In 2009 …. An estimated 8% of children aged 3-17 had a learning disability, and an estimated 9% of children had ADHD. [16]
Each year in the U.S. there are approximately 13,400 children between the ages of birth and 19 years of age who are diagnosed with cancer. [17]
Ten years ago, shocking new guidelines for pediatricians advised that girls who start to develop breasts and pubic hair at age six or seven are not necessarily “abnormal.” In fact, by age eight, 48 percent of African American girls and 15 percent of white girls are showing clear signs of puberty.
The guidelines were published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and were based on several studies. [19]
Pediatricians recorded the earliest stage of puberty as occurring in non-Hispanic white boys at age 10.14 years; in non-Hispanic African-American boy at age 9.14 years, and in Hispanic boys at age 10.4. [20]