Lecture 11/5 LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN PRENATALLY EXPOSED TO DRUGS AND/OR ALCOHOL; IMPACT OF AIDS Flashcards
What kind of group are children with prenatal drug and/or alcohol exposure?
heterogeneous group
What does Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) involve damage to?
an unborn baby due to the mother’s alcohol consumption during pregnancy
What is the difference between a child who has Fetal Alcohol Effects & Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?
the child who has fetal alcohol effects (FAE) has problems similar to those of a child with FAS, but to a lesser degree
What occurs during the first trimester of pregnancy?
it is the period of brain growth, organ and limb formation
When is the embryo most susceptible to alcohol?
from weeks 2-8 after conception
What does new research show about a woman who drinks even in the first week of pregnancy?
there can be negative effects
Research
What does Paul & Norbury, 2012 state in terms of children exposed to alcohol in utero having “double jeopardy”?
- damage done before birth
- after child is born:
- parent is either drunk (or high)
- parent may not respond appropriately, by ignoring or abusing the child
Research
In one review of data on nearly 15,000 newborns, what did scientists conclude about a father’s smoking and drinking habits?
risk of birth defects, ranging from cleft palate to hydrocephalus
Other than drinking and smoking, what else can predispose a man’s baby to low birth weight and birth defects?
Ongoing exposure to job chemicals
What can damage sperm?
smoking and alcohol
Male smokers double…?
their chances of fathering babies with problems like hydrocephalus
How long should men abstain from smoking and drinking before they conceive a child?
5-6 months
what are the 17 characteristics of children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?
- Small head size-microcephaly
- pre-and post-natal growth problems; abnormally low birth weight and length
- Central Nervous system dysfunction
- delayed motor development
- mild-profound mental retardation
- learning disabilities
- ADHD (hyperactive)
- Abnormal craniofacial features (skull & face), small eyes, strabismus, nystagmus
- Malformations of major organ systems, esp. heart
- Behavior problems; defiance
- Swallowing problems
- learning and school problems, especially reading & writing
- speech problems–articulation disorder, oral motor coordination problems
- poor play, poor social skills
- cognitive problems-e.g., difficulties w/ memory & reasoning
- language delays-comprehension and expression
- hearing issues–OME (otitis media w/ effusion) and/or sensorineural hearing loss
- Auditory processing problems
- sleep disturbances
- the eyes may be set wide apart also
Research
What does Olswang, Svensson, & Astley (2011) observation of classroom social communication of FASD children, Journal of Speech, Language, & Hearing Research, 1687-1703 say in terms of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?
- examined social classroom skills of typically developing and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder students
- 12 pairs of children observed in their classrooms 20 minutes a day for 4 days across 2 weeks
- they found children with FASD were not as prosocial & had increased occurrences of passive/disengaged and irrelevant behaviors compared to typically developing peers
- THUS, WE MAY NEED TO…
help FASD students be more engaged and social in classroom setting - Help teachers be aware as well
What does the National Institute on drug abuse estimate of women who are pregnant?
5.5% of women use some illicit drug during pregnancy
What drugs do the most serious damage to the developing fetus?
- cocaine
- heroin
- morphine
- LSD
approximately how many babies have the potential to be born as drug exposed infants?
222,000
What happens to the blood vessels of mothers who use cocaine?
- they constrict, thus reducing the flow of oxygen and other nutrients to the baby
- the baby is “dealt a small deck”
What does cocain alter the action of?
- baby’s neurotransmitters, which can negatively affect behavior
- babies may also be born with congenital defects such as cleft palate
Research
Goldberg et al. May 2010–communication disorders quarterly article: methamphetamine exposure, iron deficiency, and implications for cognitive-communication function, a case study:
-whether an expectant mother snorts, smokes, shoots, or orally ingests meth the mother will have problems with: -appetite -aggression -emotions -judgment -memory -sleep
- it alters activity of neurotransmitters in the brain-especially:
- dopamine
- epinephrine
- norepinephrine
- serotonin
What are some problems for babies, prenatally exposed to meth (6 things)
- premature, small
- may have strokes and die
- hyperactive, but explore their environment less than normal babies
- at risk for difficulties with information processing
- seizures
- congenital abnormalities
Meth exposed children often have an iron deficiency/anemia which leads to what kinds of problems?
- attention
- behavior
- cognition
- hearing
- vision
who are important on teams for meth-exposed children?
Dietitians
Iron deficiency is a critical component for what in children?
-development of self regulation
What are the behaviors and characteristics of drug-exposed children?
- fewer spontaneous vocalizations from infancy
- lack of appropriate gestures and words to communicate needs
- poor visual tracking
- gross and fine motor problems
- decreased awareness of body in space
- emotional lability-mood swings from apathy to aggressiveness
- great difficulty with transitions and changes
- test limits; refuses to comply
- tantrums, hitting, throwing things
- decreased problem-solving skills
- syntactic problems, especially - disorganized sentence (this is oral and written)
- word retrieval problems
- indiscriminate attachment to new people
- decreased responsiveness to praise
- decreased use of gestures and words to - - initiate social interactions; poor eye contact
- articulatory-phonological disorders
because drug exposed children have language difficulties not easily determined by standardized measures, what may be best for us to do?
in assessment, it may be best to informally evaluate these children’s language skills in every day settings
these children may not qualify for therapy in public schools
What are some suggestions for intervention?
early intervention is key!
look at the environment, try to work with the parents
what do parents of cocaine-exposed children rate higher in?
insecurity
disorganization
avoidance of attachment
what things can we teach the drug-exposed child when working on pragmatic skills?
- conventional politeness (please, thank you, excuse me)
- turntaking skills
- expression of feelings (using words) b/c children may act out physically
how can we keep things structure and not overstimulating for drug-exposed children?
- routine and structure
- announce transitions in advance-no surprises!
- limit distractions, keep outer stimuli to a minimum
keeping in mind that drug-exposed children don’t retain what they learn, what should we do for them?
- repeat things over and over
- use concrete, hands-on activities to teach concepts
- give directions slowly, one-by-one
other than just therapy, what else can we teach a drug exposed child that they probably don’t know?
- help them learn appropriate play skills, especially cooperative play involving other children
- give physical movement breaks; don’t expect them to sit still for long periods of time
Where does HIV primarily manifest?
central nervous system
children with HIV may have what kinds of problems?
- children may have chronic OME
- they may also have delays in communication skills
- difficulty with memory and academics
- attention deficits
- difficulties with pragmatic skills
Because HIV babies have prolonged stays in the hospitals, what is the effect?
- language stimulation is minimal
thus we can provide early language stimulation programs - working with the family
what things can we specifically work on with HIV/AIDS children?
- oral language skills
- pre literacy skills
- providing AAC devices if necessary (alternative augmentative communication)
- in the later stages of AIDS work on eye gaze communication
What is self regulation?
development of learning and communication skills
