Program Spotlight

Bryan's teachers were at a loss for how to help him when he hid under his desk or back in the cubby area and cried. They knew he had been diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; dysgraphia, a learning disability that affects writing abilities; and Asperger syndrome, but they didn't know how to deal with those diagnoses or what the best ways to teach him were.

Every morning, 3-year-old La'Nell Alewine and her 4-year-old sister, Ja'Nell, get dressed and make their way to preschool at the Dayspring Head Start Center in East Baltimore. There, the girls eat a healthy breakfast, play with their classmates and learn about the alphabet, colors and numbers.

Last year, 5-year-old Samuel Spring came to Kennedy Krieger Institute for evaluation of autism. The genetic and metabolic tests he was to undergo required giving a blood sample. When the nurse tried to tie the tourniquet around his arm in preparation for the needle stick, Sam began to cry and break away. His behavior made it difficult for the nurse to draw his blood.

Not everyone can create a masterpiece of art or music, poetry or dance a gift like that is all the more special because it is rare. But the process of creating art is a gift unto itself, empowering and life enhancing. For children with disabilities, art can be especially valuable in helping them communicate thoughts and feelings that might otherwise stay locked inside or end up expressed in inappropriate ways.

Jim Schuyler had a big decision to make last February. Diane Stegman, one of the Program Coordinators for the Therapeutic Family Care program, wanted to know whether he and his wife, Karen, could manage to care for one more child. That day, caseworkers from the Department of Social Services had removed Dante,* a 2-year-old boy with spina bifida, from a home where his needs could not be met.

For parents of children with special medical needs, returning to the workforce is often a necessity, not an option. They need the income and health benefits a job provides. But finding quality childcare can be nearly impossible.

Across the country, young adults preparing to enter the workforce are feeling the sting of a tight job market. Competition for employment is stiff for the brightest, most talented youth, much less young adults with learning, emotional and neurological problems.

As soon as Joshua Fine reached pre-school, his mother Kathleen noticed that he learned differently from his older brother. As he picked up his ABCs and began trying to piece words together, Josh often reversed the order of his letters. This tendency continued as Josh began elementary school, but never reached a crisis point. Although Josh frequently refused to read, his grades stayed adequate. But Kathleen harbored nagging suspicions that her son wasn't reaching his full academic potential.

The playroom of Kennedy Krieger Institute's Achievements program doesn't look like a typical child's playroom. There are no blocks, books, dolls or trucks lining the shelves or scattered about the floor. In fact, the room seems practically devoid of toys, those things that inspire the imaginations of children but it's not.

In a major announcement, the National Institutes of Health has awarded Kennedy Krieger Institute a five-year, $7.7 million grant to become a national center devoted to autism research, focusing on neurobiologic origins of autism, as well as early detection and intervention.