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I participated in this TVO panel about parenting children with special needs, which followed the airing of Born to be Different.
Different areas light up when deaf people use American Sign Language than when they gesture.
The mom of a new baby girl with Down syndrome recounts her experiences in words and stunning photos.
Temple Grandin on how insights from autism fueled her career.
Resources to improve the response of police, fire rescue and emergency to people with autism. | |
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The strongest people 'know how to be weak' |
 Six years ago, my husband D'Arcy and I volunteered at an orphanage in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. During that trip, we visited Wings of Hope - a home for children with disabilities...The home was run by Americans, and it was shocking to learn that the kids never got out. We were told that disability was viewed as a manifestation of evil in Haiti, and that most children with disabilities were abandoned at birth. More
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| Therapeutic clowns stir unresponsive children |
 In the first study to measure the long-term physiological effect of therapeutic clowns on hospitalized children, Canadian researchers show that even a child in a vegetative state and those with profound disabilities respond to the red-nosed performers with changes in skin temperature, sweat level and heart and breathing rate. More |
| Music serves to soothe the pain |
 No child likes needles, and coaxing kids to remain calm while receiving Botox injections to relax tight muscles caused by cerebral palsy was stressful for parents in Bloorview's spasticity clinic. But an innovative program that combines music, visual arts and medicine is reducing children's anxiety, helping them find creative ways to cope, and cutting procedure times in half. More |
| The child who never grew |
 When my son was just a baby and I was madly surfing the net for anything about child development, I came across this book title: The Child Who Never Grew. I didn't know it then, but it was a seminal book about raising a child with mental retardation, published in 1950 by Nobel- and Pulitzer-prize winning author Pearl Buck at a time when intellectual disabilities were hidden. More |
| Vaccine study discredited, parent fears remain |
 Last week the prestigious medical journal The Lancet retracted a controversial 1998 study that linked the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism. Yet parent activists like Jenny McCarthy insist author Dr. Andrew Wakefield is a hero. I interviewed Dr. Evdokia Anagnostou, a child neurologist who leads a clinical research program in autism at Bloorview, to understand why. More |
| At last, a home that fits |
"Sometimes I cry when I see my son's new room," says Minire Mustafa (right), mother of Ermal, 15 (centre), who has cerebral palsy. On Saturday the Mustafa family moved into a new, accessible three-bedroom Habitat for Humanity bungalow in Toronto where Ermal has his own large bedroom with an accessible washroom and wheel-in shower across the hall. More |
| Protecting your non-verbal child |
Parents of children who don't speak fear their child's vulnerability. Last week I received an e-mail from the mother of a four-year-old boy with autism. She wrote to tell me that while receiving ABA therapy at a private centre, inappropriate photos of her son were taken. She shares her story in the hope that by alerting others parents to the potential for abuse, she can save another family from a similar experience. More |
| 'All of life is fragile and uncertain' |
I remember how I felt two hours after my daughter Penny was born, when I first found out she had Down syndrome. I wracked my brain for information about this thing that had just happened to our family. All I could come up with was early death and mental retardation. The doctors didn't help much. In the hospital, we received a list of all the things that might go wrong. More |
Send your photos
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We invite you to send us a digital photo of your child "in bloom." E-mail to lkinross@bloorview.caand we'll feature as many as possible in our summer issue. |
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Articles in BLOOM are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Community and web resources listed in BLOOM do not necessarily signify endorsement by Bloorview Kids Rehab. Where appropriate, please consult your physician.
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