first becomes apparent when kids enter
school and their behavior is observed
in relation to their peers. “ADHD can
be tricky to assess. Teachers, parents,
and doctors all work together to make
the diagnosis,” says Dr. Castellanos.
Being 6 rather than 5 can make a big
difference when it comes to being
able to sit quietly, so the developmentally
appropriate ants-in-the-pants of a
younger kid may seem like a behavioral
issue. “This study suggests we need
to be thoughtful about age when we’re
making diagnostic and treatment
decisions,” Dr. Castellanos says. But the
findings shouldn’t be seen as a reason
to redshirt all kids when considering
whether to wait before starting school.The HPV vaccine’s
benefits are clear.The research: The human papillomavirus
(HPV) is a sexually transmitted infection
that can cause genital warts as well as
cervical, penile, and other cancers. A
study in Pediatrics by researchers at the
University of Cincinnati tracked 1,600
teenage girls and young women over a
decade and found that those who’d been
vaccinated had an 81 percent lower rate
of HPV infection.
Why it’s important: The shot has now
been around for 13 years, but many
pa rent s remain leery of what they perceive
as a newcomer. “They tell me they don’t
want their child to be a guinea pig,” says
Dr. Hill. Although the vaccination is
recommended for girls and boys ages
11 to 12 (and as young as age 9), only
43 percent of adolescents have been
fully vaccinated. This study provides
reassuring real-world evidence that
it works, says Lewis First, M.D., editor-
in-chief of Pediatrics. “Getting your
son or daughter vaccinated during ea rly
adolescence can greatly reduce the
chance of getting certain cancers
down the road.” And a separate study
showed that vaccinated kids are no more
likely to engage in earlier or riskier
sexual activity. In other words, teens
aren’t viewing the vaccine as the green
light to start having sex or to toss
the condom box. So go for the vaccine.
You’ve got nothing to lose.Talking with you
is what builds your child’s
language skills.The research: Cognitive scientists at
MIT tested the verbal skills of kids
between ages 4 and 6, and recorded and
analyzed how the children and their
parents chatted with each other at home.
The biggest factor in a child’s verbal
score was the number of back-and-forth
exchanges he or she had with adults,
not the number of individual words
heard at home.
Why it’s important: It was once believed
that kids learned language merely by
overhearing lots of it, says Jennifer
Lansford, Ph.D., a research professor at
the Sanford School of Public Policy
at Duke University and an editor of
Developmental Psychology. This study
is part of a body of evidence suggesting
that good old conversation with your
kid is what’s most important. “Starting
from infancy, children learn grammar,
vocabulary, and comprehension
better when you talk with them than if
they are just passively listening,” says
Dr. Lansford. The most enriching
conversations follow a child’s lead. For
instance, if your toddler says, “Car!”
reply in ways that build on that: “Yes,
that is a red car. Do you see a blue car?”
Kids who are young for their
grade are more likely
to be diagnosed with ADHD.The research: Many states have a cutoff
birthdate of September 1 for kids to
enter kindergarten. That means those
who were born in August, right before
the cutoff, can be nearly a year younger
than classmates with a September
birthday. A study in the New England
Journal of Medicine using insurance
data from more than 400,000 kids found
that August-birthday kids in these
states were diagnosed and treated for
ADHD at higher rates than their peers
born in September.
Why it’s important: ADHD rates have
climbed over the past decades, and
experts don’t know if that trend is partly
due to overdiagnosis. The condition often
And Did You Hear
This One?
Experts may not change
their current advice based on
these findings, but
the studies are interesting
and encouraging!When moms and kids
completed a frustrating Lego task
together, kids were more upbeat if
their mom expressed her own
negative emotions about the task in
a healthy way rather than trying
to hide them, found a study from
Washington State University.
So give up that Pollyanna act. Kids
pick up on your moods, and
it’s confusing when you try to act
like everything’s fine.Time to crank up Spotify!
Kids who grew up listening to music
together with their parents
reported better relationships with
them when they reached young
adulthood, according to a
study published in the Journal of
Family Communication.A Pediatrics study found
that 43 percent of 1-year-olds still
don’t sleep eight consecutive hours
at night. (You’re not alone!)
Reassuringly, nighttime wakers were
on track with their solid-sleeping
peers on measures of cognitive,
language, and motor development.Kids often freak if their
carrots touch their potatoes, and
science shows a gender bias may be
at play: A study from the University
of Copenhagen found that 7-
and 8-year-old girls preferred their
foods to be separate rather than
mixed, but boys didn’t care. Maybe
the boys were hungrier?Nothing beats a dog-eared
Dr. Seuss fave. A study from the
University of Michigan found that
parents and toddlers talked and
interacted more when they
read a print book together rather
than an e-book. When reading from a
screen, parents were less likely
to ask questions or make comments
about the story line.PARENTS 32 SEPTEMBER 2019
KIDSÑHealth