Educational Activity Suggestion System of Children With Pervasive Developmental Disorder for Guiding Education and Training Staff Activities

Individuals with pervasive developmental disorders should be supported with special education programs that are planned according to the type and degree of the disorder, age, characteristics, and needs of the individual. Search over internet resources may provide suitable educational material and methods (and associated activity/game). However, syntactic search in today's static-based internet is insufficient to offer desired relevant results. An intelligent system able to identify the needed educational methods and material with the help of semantic web-based agents will not only contribute to the development of individuals with disorders, and support education specialists in this process, but also be extremely useful for the families of these individuals in assisting and monitoring their child's developmental progress. In this chapter, an agent-based educational activity suggestion system of children with pervasive developmental disorder for guiding education and training staff activities is proposed.

A Novel Therapeutic Approach for Treating Rett Syndrome.

Background: Rett syndrome is a rare X-linked dominant neuro-developmental and pervasive developmental disorder that has no satisfactory or effective treatment. The diagnosis is generally clinical and autistic feature is a typical finding in all patients. We have previously described the short-term treatment of an Iraqi girl with Rett syndrome who was first seen at the age of about three years. The girl was treated with intramuscular cerebrolysin and oral citicoline for 40 days. Treatment was associated with significant improvement with the development of purposeful movement and the ability to hold feeding bottle with assistant of the mother and feed her. She was able to stand and step one step holding furniture. She started babbling and showed some reduction in the autistic features. The aim of this paper is to describe the extended treatment of the girl with Rett syndrome which was treated with a novel therapeutic approach which included intramuscular cerebrolysin, citicoline and piracetam. Patients and methods: After the initial 40 days treatment, the girl received several treatment courses that included intramuscular cerebrolysin, citicoline and piracetam. Results: Several months of treatment resulted in improvements in behavior, autistic features and mobility and she was walking confidently holding a wall or furniture. Treatment was not associated with any side effects. Conclusion: Rett syndrome is a very complex neuro-developmental and pervasive developmental disorder that has no satisfactory or effective treatment. The use of novel therapeutic approach which included intramuscular cerebrolysin, citicoline and piracetam for the treatment of Rett syndrome resulted in within few months a significant improvement that have not been reported without treatment or with any other therapies before.

Psychosocial Care Centers and the profile of pervasive developmental disorder cases in Brazil, 2014-2017

The study describes the profile of children and adolescents with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) attended at the Psychosocial Care Centers (CAPS) and professionals from these establishments in Brazil and regions. It uses data from the Outpatient Information System of the Unified Health System (SIA/SUS) and the National System of Health Establishments System (SCNES) in 2014-2017. The SIA/SUS was deterministically linked with the SCNES, based on the establishment number. PDD cases were individualized using a variable coded SUS card; 18,852 diagnoses of PDD were recorded in CAPS, most of them by spontaneous demand, 73.2% performed in CAPSi, 50.3% in the age group of 1-6 years old, 80% male and highest proportions of females over 13 years (p <0.001). PDD was not specified in 54.3% of the diagnoses; autistic disorder was the most common PDD (27.2%). Professional teams vary by CAPS type; Procedures of communicative practices and psychosocial rehabilitation were not expressive (10.3%). It was concluded that studies are necessary to clarify a high spontaneous demand, to understand treatment outside CAPSi and to define parameters to evaluate if the procedures used are appropriated for the therapeutic project and possibilities monitoring and evaluate the care of people with PDD.

ANALISIS BERPIKIR KRITIS SISWA PENYINTAS PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER - NOT OTHERWISE SPECIFIED DALAM MATEMATIKA MONTESSORI

Kemampuan berpikir kritis perlu dimiliki oleh seluruh siswa, tidak terkecuali siswa penyintas Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwisa Specified (PDD-NOS). Terlepas dari kondisi disabilitas mental yang ia sandang, ia tetap perlu belajar Matematika dengan baik. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisis kemampuan berpikir kritis siswa PDD-NOS dalam pembelajaran Matematika dengan metode Montessori pada materi Pecahan. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah deskriptif kualitatif. Pembelajaran Montessori diterapkan pada seluruh siswa dalam kelas, namun fokus peneliti adalah pada siswa PDD-NOS. Pembelajaran dilakukan secara daring, guru dan peneliti berada di sekolah, sementara siswa PDD-NOS di rumah bersama guru pendamping khusus. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa siswa PDD-NOS telah dapat berpikir kompeten, efektif, akurat dan jelas, tetapi masih kurang dalam memberikan ketepatan, kedalaman, dan wawasan terhadap masalah yang didapat. Metode Montessori dapat menguatkan kemampuan berpikir kritis dan mengkomunikasikan Matematika secara tepat kepada siswa penyintas PDD-NOS.

Gabapentin-induced bilateral lower extremity edema in a patient with pervasive developmental disorder and schizoaffective disorder

Gabapentin binds to the alpha-2-delta subunit of presynaptic voltage-gated calcium channels and is used for a wide variety of on- and off-label indications. Gabapentin is dosed at total daily doses ranging from 300 to 3600 mg/d, which is generally divided into 3 doses. Although gabapentin is generally well tolerated, 1 potential reported adverse effect is peripheral edema. However, due to the extensive number of etiologies of peripheral edema, medication causes may be overlooked on an inpatient psychiatric unit. This is a case of delayed identification of a probable adverse drug reaction to gabapentin (Naranjo score of 5) consisting of painful, 4+ pitting bilateral edema and a clear dose relationship in a patient with pervasive developmental disorder and schizoaffective disorder.