Thursday, July 8, 2010

Please Help Avoid Misdiagnosing Development Disorders


It is estimated that one in six children suffer from developmental disorders, including mental retardation, autism spectrum disorders, learning disorders, attentional disorders, genetic disorders, sleep disorders.  However, despite the fact that all these disorders originate in the brain, most of them are diagnosed solely by looking at behavioural symptoms without ever looking at the brain!  That is, they are diagnosed behaviourally rather than neurologically.  This often results in an incomplete or inaccurate diagnosis....

Almost 50% of the children previously diagnosed with autism are found to be suffering from some degree of brain seizure activity that is undetectable to the eye.  In some cases, these seizures are the cause of the child's autism-like symptoms.  In other cases, these seizures are not causal, but comorbid (coexistent) to autism and are exacerbating the child's symptoms.  And in a few cases, the seizures are mild and possibly unrelated to, or a consequence of, the child's symptoms.  In the cases where these seizures are the cause of the symptoms, once the seizures have been detected and treated, the level and speed of recovery in the children has been remarkable.

Learn more about the work of Dr. Aditi Shankardass

No comments:

Post a Comment