As a recent 60 Minutes piece on Boosting Brain Power reveals, modern teenagers often feel pressure to do it all, and better than anyone else: make straight A’s, ace the SATs, excel at sports or music or art and still have time for fun and friends. Which is why healthy teens across the country are turning to stimulants like Adderal, Ritalin and other medications traditionally prescribed to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
In this article, Children’s Hospital Boston experts weigh in on the disturbing trend.
A Massachusetts bill signed into law will require restaurants to help prevent adverse reactions among diners with food allergies. The new Mass. law, which goes into effect in July, is designed to increase awareness of food allergies in restaurants and encourage effective communication between those with allergies and the establishment. If successful, it has the potential to make even more of an impact by becoming federal law.
Michael Pistiner, MD, a clinical instructor at Children’s Hospital Boston who also helps families coping with food allergies, was instrumental in getting this law passed. While many dedicated groups and people tried to turn this kind of bill into law for years, they didn’t have any physician support. So Pistiner happily joined the effort and lobbied with the full support of Children’s Division of Immunology for passage of the bill.
Here’s what Pistiner has to say about the law and the happy turn of events. Full story »
Below, see one of the experiments in in real-time as a baby reacts to fearful, happy and neutral facial expressions.
Click image to view the video
Click here to see more video of facial recognition studies in the Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience.
In other autism news, a new intensive therapy program for autistic children is reaping high rewards. The Early Start Denver Model requires in-home therapy four hours a day for five days a week and can be used for children as young as 18-months old. It’s costly and requires a great amount of time and effort by parents and therapists, but the study reveals that toddlers with autism who participate in this intensive therapy program show greater improvements in language skills and scored higher in measures of social skills. Here, you can read a Children’s article about a sibling study that’s finding clues about this complex condition.
For more information on the lab, or if you’d like to enroll their children in a study, visit wherekidshelpkids.org.
For nearly 10 years, Kate suffered from severe epileptic seizures and lived with life-altering side effects from her many medications. In this video and in her first-person story below, Kate shares her story about how an experimental treatment has changed her life.
Kate’s story
Thanksgiving of 1999 was going to be a great day. My mom was coming home from the hospital after having surgery, and our entire family would be together for a big dinner that afternoon. It was shaping up to be a great holiday—that is, until I had my first seizure. I had the seizure at about 7 a.m. but I don’t remember anything except waking up in the local emergency room with a terrible headache and not being able to move my left side. Full story »
Research from Children’s Hospital Boston’s Heather Rosen, MD, MPH, finds that people who are admitted to the hospital for trauma are more likely to die from their injuries if they don’t have health insurance than if they do. In this WBUR report, Rosen offers some possible explanations for the alarming disparity.
Do you have a Children's Hospital Boston story you'd like heard? By sharing your Children's story you can be a great source of inspiration and encouragement to families who are going through similar situations. And it’s a great way to find support by connecting with others. Share your story today »
A Massachusetts bill signed into law will 
New England Cable News shares the story of an 11-year old Children’s 
Research from Children’s Hospital Boston’s Heather Rosen, MD, MPH, finds that people who are admitted to the hospital for trauma are more likely to die from their injuries if they don’t have health insurance than if they do. In this 
