Last year at this time I was giving zoom presentations on how to cope with the pandemic! This year, we are (mostly) back to school in person with some modifications and masks and also some frustration about not being further out of the woods with the disease which dominated the headlines. There is still talks of need to quarantine and booster shots these days. I am super grateful for the idea that the worst is behind us and kids are being about to socialize with their peers and some sense of normalcy has returned to family life and routine. Along with most of our sanity! For those of us neuroscience nerds, there is an untold story which is yet to unfold about long term effects of the this past year and half on various stages of child development. Take just one aspect, speech development for example, and the component of mask wearing and you can understand we don't get know all the delays or ramifications. It will be fascinating to discover and the resilience kids can display shines through all the hardships. We'll need all hands on deck for those loving, caring and treating this generation as they development. We continued to grow through this challenging time and I could not be prouder of the work this team did to support our patients, our parents, each other and their communities. We stand ready to care for your children and teens in the coming years and are always striving to have an open door and open couch spot for anyone in the community who needs us by growing our team. Welcome back to school and although adjustments have their challenges, this back to school feels like something to be extra grateful for.
