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While many parents are familiar with developmental screenings for hearing or vision, they may not be aware of the importance of screening for issues like reading readiness. Reading readiness screening tools—like the Nemours BrightStart! Preschool Reading Screener for children ages 3-5—can provide a snapshot of a child’s progress in essential pre-reading skills. They can also show how a child’s progress compares to developmental milestones for those skills. Early screening gives parents, health and early childhood professionals the chance to offer additional supports for children who may not be on track for developmental milestones. Providing these supports as early as possible makes it much more likely that children will gain the skills they need to be successful readers. Nemours knows that literacy and health are connected, so we developed ReadingBrightStart.org to help parents build their children’s early literacy skills. It’s loaded with tips, milestones, developmentally appropriate activities, articles and recommended books by age, […]

Rare diseases are medical conditions that affect a low proportion of the general population. Although the incidence of rare diseases is fairly uncommon, there are over 7,000 types! Here at Nemours, our biomedical researchers are actively engaged in the scientific discovery of causes, treatments, and cures for many rare diseases. And clinicians and health care providers at all of our Nemours sites provide medical management for children with these conditions, most of which are inherited (genetically linked). Rare Disease Day Always the last day of February, Rare Disease Day was established in 2008 by EURODIS (the voice of rare disease patients in Europe) as a worldwide day of recognition. Since then, thousands of events have taken place, reaching hundreds of thousands of people and increasing awareness around the globe. Increased awareness of rare diseases helps to: improve understanding of these conditions offer support to patients and their families inform policy- […]

Imagine you’re walking through the park, on a play date with a good friend and both of your children, when the outing takes an unexpected turn. Your friend stops mid-stride, struggling to catch her breath. She begins sweating, and before you can understand what’s happening, she’s collapsed on the ground. What do you do? Cardiac arrest is an electrical malfunction in the heart that causes an irregular heartbeat (also called arrhythmia) and disrupts the flow of blood to the brain, lungs and other organs. It’s a leading cause of natural death in the United States. Each year, some 350,000 people experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital setting. Of those, 90% will die. And while the prompt administration of CPR can double—or even triple—a person’s chance of surviving a heart attack, most bystanders feel helpless to act when it’s most important. Either they’re not confident in their abilities to give […]

The term performance-enhancing substances brings to mind elite athletes, doping trials and drug tests. But substances like creatine, protein supplements and caffeine are commonly used by teenagers who are driven to perform-and look-their best. It’s a trend that has pediatricians concerned, and one that parents should be aware of. What Are Performance-Enhancing Substances? Performance-enhancing substances, also called sports supplements, are products that claim to use natural products to enhance athletic performance. The claims include increasing muscle mass, strength, speed, endurance, fat loss or recovery time. Most are available over the counter. They may include vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs, or botanicals (plants)-or any concentration, extract, or combination of these ingredients. Creatine One of the most popular supplements on the market, creatine, is easy to obtain and comes in a variety of forms (like powders, tablets, energy bars). Creatine is a natural substance that we usually get from protein-rich foods in […]

When Jill’s third child, Emmy, was born with a hole in her heart, Jill wasn’t too worried. Her two older sons also had the condition—called Atrial Septal Defect (ASD)—and theirs had cleared up over time. In children with ASD, blood recirculates inside the heart, and doesn’t reach the rest of the body as well as it should. Dr. Mary Mehta, Pediatric Cardiologist at Nemours Children’s Specialty Care, Pensacola, worked with the family to track Emmy’s condition. It didn’t improve, and it soon became clear that Emmy would need complex and invasive surgery to repair the hole in her heart. When Emmy was just three years old, the right side of her heart began to enlarge, presenting more risks: asthma-like symptoms and other coronary issues.  It was time to prepare for open heart surgery. Emmy’s family met with Dr. Peter Wearden, Cardiothoracic Surgeon at the Nemours Cardiac Center at Nemours Children’s Hospital […]

Peanut allergies have long been a concern for parents and families. In the past several years, the instance of peanut allergies and children – along with confusion and fear about how and when to expose young children to peanut ingredients – has been growing. Peanut allergies generally develop in childhood and continue into adulthood, and they’re not to be taken lightly. People who live with peanut allergies, along with their families, must maintain constant vigilance in the face of a peanut-contaminated environment. Allergic reactions can come from traces of peanuts from unexpected sources, and may be severe or life-threatening. And while there’s no cure for peanut allergy, a new set of guidelines from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), can help parents prevent an allergy to peanuts by introducing the ingredient earlier in life. LEAP (or Learning Early About Peanut […]