Neurodevelopmental Disorders Lesson 8 PDF

**[Lesson 08]** **[Neurodevelopmental Disorders I]** **[Topic: 30-35]** **[Topic 30: Introduction]** Neurodevelopmental Disorders are a group of disabilities in the functioning of the brain that emerge at birth or during very early childhood and affect the individual's behavior, memory, concentr...

**[Lesson 08]** **[Neurodevelopmental Disorders I]** **[Topic: 30-35]** **[Topic 30: Introduction]** Neurodevelopmental Disorders are a group of disabilities in the functioning of the brain that emerge at birth or during very early childhood and affect the individual's behavior, memory, concentration, and/or ability to learn. Some disorders first displayed during childhood subside as the person ages. However, the neurodevelopmental disorders often have a significant impact throughout the person's life. These disorders start before children begin school and involve delays in development that affect their personal, social, school, and work skills. These developmental delays can range from specific problems with learning or behavior control to more general challenges with school skills or intelligence. Symptoms can show up as both extra behaviors and difficulties reaching expected milestone [**Topic 31**: **Intellectual Disability**] The major disorder in category of neurodevelopmental disorder is intellectual disability, formerly known as mental Retardation in DSM IV-TR. This disorder starts during early development and includes difficulties in both intellectual abilities and everyday skills across areas like thinking, social skills, and practical life skills. Key features of intellectual disability include: - Challenges with intellectual abilities, such as reasoning, problem-solving, planning, abstract thinking, judgment, school learning, and learning from experience. - Difficulties in everyday functioning, including social, conceptual, and practical skills. This means the person may struggle to meet basic standards for independence and responsibility in daily life. Communication - Social participation - Academic or occupational functioning - Personal independence at home or in community setting The deficits begin during the developmental period (before the age of 18). [**Topic 32**: **Intellectual Disability Diagnostic Criteria**] The criteria might be overlapping but the following three criteria must be met to diagnose someone with intellectual disability: \- Difficulties in intellectual abilities, shown through clinical assessments and personalized intelligence tests. \- Problems with everyday skills, making it hard to meet age-appropriate and cultural standards for independence and responsibility. \- Without regular support, these challenges limit the person's ability to function in daily activities. - Communication - Social participation - Independent living across multiple environments such as home, school work, and community [**Topic 33**: **Intellectual Disability Specifiers/Diagnostic Criteria**] In addition to the main criteria, few specifiers need to be addressed in the assessment. The severity of the disorder must be specified on the following levels: - Mild - Moderate - Severe - Profound Levels of severity are defined based on adaptive functioning given in DSM 5 and not IQ scores because it is adaptive functioning that determines the level of supports required. Moreover, IQ measures are less valid in the lower end of the IQ range. **Global Developmental Delay** **The severity level of the condition cannot be accurately assessed in young children under 5 years old. Sometimes a child may not reach developmental milestones in several areas, but they are too young for detailed testing. In these cases, they are diagnosed with \"global developmental delay,\" but this diagnosis needs to be reviewed as they get older.** [**Topic 34**: **Autism Spectrum Disorder**] Autism spectrum disorder is marked by extreme unresponsiveness to other people, severe communication deficits, and highly rigid and repetitive behaviors, interests, and activities. **Diagnostic Criteria:** 1. Ongoing difficulties in social communication and interaction in different situations, shown by the following, either now or in the past. 2. Difficulties in social interaction, which can include things like unusual ways of starting or continuing conversations, limited sharing of interests or emotions, and not starting or responding to social interactions. 3. Problems with nonverbal communication for social interaction, such as mismatched verbal and nonverbal communication, unusual eye contact or body language, difficulty using gestures, or a complete lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication. 4. Challenges in building, keeping, and understanding relationships, which may include trouble adjusting behavior for different social situations, difficulty with imaginative play or making friends, or little interest in peers. **Specify current severity:** Severity is determined by how much social communication and repetitive behaviors are affected. A. Limited and repetitive behaviors, interests, or activities, shown by at least two of the following (examples are just a few possibilities): 1. Repeating movements, using objects, or speaking in the same way over and over (e.g., repeating simple movements, lining up toys, echoing words, or using unique phrases). 2. Strong need for routines, difficulty with change, or following certain patterns in words or actions (e.g., getting very upset with small changes, having trouble with transitions, following strict routines, or needing to take the same route or eat the same food every day). 3. Very intense or focused interests that are unusual (e.g., being overly attached to unusual objects or having strong, specific interests that don't change). [**Topic 35**: **Autism Spectrum Disorder**] **Diagnostic Criteria (In continuation to the previous topic 34):** 1. Hyper- or hypo-reactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment (e.g., apparent indifference to pain/temperature, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, visual fascination with lights or movement). Specify current severity: Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior (see Table 2). A. Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities, or may be masked by learned strategies in later life). D. Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning. B. These disturbances are not better explained by intellectual disability (intellectual developmental disorder) or global developmental delay. Intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder frequently co-occur; to make comorbid diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability, social communication should be below that expected for general developmental level. **Specify Current Severity:** Following parameters needs to be seen in this section: - Severity is based on social communication impairments and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior. - Symptoms must be present in the early developmental period - Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning. - These disturbances are not better explained by intellectual disability or global developmental delay. It is also important to rule out and specify if the disorder is: - With or without accompanying intellectual impairment - With or without accompanying language impairment - Associated with another medical or genetic condition or environmental factor