In England, the national mortality review programme for people with intellectual disabilities, the LeDeR programme, was established in 2015. The programme supports local areas to review the deaths of all people with intellectual disabilities aged 4 years and over. Each death has an initial review; if indicated, a full multi-agency review takes…

Autistic advocates emphasise the need for neurodiversity-affirming and strengths-based approaches to support services; however, little is known about broader community perspectives regarding the appropriateness of offering early support services to autistic children. This co-designed mixed-methods study employed surveys to gather insights from 253…

Background: Among the different modalities of family support, home visiting programs have proved to be one of the most effective secondary prevention models for families involved in child welfare services. Despite the promising outcomes and the extensive available literature, further research is needed to investigate target population…

The Families Forward Demonstration (FFD) examined new strategies to increase the earnings of parents who owe child support but are unable to fully meet their obligations due to low earnings. It also focused on "responsive" child support services that helped parents understand their support obligations, and even suspended certain…

Background: Relief of pain and suffering is an important responsibility of nurses caring for children, and intravenous cannula insertions is the most common sources of pain in hospitalized children. Distraction is recommended to help in minimizing the discomfort of painful procedures. The aim of the study is to examine the effects of pressing a…

Purpose: We used data from the National Survey of Children's Health to (1) examine differences in economic hardship and safety net program use after the implementation of federal relief efforts, and (2) assess whether the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated autism-based disparities in hardship and program use. Methods: We examined five dimensions of…

Systems navigation can be difficult, especially for low-resourced families (i.e., families who are "low income" or meet one of the following indicators: mother has a high school diploma or less; primary caregiver is unemployed; or the family receives governmental assistance). Navigators may help families access services; however, the…

Food insecurity is the leading indicator of well-being for vulnerable children in the United States due to the magnitude of the problem (9.3 million in 2021) and the associated numerous negative health and other consequences. Given the magnitude of food insecurity and its health consequences, food insecurity is a leading contributor to health…

Given existing barriers to a timely autism diagnosis, this study compares the efficiency and equity of diagnoses conducted in-person vs. telehealth in a developmental behavioral pediatrics setting. The transition to telehealth was prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Eleven months of clinic data in electronic medical records were retrospectively…

Children with emotional disturbance have historically poor outcomes, including separate school environments, exclusion from school due to disciplinary actions, high dropout rates, poor employment outcomes, and incarceration. Therefore, it is imperative that children displaying early warning signs for risk of emotional disturbance receive effective…

Mental health literacy (MHL) encompasses understanding mental health and learning how to obtain and maintain good mental health. Increasing MHL may increase help-seeking behaviors and positive mental health. This study aimed to identify school-based MHL interventions for children/youth using a scoping review methodology following the Johanna…

The breadth of available non-pharmacological interventions for autistic children, with varying evidence for efficacy summarised in multiple systematic reviews, creates challenges for parents, practitioners, and policymakers in navigating the research evidence. In this article, we report the findings of an umbrella review of 58 systematic reviews…

Exposure to trauma at a younger age has been associated with an increased likelihood of developing PTSD. School-based interventions have been utilized to address traumatic stress and PTSD symptoms in children. However, to date, no meta-analyses have been performed to evaluate the strength of intervention impacts on PTS symptoms in school-aged…

Purpose: The purpose of this DNP project was to increase primary care providers' knowledge of food insecurity in pediatric patients by developing and presenting an evidence-based educational presentation on food insecurity. Background: In the United States in 2021, rates of food insecurity in households with children were reported at 6.1 million.…

Community engaged learning has demonstrated educational benefits and is an especially promising method to engage a diverse group of students in engineering. In this work, we present toy adaptation for children with disabilities as a novel community engaged learning tool. According to students surveyed, this process is enjoyable, demonstrates the…