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.

Self-Care Skills of Children With Pervasive Developmental Disorders

Self-care skills are the everyday tasks undertaken so children are ready to participate in life activities. While they are typically supported by parents or carers in young children, it is expected that children develop independence while getting older and maturing. Self-care skills are assumed as precursors for most school-related tasks, are expected to be performed independently, and usually it becomes inappropriate for others to assist for tasks related to these. Assistive technology enhances to strengthen children's ability to participate in eating, dressing, bathing, and personal hygiene routines. As a self-management tool, assistive technology helps children with pervasive developmental disorders or mild intellectual disabilities promote to perform daily tasks involved in activities related to self-care skills. In this chapter, first, information about self-care problems with a focus on children with pervasive developmental disorders is given. Then, opportunities, challenges, and assistive tools are presented. Finally, future research directions in this domain are stated.

Assess the Psychosocial Problem Faced by the Primary Caregivers of Mentally Challenged Children

Background: It is estimated that up to 20% of children worldwide suffer from debilitating mental illness. Learning disabilities, ADHD, depression, psychosis, pervasive developmental disorders, attachment disorders, anxiety, and conduct disorder are all serious mental illnesses. Living with such children can be extremely stressful for the family's caregiver. Recognizing the difficulties of living with these children is critical in assisting or supporting caregivers in providing appropriate care for their children. For family members, the onset and long-term presence of mental illness can be a stressful event or a crisis. Interactions with mental health professionals have been found to have an impact on these families' transition from crisis to recovery. Families who meet with a mental health professional regularly have a better chance of recovering from the crisis and dealing with the situation. Objectives: Assess the psychosocial problem faced by the primary caregivers of mentally challenged children. Materials and Methods: Descriptive research study was to assess psychosocial problems faced by primary caregiver’s children who are mentally challenged. Selected parents who are mentally challenged children of community area. In this study total number of 50 samples to fulfill the inclusion criteria were selected. Likert scale was developed to assess psychosocial problems. Expected Result: This study is a plan to assess the psychosocial problem faced by primary care children who are mentally challenged. Hence it is expected to identify the psychosocial problem of parents with mentally challenged children.

Cancellation of outpatient appointments in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Background Regular visit to psychiatric clinic is essential for successful treatment of any psychiatric condition including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). However, cancellation of outpatient appointments in patients with AD/HD, which represents a significant medical loss, has not been systematically investigated to our knowledge. Methods A systematic chart review was conducted for patients visiting the Shimada Ryoiku medical Center for Challenged Children in Japan at the age of ≤15 years from January to December 2013. The primary outcome measure was the cancellation rate, defined as the number of missed visits divided by the number of scheduled visits. The cancellation rates during 24 months after the first visit were compared between outpatients with AD/HD and other psychiatric disorders, including pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), and developmental coordination disorders and/or communication disorders (DCD-CD). A generalized linear model with binomial distribution was used to examine factors associated with cancellation rates exclusively in the AD/HD group. Results We included 589 patients (mean ± SD age, 5.6 ± 3.4 years; 432 males) in the analysis. The cancellation rate in patients with AD/HD was 12.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 10.0–15.1), which was significantly higher than in those with PDD (5.6%, 95% CI: 3.8–8.3) and DCD-CD (5.3%, 95% CI: 3.6–7.8). Prescriptions of osmotic-release oral system-methylphenidate (OROS-MPH) and antipsychotics were associated with fewer cancellations in AD/HD patients (odds ratios: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.39–0.95 and 0.49, 95% CI: 0.25–0.95, respectively), although these significances did not find in the subgroup analysis including only patients with ≥ 6 years old. Conclusions Patients with AD/HD were more likely to miss appointments compared to those with other psychiatric disorders. The impact of AD/HD medications as well as potential psychiatric symptoms of their parents or caregivers on appointment cancellations needs to be evaluated in more detail in future investigations.

INNOVATIVE AND PRIZE-WINNING EDUCATIONAL MUSIC ACTIVITIES IN SPECIAL EDUCATION THOUGHT THE ETWINNING PROJECT

The Thessaloniki Music School has been repeatedly awarded for its innovative activities in eTwinning programs in special music education. Students with visual impairments and with developmental disorders were encouraged to participate in these programs. Digital music was exchanged from many European countries and original musical compositions were produced and presented. The European and traditional music scores were presented for the first time in electronic Braille form. For students with learning difficulties and pervasive developmental disorders there were special educational presentations with a combination of special educational methods, Relationship Development Intervention, the Irlen method using light sensitivity, and Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH method). The greatest achievement of the project was the composition of the e Twinning hymn whose lyrics are about friendship in various musical arrangements and languages. Our hymn was presented at concerts, conferences, the Grundtvig European workshop and was uploaded on websites. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0887/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Pervasive developmental disorders with a complex structure (epileptic seizures, catatonic, hallucinatory and manic symptoms, delirious episodes during life).

Observation of two patients with Phelan-McDermid syndrome (22q13.3 microdeletions of the SHANK3 gene) within 10—12 years allowed us to describe the clinical pathomorphism of psychotic episodes with violation of consciousness and catatonic symptoms in adolescence with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The described phenotypes were characterized by intellectual disability, general speech underdevelopment, muscle hypotonia and developmental dyspraxia. Their causal relationships with epileptic encephalopathy, schizophrenia, bipolar and hyperkinetic disorders have been analyzed. The therapeutic efficacy of combination therapy with aripiprazole and benzodiazepines (clonazepam/diazepam) allowed qualifying psychotic episodes as pediatric delirium. The significant clinical efficacy of lithium and lamotrigine in the described patients was consistent with the hypothesis that microdeletion of the SHANK3 gene may be associated with bipolar disorder. Treatment of acute psychotic disorders with lithium salt was effective in both patients but had limitations due to poor tolerance in the long-term use. The combination of lithium and lamotrigine may be recommended for the treatment of polymorbid mental disorders in patients with SHANK3 encephalopathies. If lithium salts are poorly tolerated, a combination of lamotrigine and aripiprazole may be used.

Evaluation on the Effectiveness on the Implementation of WHO-CST Programme in Hong Kong: A RCT Protocol

Developmental delays/disorders in young children are identified as a public health priority. WHO and Autism Speaks co-designed a training program titled "WHO-Caregiver Skills Training" (WHO-CST) which aims at providing training for caregivers whose children are with possible symptoms of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms and pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), so that they can learn better strategies on managing the daily lives of their children and foster better communication between the parent-children dyad. The WHO-CST programme is currently implemented in more than 30 regions worldwide and it started in Hong Kong from 2018. As the programme is newly developed, only a few studies tried to evaluate the effectiveness of the program in qualitative approaches, or in quantitative approach with relatively small sample (e.g. n < 10). In the present study, our team, who is responsible for the implementation and evaluation of the WHO-CST programme in Hong Kong, attempt to assess the effectiveness of the training in WHO-CST under a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design with about 120 eligible caregivers who will be randomly assigned in experimental and control groups. Our measurement will include the Joint Engagement Rating Inventory (JERI) developed by experts in WHO to gauge how parents engage their children in a 10-minute video recording their dyadic interaction and behaviors in a defined play setting. A set of other measurements on the caregiver's experience of using intervention skills and their enhancement of knowledges will also be measured. We hypothesize that caregivers in treatment group will have better growth in scores of both JERI and measurements of other outcome than the wait-list control group's after the 12-week WHO-CST training, and also persistence of skill and knowledge level should also be found after a 30-day follow-up test.

A study on prevalence of various mood disorders in patients with multiple sclerosis in South Indian population Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Background: The prevalence of depressive disorders are more common in demyelination diseases like multiple sclerosis. Patients with multiple sclerosis have higher rates of depressive episodes than the general population. It is found that 40-50% incidence reported in many number of previous research studies .The aim is to study the prevalence of various depressive disorders in multiple sclerosis (MS) patient population.Methods: 176 MS patients were randomly selected from neurology outpatient department (OPD) of Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Specialty Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, from September 2018 to December 2019. 128 patients were analyzed with the following methods of examinations such as the structured psychiatric clinical interview with diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM)-5 and international classification of diseases (ICD)-10 criteria, Hamilton depression rating scale (HAM-D) scale.Results: Various subtypes of mood disorders were found as follows major depressive disorder (MDD)-4%, MDD with anxiety-6%, pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) mixed-4%, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)-8%, MIDD-2% and depressive disorders due to general medical conditions (secondary depression)-22%. In this present study 46% of the MS population were diagnosed with various depressive illness.Conclusions: Early identification and treatment of depressive disorders definitely favour the outcome of MS patients. The coping skills and good social support system play a vital role in the outcome of depressive disorders in MS population in addition to psychopharmacological management.