your child HEALTH
Beware of Dogs Every year, dogs bite more than
400,000 children. These little-known facts might surprise you.
MYTH FACT
Stray dogs are The majority of dog bites are caused by a child’s own pet or by a dog
most likely to bite. she knows, often after she disturbs or provokes the animal.
Dogs typically
bite children on
their hands or
on their fingers.
Kids are most likely to get bitten on the head, neck, or face.
“Young children like to put their face right up to a dog’s,” says
Parents advisor Dennis R. Durbin, M. D., director of research,
emergency medicine at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Kids can get rabies
from dog bites.
Thanks to widespread vaccination, dogs in the U. S. (even strays) don’t
have rabies anymore. Wild animals, though, still can carry the disease.
—Pamela Kramer
Deaf kids who
receive cochlear
implants report an
improved quality
of life—and the
younger the age at
which they receive
them, the better,
finds a new study
in the Journal of
Speech, Language,
and Hearing
Research.
Color Confusion Telling shades apart is hard for some kids, and it can make school di cult.
If your child mixes up the chocolate syrup with ketchup or trouble with color-related projects,” says Mary Louise Collins,
colors the ocean violet, this might not be creative genius at M.D., a pediatric ophthalmologist in Towson, Maryland.
work. He may actually be color-blind. Kids with this inherited Make sure your child has a vision screening by age 5, and
condition have trouble di erentiating among certain sooner if you notice a problem. Color vision is often not part of
hues—most commonly red and green. While someone with a routine exam, so ask for the test—a series of pictures made up
normal vision can identify more than 100 shades, someone of colored dots with hidden shapes that only a kid with normal
who is severely color-blind might see only a handful. color vision can see. If your pediatrician suspects a problem,
It’s important to diagnose color blindness early because she’ll refer you to a specialist. “Color blindness won’t impair
teachers often use color as a tool—asking kids to paint the tree your child’s ability to succeed in school,” says Dr. Collins. Most
green, count four yellow beads, or draw a pink circle—and kids kids adapt by learning the words on crayons, asking a classmate,
who can’t pick out colors may fall behind. “A preschooler or recognizing shades based on
might stop trying to complete tasks because he’s having past experience. —Jennifer Nelson
FAS T FAC T
UP TO PERCENT
OF BOYS AND
PERCENT OF GIRLS
HAVE DIFFICULT Y
DISTINGUISHING
CERTAIN COLORS.
GIRL AND DOG: KIM CORNELISON. STYLING BY KELSEY AIKIN. GROOMING BY MARY KATE GALES. PENCILS: DIGITAL VISION PHOTOGRAPHY VEER.
