Most disorders present in children or adolescents have distinct symptoms that one can easily catch as being atypical and hinting toward a disorder. However, there are other disorders that are much more difficult to recognize and even diagnose. One disorder that has been seen especially in children and adolescents is selective mutism. Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder in which a child is unable to talk and express his or her feelings in certain situation and to certain people persistently. These children are however capable of speaking comfortably in more familiar settings. To help children with selective mutism it is essential to fully understand the etiology and current treatments that are available. Selective mutism is an uncommon disorder that still has many questions to be answered about it. Selective mutism was originally acknowledged by a man named Kussmaul in the 19th century. He named the disorder aphasia voluntaria to describe the disorder in which individuals cannot speak in specific conditions or to people. The disorder gained the name elective mutism in 1930s to further elaborate on the persistent inability of individuals to speak in certain conditions. Currently is it named as selective mutism by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision(DSM-IV-TR) and know to arise originally in infants and childhood. Children who have been diagnosed with selective mutism persistently continue to be unable to speak with at school and with their classmates. However, the child is able to efficiently communicate at home with his parents (Wong, 2010). Since selective mutism has certain set criteria by the n for a child to be diagnose. The first and most important... ... middle of paper ... ...rather than an anxiety related disorder and thus the treatments are very different. Selective mutism is a very difficult disorder to deal with because the etiology is not perfectly understood yet. Information regarding the disorder is also limited because of the rarity of the disorder. However, the prognosis of the disorder has been good with medication and aggressive therapy, whether family or behavioral. The disorder resembles many other disorders such as PDD and adjustment disorder characterized by shyness. Both of these disorders can be separated from selective mutism easily knowing the symptoms. Future research is definitely needed to understand more about the biological and psychological impact of selective mutism along with more understanding about the etiology. Having more knowledge on the cause and impact of the disorder allows for a better treatment.
Shonkoff JP (2003). Language delay: Late talking to communication disorder. In CD Rudolph, AM Rudolph, eds.,Rudolph's Pediatrics, 21st ed., pp. 441–444. New York: McGraw-Hill.
For example, our text describes two symptoms of ASD; 1. social communications and interactions 2. and limited patterns of repetitive behavior, interests, and or activities. This was all evident in the “Neurotypical” documentary. For example, Nicholas was unable to interact with girls or form relationships he believes he has nothing in common with them. Wolf suggested that autistic children are good at mimicking others and that nonverbal cues are important to watch out for. Violet, on the other hand, has a habit of repeating behaviors; she will repeat anything her parents say. In the text it also says severity of language problems vary child to child. In Violets case she does not fall under the mute category but instead she is able to speak in a few words, cry, and even laugh. Our text introduces the term for repetitive speech, echolalia. Violet tends to repeat a word or words her parents say either right away when she hears it or later
How many of us wished to have super powers as kids ? I don't mean being strong as hulk, being bitten by a spider to be able to climb buildings like spider man, or be able to fly like birds around the city in the blue sky's. It is known that the human brain can not focus on a single task more than 10%. But there have been some individuals that are capable of this ability. Daniel Tammet have learned one of the most strenuous languages on earth fluently in just 7 days from his interview or Stephen Wiltshire which was capable of drawing the New York city and Rome just by having an one time tour with the helicopter and flying around the city he was able to draw the whole city and mentioning all the details without captivating any pictures or writing any notes. Amazing right? Sadly these talents have their own cost. Most of these indivisible suffer in their daily lives not being able to communicate with others within verbal communication or emotionally, most of them can't even function in their daily lives by their own, dress by them self or even eat a simple lunch not even talking about preparing the food leaving them to intended to live their lives isolated from the society. This rare syndrome i'm talking about is recognized as the savant syndrome. it's an unique condition letting the persons have an intelligence above normal in some ares in life such as musical, mechanical, artistic and mathematical, in exchange of limiting this person emotionally. Savant syndrome touches several people in the world. It can occur after birth or later in any stage of life. It affects both males and females but occurs mostly in males. Many scientists have come with different explanations for the savant syndrome. First it was discovered in 1987 by J.London Down. Also, he was the one that devised and related the disorder with the skill to mention an amazing memory. A study published by Bernard Rimland have states that "the savant skills most often present in autistic people are those associated with right hemisphere functions and the most deficient abilities are associated with left hemisphere functions (Treffer, 2002). This supports prove that the left brain hemisphere model to be correct.
Owens, Robert E., Dale E. Metz, and Kimberly A. Farinella. Introduction to Communication Disorders: A Lifespan Evidence-Based Perspective. Four ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2011. 194-216. Print.
Many individuals with mental retardation (MR) have mental health disorders that are undiagnosed and untreated (Reiss & Valenti-Hein, 1994). Individuals with MR experience the full range of emotional, psychiatric and behavioral disorders at higher frequencies than the general population (Kishore, Nizamie & Nizamie, 2010; Prout, 1993). Prevalence studies have shown that individuals with MR are three to four times at higher risk for psychopathology than are individuals without MR (Matson & Bamburg, 1998; Prout, 1993). This is known as a dual diagnosis, which describes the finding of MR in association with significant psychopathology (Prout, 1993). While, psychopathology is limited to those phenomena and disorders that are described in the conventional classification systems such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV). Examples include anxiety, depression, paranoia, dependent personality traits, avoidant behaviour and thought disorder (Reiss & Valenti-Hein, 1994).
After working with the 3rd graders, I became an assistant teacher at an early childhood education center in a low-income neighborhood with numerous students who needed extra support due to behavioral and emotional disorders. At one point, I encountered a student with selective mutism; selective mutism is when a person is capable of speaking but voluntarily chooses not to communicate verbally. I began to work one on one with him to understand why he didn 't communicate verbally. The first course of action was a meeting with his mother to learn more about him and th...
Who knew that something that looks normal for a child, it will be consider as a disorder. Knowing that they like to explore, some of them have gone over the limit with their energy and capability of being active. Now that they are diagnosed, they have to go under a treatment or medical assistance to reduce their behavior. "I was trying to daydream but my mind kept wandering."
The Phonological Deficit and Magnocellular theory are two of the most dominant theories in dyslexic research. Various theories have been suggested to explain the nature and origin of dyslexia, however, they often served as additional support for either the phonological or magnocellular theories. The Double Deficit theory suggested that dyslexic symptoms were the result of speed-processing (7). The Genomic theory posed that dyslexia was a highly heritable disorder that can be localized to a specific genetic component, Finally, the Cerebellar Deficit theory suggested that dyslexia was the result of an abnormal cerebellum exist (2). With the constant debate of the biological nature versus the cognitive natur...
Savant Syndrome is an extremely rare condition in which a person with a severe mental handicap has extraordinary abilities in a certain area, such as memorization, mathematics, or the playing of instruments. The first known case of savant syndrome was documented in a German scientific journal, Gnothi Sauton, in 1783. This article described the case of a man named Jedediah Buxton, who was talented in memorization and mathematics (Treffert 2009). Ever since this first account of Savant Syndrome was recorded, scientists and physicians alike have tried to understand this unusual disorder.
It can be a tough task to correctly diagnosis some students with a high incidence disability. Henley, Roberta, and Algozzine (2009) state “Because there are no standard state criteria,...
These five developmental disorders are commonly known as Autism Spectrum Disorders. “The most common are Autism, Asperger's syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) (www.learningdisabilitiesinfo.com).” Severe Autism, Rett Syndrome, and CDD are usually recognized before a child reaches the age of three. However, high-functioning Autism and Asperger’s are often times not discovered until a child enters school. High-functioning Autism and Asperger’s are frequently compared, considering children with these disorders express the same traits and characteristics. Conversely, the main difference between the two disorders is pragmatics, or language skills. A child with Asperger’s Syndrome is capable of communicating, but due to their social and developmental impairments, they cannot appropriately communicate with their peers. On the other hand, a child with Autism lacks language skills and requires spec...
In this world, humans and animals alike have come to communicate by using various mechanisms. Humans have advanced themselves beyond other organisms by using language, or a set of codes and symbols, in order to express themselves to others. Language has brought about a means to create new thoughts, to explore, and to analyze our everyday surroundings. It has also enabled us to retain past memories and to look deep into the advances for the future. However, for some individuals, this tool for communication has been plagued by a language and speech disorders, such as aphasia. Aphasia is the loss of the ability to speak or understand speech or written language. It is often detected at an early age, and contributes to the general class of speech and language disorders affecting "5% of school aged children" (1) . Aphasia is classified into three categories. The main two are receptive or sensory aphasia and expressive or motor aphasia. Receptive aphasia affects the input side and "the ability to understand spoken or written language may be partially or totally lost" (1) . Those with expressive aphasia "can speak but not find certain words or names, or may be totally unable to communicate verbally or by writing" (1) . For a majority of affected individuals, there is a combination of the two. The third type is conduction aphasia. This "involves disruption of transmission between the sensory and motor ends of the circuit" (1) . Here, individuals are able to produce speech despite the lack of connections to the input side. It seems that the ability to speak has a lot to do with your surroundings and how much emphasis was placed on developing this skill during the first few years after birth. Afterall, it's known that the first few years are critical because this is the time when the brain is "plastic" and is rapidly changing and being molded. By the time that adolescence is reached, the brain has become "less plastic". In this paper, I would like to explore theories proposed to try to understand the origins of this impairment.
Communication is very crucial in life, especially in education. Whether it be delivering a message or receiving information, without the ability to communicate learning can be extremely difficult. Students with speech and language disorders may have “trouble producing speech sounds, using spoken language to communicate, or understanding what other people say” (Turkington, p10, 2003) Each of these problems can create major setbacks in the classroom. Articulation, expression and reception are all essential components for communication. If a student has an issue with articulation, they most likely then have difficulty speaking clearly and at a normal rate (Turkington, 2003). When they produce words, they may omit, substitute, or even distort sounds, hindering their ability to talk. Students who lack in ways of expression have problems explaining what they are thinking and feeling because they do not understand certain parts of language. As with all types of learning disabilities, the severity can range. Two extreme cases of expression disorders are dysphasia and aphasia, in which there is partial to no communication at all (Greene, 435, 2002). Individuals can also have a receptive disorder, in which they do not fully comprehend and understand information that is being given to them. They can experience problems making sense of things. “Children may hear or see a word but not be able to understand its meaning” (National Institutes of Health, 1993, p1). Whether children have difficulty articulating speech, expressing words, receiving information, or a combination of the three, there is no doubt that the tasks given to them in school cause frustration. These children experience anxiety when...
The inability of individual brain to collect and format incoming information (Suarez, 2012). An average of 90% of children who have Autism sensory is irregular (Suarez, 2012). This is a high quantity of children who are impacted by sensory disorder. They are different terminology to address the sensory processing disorders such as Sensory integration dysfunction and Sensory defensiveness. This issue also affects the child cognitive ability to effectively learn. Treatment use to help with this disorder is occupation therapy(Suarez,2012).