Developmentally disabled children

At this age, Roberto s brain is irreversibly damaged. He s attending a school for developmentally disabled children. He s not suffering from classical autism, but will likely be living for the rest of his life with various cognitive disabilities that will remain a severe handicap. 

Bloom, A., Raskin, L. and Reese, A. (1976) A comparison of WISC-R and Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale classifications of developmentally disabled children. Psychol. Schools, 13, 288-290... 

Tu, J. 8c M.W. Partington (1972). Developmental Medicine Child Neurology 14, 457M66. Verhoeven, W.M. 8c S. Tuinier (1996)./ourna/ of Intellectual Disability Research 40, 502-508. 

Aman, M.G., Tasse, M.J., Rojahn, J., and Hammer, D. (1996) The Nisonger CBRF a child behavior rating form for children with developmental disabilities. Res Dev Disabil, 17, 41—57. 

There have been numerous trials of use of the atypical antipsychotics in patients with developmental disabilities, but most of these trials were uncontrolled open-labeled studies or case reports (Aman and Madrid, 1999). Findings were reported for 86 adults and 1 child with prominent self-injury. The reports of adults assessed clozapine (1 report) and risperidone (4 reports). Improvement was observed for a majority of participants in all of these trials. The patients presented with a multitude of conditions, ranging from nonspecific MR and associated behavior problems, to pervasive developmental disorders (including autism), to various psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and manic disorder. Self-injury appeared to respond to treatment regardless of concomitant condition. In the only clozapine report with a child (who had autistic disorder), a mean dose of 283 mg/day caused a transient reduction in self-injury. 

Aman M.G., Arnold, L.E., and Armstrong S. (1999) Review of serotonergic agents and perseverative behavior in patients with developmental disabilities. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol 5 279-289. 

Handen, B.L., Feldman, H.M., Lurier, A., and Murray, P.J.H. (1999) Efficacy of methylphenidate among preschool children with developmental disabilities and ADFID. / Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 38 805-812. 

King, B.H., Wright, M., Snape, M., and Dourish, C.T. (2001b) Case series amantadine open-label treatment of impulsive and aggressive behavior in hospitalized children with developmental disabilities. / Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 40 654—657. 

It is not surprising that infant L. suffered diffuse encephalopathy (brain disorder), a cerebral infarction, and seizures during the neonatal period (Yager, 2002). Both asphyxia and hypoglycemia are injurious to the brain. The treatment for seizures consists of providing normal metabolic substrates (e.g., glucose) and appropriate anticonvulsant therapy (phenobarbital), as was done in the present case. The long-term treatment for the child s developmental disabilities is complex and involves the skills of many members of the health care team. 

Demb HB, Nguyen KT. Movement disorders in children with developmental disabilities taking risperidone. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 1999 38(l) 5-6. 

Tillman P, Grot J, Steinke J Blood lead levels in an institutionalized developmentally disabled population (abstract). Ment Retard 16 265-266,1978 Tong IS, Lu Y Identification of confounders in the assessment of the relationship between lead exposure and child development. Ann Epidemiol 11 38-45, 2001 Tong S, McMichael AJ, Baghurst PA Interactions between environmental lead exposures and sociodemographic factors on cognitive development. Arch Environ Health 55 330-335, 2000... 

Early intervention and Head Start programs help to analyze any developmental delays or learning disabilities a child might have, and provide specialized services to overcome those difficulties so the child will be as well prepared as possible to begin school. 

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