© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Cancer Answers is hosted by Dr. Anees Chagpar, Associate Professor of Surgical Oncology and Director of The Breast Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and Dr. Francine Foss, Professor of Medical Oncology. The show features a guest cancer specialist who will share the most recent advances in cancer therapy and respond to listeners questions. Myths, facts and advances in cancer diagnosis and treatment are discussed, with a different focus eachweek. Nationally acclaimed specialists in various types of cancer research, diagnosis, and treatment discuss common misconceptions about the disease and respond to questions from the community.Listeners can submit questions to be answered on the program at canceranswers@yale.edu or by leaving a message at (888) 234-4YCC. As a resource, archived programs from 2006 through the present are available in both audio and written versions on the Yale Cancer Center website.

Approach to Child Behavioral Wellness in Connecticut Focuses on Early Support

U.S. Army
Non-profit and state agencies have teamed up to create what's called a mid-level assessment.

Child development experts from Connecticut have created a system to help kids who have behavior problems get the help they need. The pilot program is now being rolled out in several states across the country.

The big problem is this: there are a small number of doctors who evaluate young children to see if they need any help with behavior issues or other problems. This means sometimes children have to wait months to be checked out.

"Our greatest opportunity from a societal standpoint comes from intervening when children are beginning to manifest vulnerability at young ages," said Dr. Paul Dworkin, a child health expert at Connecticut Children's Medical Center.

Dworkin said some kids often go years with no support, making them much more vulnerable to developing more severe problems later on, like mental illness, or a behavior disorder.

"Very few states -- I think the number is five nationally -- are willing to serve children who are vulnerable and at risk as opposed to  delayed and disordered," Dworkin said.

For kids with significant disabilities, waiting for an evaluation can be harmful, and can lead to intense and often expensive interventions. But kids with mild problems often don't qualify for any help, unless their problems get worse.

This has led to a trend that the new approach is trying to change. Pediatricians have often told parents to wait until their children get worse before having them evaluated, according to Lisa Honigfeld from the Child Health and Development Institute.

"We really need to stop doing that," Honigfeld said. "That's not helpful to children. That's not helpful for families."

So several non-profit and state agencies have teamed up to create what's called a mid-level assessment. It identifies kids with mild problems and connects them to community-based services, which are usually free.

Studies have suggested that early intervention can prevent the need for costly special education services down the road.

Dworkin estimates that anywhere between 20 and 30 percent of kids under three would benefit from this new approach. The concept has shown so much promise in Connecticut that 25 states have begun to do the same thing.

For more information, call 211, the information line run by the United Way of Connecticut, one of the partners that helped develop the mid-level assessment system. 

David finds and tells stories about education and learning for WNPR radio and its website. He also teaches journalism and media literacy to high school students, and he starts the year with the lesson: “Conflicts of interest: Real or perceived? Both matter.” He thinks he has a sense of humor, and he also finds writing in the third person awkward, but he does it anyway.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.