Parents of a child with autism might wonder if a pet cat would be a good fit for the family. Now, research suggests both children with autism and cats benefit when a feline joins the household. Gretchen Carlisle, a research scientist at the Missouri University Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction, in Columbia, Mo., and her…  read on >  read on >

Parents: You may think temporary tattoos are harmless for children. But kids who decorate themselves with these transfer tattoos may be disrupting the skin’s protective barrier, Spanish researchers report. They looked at the effects on skin of permanent tattoos and temporary transfers. The surprising takeaway: Temporary transfer tattoos do more damage. More moisture was lost…  read on >  read on >

New glasses are helping kids in Baltimore see more success in school. A three-year clinical study found that students who got new eyeglasses through a school-based program had higher reading and math test scores. “The glasses offered the biggest benefit to the very kids who needed it the most – the ones who were really…  read on >  read on >

President Joe Biden is slated to announce an ambitious six-point plan to double down on a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, including more pressure on government, business and schools to implement vaccine mandates, news sources report. A speech outlining the new plan is scheduled for 5 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, The New York…  read on >  read on >

School districts in Florida can require their students to wear masks, despite the governor’s order blocking mask mandates – for now at least. A circuit court judge in Leon County ruled Wednesday that the state can’t enforce Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on school mask mandates, CBS News reported. “We’re not in normal times. We are…  read on >  read on >

Very few privately insured young children get recommended dental fluoride treatments at health wellness visits, even though insurance typically covers them, a new study finds. “Medical providers are not required to do this; it’s like a mammogram,” said lead author Kimberley Geissler, an associate professor of health policy and management at the University of Massachusetts…  read on >  read on >