The Philosopher Dad

Saturday, January 13, 2007

ASL for infants

I have always been somewhat skeptical of training infants to use sign language. Not that I don't think it works; I had seen it with friends kids. Rather I always figured that it wasn't worth the effort. Yesterday, when I was playing with the kid, he spontaneously made the sign for "more" and now my whole perspective has changed. For those interested, here is a free (as in beer) site from Michigan State University's Communication Technology Lab that hosts a very thorough ASL video dictionary.

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE BROWSER

Technorati Tags: ASL, sign langauge for babies, philosopherdad

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Pregnant and fired: A rising trend?

It seems like people simply need to have someone to discriminate against. As workplace sexual harassment and racial bias suits are decreasing, pregnancy-discrimination claims have risen 14% since 2000.

/>Fromm the Charlotte Observer:

Hives erupted across her torso. Her hands swelled to fleshy catcher's mitts. Jennifer Walls, about four weeks pregnant and in a panic, rushed to the hospital emergency room.

The doctor said her pregnancy triggered the skin condition. He gave her steroids and ordered the then-34-year-old mother-to-be to stay home.

She returned to work within a couple of weeks. Four months after that trip to the hospital, Transamerica Occidental Life Insurance Co. in Charlotte fired Walls. The reason: She allegedly lied about calling the help desk to report a computer problem while on a business trip.
READ MORE...

In Canada, and especially here in Quebec, the protection against pregnancy discrimination is strong. The federal and provincial governments have instituted paid maternity leave (up to 1 year, some of which can be shared by both parents). Having these programs institutionalized keeps pregnancy/maternity on the forefront of many people's minds and employers are acutely aware of the problems that they will encounter if they pull anything. Of course, this does not prevent discrimination from occurring and many women are still afraid to speak up for fear of losing their current job or having trouble finding another.

The article does include some hope though; the percentage of pregnancy-discrimination cases where the victim wins has increased over the years.

Technorati Tags: pregnancy, discrimination, charlotte observer, philosopherdad,

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Child Soldiers

We saw the excellent film "Blood Diamond" last week, and beyond thinking about diamonds, it also got me thinking about child soldiers. The film treats the issue with clear-eyed honesty. No kid[sic]-gloves.

Slate.com has a heartbreaking slide show of images of child soldiers from the last 100 years or so.

LINK

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Sextuplets.....woah.

A Vancouver woman gave birth this past weekend to sextuplets. The family is keeping a low profile, but apparently the babies were born at 25 weeks gestation and each one was no more than 2 pounds. The first one was born vaginally, and the rest by emergency C-Section. (LINK)

Although the hospital says that everyone is doing well, a recent study has shown that 61% of infants born at less than 30 weeks gestation had one or more disabilities at 5.5 years (corrected age). (LINK) Another study showed that at 30 months, 49% of infants born before 25 weeks gestation had had disability.
Engl J Med. 2000 Aug 10;343(6):429-30). Neither of these studies take learning disability into account.
Remember that at 25 weeks gestation, the chance of survival is 80%.

Multiple births are becoming more prevalent due to increased use of fertility drugs and procedures. In a situation like this, parents are often encouraged to "selectively reduce" some of the embryos. In this case, the pregnancy appears to have been unassisted and the parents are Jehovah's Witnesses. This would explain why there was no reduction and why the attempt to deliver vaginally was made. (LINK)

The Philosopher Family wishes the family all the best in the coming weeks and months, and we hope for the best possible outcome for Mom and the six(!) kids.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Pregnant Women In The Dark On Prenatal Screening

A new study from the Queensland University of Technology has brought to light something that those of us who have been through the process already know.... nobody tells you what you need to know and you have to take it upon yourself to learn and ask as much as you can.

..midwives, obstetricians and counsellors agreed prenatal patient eduction was important, many assumed that another practitioner had taken responsibility for delivering the information.

Researcher Eleanor Milligan, from QUT's Applied Ethics Program, said when talking to practitioners it emerged that no-one was charged with ensuring pregnant women were being educated about prenatal screening.
"There is often blurred accountability for patient education between practitioners," Ms Milligan said. "They all agree it is very important but often presume another practitioner has provided it."
Ms Milligan said some doctors felt it was up to obstetricians, midwives often relied on doctors, and counsellors agreed the education process could be "haphazard".
LINK

Pregnant Women In The Dark On Prenatal Screening

The Philosopher Mom and I spent a lot of time thinking about the implications of prenatal screening. We opted out when she was pregnant with the Curious Boy, but went ahead for Number 2 (in progress). She works with kids with intellectual handicaps and me, well... I worry about things like that (Hence this blog).

A new study from the Queensland University of Technology has brought to light something that those of us who have been through the process already know.... nobody tells you what you need to know and you have to take it upon yourself to learn and ask as much as you can.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Infant Car Seat Reviews - Big problems for little people

Consumer Reports has carried out it's annual tests of infant car seats, and the results are far from reassuring.

The seats were subject to 35 mph (56 km/h) frontal crashes and 38 mph (61 km/h) side impact. Of the twelve tested, only two performed well enough to be recommended by Consumer Reports.

Here is a summary of the important findings:

Of 12 infant seats tested, only two performed well enough to be
recommended by Consumer Reports: the Baby Trend Flex-Loc and the Graco
SnugRide with EPS.

Nine infant seats provided poor protection in some or all of the tests,
even though they meet the federal safety standard. One seat, the
Evenflo Discovery, didn't even meet that standard. CR is urging federal
officials to order a recall of that seat.

Many infant seats sold in Europe undergo more rigorous testing than do
models sold in the U.S. Indeed, when CR crash-tested an infant seat
purchased in England, the Britax Cosy Tot, it was the best in the
tests. An infant seat sold in the U.S. by the same manufacturer, the
Companion, failed CU's tests.

CR's findings offer added evidence of problems with LATCH, the
federally-mandated attachment system for child car seats. Many car
seats performed worse with LATCH than with vehicle safety belts. And
LATCH attachments aren't always easy to use.

Although the tests are tougher than US federal regulations, they are more reflective of real-life situations.

We use the LATCH/UAS system in our 2006 Honda Civic, and I have to admit that it does take some getting used to. Taking the seat in or out of the car is not something that I do on a whim. When we went on holiday and left the kid with my in-laws, it took me nearly an hour to install the seat in their 2002 Sentra.

From PR NEWSWIRE (via the amazing DAYLIFE)

Technorati Tags: car seat, philosopherdad, consumer reports