Try to remember leaving the maternity ward with your first child. There’s no owner’s manual or toll-free help line, just the weighty realization that you are on your own with the fragile little person whose car seat you can barely master. Now multiply that feeling by 100. That’s the way …
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How Can I Teach My Daughter Tolerance?
A boy in my 8-year-old daughter’s class has a cleft palate. I know that he has trouble finding friends because other kids — including my daughter — are wary of his difference. How can I encourage her to reach out to him so other kids will too? – Dalla This …
How Can Parents Help Kids Handle Teasing?
My young son has a cleft lip, and other kids have been making fun of him. How can I help him handle the teasing? – John Adults can help by letting all kids know that teasing and making fun is never OK — that it is unkind, unfair, and hurtful. …
Middle Ear Infections and Ear Tube Surgery
Why Surgery? Many kids get middle ear infections (known as otitis media, or OM), usually when they’re between 6 months and 2 years old. Some kids are particularly likely to get them because of environmental and lifestyle factors (like attendance at a group childcare, secondhand tobacco smoke exposure, and taking a …
Ototoxicity (Ear Poisoning)
Sometimes, kids who take high doses of medicines for cancer, infections, or other illnesses develop hearing or balance problems (or both) as a result of taking the drugs. This is called ototoxicity or “ear poisoning.” Ototoxicity damages the inner ear — the part of the ear responsible for receiving/sending sounds …
Peritonsillar Abscess
The Basics Lots of kids get tonsillitis (an infection of the tonsils), especially younger kids. As kids get older, however, this throat infection can be accompanied by an unpleasant condition called a peritonsillar abscess. A peritonsillar abscess is an area of pus-filled tissue at the back of the mouth, next …
Speech-Language Therapy
In a recent parent-teacher conference, maybe the teacher expressed concern that your child could have a problem with certain speech or language skills. Or perhaps while talking to your child, you noticed an occasional stutter. Could your child have a problem? And if so, what should you do? It’s wise …
Stuttering
Many young kids go through a stage between the ages of 2 and 5 when they stutter, repeating certain syllables, words or phrases, prolonging them, or stopping, making no sound for certain sounds and syllables. Stuttering is a form of dysfluency — an interruption in the flow of speech. In …
Tonsils and Tonsillectomies
Everybody’s heard of tonsils. But not everyone knows what tonsils do or why they may need to be removed. Knowing the facts can help alleviate the fears of both parents and kids facing a tonsillectomy. Tonsils and Tonsillitis Tonsils are clumps of tissue on both sides of the throat that …
Celiac Disease
About Celiac Disease Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder caused by an intolerance to gluten. Gluten is the general name of the proteins found in wheat, rye, and barley and other grains derived from them. In kids with celiac disease, gluten damages villi, the finger-like projections in the small intestine …