Program Spotlight

Few experiences thrill a parent more than the first time they hear their child say "mama" or "dada." Those words, often a baby's first, are usually followed by a flurry of new ones, and eventually phrases, thoughts, questions and observations that give parents constantly new glimpses of the unique person their child is becoming.

Each year, more than 900,000 American children experience some type of trauma physical or sexual abuse, community violence, family crises. For nearly two decades, Kennedy Krieger's Family Center has helped children in the Baltimore area recover from abuse, neglect, out-of-home placement and other traumatic events.

Realizing that a toddler may have a developmental delay could throw any family into turmoil. The questions seem endless: Where should you go for help? Will she learn to speak? Will he need special equipment to walk? What about school? Imagine how much more wrenching this process can become for immigrant families, who may already be grappling with issues such as language barriers, cultural confusion, job security and citizenship.

Adolescence isn't easy it's a tough road filled with all sorts of risky possibilities, from school failure and conflict with parents to more dangerous threats like involvement in drugs and gangs.

Each year, Kennedy Krieger Institute's Center for Development and Learning evaluates and treats several thousand children with ADHD. The evaluation includes a detailed medical, developmental and behavioral history of the child.

When today's Kennedy Krieger Institute first opened its doors in 1967, its leaders were expected to continue and improve the state-of-the-art treatment services already available to children with cerebral palsy at the Children's Rehabilitation Institute, the original facility that became Kennedy Krieger, and to extend those services to children with a variety of other neurodevelopment

Riding a bicycle comes as second nature to most 15-year-old boys. But for Richie Jacob, it was a major milestone. Three months earlier, Richie couldn't walk. He could barely talk. Doctors gave him a 50 percent chance of survival.

For years, people who suffered spinal cord injuries were told that the first six months of their recovery would paint an accurate picture of how they would live the rest of their lives. If a patient recovered any movement, it would probably be in those first few months and, nearly all experts believed, improvement after two years was impossible.

Little Eric Miller* had a rough start in life. Struggling with severe acid reflux from the time he was just a few days old, he spent much of his first few months shuttling from one doctor to another, enduring countless X-rays, CT scans and other tests. Mom Brenda Baker*, desperate to relieve his discomfort, decided to keep him propped up as much as possible, even putting him in his car seat to sleep. She began to notice that his head seemed larger than normal and tilted to the right.

Each year, more than 900,000 children in the United States experience physical or sexual abuse, community or domestic violence, neglect or abandonment. Many of these traumatic incidents occur within the caregiving system that is supposed to protect children.