Do you have a child that suffers from psoriasis? It is a chronic skin condition that can have a negative impact on a person's quality of life. It can negatively affect self-esteem and relationships. Your child may be embarrassed by the presence of psoriasis and feel insecure about friends seeing it or finding out about it. This could cause your child to avoid close friendships or staying overnight with friends. The characteristics of psoriasis include red, thick, scaly plaques that itch and bleed. Dermatologists have found a correlation between psoriasis,... more

Which infants have the highest risk of developing diabetes as they mature? Asians, Native Hawaiians, blacks, Hispanics, and other Pacific Islanders, have significantly higher risks of developing diabetes than whites do. Non-Hispanic whites have nearly an 8.7 percent chance of developing diabetes, while non-Hispanic blacks have a 13.3 percent chance. When you group all of the Hispanic/Latino population together they have... more

So far this month I’ve given much blog space to autism, because April is National Autism Awareness month. But the CDC, whose oft quote “1 in 150” statistic for the growing autism epidemic released another statistic yesterday:

“About 1 in 50 infants in the U.S. are victims of non-fatal child neglect or abuse.”

This equates to about 91,000 children under the age of 1 who have been abused, or more likely had their basic needs left unmet -- food, clothing, access to medical care. The report says nothing about the traumatic results... more

It’s happened to me several times. Someone in my world describes a child they find comparable in some way to LuLu. And without realizing it, invariably they end up telling me the child was internationally adopted.

“The other little peanut I had once,” says LuLu’s OT yesterday, “who reminds me so much of LuLu, was this sweet girl with Tourettes adopted from Russia.” I suspect the therapist’s comparison was focused on the fact that both girls had the diagnosis of Tourettes and had perseverative vocal tics that were very interesting. As she continued to tell me... more

Living here in rural America I was a bit surprised to learn that currently, about 18,000 U.S. schools have health centers inside their walls. These health centers provide confidential physical and mental health services to students who want them in junior high and high schools. Most of these clinics are operated by either a local hospital, health department, or other community health center. A study was recently conducted on the centers that currently... more

Parents of children with autism earn 14% less than parents of children without autism says an article in this month’s Pediatrics magazine. This statistic is based on surveying the parents of 11, 000 children with autism whose ages are between kindergarten and 8th grade.

Comparing the parents with other parents of comparable careers, the survey found that on average a household with a child with autism makes $6200 per year less. Remember these are averaged... more

The story out of Tifton Georgia (in the Southern part of this state) is shocking to parents of children with disabilities, especially those with children who have autism. An 8-year-old boy was arrested and charged with battery last Thursday morning for biting a teacher.

Never mind that the boy has autism and is non-verbal. Never mind that he is in a self-contained school for children with severe emotional/behavioral disorders and autism – one of those “GNETS” like the one proposed for my daughter. A place, according to the school’s director, that is... more

Does your child have bouts of wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath? Have you talked to your child’s doctor about these symptoms? Could your child have asthma? While these are some of the symptoms of asthma, your doctor may want to perform other tests to confirm the diagnosis. One of the tests that your doctor may recommend is a lung function or breathing test. This may be able to rule out other causes of these same symptoms. Sometimes doctors try prescribing asthma medication for your child to see if it reduces or eliminates the symptoms. If the medication works... more

Tomorrow, Wednesday, April 2 is the first World Autism Awareness Day. Falling in what has become Autism Awareness Month, this day was declared by the United Nations last November as an annual day to “encourage Member States to take measures to raise awareness about children with autism throughout society.”

It’s estimated that 35 million people worldwide have autism and face discrimination and an extreme lack of resources. CNN will devote unprecedented coverage to autism tomorrow throughout the entire day on CNN/U.S., CNN International, CNN en Español and Headline... more

Are you considering adopting a premature infant? Women having a normal pregnancy can delivery prematurely; but some types of drug abuse commonly cause premature birth. A new study indicates that the side effects of premature birth last long after a baby leaves the neonatal intensive care unit. Other studies have focused on the immediate risks of premature birth where this study focused on adult life of premature children. Premature birth is defined as delivery that occurs before 38 weeks of gestation. In... more