Because of AJ’s issues I have done a lot of research on autism, institutional autism and PDD but what exactly are PDD’s, or Pervasive Developmental Disorders? And, what is it when it is Not Otherwise Specified PDD-NOS?

Pervasive Development Disorders actually refer to the group of disorders characterized by delays in socialization and communication.The group includes Autism, Aspergers, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, and Rett’s Syndrome. It also includes disorders that can not be specifically specified but is developmental in nature , thus NOS.

PDD is not a specific diagnoses but PDD-NOS is a diagnoses, and many insurance companies will make sure to NOT cover PDD as an approved and covered disorder, much like Autism. Officially, the DSM-IV does not recognize PDD and schools do not either.

PDD-NOS “is included in DSM-IV to encompass cases where there is marked impairment of social interaction, communication, and/or stereotyped behavior patterns or interest, but when full features for autism or another explicitly defined PDD are not met.” What is interesting is that many PDD-NOS cases are never diagnosed because they can function in society, although on a limited basis because intellectual deficits are less common.

According to Wikipedia, PDD symptoms encompass the following:
* Difficulty using and understanding language
* Difficulty relating to people, objects, and events
* Unusual play with toys and other objects
* Difficulty with changes in routine or familiar surroundings
* Repetitive body movements or behavior patterns

However, each PDD type has its own sub-symptoms. For example, PDD-NOS is milder than autism and though it has symptoms of autism some symptoms are absent.

What is most important to remember when getting a diagnosis of PDD-NOS or anywhere on the PDD spectrum is that the treatment will be similar, depending upon the severity of the symptoms.

To read more about PDD visit a friend of mine at the Karianna Spectrum or Kari’s Couch

Post from: Blisstree

What is PDD?

However, where does ARND fit in? What happens to kids who are throroughly affected but their birth mother only drank 1-2 drinks a day?

• Science is not always right.
• Alcohol is always capable of causing fetal effects.
• FAS always involves brain damage, impaired growth, and head and face abnomalities.
• NO amount of alcohol has been proven safe.

So, in my opinion and because FAS is 100% preventable, take the better safe than sorry approach. Don’t drink.

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How Much Can A Pregnant Woman Drink?

Alcohol damages parts of the brain that give us memory, self-control, coordination, and judgment (thus, cause/effect and consequences). Most children with FAS have problems with learning, attention spans, behavior, and fine motor skills because of this.

Post from: Blisstree

How Does Alcohol Affect the Brain?

I also thought that some of you would love some information for your children’s teachers…I know that finding information on FAS is difficult. Please print out some of these great resources to help your kids.

Classroom Strategies

• Meet with parents, the student and professionals in the community to determine individual needs of the student.
• Develop an Individual Education Plan (IEP) specific to the student’s needs.
• Prepare the student for all changes in routine and/or environment.
• Carefully organize daily situations.
• Teach the student the habit of moving from one step to the next.
• The student will have a lot of trouble with organizational skills, regardless of their apparent intelligence and/or age.
• Use verbal cues, clear visual demonstrations and physical cues.
• The student will have problems with abstract thinking and concepts. Avoid abstract ideas where possible. When abstract ideas are necessary, use visual cues as an aid.
• An increase in unusual or difficult behaviors probably indicates an increase in stress, sometimes a feeling of loss of control in a specific situation. Try saying, “Do you have something to tell me?” The individual may need to go to a “safe place” and/or “safe person.”
• Don’t take misbehavior personally.
• Most children with Asperger’s Disorder use and interpret speech quite literally. Until you know the word processing capabilities of the student from personal experience, avoid: “cute” names such as Pal, Buddy, Wise Guy, etc.; idioms (”save your breath,” “jump the gun,” “second thoughts,” etc.); double meanings; sarcasm; and teasing.
• Be as concrete as possible. Avoid using vague questions like, “Why did you do that?”
• Avoid essay-type questions. They rarely know when they have said enough or if they are properly addressing the core of the question.
• If the student doesn’t seem to be learning the task or concept, break it down into smaller steps or present it in more than one way – visually, verbally and physically.
• Avoid verbal overload. Be clear. Remember that although they don’t have a hearing problem, and they may be paying total attention to what you are saying, they may have difficulty understanding what you feel is important in what you are telling them.
• Behavior management works, but if incorrectly used, or used without keeping the student’s level of ability in mind, it can feed robot-like behavior or be ineffective. Use with creativity.
• Consistent treatment and expectations from everyone is vital.
• Be aware that auditory and visual input can be extremes of too much or too little, depending on the individual.
• Do not rely on the student to relay messages to home about school events, assignments, school rules, etc., unless you are certain that the student is capable of relaying the message. A phone call home works best until this skill can be developed.
• Involve the parents in the work and techniques used at school. The child will function better in a structure common to home and school.
• If the student uses repetitive verbal arguments, and /or repetitive verbal questions, try requesting that s/he write down the question or argumentative statement. Then write down your reply. Or try writing their repetitive argument and/or statement yourself, and then ask the student to write down a logical reply. If your student does not read or write, try role playing the question and/or argument with you taking the child’s part and the student answering you in a way they think would be logical.

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Classroom strategies for FAS

Alcohol shuts down the left side of the brain…it falls asleep and no longer functions as it should. Remember the last time you drank heavily? You lost your motor control, impulse, memory, self control, coordination, and judgment. I am sure you knew the rules you wanted to break but you did them anyway. I am sure you saw the curb you fell over but you did it anyway.

Now, imagine you don’t have that left side of your brain ALL the time. You know the rules but your impulses say to break them. You act and THEN realize that you were not suppose to do it.

The “do’s and don’ts” are sitting there in the left brain, but when that impulse hits the right brain, a child with FAS acts first, and processes the information later, information that is there but cannot be accessed in time to prevent disaster.

Medication does help…

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FAS: Acting Before Thinking

Living with a child with special needs like AJ means living with a child who has no cause and effect, no conscience, no sense of consequence. He also has no short term memory, has the attention span of a gnat, and when he gets stressed out will either laugh at you or scream at you. So, trying to teach him to follow the rules of the house is almost like talking to a wall.

Don’t get me wrong, my son is very sweet but when he wants to do something he will do it…no matter what. His impulse control comes first no matter what. If he thinks it he does it. But, what is interesting is that this has become even more prominent lately.

He used to be able to control it more and stop himself from doing the action. ie: he use to be able to ask when he wanted something, I could answer him, and he would respond appropriately. Now he asks, responds the way he wants no matter what I say…even when I am in the middle of responding.

Our big struggle right now is that he is fascinated with throwing things into the air and into the ceiling fan. It does not matter what we do or what we say he does it. Consequences do not even enter his mind when he escapes to his room to throw things into the fan. For example, I asked him to go get his chips this afternoon and he escaped upstairs to throw things into the fan. He was gone less than 2 minutes.

Time-outs are not working, taking away privileges don’t even register, rewards don’t work with him because they are delayed.

Any suggestions?

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Summer Struggles III: Living with a Child With Special Needs

A perfect example of this is AJ’s constant need to throw things into the air. We tend to think that he is doing this on purpose or because he is being malicious but he seems to have a neurological need to move and to stim in this manner. He is not on sensory overload but it fulfulls some sort of proprioceptive function for him.

Another example is that he has horrible social judgement and is just not able to read other children correctly. When other parents (who don’t know us) are around they think that we are the ones at fault, that he is yelling and screaming because we are bad parents. But, it is AJ to does not know how to control his own self, no matter what we do to help him.

What does your child do that is hard to explain?

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Misinterpretations of Fetal Alcohol Children

Unfortunately, there is NO cure for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

However, children with FAS can be given good medical care.

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Is There a Cure for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?

So, what are they signs and symptoms? Well, there are so many that it is impossible to list them all. Why? Because alcohol affects so MANY different parts of the fetus when a woman drinks.

Some children may have severe Central Nervous System symptoms while other children may only have slight facial features.

“Traditional” Signs of fetal alcohol syndrome may include:

• Distinctive facial features, including small eyes, an exceptionally thin upper lip, a short, upturned nose and a smooth skin surface between the nose and upper lip
• Heart defects
• Deformities of joints, limbs and fingers
• Slow physical growth before and after birth
• Vision difficulties or hearing problems
• Small head circumference and brain size (microcephaly)
• Mental retardation and delayed development
• Abnormal behavior such as a short attention span, hyperactivity, poor impulse control, extreme nervousness and anxiety

Nontraditional signs

• Tremors in a newborn infant
• Agitation and crying
• Strawberry birthmarks (hemangiomas) on the skin
• Attention deficit disorders – ADD/ADHD
• Mild to severe vision problems
• Higher than normal to dangerously high pain tolerance
• Loss of intellectual functioning (IQ)
• Severe loss of intellectual potential
• Mental Retardation
• Serious maxilo-facial deformities
• Dental abnormalities
• Cleft palate
• Bi-polar
• Behavioral problems
• Dyslexia
• Immune system malfunctioning
• Extreme impulsiveness
• Poor judgment
• Little or no retained memory
• Deafness
• Little or no capacity for moral judgment
• Little or no capacity for interpersonal empathy
• Sociopathic behavior
• Epilepsy
• Tremors
• Cerebral palsy
• Renal (liver) failure
• Asthma
• Complex seizure disorder
• Developmental speech and language disorder
• Developmental delay
• Height and weight deficiencies
• Tight hamstrings
• Cognitive perseveration
• Echolalia
• Autistic traits
• Rigidity
• Sleep disorder
• Developmental coordination disorder
• Adaptive esotropia
• Tourette’s traits
• Central auditory processing disorder
• Night terrors
• Precocious puberty
• Social problems
• Depression
• Reactive outbursts
• Suicide
• Heart defects
• Heart failure
• Death

Post from: Blisstree

What are the Symptoms of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is the most clinically recognized form of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. It is typically characterized by facial features, prenatal and postnatal growth retardation, and central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities.

The consequences of FAS are lifelong, and the behavioral and learning difficulties are greater than the neurocognitive impairment.

Alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND) is also a clinically recognizable diagnosis in the continuum of FASD and describes the clinical outcome when the facial features typical of FAS are not there. It also describes the functional or mental impairments linked to prenatal alcohol exposure, such as behavioral or cognitive abnormalities including learning difficulties, poor school performance, poor impulse control, and problems with mathematical skills, memory, attention, and/or judgment, thus the neurological impairment.

Additionally, Alcohol-related Birth Defects (ARBD) describes malformations of the skeletal system and major organ systems, such as defects of the heart, kidneys, bones, and/or auditory system.

Unfortunately, FAS affects up to one percent of the U.S. population but is entirely preventable. In fact, it is the number one cause of mental retardation.

In Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 30 (30), researchers found that out of over half the residents of the baby homes in Murmansk, Russia, 45% had intermediate and 13% had high phenotypic expression scores suggesting prenatal exposure to alcohol.

Despite good physical care, stable daily routine, availability of well-trained specialists, and access to medical care, these vulnerable children show significant growth and developmental delays compared with their institutionalized peers. Phenotypic expression scores were devised based on facial dysmorphology and other readily observable physical findings.

Growth measurements from birth, time of placement in the baby home, and at present were analyzed. In addition, the charts of 64% of the children were randomly selected for retrospective review. Information collected included maternal, medical, developmental, and social histories.

Great Links:
National Organization of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Adopting.org (implications for adoptive families)
FAS Link
FAS Community Resource Center
March of Dimes
Do2Learn
FASD Center
Bright Tomorrow
FASD, Now What?

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What is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?