Taking Flight Developmental Pediatrics

09/08/2026

Let's talk about why I am VERY pro-vaccine as a developmental pediatrician.
1. Vaccines prevent childhood deaths. Death is the end of development.
2. Vaccines do NOT cause developmental disabilities. This has been well studied. This includes vaccine components
3. Being vaccinated protects your community. It is a way to love your neighbor. While vaccines are good, they are not perfect and some people either don't respond well or cannot be vaccinated for various reasons.
4. Meningitis and encephalitis are REALLY bad for developing brains. 0/10, do not recommend. Besides high rates of fatalities, surviving children are at very high risk of permanent neurological damage including seizures and cerebral palsy. Being in the ICU sedated on a ventilator is not great for development. Staying healthy is great for development!
5. Vaccines do cause an immune response. This can cause fever and achiness but that is OK and brief and very mild compared to the actual diseases. This is literally the job of vaccines, to "teach" your immune system how to respond.
6. Autistic regression is real and occurs in approximately 30% of people with autism. It is frequently associated with febrile illnesses, autoimmune family history, and diarrheal illnesses in the months before regression. There are genetic disorders with high rates of regression and epigenetic factors as well. It is not associated with vaccines. Our brains want to find patterns and causes, but sometimes those don't exist, or we don't have the science to fully describe those associations.
7. Autism and Down syndrome both have extensive data demonstrating safety and benefits of vaccination

So my children are fully vaccinated and get their flu shots yearly.

08/15/2026

Let’s talk about stem cell treatments for autism.
1. As with any treatment aimed at every person with autism, this is highly unlikely simply because autism is not a single process. Autism is caused by genetic differences (most of which increase your risk of ASD, ADHD, anxiety, learning difficulties, speech delay or some combination thereof) +/- environmental exposures +/- early medical history (premature birth, HIE) +/- epigenetics. Therefore, universally recommended treatments include behavioral approaches, educational strategies, supportive therapies (PT, OT, Speech), and then medications for comorbid conditions (ADHD, anxiety, sleep).
2. Please read the study in Nature Genetics: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02224-z This fascinating study really drills down on genetics of autism, most of the differences are in intracellular structures, DNA organizational differences (histones and bindings), and various channels that control how brain cells relay messages. None of which are particularly “stem cell” friendly, even theoretically.
3. Duke University did a very well controlled study and stem cell treatments did NOT meet any of their end-goals
4. In fact, Duke was then pressured to stop allowing patients to pay out of pocket because it was not impactful and therefore unethical
5. Pediatric stem cell treatments are highly unregulated. They may look nice, but you have no idea how often/well they sanitize or what they are injecting into your child. There is no standardized tracking of adverse effects. There are no standard, research-based protocols. There is no oversight of claims.
6. Many influencers (and all the treatment providers) are profiting from this. (Just FYI, this is pretty much the story of autism “treatments” for the past 30+ years -- follow the $$$)
7. Stem cell treatments come with risks. There have been deaths in Russia and Germany. Tumor formation. Bacterial infections in the United States. And random clinics with questionable sterilization practices sound like a great way to catch a hepatitis or HIV to me.

Classes of autism are uncovered with a generative mixture modeling approach leveraging matched phenotypic and genetic data from a large cohort, revealing different genetic programs underlying their phenotypic and clinical traits.

12/22/2025

We are now in network with Aetna

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12/16/2025

Let's talk about some simple strategies for young children with little attention to toys.

First, reduce the number of toys. For a neurodivergent brain, too much of anything can be overstimulating! Just present toys 1-2 at a time and frequently they will engage with toys better. I personally like to have bins of toys hidden in a cabinet or closet. Less mess for you and a child who engages with what they have better! Frequently parents feel like they are trying to keep their child entertained with a short attention span and just presenting toy after toy with brief engagement, but by decreasing the stimulation in their environment, which includes the visual stimulation of SO MANY COOL TOYS, that helps the child organize their activity and frequently increases attention span.

Second, turn off tv when you are encouraging play. Again, stimulation.

Third, attend to HOW your child is engaging with a toy and interact in their way. It is fine if they aren't using the shape sorter but are stacking the shapes. Stack along and play and stack and knock down game. The car doesn't have to go on the track. It can ride along furniture. If they want to hear what sound a toy makes, drop that toy on various surfaces. Rub your fingernail over the surfaces.

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12/04/2025

During a podcast today, the question came up about why there are such long waits for autism assessments. Good question!

The simplest reason is that they simply take a long time. Each assessment takes several hours in person and THEN multiple hours of documentation after the appointment. Personally, I limit myself to 2 assessments a day because each one comes with hours of work afterwards, and I feel like my memory of behaviors and quality of documentation decreases if I do any more than that. It makes my brain hurt! As much as I endeavor to complete documentation the same day, life happens.

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