Neurodevelopmental Disorders Flashcards
Intellectual Disability
Three diagnostic criteria must be met:
- deficits in intellectual functions (reasoning, problem solving, abstract thinking) that are confirmed by a clinical assessment and individualized, standardized intelligence testing
- deficits in adaptive functioning that result in a failure to meet community standards of personal independence and social responsibility and impair functioning across multiple environments in one or more activities of daily life (e.g. communication, social participation, independent living)
- the onset of intellectual and adaptive functioning deficits during the developmental period
Mild, moderate, severe, profound
Etiology of Intellectual Disability
- 5%- heredity
- 30% chromosomal changes and exposure to toxins during prenatal development
- 10%- pregnancy and perinatal problems
5%- acquired medical conditions during infancy or childhood - 15-20% environmental factors and predisposing mental disorders
- 30% unknown
Low birth weight is the strongest predictor of all degrees of severity
Childhood-Onset Fluency Disorder
stuttering- characterized by a disturbance in normal fluency and time patterning of speech that is inappropriate for the person’s age and involves sound and syllable repetitions, sound prolongations, broken words, word substitutions to avoid troublesome words, and/or monosyllabic whole-word repetitions; begins ages 2-7; make become worse when special pressure to communicate
Habit reversal training
treatment for childhood-onset fluency disorder; incorporates awareness, relaxation, motivation, competing response, and generalization training; change breathing
Autism Spectrum Disorder
- persistent deficits in social communication and interaction across multiple contexts as manifested in social-emotional reciprocity, nonverbal communication, and the development, maintenance, and understanding of relationships
- restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, and activities as manifested by at least two of the following: stereotypical or repetitive motor movements, use of objects, or speech: insistence on sameness, inflexible adherence to routines, or ritualized patterns of behavior; highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus; or hyporeactivity to sensory input
- symptoms during the early developmental period
- impairments in social, occupational, or other areas of functioning as the result of the symptoms
- only 1/3 will achieve some degree of partial independence and adults; best outcome is associated with ability to communicate verbally by 5 or 6, an IQ over 70, and a later onset of symptoms
Treatment for Autism
parent management training, special education, training in self-care and social interaction skills, and vocational training and placement using sheltered workshops and supported employment
shaping and discrimination training- behavioral techniques used to improve communication skills
ADHD Symptoms
persisted for at least 6 months; onset prior to age 12; present in at least 2 settings; interferes with social, academic, or occupational functioning
Inattention- fails to give close attention to details; has difficulty sustaining attention to tasks or play activities; doesn’t listen when directly spoken to; fails to finish schoolwork or chores; is easily distracted by extraneous stimuli; is often forgetful in daily activities
hyperactivity/impulsivity- frequently fidgets or squirms in seat; often leaves seat at inappropriate times; frequently runs or climbs in inappropriate situations; talks excessively; has difficulty waiting his/her turn; interrupts or intrudes on others
Prevalence of ADHD
5% children
2.5% adults
more prevalent in males- 2:1 for children, 1.6:1 for adults
Etiology of ADHD
Brain abnormalities that have been linked to ADHD include lower-than-normal activity in the caudate nucleus, globus pallidus, and prefrontal cortex as well as a smaller-than-normal size of these structures
Behavioral Disinhibition Hypothesis
proposes that the core feature of ADHD is an inability to regulate behavior to fit situational demands;
alternative theory proposes that ADHD is due to an inability to regulate attention, which is manifested as problems in inhibiting attention to nonrelevant stimuli and focusing too intensely on certain stimuli to the exclusion of others (Montauk & Mayhall, 2002)
Mental Health Multimodal Treatment Study of ADHD
results indicated that medication management alone and the combined treatment produced a similar reduction in the core symptoms of ADHD and were significantly better at doing so than the behavioral treatment alone or routine community care; however three and eight year follow-up studies of children in the MTA sample found that the superior benefits of medication alone or the combined treatment did not persist and that outcomes for children in these groups were comparable to outcomes for children who received the behavioral treatment only or community care
Specific Learning Disorder
diagnosed when a person exhibits difficulties related to academic skills as indicated by the presence of at least one characteristic symptom that persists for at least six months despite the provision of interventions targeting those difficulties; skills are substantially below those expected for his or her age;
interfere with academic or occupational performance or activities of daily living, began during the school-age years and are not better accounted for by another condition or disorder or other factor such as uncorrected visual or auditory impairment or psychosocial adversity
IQ in the average to above-average range but have higher than normal rates of other problems and disorders
20-30% also have ADHD
at higher risk for antisocial behavior for arrest and conviction for antisocial behavior
1/3 of students with Specific Learning Disorder have psychosocial problems as adults
Etiology of Specific Learning Disorder
factors have been linked to Specific Learning Disorders include cerebellar-vestibular dysfunction; incomplete dominance and other hemispheric abnormalities; and exposure to toxins (especially lead)
one theory describes the core problem of dyslexia as being deficits in phonological processing (Stanovich, 1993)
Also evidence of genetic component
Tic Disorders
tic= “sudden, rapid, recurrent, nonrhythmic motor movement or vocalization; include eye blinking, facial grimacing, gestures, jumping, smelling objects, and echokinesis (imitating someone else’s movements); while vocal tics include grunting, snorting, barking, echolalia, and coprolalia (repeating socially undesirable words)
Tourette’s Disorder
characterized by the presence of at least one vocal tic and multiple motor tics that may appear simultaneously or at different times; that may wax or wane in frequency but have persisted for more than one year, and that began prior to 18 years of age
for many individuals, the frequency, severity, and disruptiveness of symptoms decline in adolescence or adulthood
