Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Latchkey child
A child who returns from school or play to an empty home, so called because the child must carry a key to enter the house or apartment. With the rise in single parents and working couples, increasing numbers of children fall into this category, often because of the inadequacy, unavailability, or expense of child care.…
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Landau’s reflex
The automatic response of an infant three to 12 months old, when laid face downward, to raise the head and arch the back; absence of this reflex can suggest possible problems that affect motor skills, such as cerebral palsy or mental retardation. An infantile reflex in which the body flexes when the head is passively…
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Lactation specialists
People who offer advice on breastfeeding, generally with experience and some training, though not necessarily any formal certification, and often associated with local groups formed especially to advise new mothers.
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Labor room
In traditional hospital births, the room where the woman waits during labor until delivery is imminent, at which point she is moved into the delivery room. A room tor maternity patients who are in labor. A labor room is not to be confused with the delivery room, where actual birth takes place. A room in…
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Kindergarten
Full-day or half-day classes for children of about age five, offered in the year before the first grade, either in the same building as the elementary school or in a separate structure; sometimes called preprimary, junior primary, or primary. Kindergarten classes traditionally focused on play activities and social skills, as some preschools and nursery schools…
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Key words
The words most commonly taught to children in the early grades and generally found in materials written for them; lists of these words, such as the Doled Word List, are used by authors and publishers in preparing new materials for children of various age and grade levels.
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Juvenile court
The type of court that handles most cases involving minors. Juveniles involved in criminal cases generally appear in juvenile court rather than criminal court, as do children considered incorrigible. In cases of child abuse and neglect or termination of parental rights, parents may sometimes be called before a juvenile court, with the minor’s interest often…
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Intraventricular hemorrhage
Severe bleeding into the ventricles of the brain, a problem often associated with premature babies. Also known as IVH, bleeding from fragile blood vessels in the brain. Intraventricular hemorrhages are most common in premature infants born more than 8 weeks early. Symptoms of IVH include breathing problems, weak pulse, low blood pressure, paleness, seizures, and…
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Intrapartal care
Medical care for a pregnant woman throughout the whole of labor, from the onset of contractions through the delivery of the baby and expulsion of the placenta (afterbirth); a part of the maternity cycle. Care for the baby in the same period is called newborn intrapartal care.
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Interracial
Description of a family in which partners or children are of different racial backgrounds.
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