Kennedy Krieger

Through the magic of television, America and 180 other countries will watch tonight as ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition unveils a new home for a 24-year-old quadriplegic patient at Baltimore's Kennedy Krieger Institute. But in fact, Brian Keefer has been living in the house since it was finished in June, and he says it gives him "so much independence, it's incredible. " Keefer was paralyzed from the chest down in a gymnastics accident in 2008 and has been a patient at Kennedy Krieger since.

It's a dream Ida Heck never really expected to come true. Her family has raised about $1 million since 2005 for research into the rare disorder that afflicts her 8-year-old daughter, Jenna, resulting in cognitive deficits, seizures, long-lasting migraines, glaucoma in one eye and a red birthmark on the right side of her face. She's been driven by a fervent hope that the money would help finance a breakthrough. Yet she had her doubts: "So often you give and give and give and never hear of any findings.

Judy Woodruff, the senior CNN correspondent, and Al Hunt, executive Washington editor for the Wall Street Journal, didn't know what to expect the summer day in 1998 when they brought their eldest son to Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. "We were so scared," Hunt recalled.Jeff, then 16, was semi-comatose, the result of a routine surgery gone awry. He couldn't walk, talk or eat, even blink his eyes; most of the day, he slept. Oddly, the therapist who arrived in his room within the first hour didn't seem to notice.

Kennedy Krieger Institute has announced a new program that will offer free autism screenings to infants between five and 10 months who have a sibling with autism.  “We launched this initiative to increase the likelihood of identifying children most at risk for ASD,” said Rebecca Landa, director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at Kennedy Krieger. “My hope is that Maryland families will take advantage of this opportunity to seek help sooner and not miss out on early intervention, which can improve lifelong learning, communication and social skills.” For more information or to schedule an appointment visit Kennedy Kreiger's website or call 443-923-7892.

For Jason and Hollie Costa, falling in love with feisty 5-year-old Daeonna Smith was the easy part. Deciding whether to parent a child with special needs, however, tested their resolve. The Columbia couple didn't know anything about spina bifida, the spinal condition that Daeonna was born with that left her with no feeling below the waist. They wanted badly to become foster parents and eventually adopt, but they worried: Could they meet her needs? Could they handle the inevitable stress of her condition?

The Kennedy Krieger Institute, which annually serves more than 8,000 children who have developmental disabilities, is about to construct a $5 million expansion of its headquarters in East Baltimore.As designed by Gaudreau Inc. of Baltimore, the 35,000-square-foot addition will rise just west of the current five-story building at 707 N. Broadway. The seven-story building will provide additional office and conference space for the growing staff of the institute, which conducts research and provides specialized rehabilitation care for disabled children.

As part of an exchange sparked by a father's concern for his child, Kennedy Krieger Institute will train Vietnamese physicians and therapists how to care for the disabled children of Vietnam.During his visit to Hanoi this week, former President George Bush is awarding scholarships to two Vietnamese therapists to train at Kennedy Krieger in Baltimore. They will be funded by Citibank, which sponsored his visit. The bank will also send a multidisciplinary team from the institute to Vietnam after Thanksgiving to do an evaluation.

Cool. The perfect word for the 13th annual "Festival of Trees Preview Breakfast." The 1,100 guests had to deal with frigid temperatures outside as they hurried to the Cow Palace at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. Once inside, guests were greeted by Christmas trees decorated in a Hairspray theme, honoring the 1987 movie by Baltimore filmmaker John Waters, and the current Broadway musical hit based on the film. Cool. Oh. And let's not forget super-cool hostess Lainy Lebow-Sachs, dressed in a white beehive wig and poufy, pink satin dress.

The Kennedy Krieger Lower School is one of three elementaries in the Baltimore area selected as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education."

The Kennedy Krieger Institute, which annually serves more than 8,000 children with developmental disabilities, is planning a $4 million expansion of its headquarters at 707 N. Broadway in East Baltimore.The plans were unveiled one day before today's dedication ceremonies for the institute's $8.5 million school in Washington Hill for children with physical and learning disabilities.Representatives for the institute yesterday showed Baltimore's Design Advisory Panel plans that call for a seven-story addition containing office and conference space for the organization's growing staff.

Anne Moore Burnett knew the other moms at the playground were rolling their eyes at her. Her son wouldn't go down the slide unless it was clean, so she was looking around for a stray napkin or anything she could find to wipe it down. As she felt their eyes on her, Burnett found herself almost wishing her son had a visible condition, such as Down Syndrome, so that at least on top of the issues she was dealing with she wouldn't also feel judged by other parents who didn't realize she took these "extra" measures because her son has sensory-sensitive autism.

Former State Superintendent Nancy Grasmick has joined the staff of the Kennedy Krieger Institute, a renowned special education and research institution, where she will lead a new Center for Innovation and Leadership in Special Education.  The Institute announced this week that Grasmick, who started her career teaching deaf children at William S. Baer School in Baltimore, will serve as the director of the newly formed center which they said...

Bob Nobles III plans to be a Santa's helper this year. He will distribute toys and other gifts to young people who come to the Kennedy Krieger Institute's upcoming Festival of Trees. But it won't be the first time that the New Windsor teenager has put a smile on someone else's face. Nobles, a junior at Baltimore's Kennedy Krieger High School, was chosen as the 2012 ambassador for the holiday gala known as Festival of Trees. Nobles, who has Asperger's Syndrome, is used to public appearances.

Erin Michael ran the relay race in the Baltimore Running Festival last year and saw a few disabled racers — but thought there could be more. The 29-year-old therapist at Kennedy Krieger Institute encouraged and then helped train nine patients who finished the race Saturday. Michael ran the 5K, then raced back a mile to watch her proteges. "I was moved to tears during what was one of the proudest moments of my life," she said. "I saw several walking to the finish line and one rolling by on his bike.

The scene at Hashawha Environmental Center in Westminster Friday evening was filled with the friendly chaos typical of the start of summer camp. Parents unloaded gear and gave last-minute instructions. Ubiquitous counselors welcomed visitors and ushered them to cabins. And chatty children seemed eager to be on their own. Well before the dinner bell, one girl was so enthralled with her bunk that she spread her sleeping bag across it and laid down to test the accommodations. She was so comfortable that only the promise of craft-making with her older sister could draw her away.

Linda Schuberth, a senior occupational therapist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute who helped children overcome swallowing and feeding issues, died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, March 5 at her Homeland home. She was 56 years old. Linda Miller was born in Hazelton, Pa. She earned a bachelor's degree from Temple University and a master's degree from New York University. She was the director of occupational therapy at White Haven Center in White Haven, Pa., and at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. She later held a similar post at United Cerebral Palsy in New York City.

The Kennedy Krieger Institute has dropped out of the running to manage one or more of three underachieving Baltimore elementary schools that were taken over by the state this week. Kennedy Krieger, renowned for its care of, and research with, disabled children and teen-agers, said in a statement yesterday that it had decided to withdraw because none of the three schools was in East Baltimore, where the institute has been located for nearly 40 years. The withdrawal by Kennedy Krieger, which had proposed a partnership with a nonprofit foundation set up by local retirement home developer John C. Erickson, leaves two out-of-town, for-profit companies vying to manage the schools: Edison Schools Inc. and Mosaica Education Inc., both headquartered in New York.

Kennedy Krieger High School student Jeremy Holmes had two dreams after graduating in 2013: visiting Hawaii and following his father's footsteps to stand alongside U.S. Marines. On Sunday, both dreams will be realized early, when Holmes boards a plane to Hawaii with four of his classmates to take part in ceremonies commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The students are part of the Central Maryland Young Marines Unit at Kennedy Krieger High School, a national youth program offered at the non-public school that serves special-education students referred from school districts across the region.

Through the magic of television, America and 180 other countries will watch tonight as ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition unveils a new home for a 24-year-old quadriplegic patient at Baltimore's Kennedy Krieger Institute. But in fact, Brian Keefer has been living in the house since it was finished in June, and he says it gives him "so much independence, it's incredible. " Keefer was paralyzed from the chest down in a gymnastics accident in 2008 and has been a patient at Kennedy Krieger since.