Every week, the Special Needs Podcast Roundup brings you brand new episodes of podcasts that talk about topics that are relevant to parents of children who have special needs. The subjects could range from autism, to special education, to advances in health and science that could one day help kids who have physical disabilities.
PBS NewsHour released an episode on May 16, 2012. This episode is called “Paralyzed Woman Powers Robotic Arm With Her Mind”.
This episode talks about a tiny electrode sensor device that was implanted into a person’s brain. The sensor picks up brain waves, and sends them to a computer. The computer translates them to a robotic arm. In short, the implant allowed a paralyzed woman to move the robotic arm with her mind. More research needs to be done before this implant can be prescribed by doctors for paralyzed patients.
NPR released an episode on May 18, 2012. This episode is called “Stroke Victims Think, Robotic Arm Acts”. Host Ira Flatow speaks with Leigh Hochberg, who is a critical care neurologist at Massachusetts Research Hospital in Providence VA Medical Center. He is the director of the BrainGate II trial. BrainGate is the name of the system that includes a brain implant that allows paralyzed people to move a robotic arm with their thoughts.
CNN released an episode of Sanjay Gupta, MD on May 9, 2012. In this episode, Dr. Gupta reports on a paralyzed teenager that is riding horses as a way to recover.
Krystal Greco was 16 years old when she suddenly experienced painful muscle spasms in her back. She experienced an eruptive disk in her spine, and became paralyzed. She became paralyzed from the waist down. After going through Activity Based Restorative Therapy, she began doing Therapeutic Riding Therapy. It is helping her to regain movement.
CNN also released an episode of Sanjay Gupta, MD on May 14, 2012. This episode is called “Should We Diagnose Kids Pre-Psychotic?” In this episode, Dr. Gupta discusses the new psychiatrist handbook, and questions the benefit of labeling children as pre-psychotic. That label has been dropped from the new DSM-5. They also discuss the dropping of the label of Aperger’s Syndrome, and how that could affect health insurance coverage of treatment.
NPR released an episode on May 20, 2012. This episode is called “A Windborne Clue to A Mysterious Childhood Disease”. Deborah Kogan learned that her four year old son, Leo, had Kawasaki disease. It is a rare disease that was not immediately diagnosed.
Image by Jackson Lewchuk on Flickr