Improving Parenting to Promote School Readiness: A Preliminary Evaluation of the Books Can…© Public Library Program

The present study examines associations between parents’ involvement in an enhanced storytime program and parenting knowledge and efficacy for supporting their child’s socioemotional development and book reading. Books Can…© was developed by a public library to teach parents important child development information and strategies for supporting their child’s socioemotional learning. Parents and their young children participated in a 6-week interactive program that included book reading, songs, interactive activities, and parenting tips. Parents (n =119) completed questionnaires both prior to and after participating in the program. Multilevel general linear models compared responses to survey items before and after the program, indicating significant increases in parent knowledge, attitudes, and reading behavior by the end of the program. This study provides preliminary support documenting the benefits of the Books Can…© program. Moreover, results highlight public libraries and enhanced storytime programs as meaningful settings for promoting family involvement in children’s early learning

Peers Emotionality and Childrens Academic Achievement in Second Grade: Testing the Moderating Role of Childrens Behavioral Self-Regulation.

Although there is interest in the role of peers in childrens schooling experiences, few researchers have examined associations and related underlying processes between peers emotionality, an aspect of temperament, and childrens academic achievement. This study evaluated whether target childrens (N = 260) own self-regulation, assessed with two behavioral measures, served a moderating function for associations between peers emotionality and childrens own academic achievement in second grade. There was a positive association between peers positive emotionality and reading scores for children with higher self-regulation. Peers negative emotionality was negatively related to target childrens reading scores, particularly for children with higher self-regulation levels, but was unrelated to math scores. Peers positive and negative emotionality did not predict math scores, and there was no strong evidence for the moderating role of target childrens self-regulation in this association. This study highlights the potential role of childrens self-regulation in modulating peer effects on academic achievement, particularly reading

Post-intervention Status in Patients With Refractory Myasthenia Gravis Treated With Eculizumab During REGAIN and Its Open-Label Extension

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether eculizumab helps patients with anti-acetylcholine receptor-positive (AChR+) refractory generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG) achieve the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America (MGFA) post-intervention status of minimal manifestations (MM), we assessed patients' status throughout REGAIN (Safety and Efficacy of Eculizumab in AChR+ Refractory Generalized Myasthenia Gravis) and its open-label extension. METHODS: Patients who completed the REGAIN randomized controlled trial and continued into the open-label extension were included in this tertiary endpoint analysis. Patients were assessed for the MGFA post-intervention status of improved, unchanged, worse, MM, and pharmacologic remission at defined time points during REGAIN and through week 130 of the open-label study. RESULTS: A total of 117 patients completed REGAIN and continued into the open-label study (eculizumab/eculizumab: 56; placebo/eculizumab: 61). At week 26 of REGAIN, more eculizumab-treated patients than placebo-treated patients achieved a status of improved (60.7% vs 41.7%) or MM (25.0% vs 13.3%; common OR: 2.3; 95% CI: 1.1-4.5). After 130 weeks of eculizumab treatment, 88.0% of patients achieved improved status and 57.3% of patients achieved MM status. The safety profile of eculizumab was consistent with its known profile and no new safety signals were detected. CONCLUSION: Eculizumab led to rapid and sustained achievement of MM in patients with AChR+ refractory gMG. These findings support the use of eculizumab in this previously difficult-to-treat patient population. CLINICALTRIALSGOV IDENTIFIER: REGAIN, NCT01997229; REGAIN open-label extension, NCT02301624. CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: This study provides Class II evidence that, after 26 weeks of eculizumab treatment, 25.0% of adults with AChR+ refractory gMG achieved MM, compared with 13.3% who received placebo

Minimal Symptom Expression' in Patients With Acetylcholine Receptor Antibody-Positive Refractory Generalized Myasthenia Gravis Treated With Eculizumab

The efficacy and tolerability of eculizumab were assessed in REGAIN, a 26-week, phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody-positive (AChR+) refractory generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG), and its open-label extension

Racial, Ethnic, and Sociodemographic Disparities in Diagnosis of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

AbstractThis special article uses a biosocial-ecological framework to discuss findings in the literature on racial, ethnic, and sociodemographic diagnostic disparities in autism spectrum disorder. We draw explanations from this framework on the complex and cumulative influences of social injustices across interpersonal and systemic levels

Racial, Ethnic, and Sociodemographic Disparities in Diagnosis of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

AbstractThis special article uses a biosocial-ecological framework to discuss findings in the literature on racial, ethnic, and sociodemographic diagnostic disparities in autism spectrum disorder. We draw explanations from this framework on the complex and cumulative influences of social injustices across interpersonal and systemic levels

The role of infant and early childhoos mental health consultation in reducing racial and gender relational and discipline disparities beween Black and white preschoolers

This study presents findings from an Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) initiative in Arizona called Smart Support. The IECMHC used an early childhood mental health consultation model as an early childhood education intervention to address the needs of preschoolers with challenging behaviors. Disparities in teacher-child relationships and discipline are some of the most persistent racial disparities impacting young Black children. The goal of IECMHC is to facilitate teachers\u27 skills to respond to challenging child behavior and to shift teachers\u27 internal representations of young children. This study is one of the first to link a statewide IECMHC intervention to the analysis of racial and gender teacher-child relational and discipline disparities. Multilevel growth analyses examined whether child scores at baseline and growth over time differed as a function of child race and gender. At baseline, Black children, compared to white peers, and Black boys, compared to white boys, had higher teacher-child conflict scores. These scores decreased more strongly over the course of IECMHC such that Black children\u27s outcomes surpassed those of white peers by the end of consultation. A trend was also seen for the reduction of Black boys\u27 preschool expulsion risk, although this trend was only marginally significant

An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence in Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics

AbstractTechnological breakthroughs, together with the rapid growth of medical information and improved data connectivity, are creating dramatic shifts in the health care landscape, including the field of developmental and behavioral pediatrics. While medical information took an estimated 50 years to double in 1950, by 2020, it was projected to double every 73 days. Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered health technologies, once considered theoretical or research-exclusive concepts, are increasingly being granted regulatory approval and integrated into clinical care. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has cleared or approved over 160 health-related AI-based devices to date. These trends are only likely to accelerate as economic investment in AI health care outstrips investment in other sectors. The exponential increase in peer-reviewed AI-focused health care publications year over year highlights the speed of growth in this sector. As health care moves toward an era of intelligent technology powered by rich medical information, pediatricians will increasingly be asked to engage with tools and systems underpinned by AI. However, medical students and practicing clinicians receive insufficient training and lack preparedness for transitioning into a more AI-informed future. This article provides a brief primer on AI in health care. Underlying AI principles and key performance metrics are described, and the clinical potential of AI-driven technology together with potential pitfalls is explored within the developmental and behavioral pediatric health context

The relations of White parents' implicit racial attitudes to their children's differential empathic concern toward White and Black victims.

The goal of this study was to investigate the relations between White parents' implicit racial attitudes and their children's racially based bias in empathic concern toward White and Black victims of injustice as well as the moderating role of children's age in this relation. Children aged 5-9 years (N = 190) reported how sorry (i.e., sympathy) and nervous (i.e., personal distress) they felt after watching sympathy-inducing videos in which either a White (non-Hispanic) child or a Black child was teased by peers. Participants' primary caregivers (mostly mothers) completed a computerized Implicit Association Test to assess their implicit racial attitudes. Parents' implicit race bias was associated with their children's reported sympathy toward Black victims and their sympathetic bias (i.e., relative sympathy toward White vs. Black victims); however, results were moderated by children's age. Specifically, parents with higher implicit race bias tended to have children with lower levels of sympathy toward Black victims for younger children and higher levels of sympathetic bias for younger and average-aged children but not for older children. Older children tended to report relatively high levels of sympathy toward Black victims and low levels of sympathetic bias regardless of their parents' implicit attitudes. The importance of parents' implicit attitudes in understanding young children's race-based moral emotional responses and the implications for intervention work are discussed