As I was preparing for a parent conference, gathering information on autism and making copies to provide to the parents, I realized I was anxious. My stomach was in knots and I asked myself why I was nervous. It dawned on me that I was getting ready once again to tell parents that their child has autism. My Read more
Pediatrics
EDITORS’ NOTE: The following post first appeared in The Conversation. “Mr. and Mrs. Smith, we finally have an answer for you.” The couple, whose real names we are protecting for privacy, looked at me anxiously. I had been evaluating their young daughter, Sally, in my role as a medical geneticist at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in Read more
EDITORS’ NOTE: This post first appeared in Bronx Voice. “Nothing about us, without us.” In Spanish we would say, “Nada sobre nosotros, sin nosotros.” No matter the language, the meaning of this powerful statement remains the same. Originating centuries ago, and later recognized as the mantra of the disability rights movement, it speaks to the core premise that Read more
On the morning of January 7, 2022, I woke up to a winter wonderland. I usually welcome snow—but on that day it inspired worry, not wonder. I am a first-year developmental-behavioral pediatrics fellow at Einstein’s Rose F. Kennedy Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (RFK-CERC), where 32 of our 5- to 11-year-old patients with autism and Read more
I’m often asked, “How do you cure stuttering?” This question is charged with judgment. It renders stuttering a black-and-white issue, ignoring the condition’s many complexities. It is a view that polarizes the matter completely: stuttering = bad; fluency = good. This dichotomy is missing a glaring piece―the individual. So let’s view stuttering in a more Read more
When I was much younger and trying to decide what to do with my life, I thought I wanted to be a lawyer. That changed the day my high school civics class held a mock trial and I was selected as the “prosecutor.” Almost immediately, I discovered I didn’t have the makeup to be a Read more
