Your Child's Brain

For children, social interaction isn’t just play—it’s brain-building. When children connect, share, and empathize, they are also strengthening the neural pathways that shape emotional intelligence, communication, cooperation, and lifelong learning. Join Brad Schlaggar, president and CEO of Kennedy Krieger Institute and his guests Drs. Maya Opendak and Tomomi Karigo as they discuss the development of our brains’ neural systems for social and emotional behavior, and the factors that can interrupt that development.

Parenting is one of the most important jobs—but most parents don’t get formal training. Many rely on what they learned growing up and figure things out along the way. While that works for some, others may struggle—especially when faced with challenging behaviors or uncertainty about how to support their child. Join Dr. Brad Schlaggar, president and CEO of Kennedy Krieger, along with Dr. Debbie Gross and Amie Bettencourt, as they explore the Chicago Parent Program—a proven, innovative approach that helps parents build skills and support their children’s mental health and well-being.

As students get ready to go back to school soon, Kennedy Krieger President and CEO Dr. Brad Schlaggar and his guest, Dr. Nancy Grasmick, former superintendent of schools for the state of Maryland, discuss educating students with neurodevelopmental concerns, the importance of training teachers to meet the needs of those students and what can be done to improve the educational outcomes of all students.

In this month’s episode of Your Child’s Brain Dr. Brad Schlaggar, President and CEO of Kennedy Krieger Institute, is joined by Jim Schmutz and Abby DiGilio from Special Olympics Maryland to discuss the power of sports and how participation in sports enables individuals with developmental disabilities to shatter stereotypes and succeed, not only on the playing field, but also in life.

What do we know about the health benefits of exercise and other physical activity for children? We know it builds strong muscles and bones, helps keep children at a healthy weight, and can contribute to better sleep. But wait—can regular exercise boost a child’s brain power? Find out when Dr. Brad Schlaggar, president and CEO of Kennedy Krieger, and his guest Dr. Autumn Ivy discuss the fascinating connection between physical activity and brain development in children.

We are in the midst of an unprecedented mental health crisis in this country that has especially impacted children. According to experts, an estimated one in five youth has an undiagnosed mental, emotional or behavioral disorder—yet many do not get the help they need. May is known as Children’s Mental Health Awareness Month and in this month’s episode of Your Child’s Brain, Dr. Brad Schlaggar is joined by Dr. Ernestine Briggs-King to discuss the impact that traumatic stress can have on a child’s social and cognitive development, academic performance and overall well-being.

April is known internationally as Autism Acceptance Month, providing an opportunity to think about and deepen our understanding of the complexities of this neurodevelopmental diagnosis and the varied lived experiences of people who have been diagnosed with autism. Over the decades since autism was first described, there have been there have been significant changes not only in how we diagnose autism, but also in our understanding of autism and its causes. To share this conversation during Autism Acceptance Month with Dr. Brad Schlaggar, President and CEO of Kennedy Krieger is his guest: Dr. Rebecca Landa, Founder and executive director of the Center for Autism Services, Science and Innovation.

This month marks five years since much of the United States was under a state of emergency due to the infectious disease COVID-19 and the virus that causes it, SARS-CoV-2. Thankfully, primarily due to vastly improved immunity resulting from vaccines and natural immunity, the mortality of COVID-19 has dropped significantly. But one of the most challenging consequences of the infection is the condition we refer to now as long COVID, a disabling legacy of the pandemic and the focus of this month’s episode of Your Child’s Brain- especially as it relates to children. Listen to Dr. Brad Schlaggar and his guest, Dr. Laura Malone, as they discuss what we have learned in the past five years and what is on the future for treating children with this condition.

February is Rare Disease Month---a month-long focus on rare diseases, culminating on rare disease day, February 28th. Currently more than 7,000 rare diseases have been identified with a significant proportion of them involving the developing brain and nervous system.

Discover how neuropsychologists help children overcome cognitive, emotional, and behavioral challenges. Dr. Brad Schlaggar and experts from Kennedy Krieger discuss the benefits of evaluations, joined by a parent sharing their experience.

Epilepsy is one of the most common serious neurologic disorders seen in children and adults, in fact, 1 in 26 people will develop epilepsy during their lifetime. It can occur on its own or alongside other health conditions of the brain. Despite it being relatively common, there are many myths, misunderstandings---as well as a great deal of stigma associated with epilepsy. Join Kennedy Krieger’s CEO Dr. Brad Schlaggar and his colleagues from the Institute and Johns Hopkins as they address those topics, as well as approaches to diagnosis and treatment, and what research holds in store for pediatric patients with epilepsy. Resources Kennedy Krieger epilepsy resources https://www.kennedykrieger.org/epilepsy-services-at-kennedy-krieger-institute/epilepsy-resources Epilepsy Foundation https://www.epilepsy.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We humans, typically, have 23 pairs of chromosomes. Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, we have an extra chromosome or we are missing one. Down syndrome, also known as Trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder that occurs when an individual has a full or partial extra copy of their 21st chromosome. Down syndrome is the most frequent of the chromosomal disorders in humans, occurring in approximately 1 in 700 births in the US. With improved care of often life-threatening clinical challenges, individuals with Down syndrome are living much longer. In this month’s podcast of Your Child’s Brain we are going to talk about Down Syndrome and especially focus on how the increased lifespan of those with Down syndrome is impacting treatment and research for people living with this diagnosis.   Resources · Down Syndrome Association of Maryland (dsamd.org) · National Down Syndrome Society (ndss.org) · National Down Syndrome Congress (ndsccenter.org) · Global Down Syndrome Foundation (https://www.globaldownsyndrome.org) · LuMind IDSC Foundation (https://lumindidsc.org) · NIH – research plan across the LifeSpan - Project INCLUDE for co-occurring medical conditions (www.nih.gov/include-project) · Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (nih.gov) · National Task Group on Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia Practices - Intellectual Disabilities and Dementia Resources | The NTG (the-ntg.org)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How does experience and one’s  environment influence the early development of our brains? We’ve known for a long time that  this question does not simply boil down to “Nature” vs “”nurture”, a false dichotomy. Instead, brain development might best be thought of as a cascading interaction between nature and nurture that unfolds over time. Twenty five years ago, the National Academy of Sciences published a landmark report called From Neurons to Neighborhoods which dove deep into this question.  In this month’s episode of Your Child’s Brain, join Dr. Brad Schlaggar and his guests.as they reflect on this influential report and discuss how early experiences, environments and exposures influence the developing brain early experiences, environments and exposures influence the developing brain.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Your Child’s Brain, Dr. Brad Schlaggar is joined by his Kennedy Krieger colleague, Dr. Doris Leung, to discuss a set of diseases of muscle that we refer to collectively as muscular dystrophy (MD). Muscular dystrophy is actually a group of rare genetic diseases that cause progressive weakness and degeneration of muscles. Overall, the muscular dystrophies vary in age of onset, severity, and the pattern of the affected muscles. A general principle shared by all forms of MD is that they grow worse over time as muscles progressively degenerate, atrophy, and weaken. For more information about muscular dystrophy, these resources might be helpful: · Kennedy Krieger Center for Genetic Muscle Disorders https://www.kennedykrieger.org/patient-care/centers-and-programs/center-for-genetic-muscle-disorders · Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy https://www.parentprojectmd.org/ ·Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation https://www.myotonic.org/ · FSHD Society https://www.fshdsociety.org/  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join Dr. Brad Schlaggar, president and CEO of Kennedy Krieger Institute and Dr. Lisa Carey, the Assistant Director of the Center for Innovation and Leadership in Special Education as well as an education specialist for the Neuropsychology Department at Kennedy Krieger. Accommodations for college require self-advocacy. It is the student themselves who must request those accommodations at the school—not the parents. Services such as occupational therapy, speech therapy, reading support, and instructional assistants, which may have been a part of a student’s IEP, are not a part of college accommodations. Additionally, since many students live on a college campus, there may be additional accommodations to consider for housing, dining, and recreation. Listen as they dive into the process of requesting accommodations and the importance of working with the college’s Disability Support office. Families need to start preparing their child early for this change so that students have the self-advocacy skills to be successful in college.   Resources for students and families: Understood.org has great resources for understanding disability services in higher education Kennedy Krieger has a guide specifically for college students with a history of cancer. The US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights offers a guide of student rights and responsibilities in postsecondary education. Edutopia has a helpful blog post on this topic.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the United States alone, there are nearly 20 million children with developmental, cognitive, behavioral, and/or learning disorders. It is widely recognized that the needs of children with these issues are growing in number and complexity while, at the same time, a critical shortage of access to physician specialists is resulting in delayed diagnoses, longer wait times for treatment and, consequently, poorer outcomes.  On this month’s episode, Kennedy Krieger president and CEO, Dr. Brad Schlaggar is joined by colleagues Dr. Miya Asato, a pediatric neurologist and Dr. Mary Leppert, a developmental pediatrician to discuss the critical shortage and what is being done to address it and more importantly, what parents can do. Resources: Center for Disease Control – Concerned about Your Child’s Development https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/concerned.html Learn the Signs – Act Early https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/index.html Milestone Tracker App https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones-app.htmlSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May is Children’s Mental Health Awareness month and as part of that recognition, join Dr. Brad Schlaggar, president and CEO of Kennedy Krieger and his guest Dr. Matt Edelstein, director of the Brief Treatment Clinic at the Institute, as they discuss challenging behaviors in children and how those behaviors can have a cascading impact at multiple levels of a family system. For the child, such behaviors can impede social, emotional, and academic functioning. For caregivers, they can influence stress, mood, feelings of confidence, and even undermine a sense of parental competence. Aggressive behaviors can cause injury. Finally, for the family as a whole, challenging behaviors can tax relationships and have negative repercussions both within and beyond the walls of the household.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

April is known internationally as Autism Acceptance Month. As part of that recognition, join Dr. Brad Schlaggar, president and CEO of Kennedy Krieger and his guests Drs. Amy Keefer and Roma Vasa from the Center for Autism, Services, Science and Innovation, to discuss the anxiety disorders common in individuals with autism and discuss why this population may be particularly vulnerable to the comorbid symptoms of anxiety, as well as treatment options and research being done in this field.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this month’s episode Kennedy Krieger President and CEO, Dr. Brad Schlaggar is joined by Dr. Janet Lam, a pediatric neurologist and an expert in sleep medicine and the director of the Sleep Disorders Clinic and Laboratory at Kennedy Krieger. The two will delve into sleep disorders in children, especially for those with neurodevelopmental conditions.  Resources Kennedy Krieger Sleep Disorders Clinic and Lab About Sleep Disorders National Sleep FoundationSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are over 7000 identified rare diseases that impact over 300 million people worldwide. And a disproportionate number of those rare diseases affect the developing brain and nervous system. Having any given rare disease is indeed rare. But having a rare disease is, in fact common. February, is rare disease awareness month and the last day of February is recognized internationally as Rare Disease Day.  For this month’s episode, Dr. Brad Schlaggar, pediatric neurologist, and president and CEO of Kennedy Krieger Institute is joined by Dr. Anne Comi, a pediatric neurologist, to discuss a specific rare disease and some potentially very promising progress in its treatment. Additionally, we will hear from Megan Lewis, mother of Tucker, who shares some insights of their journey with a rare disease. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.