ABSTRACT
AIM: Cerebral visual impairment (CVI), a frequently occurring functional impairment in children with neurodevelopmental disorders, leads to communicative, social and academic challenges. In Norway, children with neurodevelopmental disorders are assessed at paediatric habilitation centres. Our aims were to explore how CVI is identified, how paediatric habilitation centres assess their CVI competence and the reported prevalence of CVI among children with cerebral palsy. METHODS: An electronic questionnaire was sent to all 19 Norwegian paediatric habilitation centre leaders in January 2022. The results were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The prevalence of CVI among children with cerebral palsy was estimated using register-based data. RESULTS: The questionnaire was answered by 17. Only three judged their habilitation centre as having sufficient competence on CVI. None of the centres used screening questionnaires systematically, and 11 reported that CVI assessment was not good enough. Awareness that a child may have CVI typically occurred during examinations for other diagnoses. The prevalence of CVI among children with cerebral palsy was only 8%, while CVI status was unknown in 33%. CONCLUSION: Better knowledge and assessment of CVI at Norwegian paediatric habilitation centres are needed. CVI appears to be often overlooked in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Subject(s)
Brain Diseases , Cerebral Palsy , Neurodevelopmental Disorders , Child , Humans , Cerebral Palsy/complications , Cerebral Palsy/epidemiology , Cerebral Palsy/diagnosis , Vision Disorders/epidemiology , Norway/epidemiologyABSTRACT
The overall goal of a cognitive assessment is to improve communication, learning, and quality of life for a child who is deafblind. This article will give a brief description and perspective on different evaluation approaches as a basis for reliable cognitive assessments and offer suggestions on how to improve the quality of a cognitive assessment in our clinical practice. The assessor should be aware of the limitations of norm-referenced tests if standardized normative measures are applied to evaluate the cognitive functions of a child who is deafblind. However, if engaging a child with deafblindness in a standardized normative assessment, special considerations and assessment concessions would be required. Furthermore, key issues on how to improve the quality of a cognitive assessment by affording multiple assessment pathways for cognitive assessments will be addressed. Particular attention is given to the following assessment approaches: multi-method, multi-informant assessment, ecological assessment, and dynamic assessment. The use of multiple assessment pathways is necessary to reveal the genuine cognitive abilities and potentials of a child with deafblindness.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To determine if the auditory middle latency responses (AMLR), auditory late latency response (ALLR) and auditory P300 were sensitive to auditory processing disorder (APD) and listening difficulties in children, and further to elucidate mechanisms regarding level of neurobiological problems in the central auditory nervous system. Design: Three-group, repeated measure design. Study sample: Forty-six children aged 8-14 years were divided into three groups: children with reported listening difficulties fulfilling APD diagnostic criteria, children with reported listening difficulties not fulfilling APD diagnostic criteria and normally hearing children. Results: AMLR Na latency and P300 latency and amplitude were sensitive to listening difficulties. No other auditory evoked potential (AEP) measures were sensitive to listening difficulties, and no AEP measures were sensitive to APD only. Moderate correlations were observed between P300 latency and amplitude and the behavioural AP measures of competing words, frequency patterns, duration patterns and dichotic digits. Conclusions: Impaired thalamo-cortical (bottom up) and neurocognitive function (top-down) may contribute to difficulties discriminating speech and non-speech sounds. Cognitive processes involved in conscious recognition, attention and discrimination of the acoustic characteristics of the stimuli could contribute to listening difficulties in general, and to APD in particular.
Subject(s)
Auditory Perception/physiology , Auditory Perceptual Disorders/physiopathology , Event-Related Potentials, P300/physiology , Evoked Potentials, Auditory/physiology , Acoustic Stimulation/methods , Adolescent , Child , Female , Hearing Tests/methods , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The present study investigated the impact of coexisting anxiety disorder in children with ADHD on their ability to regulate behavior. METHOD: Parent reports on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) in a comorbid group of children with ADHD and anxiety (n = 11) were compared to BRIEF reports in a group of children with a "pure" ADHD (n = 23), a "pure" anxiety (n = 24) and a group without any diagnosis (n = 104) in a 2 (ADHD vs. no ADHD) × 2 (anxiety vs. no anxiety) design. RESULTS: The children with ADHD and anxiety disorder scored significantly higher on the Inhibit scale than children within the other three groups. Main effects of diagnosis appeared in ADHD children on the Inhibit, Emotional Control, and Working Memory scales, and on the Shift and Emotional Control scales in anxious children. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that a behavioral dysregulation in ADHD children is aggravated by comorbid anxiety.
Subject(s)
Anxiety Disorders/complications , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/complications , Social Control, Informal , Analysis of Variance , Anxiety Disorders/diagnosis , Anxiety Disorders/psychology , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/diagnosis , Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/psychology , Child , Emotions , Female , Humans , Inhibition, Psychological , Internal-External Control , Male , Memory, Short-Term , Prospective Studies , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales , Severity of Illness Index , Sex Factors , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
This study addressed the presence of executive dysfunction in children with CHARGE syndrome, a genetic disorder with multiple physical anomalies and severe challenging behaviors. Ninety-eight children were included in the study. More than half received clinically significant scores on the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF; Gioia et al., 2000) scales of Shift, Monitor, and the Behavioral Regulation Index, with additional high scores on Inhibit and the Global Executive Composite. Associations were found with the age the child first walked, scores on the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC; Krug et al., 1993), and being classified as deafblind. Difficulties with making transitions and flexible problem solving, monitoring their work and their effect on others, and acting on impulse, may be related to the behavioral difficulties exhibited by children with CHARGE. Interventions targeting improved self-regulation may help to manage this challenging behavior.
Subject(s)
Abnormalities, Multiple/psychology , Cognition Disorders/diagnosis , Cognition Disorders/psychology , Cognition , Coloboma/psychology , Growth Disorders/psychology , Abnormalities, Multiple/epidemiology , Adolescent , Autistic Disorder/epidemiology , Autistic Disorder/psychology , Blindness/epidemiology , Blindness/psychology , Child , Child, Preschool , Choanal Atresia/epidemiology , Choanal Atresia/psychology , Cognition Disorders/epidemiology , Coloboma/epidemiology , Deafness/epidemiology , Deafness/psychology , Ear/abnormalities , Female , Genitalia/abnormalities , Growth Disorders/epidemiology , Heart Defects, Congenital/epidemiology , Heart Defects, Congenital/psychology , Humans , Male , Parents/psychology , Surveys and Questionnaires , SyndromeABSTRACT
I present the case of a 12-year-old girl diagnosed with CHARGE syndrome. As an infant she had shown typical characteristics of CHARGE. Neuroimaging revealed asymmetrical ventriculomegaly. Both her teacher and parents reported academic and psychosocial problems. Neuropsychological assessment revealed significant executive dysfunction, including attention difficulties. We discuss the possible association between executive deficits and school and psychosocial problems. This case also highlights the importance of evaluating executive function in children with CHARGE, which is particularly useful in efficiently identifying needs for direct intervention.
