Paeds - Struggling at School Flashcards
What is Cerebral Palsy?
Cerebral palsy is a disorder of movement, posture & tone
It is due to a permanent non-progressive lesion of the motor pathways in the developing brain (occurs in utero or early infancy)
- affects 2 in 1000 birth
- M > W
- presents at 1-2 yrs
- most common motor diability in children
- does not get worse over time, but symptoms can change over a person’s lifetime
What causes Cerebral Palsy?
(are also risk factors for cerebral palsy)
Antenatal (80%) causes:
- prematurity
- cerebral malformation
-
congenital infection
- TORCHS-toxoplasmosis,other (varicella zoster, adenovirus, enterovirus),rubella,cytomegalovirus,herpes simplex virus,syphilis
- antepartum haemorrhage - causes flux in fetal circulation
- thrombophilias - can cause fetal clotting & placental vascular injury
- multiple gestation - twins = strongest risk factor for CP
Intrapartum (10%):
- birth asphyxia / trauma
Postnatal (10%):
- intraventricular haemorrhage
- periventricular luakomalacia - brain injury affecting pre-term infants, death of small areas of periventricular white matter –> creates small holes in the brain
- meningitis
- NAI
- head trauma
What are the possible manifestations / features of Cerebral Palsy?
Motor Features:
- UMN features e.g. weakness, hypertonia, brisk reflexes, clonus
- hypertonia (e.g. spasticity)
- delayed motor & fine motor milestones
- abnormal gait e.g. toe-walking (spastic hemi- / di-plegia), crouched gait (spastic diplegia)
- feeding difficulty
- fixed contractures (develop during periods of growth)
- early hand preference e.g. < 1-yr old (spastic hemiplegia)
Non-motor Features:
- learning difficulties (60%)
- sensory disturbance
- delay in speech development
- epilepsy (30%)
- squints (30%)
- hearing impairment (20%)
Most causes of cerebral palsy can be prevented.
True or False?
False
In most cases, we don’t know what caused a child to develop cerebral palsy
Early identification and treatment can make a difference to QoL
How many weeks of gestation defines a newborn as premature?
Premature = before 37-weeks gestation
What is the most accurate test of a foetus’ gestational age?
1st trimester ultrasound
What is the difference between cognitive impairment and a learning difficulty?
-
Cognitive impairment = generalised intellectual impairment
- Children have below-average IQ < 70
- Learning difficulty = difficulty with specific mental tasks but normal IQ eg. reading & writing (dyslexia), use of number (dyscalculia)
What are some examples of conditions causing cognitive impairment in children?
- Down’s syndrome
- Fetal alcohol syndrome
- Congenital hypothyroidism
- Cerebral palsy
- Autism (most cases)
- Prader-Willi syndrome
- Tuberous sclerosis
What is the definition of Global developmental delay?
Global developmental delay:
When there is significant delay in two or more developmental domains (e.g. gross motor, cognition, speech/language etc.)
- Significant = at least 2 SDs below average for age
- Global delay is the term used in children < 5 yrs
When taking a history of learning difficulties (e.g. cerebral palsy)
what topics might you want to cover?
-
Behaviour
- Parent - main concerns about child’s behaviour?
-
Learning / schooling / attendance
- Parent - what have the school reported regarding his progress?
-
Mobility
- Parent - any mobility issues? support in place?
-
Activities of daily living
- Child - likes and dislikes?
- Child - things you find easy / difficult?
-
Relationships with others
- Child - any friends? find it easy / hard to make friends?
How would you define Autism?
Where does Autism exist on the autism spectrum?
It is a lifelong (chronic), developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with and releates to other people + the world around them
Autism itself can be severe or mild, but it exists toward the more exteme end of ASD (autism spectrum disorders) with mild Asperger’s syndrome being at the less impactful end
Autism disorder is a social disabiity - what is the triad of autism in regard to this social disability?
- Social communication
- late to start talking or remain non-verabal
- difficulty initiating or sustaining convo
- unusual / repetitve language
- not responding to name
- difficulty understanding non-verbal comms
- Social interaction
- difficulty recognising emotion in self + others
- ↓ eye contact
- unaware of appropriate social behaviour (share toys, take turns talking)
- Social imagination: rigidity of thought, behaviour and play
- limited range of interests
- favour one specific toy (heavily)
- repetitive patterns of play / gestures
Autism is associated with ↑ occurence of several mental health conditions - name some.
- Anxiety
- Depression / low mood (may be worse in adolescence)
- OCD (up to 30% of persons with autism)
- Sleep disturbance
- Gender dysmorphia
What are some known risk factors for autism?
- Males (~4x more likely)
- 1st degree relatives with ASD (high heritability)
- ↑ parental age (father > 50 and mother > 40)
- Exposure to specific chemicals / medications or infections during pregnancy
Review other side of card for Autism history taking / questions.
Language + communication:
- Can they hold a convo?
- Voice: pitch? monotone? content of speech?
- Gestures when communicating?
- Meaningless repitition of speech?
Social + emotional interaction:
- Making + keeping friends?
- Understand emotions of others + themselves?
- How is their eye contact?
- Ignoring social cues / behaviour appropriate for age?
- Narrowed interests? Unable to talk about other topics?
Flexiblity / rigidity of thought?
- Repetitive play?
- How do they cope with change?
- Any obsessions? Routines? Rituals?
Behaviour:
- Temper? Meltdowns?
- Obsessions, fears, phobias?
Sensory features:
- Problems with loud noises? textures? water?
- Sensory seeking? Sensory avoiding?
Birth History:
- Antenantal - Hx of alcohol, drugs, smoking, illness?
- Perinatal - delivery problems, ↓ birth weight?
- Postnatal issues
Developmental Hx:
- Motor development progressing?
- Hearing, speech and language progression? - speech regression = RED FLAG
- Development of social interaction and play?
Family Hx:
- Learning disabilities?
- Epilepsy / fits?
- Alcohol / drug abuse?
- Domestic violence or care leavers?
What tools can be used to screen for autism spectrum disorder (ASD)?
-
CAST (childhood autism spectrum test)
- screen children 4-11yrs
- 39 yes/no questions
-
ADOS-2 (autism diagnostic observation schedule)
- for diagnosing and assessing autism
- series of tasks involving interaction between examiner + testee
- observations of behaviour converted into quantitative score
-
ADI-R (autism diagnostic interview-revised):
- structured interview with parents of individual (about the patient)
- examines; language / communication, social interaction, restricted, repetitive behaviours and interests
- min mental age of 24 months (2yrs)
-
DISCO (diagnostic interview for social and communication disorders):
- semi-structured interview with parent/care giver
- 300 questions
- children + adults of any age
What medical conditions is ASD associated with?
(progress test info)
- Fragile X syndrome - trinucleotide repeat disorder (CGG-repeat)
- Tuberous Sclerosis - autosomal dominant (neuro-cutaneous features)
- Rett’s syndrome - non genetic, new mutation MECP2 gene
- Congential rubella (especially exposure during 1st trimester)
How is autism managed?
Conservative:
-
Psychotherapy - both parents + patients:
- CBT
- Behaviour management programmes
- Applied behavioural analysis program - intense program (40hr a week for 3yrs) based on operant conditioning, imitation and reinforcement
-
Social - led by functional assessment:
- Carers
- Respite care
- Education of peers in school
- Learning support / special schools
Pharmacological:
-
2nd gen anti-psychotics = 1st line for children + adolescents with ASD
- Risperidone (only one liscenced in UK) - for aggressive, challenging behaviour in autistic children
- SSRIs - low dose, used for restricted repetitive behaviours (evidence limited)
- Melatonin - ↓ sleep latency (time taken to fall alseep)
What is Fragile X syndrome and what are it’s features?
Fragile X syndrome is a trinucleotide repeat disorder (CGG)
Features in males (males far more commonly affected):
- autism is more common
- learning difficulties
- large low set ears, long thin face, high arched palate
- macroorchidism (large testes)
- hypotonia
- mitral valve prolapse
Features in females (one fragile X and one normal X)
- range from normal to mild