About a fifth of kids under 18 in New Jersey have special healthcare needs, ranging from learning disabilities to ADHD to anxiety. They, along with their families, encounter numerous challenges when seeking care, such as a shortage of providers, long wait times and limited insurance coverage.

Community-based therapeutic recreation and adaptive sport programs have the potential to improve the quality of life for patients and their families. Unfortunately, these offerings are often distant and expensive.

Children’s Specialized Hospital, part of RWJBarnabas, has taken matters into its own hands by providing recreation, sports and social programs for kids with special needs. In this episode of "Podnosis," Anastassia Gliadkovskaya sat down with Matthew McDonald, M.D., the hospital’s president and CEO, to discuss what it takes to offer these services in-house and the future of pediatric care.

To learn more about the topics in this episode: 

• Marker Learning scores $15M to continue bringing down the cost of learning disability assessments

• People with disabilities much more likely to delay care during COVID-19, study finds

• Labor shortages impacting care for patients with disabilities. Here's how some organizations are tackling the problem

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