Childhood Disorders

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Childhood Disorders

• Unique characteristics of childhood disorders
• Mental retardation
• Learning, Motor skills, Communication Disorders
• Disruptive Behavior Disorders
• Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct
  Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
  Disorder
• Pervasive Developmental Disorders

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Unique characteristics of childhood disorders

• Diagnosis is a challenge because behaviors that
  are appropriate at one developmental stage may
  not be appropriate at another
• Must have a firm understanding of normal
  development to grasp abnormal development in
  children

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Mental Retardation

• A condition of limited mental ability in which
  an individual has a low IQ, usually below 70, and
  has difficulty adapting to everyday life
• Affects 2.5-3 of population, 7-8 million
  Americans

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DSM-IV Criteria for Mental Retardation

• Significantly subaverage intellectual
  functioning, IQ score of 70 or below
• Concurrent deficits or impairments in adaptive
  functioning in two or more areas communication,
  self-care, home-living, social interpersonal
  skills
• Onset before age 18

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Degrees of Mental Retardation

• Mild IQ score 5070, 85 percent of affected
  population, intermittent support required
• Moderate IQ score 3355, 10 percent of affected
  population, limited support required
• Severe IQ score 2040, 34 percent of affected
  population, extensive support required
• Profound IQ below 25, 12 percent of affected
  population, pervasive support required

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Down Syndrome

• Set of conditions including
• small head and ears
• hands that are spadelike with short fingers
• flat-backed heads
• eyes with folded skin
• significant health problems including heart
  defects
• low intellectual functioning

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Causes of Mental Retardation

• Inherited diseases and genetic accidents
• Phenylketonuria (Metabolic problems)
• Tay-Sachs
• Nieman-Pick
• Hurlers
• Fragile X syndrome (Genetic problems)
• Trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome)
• Klinefelters syndrome (XXY in males)
• Turners syndrome (Xo females)

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Causes of Mental Retardation

• Pregnancy complications, birth trauma, childhood
  problems
• teratogenic agents
• prenatal infection (rubella, STDs)
• RH factor (in 2nd children with Rh moms)
• prematurity
• postnatal risks and childhood problems
• lead poison, poor nutrition, encephalitis,
  trauma
• Cultural-familial factors (a diathesis-stress
  model)
• genes provide for maximum potential
• environment influences actual development
• factors including poverty, low parental
  education, unstimulating environment

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DSM-IV Criteria for Learning, Motor, and
Communication Disorders

• Reading disorder below expected reading
  achievement
• Mathematics disorder below expected mathematics
  achievement
• Disorder of written expression below expected
  written communication skills
• Motor skills disorder below expected motor
  coordination marked by delays in walking,
  clumsiness, poor handwriting

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DSM-IV Criteria for Learning, Motor, and
Communication Disorders

• Expressive language disorder expressive language
  performance marked by poor vocabulary, poor
  verbal skills
• Mixed receptive-expressive language disorder
  difficulties in expressing, understanding
  language
• Phonological disorder Failure to use speech
  sounds appropriate for age, dialect
• Stuttering Fluency disturbances inappropriate to
  age, repetitions, prolongations, blocking of
  speech

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Diagnosis of Learning Disorders

• Persons performance is 2 standard deviations
  below the expected level for the persons age,
  schooling, and intelligence
• Compare intelligence (aptitude/potential)
  achievement scores
• Can affect individuals with any level
• of intelligence (low to high)

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Causes of Learning Disorders

• Brain damage
• Early deprivation
• Genetics
• Emotional problems
• Inadequate schooling
• Poverty
• Lack of motivation

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Treatment for Learning Disorders

• Special education
• Scaffolding
• Mainstreaming
• Primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention