ABSTRACT
Smart technology (e.g., smartphones, smartwatches, tablets) and the age of information have transformed our society and changed the lives of individuals who rely on assistive technology. This study provides a detailed description of an adolescent growing up in the digital age using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). It documents the participant's development across language, cognitive, and social domains from ages 2- to 15-years-old, and explores how changes in AAC technology and contextual factors contributed to broad-based outcomes associated with AAC use. In general, results from standardized assessments show growth or stability across domains from ages 2-15. Data from a parent interview provides a narrative description of AAC device use, AAC interventions, and school and family environments. Despite communicative challenges, the participant leveraged advances in AAC technology to develop communicative competence and creatively used his smart devices and the Internet to interact with friends both online and in person.
Subject(s)
Abnormalities, Multiple/rehabilitation , Communication Aids for Disabled/trends , Communication Disorders/rehabilitation , Intellectual Disability/rehabilitation , Malformations of Cortical Development/rehabilitation , Adolescent , Child , Child, Preschool , Humans , Inventions , Longitudinal Studies , MaleSubject(s)
Genetic Counseling/organization & administration , Malformations of Cortical Development/genetics , Organizations, Nonprofit/organization & administration , Stakeholder Participation , Europe , Humans , Malformations of Cortical Development/epidemiology , Malformations of Cortical Development/rehabilitationABSTRACT
Hemimegalencephaly is a rare congenital disease that occurs with intractable epilepsy and is a childhood developmental disorder. A functional hemispherectomy is indicated for the treatment of hemimegalencephaly with intractable epilepsy. We present a case of hemimegalencephaly in a 6-month-old male. After hemispherectomy, his seizures disappeared completely and postoperative neurological examination showed right hemiplegia. His right arm and limb function were recovered gradually by rehabilitation with passive movement. We investigated cortical activation using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Serial NIRS showed right cortical activation by passive movement of his right arm. We suggest that NIRS showed the ipsilateral reorganization process as an effect of neurorehabilitation for disconnection of the brain.
