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  • As extracurricular activities get underway, remember what’s important

    As the school year revs into high gear again, our schedules have already begun to fill up with activities: sports practices and games, after-school clubs, tutoring, Boys Scouts, Girl Scouts, youth groups. Sometimes it feels like a full-time job just getting kids to and from all of their extracurricular activities. It’s not too difficult to become a slave to our children’s schedules.

  • Do your kids need a multivitamin?

    It’s hard not to agonize over what our kids eat. There are days when I meticulously pack a healthy lunch for my preschooler, and she comes home having eaten everything EXCEPT the fruits and vegetables. And sometimes, we’ll sit at the dinner table, and she’s not interested in a single bite. This is pretty normal toddler behavior, but it tends to make moms crazy. We worry that they’re not getting enough nutrients, enough good stuff to keep their growing bodies healthy, so it makes sense to ask the question: do they need a multivitamin?

  • Gearing up for hurricane season

    Every afternoon, as the dark clouds roll in, I can’t help but wonder, “when will this rain ever go away?” But, if you live in Florida, like I do, you have probably accepted the fact the rain is here to stay. And on the days when the thunder and lightning seem unusually intense, I often anticipate a potential hurricane on the horizon. Yes, I said it – hurricane. Hurricane season officially began June 1st and is expected to last until November 30th. And weather experts are already projecting this year’s hurricane season to be a bumpy ride – estimating as many as six storms that could result in major hurricanes.

  • Going back to school and back to the pediatrician

    Since the start of school is right around the corner for families in central Florida, many of us will be taking our children to the pediatrician for an annual visit. Even if your child is completely healthy and hasn’t been sick in a very long time, it is still important to call and make that appointment with the pediatrician every year. I would recommend calling earlier in the summer to schedule an appointment with your pediatrician, since there are usually fewer sick children that come in over the summer, and more appointment times may be available. You will also avoid the big rush of patients trying to see the doctor for annual check-ups right before school starts in the fall.

  • Is going "gluten-free" just a fad?

    I remember when my great-aunt Sally came to visit, she would often bring her own bread and a tub of margarine or stick of butter. If we went out to eat to a place like Pizza Hut, she would order a salad with no croutons. When the salad arrived with croutons, she would send it back and have them remake it without them. Aunt Sally had celiac disease; a condition that damages the lining of the small intestine, causing malabsorption of nutrients after a protein called “gluten” is consumed. Even the tiniest crumb of a gluten-containing food caused Aunt Sally a lot pain.

    How common is celiac disease?

    An estimated 1% of the population in the United States has celiac disease, and 97% of those affected by celiac disease are undiagnosed. In Florida, that means approximately 195,000 people have celiac disease, but fewer than 6,000 of them know it. In one study looking at the prevalence of celiac disease in the U.S., 29 of the 35 people found with celiac disease did not know they had it prior to the study. 

  • Prevent those "terrible twos" by easing communication frustrations

    One of the most frequent referrals we receive for a speech-language assessment is for the two-year-old child who “does not talk.” The parent interview usually reveals that both the parents and the toddler are at their whit’s end, experiencing daily frustrations due to communication breakdown. Luckily, there’s usually a pretty easy way to alleviate this problem; an augmentative means of communication (AAC).

  • School is in session. Are you ready?

    Every summer seems to bring it’s own challenges: keeping the kids busy, finding the right camps and activities for them, and hopefully having a little family fun - all within two months! Even though the summers are busy, they bring us all a breather from homework, science projects, making lunches, teacher conferences, after school practices, reading every night (oh, wait, we were supposed to do that all summer, too, right?!). And suddenly, here we are, it’s mid August and whether we are ready or not, it’s time to jump into another school year.

  • The benefits of finding a good support group

    As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker at The Hewell Kids’ Kidney Center at Arnold Palmer Hospital, I have many teenage patients express to me that they feel lonely, isolated, and different. They feel that that no one understands what they are going through, and sometimes, they don’t even know what they are going through, or what to expect in the future. They express feelings of grief from losing some of the freedom they once enjoyed and the carefree attitude they once had. Many of these young patients show symptoms of depression and anxiety, too.

  • Is violence an infectious disease?

    Newtown. Aurora. Oak Creek.

  • Keep your kids movin'!

    Growing up, recess was always one of my favorite times during the day. It was a chance to catch a break from the classroom and run around and play with my friends. And in my playground, there were so many activities to choose from! Do we play fort in the tire tower, or a friendly game of soccer? Or do we simply find a spot in the shade and talk about “life’s problems”?