Early Onset Disorders Part 1 Flashcards Preview

• Symptoms
  • Significant sub-average on general intellectual functioning
  • Concurrent deficits in adaptive behavior
• Onset <18 YO
• 3% of school-age children
• Boys > girls 

• Causes
  • Lack of stimulation
  • Inadequate nutrition
  • Exposure to toxins (lead)
  • Chromosomal or metabolic abnormality (25%)
    • Down Syndrome, Fragile X
    • Phenylketonuria
  • Pregnancy trauma
    • Drugs, radiation, toxemia, alcohol
    • Infection (German measles)
  • Infections (encephalitis)
• Treatment
  • Parental support/guidance
  • Special programs 

• Distortions in timing, rate, sequence of many basic psychological functions involved in the development of social skills & language 
• Types
  • Autism
  • Asperger's Disorder

• Characteristics
  • Impaired non-verbal behaviors (eye contact, gestures)
  • Failure to develop age appropriate peer relations
  • Lack of social reciprocity
  • Delay or lack of spoken language
  • Lack of make-believe play
  • Restricted stereotyped patterns of behavior
• Causes: genetics, infections

• Characteristics
  • Impaired social interaction
  • Restricted, stereotyped patterns of behavior
• Treatment
  • Parental support
  • Special programs 

• Symptoms
  • Delay in rate of learning a specific function so that children behave as though they are passing through an earlier normal developmental stage substantially below expected for chronologic age
  • May be one or more in areas of arithmetic, expressive writing, reading, articulation, expressive language, receptive language, coordination
• 10% of children
• Boys > girls
• Treatment: remedial work 

• Symptoms
  • Stuttering (sound & syllable repetition)
  • 3-4 YO
• Cause: developmental
• Treatment
  • Ignore
  • 1% persists & require speech therapy 

Pattern of negativistic, hostile & defiant behavior

(at least 6 mo)

•  + Signs
  • Often loses temper
  • Often argues w/ adults
  • Defied or refuses to comply
  • Deliberately annoys
  • Blames others
  • Resentful, spiteful & vindictive 

• Children & adolescents
• Boys > girls
• Cause
  • Environmental (parents over-assert control)
• Treatment
  • Parent training program
  • Psychotherapy
  • Social skills training
  • Cognitive behavior therapy 

• Fidgety or restless
• Unable to sit for a long time
• Always on the go
• Easily distracted
• Can’t concentrate well on work
• Impulsively acting before thinking
• Forgetting what was said or not listening
• Difficulty finishing work on time
• Often losing personal things
• Difficulty waiting in lines or jumping ahead of others 

• 5% of children
• Many times children w/ ADD have other learning problems
• Often starts in kindergarten or 1st grade & continues for years
• Causes
  • Children are born w/ ADD & can’t control symptoms easily
  • Often runs in families (hereditary)
  • Not caused by allergies or too much sugar 

• Medications
  • Ritalin (methylphenidate), Metadate, Concerta, Dexedrine (dextroamphetamine), Adderall, Cylert (pernoline), Pamelor (nortriptyline), Norpramin (desipramine), Catapres (clonidine), Strattera
• Psychotherapies
  • Behavioral therapy
  • Parent management training
  • Family therapy
• Educational
  • Special education classes
• Untreated
  • Can lead to difficulty w/ learning, classroom behavior, making friends, following rules at home
  • Many children don’t outgrow ADD when they get older & benefit from long-term medication 

• Frequent lying, stealing, truancy
• Running away from home
• Frequent fighting/bullying
• Property destruction
• Fire-setting
• Being mean to animals or people
• Breaking & entering into someone’s house or car 

• Older children & teenagers
• Boys > girls
• Most children w/ CD have other problems
  • ADD
  • Depression
  • Alcohol abuse
  • Family problems 

• Causes
  • Exact cause unknown
  • Many factors may contribute to behavioral problems
    • Drugs
    • Family problems
    • Low self-esteem
    • Physical abuse
    • Impulsivity
• Teenagers at risk…..
  • Dropping out of school
  • Being seriously injured in flights
  • Getting hooked on street drugs
  • Trouble w/ the police 

Without treatment, many children/teenagers continue to have similar problems as adults (may become imprisoned)

• Medication
  • Meds for depression
  • Lithium for aggressive & impulsive behavior
• Psychotherapy
  • Behavioral therapy
  • Group therapy
  • Family therapy
• Special programs
  • Probation programs
  • Residential programs 

• constant worrying
• unable to relax
• aches & pains (headaches, stomachaches)
• self-consciousness
• nightmares about the same things that cause worry 

• unable to leave parents b/c of worries that something bad may happen to them
• fear of going to sleep
• reluctant to go to school
• fear of being kidnapped 

• Children & teenagers
  • SAD = younger children (7-10 YO)
  • GAD = teenagers (12-15 YO)
• Causes
  • Exact cause unknown
  • Tendency to develop severe anxiety runs in some families (hereditary)
  • Stress can play a role (death, parent’s illness, another medical problem, learning problems)

• Medications
  • Tofranil (imipramine)
  • Xanax (alpraxolam)
  • BuSpar (Buspirone)
  • Paxil (paroxetine)
  • Zoloft (sertraline)
• Psychotherapy
  • Behavioral therapy
  • Cognitive behavioral therapy
  • Family therapy 

• Obsessions – thoughts or images (memories/pictures) that keep coming into one’s mind even though the person wants the thoughts to stop
• Compulsions – actions & behaviors that one feels need to be done over & over again; one can’t stop doing them
• Worries & anxiety occur if one tries to stop the obsessions or compulsions 

• Children & teenagers (1%)
• Causes
  • Exact cause unknown
  • Some parts in the brain don’t seem to work well in OCT (basal ganglia) post strep infection 

• Medication
  • Anafranil (clomipramine)
  • Prozac (fluoxetine)
  • Zoloft (sertraline)
  • Luvox (fluvoxamine)
• Psychotherapy
  • Behavioral therapy
  • Cognitive behavioral therapy 

Periods of extreme anxiety or fear that begin suddenly (min to hrs)

• Shortness of breath
• Feeling dizzy or faint
• Racing heartbeat
• Feeling shaky
• Stomach upset
• Sweating
• Thinking one may lose control
• Big fear of getting another period of anxiety 

• Rare in young children
• More frequent in teenagers
• Tendency to have PD runs in families (hereditary)