Connecticut Children's Blog

By Jenn Long My younger son, James, is 5 years old, and he has two settings: off and on. When he’s on, he goes full speed. He keeps me on my toes, but he’s always happy. He loves to play video games with his older brother, Nathan, who’s 10. James doesn’t sit down much. He’s […]

By Melissa Santos, PhD, Tim LaVigne, PhD, and Michael Reiss, PsyD Parenting teenagers can be hard, especially as they become more independent (or as they like to call it: I can’t wait to live on my own!). Teenage years are also the time when many children first experience mental health struggles. Research from the CDC […]

Anthony had been in remission for more than three years when a routine MRI scan revealed another ependymoma, his third brain tumor. “It was devastating,” says Jennifer, Anthony’s mom. “Things had been going so well for so long.” To make matters worse, Anthony had already received the maximum amount of radiation during treatment for the […]

by Sasha Dagnall I can’t imagine having a better daughter than my little girl, Rylie. She’s 16 and a sophomore at Hall High School in West Hartford, Connecticut. Rylie’s an honor-roll student and plays on the school tennis team, among other activities. I know the teenage years often involve drama, but Rylie understands better than […]

By: Kelsey Otero My daughter, Leilani, is a lively little 6-year-old. She loves coloring and making arts and crafts projects. She’s so happy, and she’s a lot of fun. There isn’t much in life that fazes Leilani, which I find amazing. Early in her life, Leilani was diagnosed with a rare disease called Langerhans cell […]

Depending on which day you ask her, 6-year-old Lily will tell you that she wants to be a ballerina or a firefighter when she grows up. But those professions require standing up straight, and until two years ago, Lily couldn’t. She was born with a spine so severely curved to the side that it looked […]