Searched for: person:klassp01
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"The Saddest Waste" - Disability, Heredity, and the Artist's Eye
Klass, Perri
PMID: 38314808
ISSN: 1533-4406
CID: 5633272
The Pest Hospital: Memory, Vaccines, and Serum Therapy in Kansas City
Klass, Perri; Gershun, Martha
A medical narrative from a woman in her 90s describes her childhood bout with diphtheria in Kansas City, Missouri, apparently immediately after vaccination, her confinement in the "pest hospital," and her treatment with what she understood as a blood transfusion from a donor who was found through a radio appeal. In this essay, we trace the narrative back to the institutions, medical practices, and historical context, examining both the underlying history of medical practice and scientific understanding that is reflected in her experience and also the contexts of that history, including racial and religious attitudes.
PMCID:9950004
PMID: 36823390
ISSN: 1573-3645
CID: 5593922
Effective Communication for Child Advocacy: Getting the Message out Beyond Clinic Walls
Klass, Perri; Heard-Garris, Nia; Navsaria, Dipesh
Clinicians who want to communicate child advocacy messages, stories, and arguments can draw on their clinical and scientific experience, but effective communication to wider--and nonmedical--audiences requires careful thought. We discuss choosing and honing the message, developing writing and speaking skills that fit both the exigencies of the chosen medium and format, including op-eds, essays, social media, public testimony, and speeches. We provide guidance on proposing articles, working with editors, shaping language and diction for a general audience, and drawing on clinical experiences while respecting confidentiality. all with the goal of effective communication, spoken and written, in the service of children and child advocacy.
PMID: 36402466
ISSN: 1557-8240
CID: 5371812
Reading Aloud with Infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A Unit-Based Program to Enhance Language Enrichment and Support Early Foundational Relationships
Erdei, Carmina; Klass, Perri; Inder, Terrie E
OBJECTIVE: Early meaningful auditory experiences in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) enhance language outcomes and promote cognitive and social-emotional development. METHODS: This is a descriptive report sharing our level III NICU experience of building a reading-aloud enrichment program with the goals of enhancing infant neurodevelopment and strengthening early parent-infant relationships. RESULTS: We propose a roadmap for program development, outline challenges and possible ways to mitigate them, and highlight opportunities for further research in this area. KEY POINTS/CONCLUSIONS:· Early auditory experiences enhance language, cognitive, and social-emotional development.. · High-risk infants experience an atypical neurosensory environment while receiving care in the NICU.. · Reading aloud in the NICU enhances language enrichment and supports early foundational relationships.. · We describe our center's experience with building a reading-aloud enrichment program in the NICU..
PMID: 34100273
ISSN: 1098-8785
CID: 4906042
"The Sombre Aspect of the Entire Landscape" - Epidemiology and the Faroe Islands
Klass, Perri; Ratner, Adam J
PMID: 35333484
ISSN: 1533-4406
CID: 5200682
Maternal and Infant Mortality in Physicians' Families in 1922
Klass, Perri; Ratner, Adam J
PMID: 35229122
ISSN: 1098-4275
CID: 5174282
"Now I know how to not repeat history": Teaching and Learning Through a Pandemic with the Medical Humanities
Adams, Kim; Deer, Patrick; Jordan, Trace; Klass, Perri
We reflect on our experience co-teaching a medical humanities elective, "Pandemics and Plagues," which was offered to undergraduates during the Spring 2021 semester, and discuss student reactions to studying epidemic disease from multidisciplinary medical humanities perspectives while living through the world Covid-19 pandemic. The course incorporated basic microbiology and epidemiology into discussions of how epidemics from the Black Death to HIV/AIDS have been portrayed in history, literature, art, music, and journalism. Students self-assessed their learning gains and offered their insights using the SALG (Student Assessment of their Learning Gains), describing how the course enhanced their understanding of the current pandemic. In class discussions and written assignments, students paid particular attention to issues of social justice, political context, and connections between past pandemics and Covid-19. Student responses indicate enhanced understanding of the scientific and medical aspects of epidemics and also increased appreciation of the insights to be gained from the medical humanities. We discuss co-teaching the class during a real-time, twenty-four-hour-news-cycle pandemic, and the ways in which that experience underlines the value of a "critical medical humanities" approach for undergraduates.
PMCID:8575676
PMID: 34750698
ISSN: 1573-3645
CID: 5050332
Integrating Health Care Strategies to Prevent Poverty-Related Disparities in Development and Growth: Addressing Core Outcomes of Early Childhood
Gross, Rachel S; Messito, Mary Jo; Klass, Perri; Canfield, Caitlin F; Yin, H Shonna; Morris, Pamela A; Shaw, Daniel S; Dreyer, Benard P; Mendelsohn, Alan L
Poverty-related disparities appear early in life in cognitive, language, and social-emotional development, and in growth, especially obesity, and have long-term consequences across the life course. It is essential to develop effective strategies to promote healthy behaviors in pregnancy and the early years of parenthood that can mitigate disparities. Primary preventive interventions within the pediatric primary care setting offer universal access, high engagement, and population-level impact at low cost. While many families in poverty or with low income would benefit from preventive services related to both development and growth, most successful interventions have tended to focus on only one of these domains. In this manuscript, we suggest that it may be possible to address both development and growth simultaneously and effectively. In particular, current theoretical models suggest alignment in mechanisms by which poverty can create barriers to parent-child early relational health (i.e., parenting practices, creating structure, and parent-child relationship quality), constituting a final common pathway for both domains. Based on these models and related empirical data, we propose a strength-based, whole child approach to target common antecedents through positive parenting and prevent disparities in both development and growth; we believe this approach has the potential to transform policy and practice. Achieving these goals will require new payment systems that make scaling of primary prevention in health care feasible, research funding to assess efficacy/effectiveness and inform implementation, and collaboration among early childhood stakeholders, including clinicians across specialties, scientists across academic disciplines, and policy makers.
PMID: 34740424
ISSN: 1876-2867
CID: 5038532
Development of an Eco-Biodevelopmental Model of Emergent Literacy Before Kindergarten: A Review
Hutton, John S; DeWitt, Thomas; Hoffman, Lauren; Horowitz-Kraus, Tzipi; Klass, Perri
Importance/UNASSIGNED:Literacy has been described as an important social determinant of health. Its components emerge in infancy and are dependent on genetic, medical, and environmental factors. The American Academy of Pediatrics advocates a substantial role for pediatricians in literacy promotion, developmental surveillance, and school readiness to promote cognitive, relational, and brain development. Many children, especially those from minority and underserved households, enter kindergarten unprepared to learn to read and subsequently have difficulty in school. Observations/UNASSIGNED:Emergent literacy is a developmental process beginning in infancy. Component skills are supported by brain regions that must be adequately stimulated and integrated to form a functional reading network. Trajectories are associated with genetic, medical, and environmental factors, notably the home literacy environment, which is defined as resources, motivation, and stimulation that encourage the literacy development process. Eco-biodevelopmental models are advocated by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and these models offer insights into the neurobiological processes associated with environmental factors and the ways in which these processes may be addressed to improve outcomes. Emergent literacy is well suited for such a model, particularly because the mechanisms underlying component skills are elucidated. In addition to cognitive-behavioral benefits, the association of home literacy environment with the developing brain before kindergarten has recently been described via neuroimaging. Rather than a passive approach, which may subject the child to stress and engender negative attitudes, early literacy screening and interventions that are administered by pediatric practitioners can help identify potential reading difficulties, address risk factors during a period when neural plasticity is high, and improve outcomes. Conclusions and Relevance/UNASSIGNED:Neuroimaging and behavioral evidence inform an eco-biodevelopmental model of emergent literacy that is associated with genetic, medical, and home literacy environmental factors before kindergarten, a time of rapid brain development. This framework is consistent with recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics and provides insights to help identify risk factors and signs of potential reading difficulties, tailor guidance, and provide direction for future research.
PMID: 33720328
ISSN: 2168-6211
CID: 4825962
Creating Practical Primary Care Supports for Parent-Child Relationships-Language, Literacy, and Love
Klass, Perri; Navsaria, Dipesh
PMID: 33427876
ISSN: 2168-6211
CID: 4765172