The Guest Lecturer

05 October 2010

I was asked to come to a the university as a guest lecturer on the topic of early childhood motor development. During the talk, we were discussing prenatal risk factors for developmental delays. The students threw out a list of appropriate ideas "prematurity", "prenatal alcohol or drug exposure", "poor maternal nutrition". Yes, all very good, and right on the money for what I was looking for. I clicked the power point slide forward.

Then the regular instructor for the class commented that assisted reproductive technologies was another risk factor. What? It kind of caught me off guard. I actually have done a fair amount of research in this area, and had to suddenly switch hats here. I shared with the class that the most recent research has actually concluded that the risk of developmental or congenital birth defects with children born full term who were conceived with ART is equal to children conceived spontaneously (I hate the term naturally). This matches what we see clinically. I could see the instructor did not agree with me on this one.

I was able to move the discussion back on topic, but it was not was not what I expected to deal with in that context. I'm not sure if I'll ever be asked back to that instructor's class again! At least there are 25 students who will no longer be misinformed on this issue.