Institute Publications

Here at the Institute, the work we do is rooted in the belief that all children, regardless of a disability, should have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Our website and magazine are filled with stories of how our physicians, nurses, therapists, and teachers help to unlock the potential of patients and students through innovative and compassionate care, education and research.

Music lovers and families came out to rock ‘n’ roll for a good cause at the sixth annual Bands on the Bay event May 1. The annual fundraiser for the Hunter Nelson Sturge-Weber Center at the Kennedy Krieger Institute featured music by the Doug Segree Band; Orlando Phillips, a Caribbean music steel drum musician, and former lead vocalist of Caribbean music group Mama Jama; the Fitzmaurice Band; and solo artist, Adam Day. The Washington Redskins cheerleaders also made a special appearance.

To raise awareness and critical funds for autism research, Kennedy Krieger Institute held its seventh annual ROAR for Autism on May 1, at Oregon Ridge Park in Cockeysville, Md.

Any parent who’s ever struggled to put a child to bed— whether as an infant or a teenager—knows well the effects that poor sleep habits can have on an entire household. For some children the trouble might be something as common as difficulty falling asleep. For others, perhaps night terrors or sleep walking. In children with developmental disabilities, sleep disorders are all too common and run the gamut.

In fact, says Dr. Jennifer Accardo, name a developmental disability, and there is probably a set of sleep problems that typically accompanies it.

For years, Albright hereditary osteodystrophy lurked in the shadows of the developmental disorder world, obscure and unrecognizable to many physicians. Affecting an estimated fewer than 200,000 patients across the United States, the disease was virtually as difficult to diagnose as it was to treat, often leaving patients uncertain of their futures and how to lead healthy, quality lives.

Given a choice, Kevin Sargeant says he could do without all of the independence and opportunities that adulthood promises. But adulthood, it seems, is coming for him nonetheless.

From the beginning, and without hesitation, Katherine Wilkerson always offered her unwavering support of anything her son Taylor wanted to do. The thing is, though, until the age of 9, there was never much of anything the boy was too interested in trying.

Laying in a hospital bed on a Sunday night, Morgan Dunnigan believed her parents and physician when they said she would wake up the next morning for a surgery that promised to make the pain in her neck disappear, make the tumor hurting her spine go away, make everything better.

They couldn’t have been more wrong.

It was a perfect day at the beach. The sun was shining, and the water was just right. Ben and his friends splashed in the waves and built sand castles, while his mom Joanne and the other parents chatted under the umbrellas, keeping a watchful eye on the children. But as the day came to a close, everyone headed back to the house, just a few blocks away.

The most basic definition of the word “potential” is a possibility that’s capable of existing in reality.

At Kennedy Krieger, it seems we’re redefining what those possibilities are.