other activities help the athlete to complete recovery and prepare for realistic sport environments. Complex movements and distractions that are common during competitions can be integrated into training sessions where variables are controlled.
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In a recent program for medical professionals, strength and conditioning coach Justin Haser, M.S., CSCS, and physical therapist Daniel Stokes, P.T., D.P.T., CSCS., explained how strength and conditioning is integrated in the continuum of care for healthy and injured athletes. Watch now on YouTube.

How to Spot Signs of a Concussion in Kids

How to Spot Signs of a Concussion in Kids

by | Oct 10, 2023 | Sports Medicine

Head injuries in children, especially children who play sports, can have long-lasting impacts. Knowing the signs of a concussion in kids will help you get the treatment your child needs to avoid serious complications.

Concussion Basics

A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury that can occur when a child experiences a sudden blow to the head. The impact causes the brain to jostle around the skull’s interior, damaging brain tissue and brain cells.
Although concussions during football get a lot of attention, these head injuries can also be caused by falls, collisions during other sports, bicycle accidents, and even minor car accidents. Particularly concerning is that having a concussion increases a child’s risk for having another one.

Immediate Warning Signs of Concussions in Kids

When your child hits his or her head, it’s natural to wonder if they’re okay. You may see your child jump up and keep playing, and you assume they aren’t injured. But you should monitor them closely for signs of a concussion because not all children will show immediate symptoms. In fact, according to the International Concussion Society, 90% of concussions that occur during sports don’t cause the person to black out or become unconscious.
“When in doubt, sit them out,” said Shane M. Miller, M.D., sports medicine physician and concussion expert. “If your child seems dazed, stunned, dizzy or is complaining of a headache, it’s safest for you or their coach to remove them from play immediately. The ‘tough it out’ mentality could prolong recovery and make them more susceptible to a more severe injury.”
Immediate symptoms of a concussion to look out for include:

  • Confusion
  • Dizziness
  • Memory loss
  • Nausea
  • Severe headache
  • Vomiting

If any of these symptoms are present, stop your child from playing or participating in an activity. More than 50% of child athletes continue playing a sport after experiencing a concussion, often because they don’t realize they’ve had a concussion or they don’t think their symptoms are that serious. However, continuing to play can slow recovery, increase the chances of having another concussion and lead to long-term symptoms, such as a headache that lasts for months.

Delayed Symptoms

Concussion symptoms can appear a few hours and even days after a concussion. Some symptoms may show up as much as a week after a concussion.

Even if your child seems fine after a short time, watch out for the following signs and symptoms:

  • Changes in alertness, such as difficulty staying awake, becoming unusually tired or having trouble paying attention
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Emotional and behavioral changes, such as mood swings, irritability, a sudden change in your child’s personality and unexplained emotional outbursts.
  • Headaches, especially persistent headaches, and those that worsen over time
  • Losing consciousness
  • Memory problems
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Sensitivity to light or noise
  • Trouble with balance and coordination, for example, unsteady movements, clumsiness and stumbling

When to Take Your Child to the ER for a Concussion

Concussions are always serious, but in some cases, the injury requires immediate medical attention from specialists at the closest emergency room (ER). Signs that a visit to the ER is necessary include:

  • Prolonged confusion
  • Seizures
  • Vomiting repeatedly
  • Worsening symptoms

At the ER, health care providers will perform a detailed physical exam, looking for visible injuries and symptoms, such as headaches and dizziness.

The ER team will also take your child’s medical history and ask about the incident and any previous concussions. The providers may order a comprehensive neurological assessment to test your child’s cognitive function, coordination, reflexes and responsiveness. They may also send your child for an imaging test, such as a CT or MRI scan.

Creating a Long-Term Plan for Concussion Recovery

In general, concussions heal in a few weeks. However, children require more recovery time from a concussion than adults, so help your child be patient during this process. Remind them that not taking enough time to heal could result in a more severe injury, including another concussion. The more concussions a child endures, the higher the likelihood of long-term damage to the brain.

Your child’s pediatrician can work with you to develop a plan to treat your child’s concussion. This plan will include plenty of time to rest and recover.

Gradually, your child will be able to return to normal daily activities, including sports, but only after you get the all-clear from their pediatrician or sports medicine specialist.

“Concussion management is a team approach, but the care is individualized to the needs of each athlete,” Miller said. “Unfortunately, injuries occur during sports, but how you respond is critical. Early recognition and treatment, with a supportive family and coaches leads to better outcomes and a quicker return to play.”

If your child took a baseline concussion test before the injury occurred, the goal is for their test results to be back to baseline levels.

Even after your child gets back on the court or field, you should monitor them for symptoms mentioned above. Symptoms that don’t go away or reappear after your child starts playing again could be signs of post-concussive syndrome, a rare condition that can develop in children who have had more than one concussion.

Trust your instincts when it comes to your child’s health. If you suspect a concussion, call our expert team now at 469-515-7100. We provide specialized care to ensure your child’s well-being and quick recovery.