First, spinal cord and hindbrain structures are developed (pons, cerebellum), followed by midbrain (hypothalamus, thalamus, hippocampus) and finally forebrain and cerebral cortex.
Everyone’s heard before of Piaget’s stages of development. These are not just abstract theoretical constructs, but are actually supported by research into neurodevelopmental growth. Correlating with these phases are growth spurts in the brain that move from lower structures, the brainstem, forward to the midbrain and cerebrum or outer portions of the brain.
Neurodevelopment does NOT stop at puberty. Continues until age 18- later for boys than girls. The last parts of the brain to develop are the executive functions- found into eh frontal lobe. These are what gives kids the ability to plan, reason, think abstractly, and most importantly – foresee consequences. Therefore, when courts are thinking about trying adolescents for crimes, murder in particular in the case of the shooting, psychology really argues that teens brains are not yet developed as are those of the adult.
Often parents present with children at between the ages of 4-6, wanting to know if their child is lagging in any cognitive ways. Some of the more basic ones you can assess with patients: If a child is having problems in any of these areas it may be a red flag – may want to think about testing if the child has not been diagnosed with any sort of neurodevelopmental or learning disorder
So moving into when something goes wrong. These are a list and approximate frequency rates of the disorders. I included the frequency rates to remind everyone that these are not common and you are not likely to see many of these if ever.
This is the most common neurodevelopmental DO affecting children and adults; Like with most of the ND disorders, there is not one single BIO cause, but many different causes. The causes are either genetic or environmental, such as head trauma or the result of substances, possibly neglect as an early infant.
neurobiological findings that they’ve found with things like CAT scans and MRI. Starting with Reading disorder, aka dyslexia, the abnormalities are primarily left sided – left side is the language portion of the brain while right is more visual spatial.
More variability on the causes and abnormalities – not as clear cut as in verbal LD’s
You are not going to treat the child specifically in intellectual or academics of course, but the emotional sequalea
Many teachers already are aware, but if you are doing a group for these children, it is important to know strategies for working with groups. Often, ADHD kids will primarily behave well 1-1 because of constant focus and attention. They are less abel to be distracted. In a group is where you will see the ADHD symptoms manifest the most.
The 1 st part of treatment is just learing to recognize or become aware of the tic or habit.
So, for movements, teach the child to tense the musle that is isometric or opposite the tic movement. For shoulder jerking, isometric contraction of the shoulder depressors (that push the shouler down) For barking, slow rhythmic deep breathing through the nose with mouth shut. For thumb sucking or trichotillomania, clenching of fists.
As with all behavioral programs for kids, the more visual the better – use a poster or stickers, etc.
If you were to treat any of these other disorders, it would be similar symptoms to those with autism or MR.
The key with this disorder is that there is a LOSS of skills after a previously normal development
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These are the perkunje cells of the cerebellum – one of the areas of the most consistent findings in autistic brains
While Eye contact is very important in our society, some literature suggests that Autistics avoid eye contact and there comprehension is BETTER – this may be because they become overstimulated with too much eyecontact So, it is important for them to recognize and practice eye contact, but maybe prioritize this as a treatment goal – better to be saying and doing the right things than be very akward with great eye-contact
How to use inanimate objects Many autistic kids don’t initiate play with others and if they do play with others, it is parallel or non-interactive, rather than socially reciprocal