Research In Action

In honor of National Injury Prevention Day, we wanted to share some of our previous blog posts highlighting injury prevention strategies for children with neurodevelopmental differences. 

Children with neurodevelopmental differences are at higher risk for unintentional and intentional injuries, due to a number of factors:

• Behaviors such as impulsivity, hyperactivity, anxiety, and/or aggression (which can associated with ADHD, autism spectrum disorders, and other neurobehavioral diagnoses)
• Developmental challenges related to differences in communication, cognition, or executive function skills
• Environments that are not adapted to the individual needs of youth with neurodevelopmental differences (including school, home, and in the community).

Parents, caregivers, and health care providers need to understand the factors that increase and strategies that can help to reduce the risk of injuries. Primary care providers play an especially important role in promoting the safety of children with neurodevelopmental differences by offering anticipatory guidance, counseling, treatment, and making appropriate referrals. 

Road Traffic Safety in Children with Neurodevelopmental Differences

In this post, I share tips for teaching road traffic safety to children with neurodevelopmental differences. 

Keeping Autistic Children Safe While Sleeping

Sifting through options for safety beds can be challenging. In this post, an adaptive equipment specialist at CHOP discusses what factors to consider when choosing a specialty bed to keep kids from wandering during the night. 

Implementing Suicide Screening In a Specialty Clinic 

I describe how our developmental and behavioral pediatric practice adopted a new workflow to screen for suicidal thoughts and behaviors in our patients. 

Staying Buckled: Child Passenger Restraint in Children with Challenging Behaviors

In this post, one of our injury prevention specialists shares strategies for addressing common child restraint challenges facing families of children with behavioral differences.