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Medicine Notes Psychology Notes

Normal And Abnormal Development Notes

Updated Normal And Abnormal Development Notes

Psychology Notes

Psychology

Approximately 125 pages

Contains notes for the dreaded Psychology exam. ...

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Normal and abnormal development

Development and plasticity

Timing is of essence

  • Protracted developmental changes: changes from childhood into adulthood continue across cortical areas

  • Heterochronous developmental changes

    • Rise and fall of synaptic density differs in timing for visual, auditory and prefrontal cortex

Clinical relevance of developmental timing

Language effects children who suffered brain injury prenatally or within 1st 6 months of life

  • Right hemisphere injuries- great risk for delays in word comprehension – however in adults damage occurs in the left hemisphere

  • Left posterior injuries: greater risk for production difficulties whereas in adults injury is in the left inferior prefrontal cortex (more anterior-broca’s)

  • Children with early unilateral brain injury- their brain difficulties seem to resolve, regardless of the side of lesions. Results of study

    • Child had smaller mean length of utterance with LHD compared to RHD

    • In Adults people with LHD had much greater decrease in length of utterance compared to child. But with RHD the mean length of utterance was greater

Spatial processing

  • Children with early LHD have difficulties with processing and producing both local and global aspects of their visual environment when tested with navon figures (Big M made from lots of little z). In contrast adults with LHD can process the global image but not the local image- can see the M but not the z

  • Children with early RHD have difficulties with the global aspects of these tasks only, they can spot the local letters. This is the same with adults

Executive function

  • Prenatal insults to the frontal lobe performed more poorly across the board on executive tasks such as Tower of London; Fluency tests

  • Children with lesions between 7-9 years did best

  • Children with lesions in early childhood and after 10 years of age was task dependent and generally poorer than controls

Summary

  • Differences in the effect of lesions in children and adults shows that multiple heterchronous processes are involved in pre and post natal changes in brain structure and function

  • Some processes seem too be less vulnerable to early brain damage than to later lesions and recover more effectively overall (E.g expressive language). Spatail processing seems to be severely and permanently affected and outcome is variable for executive functions

  • Understanding aediatric brain injury cases require moving away from the adult model as risk and recovery differ in terms of localisation of the risk

Childhood onset developmental disorders

Functionally defined disorders

  • Unlike cases of acquired brain damage, these are identified by behavioural characteristics and may be heterogenous in aetiology

  • Age of diagnosis and progression may differ

  • Examples

    • Attention deficit Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

    • Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)

ADHD

Diagnosis: American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV)

Criterion A

  • Symptoms in 2 categories – inattention + hyperactivity

  • Child must exhibit 6 or more in either category

  • Symptoms must have persisted for at least 6 months to an extent that is inconsistent for developmental level

Criterion B

  • Some inattentive/ hyperactive impulsive symptoms present before age 7 years

Criterion C

  • Symptoms are exhibiting in two or more settings

Criterion D

  • Must be clear evidence of clinically significant impairment in social or scholastic functioning

Criterion E

  • Symptoms don’t occur exclusively during the course of or can’t be accounted for by another disorder

Inattention Hyperactivity
Has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play Fidgets with hands/feet/squirms in seat
Fails to give close attention to details Leaves seat when sitting is expected
Doesn’t listen when spoken to Runs about when inappropriate
Doesn’t follow through on instructions Has difficulties in playing or engaging in leisure activities quietly
Has difficulty organising tasks/ activities Is always on the go
Avoids tasks that require mental effort Talks excessively/ blurts out answers
Loses things necessary for task Has difficulty...

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