Doctors who work with brain-injured newborns need humility

I’ll never forget a time I went to visit a child in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). I was in the waiting room during a shift change, and another mom was talking about her newborn and said that the doctor had recommended withdrawing care. “I realize he’ll have cerebral palsy,” she said, “but he’s still my my son.” Predicting how a newborn with brain injury will be affected is a science marked with uncertainty, yet parents...

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'A big part of my job is telling families the diagnosis'

By Louise Kinross Dr. Melanie Penner is a developmental pediatrician at Holland Bloorview who focuses on autism. She’s the person who gives parents a diagnosis of autism in their child. Frustrated at the years’ long wait for behaviour therapy in Ontario, she had a study published in JAMA Pediatrics last month that puts the cost of that delay at $267,000 per child over a lifetime. Melanie is happiest when knitting or managing her fantasy baseball...

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The up and down reactions to one dad's parenting world

By Ron BishopOur son Neil is 14. He was diagnosed at a week old with cystic fibrosis. When he couldn’t hold up his head or sit at age one he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and developmental delays. He didn’t walk on his own till he was 11—that was an amazing day.It’s fair to say that Neil’s three favourite places are: a swimming pool, where he can engage in Olympic-calibre, slap-splashing; a set of stairs—any set of stairs, any size, any height,...

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Early autism therapy saves taxpayers money, study finds

By Louise Kinross Intensive behavioural therapy for autism is expensive—over $100,000 per child. In Ontario, the average child waits two-and-a-half years to get it.Now a new study in the journal JAMA Pediatrics puts the cost of that treatment delay at an additional $267,000 per child over a life time.That’s because later therapy is less effective, resulting in less independence in adults and the need for more lifelong support, says lead...

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