Turner syndrome is a chromosomal condition that affects a child’s development and may cause certain characteristics. A fetus developing with Turner syndrome either doesn't have a Y chromosome or doesn't have a functional SRY on the Y chromosome and therefore, will develop into a female child. This is one of the more common genetic disorders, accounting for about one in every 2500 live births, and about 10% of the total number of miscarriages and stillbirths in the United... more

In the early 1990s, along with the influx of Romanian adoptees into the U.S. came the term “institutional autism.” Dr. Ron Federici, a neuropsychologist was instrumental in using this term to describe children from Romanian orphanages who exhibited autistic-like behaviors that seem to have resulted from the deprivation and isolation associated with living in an institution.

For some in the world of international adoption, institutional autism was a welcome way of describing the phenomenon they were observing... more

Do you remember the mirror in the first Harry Potter book, the Mirror of Erised? The mirror showed Harry what he wanted to see. It was an enchanted mirror that showed the person looking at it what that person most desired (erised is desire spelled backward).

I feel like we have a similar situation with LuLu every time she’s evaluated. She is like this mirror that psychologists and therapists peer into and see whatever they want to see as her diagnosis and problems. And because these folks are human, and have expertise in certain areas and not... more

1. While at your pediatrician’s office, a nurse asks you to get your child off the roof, and you didn’t know your child had gone outside. 2. You spend more time trying to find your child’s homework, than it takes to finish it. 3. The school has your child call home everyday, asking you to bring gym shoes, because your child has forgotten them so many times. 4. Your child gets a zero on an exam, for talking to others before the exams are collected. 5. Your child always has the last word. 6. If allowed to play with legos while listening to a story, your child can recant the details perfectly. 7. You’re afraid to walk on your child’s bedroom floor because... more

Characterized by minimal or no immune response, Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), typifies a group of rare, sometimes fatal, congenital disorders. An abnormality in the specialized white blood cells (B- and T-lymphocytes) that protect us from being infected by viruses, bacteria, and fungi is the defining characteristic of SCID, also known as "bubble boy" disease. SCID patients can contract the same illnesses repeatedly, like pneumonia,... more

When your toddler brings you flowers, just flowers, no stems, you think it is cute and sweet. You’re happy that your toddler is beginning to think about how others feel. You tend to cherish these memories when your child is grown. But, how would you feel if your eight or twelve year old child continuously brought you flowers without stems?

If she was trying to make me happy, then I should be grateful. Yet, I always wondered if she was really trying to make me happy, or if it was passive aggressive behavior? Feelings of guilt,... more

Dr. Lawrence Gray of the University of Chicago is among a growing group of doctors and scientists in the field of infant mental health. They are looking for early signs in babies of autism ADHD and other mental problems that traditionally our medical profession has thought doesn’t show up until closer to age three.

Dr. Gray says that “we used to say ‘nature versus nurture’, but now people really think it’s ‘nature through nurture’.”

These doctors have identified certain behaviors that healthy infants exhibit as early as days after their birth. If... more

Henoch-Schonlein purpura, is a disease known also as Anaphylactoid purpura and Vascular purpura. It usually affects male children, but it may affect people of any gender and any age. Most people affected recently had an upper respiratory illness. One of my friends is a female, and in her early 40’s, and was just hospitalized for an entire week with this illness.

For an unknown reason, the immune system has an abnormal response to infection or stressors. The interior of the blood vessel responds with inflammation, it is a type of hypersensitivity... more

A gastrostomy is an opening in the stomach surgically created usually under a general anesthetic. A gastrostomy tube, also known as a G-tube, is fitted into the surgical opening to allow feeding or to allow venting of stomach gas. If your child cannot consume enough nutrition to grow and develop properly, then food can be given through a G-tube. Another reason to insert a g-tube is if your child’s stomach needs a way to get rid of stomach gas, because of a stomach wrap procedure,... more

Our adult daughter, whom we adopted at the age of nine, showed up last weekend at our teen son’s open house, but I didn’t know it until I saw her on our couch. She had failed to greet me upon her arrival, which didn’t surprise me, what did surprise me was that she showed up. You see she hasn’t been to our home since her angry and abrupt departure nine months ago when she turned 18.

She had a horrible childhood, or so I hear. Granted she was in trouble quite often and frequently had to hear me yell at her. She lost privileges on a routine basis before her behavior became stabilized through monthly visits to a psychiatrist, and various medications, when she was about 15. Apparently,... more