Health/Medical Research

More children today have a disability than a decade ago, and the greatest increase is among kids in higher-income families, according to a new study.

A recent study by pediatricians examined to what extent pediatric physicians adhere to American Academy of Pediatrics clinical guidelines regarding pharmacotherapy in treating young patients with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The results showed that more than 90 percent of medical specialists who diagnose and manage ADHD in preschoolers do not follow treatment guidelines recently published by the AAP.

Opposing thumbs, expressive faces, complex social systems: it's hard to miss the similarities between apes and humans. Now a new study with a troop of zoo baboons and lots of peanuts shows that a less obvious trait -- the ability to understand numbers -- also is shared by humans and their primate cousins.

When children with conduct problems see images of others in pain, key parts of their brains don't react in the way they do in most people. This pattern of reduced brain activity upon witnessing pain may serve as a neurobiological risk factor for later adult psychopathy, say researchers.

The HPV vaccine can prevent both cervical cancer and a nasty sexually transmitted disease in women. But emphasizing the STD prevention will persuade more young women to get the vaccine.

The biggest study of fetal growth and autism to date has reported that babies whose growth is at either extreme in the womb, either very big or very small, are at greater risk of developing autism. 

Young adults with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more likely to be socially isolated. That’s the finding of new research that studies the social outcomes of young adults with an ASD.

The Early Start Denver Model, a comprehensive behavioral early intervention program that is appropriate for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as young as 12 months, has been found to reduce the need for ASD therapies and special education services through the school years following their early intervention compared to early intervention services typically available in the community.

There is a clear link between children’s use of humor and their susceptibility to being bullied by their peers, according to a major new study.

Children who did not receive enough iodine in the womb performed worse on literacy tests as 9-year-olds than their peers, according to a recent study.

Childhood adversity can lead to chronic physical and mental disability in adult life and have an effect on the next generation, underscoring the importance of research, practice and policy in addressing this issue, according to a new article.

Most infants respond to a game of peek-a-boo with smiles at the very least, and, for those who find the activity particularly entertaining, gales of laughter. For infants with autism spectrum disorders, however, the game can be distressing rather than pleasant, and they'll do their best to tune out all aspects of it -- and that includes the people playing with them.

Smoking prevention in schools reduces the number of young people who will later become smokers, according to a new systematic review. For young people who have never smoked, these programs appear to be effective at least one year after implementation.

Scientists have identified how a defective protein plays a central role in a rare, lethal childhood disease known as giant axonal neuropathy, or GAN. GAN is an extremely rare and untreatable genetic disorder that strikes the central and peripheral nervous systems of young children.

Suppose you hear someone say, "The man gave the ice cream the child." Does that sentence seem plausible? Or do you assume it is missing a word? Such as: "The man gave the ice cream to the child." People use an array of strategies to make sense of confusing statements.

Researchers have found that children hear more complex language from parents when they read a storybook with only pictures compared to a picture-vocabulary book.

Children who are exposed to negative parenting -- including abuse, neglect but also overprotection -- are more likely to experience childhood bullying by their peers, according to a meta-analysis of 70 studies of more than 200,000 children.

Young adults reduce their overall prescription drug misuse up to 65 percent if they are part of a community-based prevention effort while still in middle school, according to researchers.

New research findings show that “redshirting” in kindergarten – the practice of delaying for a year a child’s entry into kindergarten – is not happening at the rate previously reported.

Examining social factors is vital to better explaining and understanding the dramatic rise in the number of Americans diagnosed with mental disorders in recent years, according to a new analysis.