How can parents promote the emotional well-being of a child with a spinal cord injury? - Lawrence Vogel, MD

I think the most important thing that parents can do to promote emotional well being for their children is just to listen, and be good communicators. Our findings are that they’re, compared to the general population, our children and adolescents probably don’t have any greater amount of anxiety or depression compared to the general population. But I think that it still behooves parents and health care providers, just to be a bit more aware of the potential for emotional issues and adjustment issues. I still have a concern about, as kids get older, things such as depression and suicide. So I think people, as with any child, whether they have a spinal cord injury or not, you need to be in touch with how your child is doing, and just continue to have open channels of communication.