Child and adolescent psychiatry
ADHD
ADHD is a childhood psychological (brain) disorders, may continue through teenage years and adulthood. Indications include trouble in staying focused and paying attention, and hyperactivity. The average age for onset of ADHD is seven years.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF ADHD:
Inattentiveness (absentmindedness), hyperactivity, and impulsivity are the key behaviours of child with ADHD. It is common for children to be inattentive, hyperactive or impulsive occasionally, but for children with ADHD these behaviours are severe and occur more often.
Child with attention deficit can be easily distracted, have difficulty focusing on one thing for a long time, have trouble completing homework, and become bored with a task within a short period of time.
Child with hyperactivity are fidget and keep twisting and turning in their seats, continuously keep talking, touching or playing with anything and everything in and around the environment.They Have trouble sitting still during dinner, school, and story time, constantly moving around.
Children who have symptoms of impulsivity may have trouble waiting for things they want or waiting for their turns whileplaying games. They are impatient that they blurt out answers before the question is completed or before it’s their turn to answer. They act without regard for consequences such as running on the road, jumping from heights, etc.
AUTISM
It is disorder of the brain that makes a child difficult to communicate and relate with others. Most of them will always have some trouble to share with others. The signs of autism usually begin before the child attains 3yrs.
Signs and symptoms
There will be delay in talking and the child will appear as deaf as all the tests result will be normal.
Repeated kind of actions, interest and play.
The intelligence level will be below the normal.
The teenagers will often feel depressed and anxious.
Some people might get seizures.
AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD)
Autism is one of a serious developmental problem that appears in early childhood (less than three years of age). However indications and severity vary, all autism spectrum disorders affect a child’s ability to communicate and interact with others.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF ASD:
Child with ASD might not respond when she/he is called, have poor eye contact, doesn’t like hugging and holding, disinterested in others feelings e.g., unconcerned when the other child cries, prefers to play alone with objects/toys and not with other children.
Child with ASD might not speak much or have delayed speech, mostly speaks in an abnormal tone or in rhyming sentences or words, may use a singsong voice or robot-like speech, can’t start a conversation easily or continue with the conversations, may repeat words or phrases but doesn’t understand how to use words or phrases, he/she may find difficulty in understanding simple questions or directions.
Child with ASD perform repetitive movements, such as rocking, rotating or hand-waving, develop specific routines or rituals and become disturbed at the slightest change. They may be interested by details of an object, such as the spinning wheels of a toy car, but doesn’t understand/realize to play with the toy as a whole.
Child with ASD may be unusually sensitive to lights, sounds and touch, e.g. they may be excited with cold breeze from an air-conditioner. They may perform activities that could cause harm to them, such as head banging.
DYSLEXIA
Dyslexia is a neurological disorder causing difficulty in reading, with severity varying from child to child. It is also called as reading disorder or learning disability. People with dyslexia can understand complex ideas; they may be creative, but find difficulty in comprehending sounds of letters.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF DYSLEXIA:
Signs and symptoms of the condition vary widely from person to person. Children with dyslexia may have the following signs and symptoms:
Children with dyslexia may have problems with handwriting and other fine motor skills, letter reversals. Also they may change letters in a word and create their own spellings.
Children with dyslexia find difficulty in picking up the words and sometimes tend to lisp or stutter. They have impaired ability to learn basics such as the alphabet, colours, and numbers, difficulty to comprehend a word or a sentence.
Children with dyslexia show confusion in directions such as right-left, up-down etc. also they may confuse with pull-push concept, tying laces in their shoes, etc.
INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY
Intellectual Disability often termed as mental retardation,is the condition in children, whose brain does not develop properly or function within the usual range. Intellectual disability can be; mild, moderate, severeor profound. Intellectual disability comprises of both low Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and difficulties adjusting to everyday life.
Intellectual disability can result in learning, speech, physical, and social disabilities. Severe cases of intellectual disability are identified at birth. However, milder or moderate forms of intellectual disability might not be identified until a child fails to meet the developmental goals. Almost all forms of mental retardation are diagnosed by the time a child reaches 18 years of age.
SYMPTOMS OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY:
Symptoms are based on the level of disability. They can include:
Child with intellectual disability shows delayed developmental milestones such as sitting, crawling, walking, etc.
Child with intellectual disability have memory problems, difficulty in learning to talk or trouble speaking clearly, inability to understand the consequences of actions and think logically, lack of curiosity, etc.
Child with intellectually disability/mentally retardation will often have some of the following behavioral issues; aggression, withdrawal from social activities, dependency, attention-seeking behavior, depression during adolescence, lack of impulse control, self-injurious behavior, stubbornness, low self-esteem and low tolerance for frustration.
Physical signs of intellectual disability may include short stature and malformed facial features. However these physical signs are not always present.