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School meals system failing needy children

New research just published by researchers at the University of Dundee demonstrates that the current system of free school meals is failing many of the most needy children.

28 Sep 2005

New centre to advance child health research

The Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Institute of Child Health (ICH) at UCL (University College London) have announced a partnership to establish a centre for research to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting children's health, and to promote their health and well-being.

27 Sep 2005

Findings explain why abused children are often so distracted at school

Even the subtlest hints of anger or hostility in their environment sets physically abused children on prolonged 'alert', even if a conflict has nothing to do with them.

27 Sep 2005

How you interact with your children when they're just starting kindergarten helps determine their behavior by the time they finish fourth grade

The study, from researchers at Wichita State University in Kansas, found that early parent-child relationships, including warmth, good communication and parental tracking of child behavior, serve as important building blocks for later monitoring (knowing where your child is, with whom, and what he or she is doing outside the home) later in childhood.

27 Sep 2005

Stuttering is best treated early

About 5% of children begin to stutter, usually in the third and fourth years of life. The consensus is that early intervention in the preschool years is necessary, but evidence to support this is currently lacking.

26 Sep 2005

Abused children have a tendency to focus and respond to even subtle signs of anger from others

A large body of research finds that physically abused children have a very high risk of developing emotional and behavioral problems later in life.

26 Sep 2005

Stopping UK BCG vaccination well justified

From autumn 2005, the long running routine programme to vaccinate school children against tuberculosis with BCG vaccine will stop. This decision brings the UK into line with much of the rest of the world and is well justified, writes Professor Paul Fine in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

26 Sep 2005

Five-year-olds are able to grasp numeric abstractions and arithmetic concepts

Psychologists at Harvard University have found that five-year-olds are able to grasp numeric abstractions and arithmetic concepts even without the formal education or language to express this knowledge in words.

26 Sep 2005

Halloween often lost on young kids

Halloween may seem like so much harmless fun, a time when adults enjoy laughing in the face of death, and implore their young children to do the same. According to a Penn State researcher, however, the humor of tombstones, monsters and other scary elements is often lost on kids at the ripe age of 6 or 7--many of whom don't find the holiday the least bit funny.

26 Sep 2005

Peer victimization may lead to psychological problems

The long-term effects of teasing or harassment by their peers on pre-adolescent children - specifically, depression and anxiety - are related, in part, to the level of victimization at the end of fourth grade, as well as to how much that harassment increased or decreased between fourth and sixth grade, according to a study published in the September/October issue of the journal Child Development.

26 Sep 2005

Quality of everyday experiences in schools can greatly reduce children's academic and social problems

Take a young child at high risk of doing poorly in the elementary school years, put him or her in a classroom with a great teacher, and that child will do just as well as children who have no such risks.

26 Sep 2005

Pediatricians may fail to diagnose obesity in kids

Many physicians may be missing the chance to talk to obese children and their parents about ways to control the children's weight, according to Saint Louis University research reported in Pediatrics.

21 Sep 2005

Kids at risk of TV / videogame seizures

The Epilepsy Foundation today issued new recommendations for families on how to limit the risk of seizures triggered by flashing images and certain patterns on television, videogames, computers and other video screens.

19 Sep 2005

Need for more outdoor play spaces so that children could have more choice over materials, locations and playmates

Young children may be missing out on 'pretend' games like pirates and spacemen due to the demands of the school curriculum, according to research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

12 Sep 2005

Recommendation that parents limit television viewing of Katrina disaster for children under 12 years of age

The devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina have been felt across the country during the past weeks. Thousands of children are survivors of Katrina, while millions of others around the country have observed horrific sights via media coverage.

10 Sep 2005

Improper use of seat belts puts kids at risk

New South Wales Special Minister of State, John Della Bosca, announced this week the results of new research which shows an alarming number of children are being put at risk through the improper use of seat belts and child restraints.

10 Sep 2005

Afghan refugee children and young adults prone to injury

Pakistan is home to 2 million Afghan refugees who fled a communist coup and Soviet occupation in 1978. A study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins University found that Afghan refugees under the age of 29 years experience more injuries than their older counterparts and children in developed countries.

10 Sep 2005

Parents advised to turn off the TV, encourage outdoor play

If mothers of preschoolers perceive their neighborhood as unsafe, their children tend to watch more television, but differ little in amounts of outdoor play or overweight, compared to peers in safer neighborhoods. Drawing from a study of three-year-olds in 20 U.S. cities, researchers reported these findings in the September issue of Pediatrics.

7 Sep 2005

Researchers to study information technology impact on children

Michigan State University researchers will use a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to better understand the nature and extent of children's information technology (IT) use and how using IT is affecting them.

6 Sep 2005