Hospital for Sick Children

About: Hospital for Sick Children is a healthcare organization based out in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 4097 authors who have published 3746 publications receiving 129066 citations. The organization is also known as: Sick Kids Hospital & SickKids.

Evaluating the Efficacy of Remediation for Struggling Readers in High School

Abstract: Preliminary efficacy data are reported for a research-based reading intervention designed for struggling readers in high school. PHAST PACES teaches (a) word identification strategies, (b) knowledge of text structures, and (c) reading comprehension strategies. In a quasi-experimental design, 268 intervention and 83 waiting list control students meeting criteria for reading disability were assessed before and after their semester. After 60 to 70 hours of PHAST PACES instruction, struggling readers demonstrated significant gains on standardized tests of word attack, word reading, and passage comprehension and on experimental measures of letter-sound knowledge and multisyllabic word identification relative to control students. An average effect size of .68 was revealed across these outcome measures. One year follow-up data on 197 PHAST PACES students revealed an average trend to decelerated growth after the intervention, except for passage comprehension outcomes that demonstrated continued growth over follow-up.

Cognition in anxious children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a comparison with clinical and normal children.

Abstract: Background Cognition in children with anxiety disorders (ANX) and comorbid Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD) has received little attention, potentially impacting clinical and academic interventions in this highly disabled group. This study examined several cognitive features relative to children with either pure condition and to normal controls.

Language of Hydrocephalic Children and Adolescents

Abstract: How adequate a substrate for the development of language is the young hydrocephalic brain? To answer this question, the development of five language domains (word finding, fluency and automaticity, immediate sentence memory, understanding of grammar, and metalinguistic awareness) was studied in children and adolescents, 75 with hydrocephalus in the first year of life, and 50 normal controls. The results revealed a limited resilience of language to the effects of early hydrocephalus. Resilience was indicated by the finding that, for several language skills, hydrocephalics scored at comparable levels to normals and improved their test performances as they matured. The limits to resilience were also apparent. Language development was not uniform after early hydrocephalus, and, within particular language domains, hydrocephalics were either less skilled or less able to maintain age-appropriate skill mastery than normal peers. Early hydrocephalus had diverse effects on language development: Of the variables measuring its forms, manifestations, and treatments, some were indicative of preserved language functioning while others were predictive of language deficit. The young hydrocephalic brain mediates language development in a manner that is adequate, but far from ideal.

Cross-cultural comparisons of health status in Canada using the Health Utilities Index.

Abstract: Objective. The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in health status, as measured by the Health Utilities Index (HUI), among seven cultural groups in Canada defined by place of birt...

Neonatal deaths: prospective exploration of the causes and process of end-of-life decisions.

Abstract: Objective To determine the causes and process of death in neonates in Canada. Design Prospective observational study. Setting Nineteen tertiary level neonatal units in Canada. Participants 942 neonatal deaths (215 full-term and 727 preterm). Exposure and outcome Explored the causes and process of death using data on: (1) the rates of withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment (WLST); (2) the reasons for raising the issue of WLST; (3) the extent of consensus with parents; (4) the consensual decision-making process both with parents and the multidisciplinary team; (5) the elements of WLST; and (6) the age at death and time between WLST and actual death. Results The main reasons for deaths in preterm infants were extreme immaturity, intraventricular haemorrhage and pulmonary causes; in full-term infants asphyxia, chromosomal anomalies and syndromic malformations. In 84% of deaths there was discussion regarding WLST. WLST was agreed to by parents with relative ease in the majority of cases. Physicians mainly offered WLST for the purpose of avoiding pain and suffering in imminent death or survival with a predicted poor quality of life. Consensus with multidisciplinary team members was relatively easily obtained. There was marked variation between centres in offering WLST for severe neurological injury in preterm (10%–86%) and severe hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy in full-term infants (5%–100%). Conclusions and relevance In Canada, the majority of physicians offered WLST to avoid pain and suffering or survival with a poor quality of life. Variation between units in offering WLST for similar diagnoses requires further exploration.