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AN EARLY IDENTIFICATION PROFILE OF PERVASIVE DEVELOPMENTAL SYMPTOMS Dear Parents: Symptoms of Autism or related Pervasive Developmental Disorders can first manifest in infancy. Early identification and intervention is so very important. Research/long term outcome studies have demonstrated that children with Autism or related pervasive disorders, who are identified at an early age and receive early intervention, show long-lasting and significant gains intellectually and with adaptive behaviors (Lovaas, 1993). The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development encourages early identification and intervention so as to promote a child’s potential and quality of life. The brain learns; often referred to as neuroplasticity. Early childhood is a prime time of development - an open window of opportunity when connections in the brain are powerful. Advanced technology, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), that can demonstrate blood flow in the brain while an individual is learning a task, and Neuropsychological (Brain–Behavior) studies have shown how effectively the brain learns, especially at early ages. This checklist is an early identification guide of neurodevelopmental delays which often represent Autism or related Pervasive Developmental Disorders. It can help you secure early diagnosis and treatment. The checklist is based upon Neuropsychological (Brain - Behavior) models of early childhood development. The major functions of development and learning involving Attention, Perception, Speech, Language, Memory, Executive Function, Sensory, Motor and Mood are addressed. You are encouraged to share this profile with your pediatrician/primary care physician, health specialists and educational specialists, so as to secure early age diagnosis and treatment that can help your child achieve his/her potential. EARLY IDENTIFICATION AND INTERVENTIONS ARE CRUCIAL! Warmly, P-ABC™ PEDIATRIC AUTISM & RELATED DISORDERS BEHAVIOR CHECKLIST (click here)
Your child can receive interdisciplinary treatment at one center. If you travel from a distance and/or already have a treatment team, we offer consultation with your child’s healthcare and education teams. Team communication is very important. The Pediatric Neuropsychology Autism Initiative offers comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and individualized treatment based upon your child’s formal evaluation. Biological, psychological, developmental, and educational recommendations/interventions are discussed with you. You are also given formal reports documenting your child’s treatment plan. Your child’s treatment program addresses the major functions of development: Attention, Perception, Memory, Executive Function, Speech, Language, Sensory, Motor, Mood, and Social Functions, guiding your child’s health, development and potential.
THERAPEUTIC PROGRAMS
This program focuses upon modulating alertness and multisensory attention in the brain and easing sensory pathways. Wake states, sleep states and what a child does in between wake and sleep, relies on brain pathways associated with sense organs. Every time your child hears, sees, touches, tastes, and smells, sensory pathways in the brain and body are charged. Children having Autism and related pervasive developmental disorders often experience an overexcitation (too many switch-ons) and/or over inhibition (too many switch-offs) among multiple pathways that disrupt their sensory contact with their environment. The inefficient sensory “switch-ons” or “switch-offs” throughout the brain can also affect other body pathways. This is one of the reasons why there are a significant number of children having Autism Spectrum Disorders who experience food/airborne sensitivities, immune/gastrointestinal symptoms among other metabolic symptoms. When a child’s sensory system is overwhelmed, stress hormones are alerted and anxiety increases. Children with Autism and related pervasive developmental disorders are driven to distance as their sensory systems overwhelm them. It becomes difficult for them to receive sensory information from their environment and difficult for them to consolidate the sensory information in memory. This is why stimuli often seem continuously novel for them and is difficult for them to learn from memory traces. This is also why learning by repetition becomes helpful (i.e. Applied Behavioral Analysis- ABA behavioral programs). Repetition alerts the brain’s sensory pathways allowing for better recollection and then reflection of behavior as a child develops. Eye movement and eye contact are reliable indicators of neurodevelopment and sensory input. It is one of the first signs that a child’s visual attention to his/her environment. As children grow, eye movement becomes more smooth and targeted to specific stimuli including sound and touch. Children can better focus attention, sustain attention, and switch attention, to necessary sensory information in order to grow and develop. Autism Spectrum Disorders result in driving a child to distance, with inefficient eye contact, eye movement, and even staring episodes and/or rapid darting of the eyes. Treatment procedures within this program focus upon “timing” of sensory brain pathways, allowing your child to more efficiently and peacefully attend to the environment and feel peaceful rhythms physiologically throughout the body. The eye movement/eye tracking program uses comfortable advanced technology/specialized cameras to evaluate eye movement and measure treatment progress. Eye movement training focuses upon facial recognition, object recognition, and the development of visual attention, visual perception, and visual memory. These visual brain pathways are strongly connected with auditory, sensory, motor, and mood brain pathways so as to integrate a child’s sensory development. Modulation of eye movement is comfortable, calming and helps the child connect with his or her environment. Parents are also given visual graphs demonstrating their child’s eye movement and tracking progress.
MULTISENSORY MEMORY TRAINING PROGRAM Children having Autism and related pervasive disorders experience overwhelmed sensory systems. Stress hormones are alerted and anxiety increases. As this happens, they have difficulty receiving sensory information and have difficulty consolidating this sensory information in memory. This is why stimuli often seem continuously novel for them and it is difficult for the children to learn from memory traces. Memory training incorporates multisensory programs using repetition, recollection, and reflection exercises based on the child’s level of development and as documented by the formal evaluation results. Multiple aspects of memory are addressed including visual memory, auditory memory, tactile memory, rote memory, short term memory, and working memory, long term memory. Memory consolidation is necessary for the development of selective attention and efficiency and smoothness of eye movement, eye contact, and global sensory development. Repetition, recollection, and reflection from memory also aids in planning, organizational skills that help a child regulate his/her behavior. Example: repetitive trail learning is the basis of ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis). As behaviors are consolidated in memory though ABA a child can better regulate the particular behavior being worked on. Consistent recollection and reflection exercises following the repetitive exercises aid in increased regulation of behavior. The behavior becomes less novel to the child and promotes his/her learning of the behavior.
SENSORY MODULATION, PROCESSING, INTEGRATION AND “AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT®” PROGRAM Your child’s sensory development and movement rely on some of the very first brain pathways governing your child’s development. We help you to recognize and treat the warning signs of sensory motor delays such as irregular head movements, irregular eye movement, irregular rolling, sitting, crawling, walking, and warning signs of right/left in-coordination, difficulty with sensory integration, and multi sensory sensitivities. Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy programs are very important. Our program utilizes Feldenkrais® and related “Awareness Through Movement ®” programs. The Feldenkrais® movement method (www.feldenkrais.com) is an internationally recognized program that promotes learning and brain growth using gentle movements, guiding the speed and timing of sensory motor reflexes throughout the body. The sessions develop communication among sensory pathways through movement. This enables movement input to flow freely throughout the brain. Sensory attention improves affecting learning and developing your child’s potential. Learning to move with less effort makes daily life easier. We focus upon health and the relationship between movement and increased awareness, attention, and learning. Movement is an integral part of the learning process. We teach the child modulated movement, relaxed breathing, and efficient sleep exercises that aid in his/her development. During sensory-movement sessions, children often express feelings of relaxation and more ease. They breathe more freely, their thoughts have more clarity, and they have more body control. The wake/sleep cycles are eased without artificial means and this process also empowers their esteem and development. In essence, Feldenkrais and related sensory movement programs teach children how to improve their health and life through organized modulation/timing of sensations and movement.
SPEECH/LANGUAGE THERAPY PROGRAM Your child’s speech and language development involves connections among multiple brain pathways. Speech and language development is a multisensory attention, reception memory, and expression experience. The auditory cortex (sound brain) is strongly connected with pathways of the sensory motor cortex (sensory and movement brain), the visual cortex (seeing brain), and the limbic subcortex (mood and sensory/memory brain). The vestibular nerve/system (sensory/balance brain) influences vibration and movement throughout the body. All of these pathways and their connections govern the development of your child’s speech and language. Decades of clinical research among multiple professions including neuropsychology, medicine, acoustics, physiology, music therapy, etc have increased our knowledge of speech/language development. Children having Autism and related pervasive development disorders often experience an ear-brain connection problem. Hearing is not usually the problem; it is the ear-brain connection that experiences delays. Sound travels through the auditory canal to the eardrum, vibrating the middle ear bones. The inner ear takes this vibration energy and converts it to electrochemical messages and carries them through auditory pathways to the brain. The brain interprets these messages as sound. When auditory perception is distorted a child’s attention, emotional, cognitive, social, and academic development becomes difficult. The Pediatric Neuropsychology Autism Initiative provides formal Speech and Language therapy and Listening programs including music based auditory modulation and sensory-vibration modulation programs that train auditory brain areas to process sound. Comfortable headphones using air conduction and/or bone conduction programs transmit modulated vibration and modulated sound. Home-based auditory training programs are also provided. Auditory related pathways throughout the brain and body influence not only speech and language but also increase your child’s attention, perception, sensory, motor, mood, and self-regulatory executive function skills. Language reception (understanding language), memory, and expression (speaking, singing. signing) occur when the brain recognizes and interprets the sound through vibration, movement, visuals, touch, music, and multi sensory stimuli.
BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS Children having Autism and related pervasive developmental disorders are sensorially overwhelmed often resulting in mood deregulation. The children also use much energy to cope with the impact of pervasive developmental delays that can often be quite draining. A child’s mood and social development are associated with delays of attention, perception, memory, speech, language, sensory, and motor development. The Pediatric Neuropsychology Autism Initiative provides specialized behavior programs based upon your child’s evaluation results. Family support is always a very important part of the program. The behavioral programs help relax and calm your child and guide their behaviors. Through these programs children are better able to communicate with their family and environment and develop social skills. ABA: Applied Behavior Analysis Focus ABA underscores that the environment is closely linked with behavior and that consequences have an effect upon behavior. If a behavior is followed by pleasant event/positive reinforcement, then it will occur more often. In the 1970’s Ivar Lovaas from the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) conducted research using these behavioral principles. He and his colleagues pioneered ABA using behavioral principles in treating children with Autism. Some of his design included working in the child’s home environment. Lovaas’ research revealed that “47% of children who received 35-40 hours of 1:1 behavioral intervention in their home demonstrated an increase of 30 IQ points and were indistinguishable from their peers when placed in a school setting” (Lovass, 1987-1993). ABA is a behavioral conditioning technique that provides repetitive trial behavior teaching. Trial methods teach specific behaviors. It is very clear to the child what behavior is expected of him/her and consistent positive reinforcement aids in learning the behavior. The program covers 3 components: the discriminating stimulus (SD), is the instruction given to the child; the response (R), the child’s response to the instruction; and the reinforcing stimulus (SR), the reinforcement given to the child. This technique can be used to teach social/play skills, language skills, self help/self awareness skills, and academic skills. Social Relationships/Social Skills Focus Sensory Modulation Focus
Language/Behavior Focus Your child’s comprehensive evaluation results allow the clinicians to develop the language related behavior programs based specifically upon your child’s level of development.
NEUROFEEDBACK: EEG BIOFEEDBACK Your child’s comprehensive evaluation results are used regarding recommendations for Neurofeedback. Neurofeedback training is unique in that it does not introduce anything chemical or foreign into the brain. It uses the brain to improve itself. Neurofeedback: EEG Biofeedback is a comfortable brain wave training method that increases attention skills and learning. The mind/body connection is incredibly powerful. We respond to multisensory stimuli from the environment through our sense organs (i.e. eyes, ears….). As we respond to sensory stimuli brain wave activity is excited (“switch- ons”) and inhibited (“switch-offs”). Optimal learning requires relaxed alertness: comfortable and regulated states of switch- ons and switch- offs. The brain performs at different levels for different tasks. Electrical signals fire at different frequencies depending upon tasks/activities. Neurofeedback is a technique from which the brain learns to regulate switch- ons and switch- offs. It measures the electrical signals and builds upon learning that facilitates efficient switches- on and switches- off, comfortable frequencies that regulate a child’s attention and learning. Two computers are used. Representations of brain activity are visualized on one computer screen. The child views another computer screen that displays simple to complex learning related games. The child plays a game on the computer and when optimal brain frequencies are produced (efficient switch- ons and switch- offs) the child earns points. When optimal frequencies are not being produced, there is no reinforcement. Overtime the child learns how to regulate his or her focusing of attention, sustaining attention, and switching attention in order to earn more points. With training, the brain learns to produce these frequencies on its own. Advances in neuroscience technology have increased the clinical use of neurofeedback and research especially over the past 25 years. Neurofeedback offers evidence based technology in being able to improve brain development and learning. Frank H. Duffy (2000), a professor and pediatric neurologist and Harvard Medical School, has said that scholarly literature now suggests that neurofeedback “should play a major therapeutic role in many difficult areas,…if any medication had demonstrated such a wide spectrum of efficacy it would be universally accepted and widely used” (Duffy, FH., Editorial: The state of EEG Biofeedback therapy (EEG operant conditioning), (In editor’s opinion clinical electroencephalography, 31 (1): V.III, 2000). NEUROFEEDBACK: EEG BIOFEEDBACK INFORMATION
MEDICAL/ALLIED HEALTH/ENVIRONMENTAL WELLNESS/ NUTRITION COLLABORATION An interdisciplinary approach regarding child development evaluation and treatment is very important. The Pediatric Neuropsychology Autism Initiative provides biological, psychological, and education collaboration. Neuropsychological evaluation and treatment aid in recognizing if further physiological evaluation/ treatment is necessary (i.e., brain wave, EEG, MRI, metabolic profiles). An interdisciplinary network of Autism Spectrum disorder specialists is available: Pediatric Neurology, Developmental Pediatrics, Pediatric Psychiatry, Otology/Audiology Sleep Specialists, Behavioral Psychology, Developmental Ophthalmology and Optometry, Gastroenterology, Nutrition: Environmental Wellness Consultation, Allergy/Immunology, Genetics, Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy among others. We encourage team collaboration with health specialists addressing the multiple underling conditions that can be associated with developmental disorders and evaluating airborne/food/ environmental sensitivities/allergies/toxins that can influence a child’s health and development. Understanding the biological-social link is not a new idea. Survival of species has always been dependent upon living in harmony with the world. Environmental influences affect digestion, respiration, muscles, skin, and other physiological functions and also impact mental functions of attention, memory, speech, language, sensory/motor and mood. Metabolic processes that govern global physiological health are closely linked with brain metabolism: brain chemistry (neurotransmitters) and electrophysiological impulses (brain wave rhythms). Some children having Autism Spectrum disorders can be at risk for environmental sensitivities. This link is usually related versus casual in origin. Everyone’s system is unique, “one man’s food is another man’s poison” (Hippocrates). Seek qualified health professional advice to guide these biological-environmental sensitivities. How your child feels physically and mentally is key to optimal growth and well being.
An interdisciplinary approach to child development evaluation and treatment is very important. The Pediatric Neuropsychology Autism Initiative provides biological, psychological, and educational collaboration. The director of educational services and the clinical education team is available to consult with educational professionals. Consultation regarding your child’s Individual Educational Plan (IEP) or Classroom Accommodation Plan/Support Services (504 Plan) is available. The neuropsychological evaluation can aide in specifying eligibility criteria and educational support programs for your child. Early educational documentation and education support is best so as to:
The Pediatric Neuropsychology Autism Initiative enjoys positive working relationships with multiple school districts. Formal ‘Brain-Based Learning’ reports, based upon the neuropsychological evaluation results are also available as are conferences with school professionals. Interdisciplinary collaboration is integral to your child’s growth and potential.
SPEAKERS PROGRAM/ CONFERENCES/CONSULTATION/ Professionals at the Pediatric Neuropsychology Autism Initiative are often invited speakers at local, national, and international conferences. Our presentations focus upon developing an increased understanding of brain pathways and related functions affected in Autism Spectrum Disorders understanding multiple underlying etiologies, early identification, evaluation, and treatment. This brain-behavior model emphasizes neuroplasticity/brain growth. The brain is a powerful organ. Children can learn and develop their potential. Special Focus Conferences: Electrophysiological dysrhythmias Autism Spectrum Disorders: evaluation and treatment and interdisciplinary intervention. Consultation/staff development programs are available to hospitals, schools, libraries, allied health organizations, and physician offices. Teleconferences and video conferences are available.
Autism Speaks Organizations wishing to link with the Pediatric Neuropsychology Autism Initiative: Brain-Behavior and Development Program, Please contact us.
For greater than 30 years, we have studied the impact of electrophysiological dysrythmias variants affecting the systemic organization of brain functions especially perceptual, cognitive, and behavioral functions. Multiple sleep deprived electroencephalograms and 24 hour- 72 hour ambulatory electroencephalograms including video monitoring have been clinically correlated with formal neuropsychological evaluation data. It has been well documented that children having Autism and related Pervasive Developmental Disorders have a significant incidence of electrophysiological dysrythmias/variants affecting their development. If seizure activity is noted, medical treatment and specialized treatment programs addressing the brain-behavior symptom complex have shown promising results, especially with early intervention. These therapeutic interventions can be used without medication depending on EEG results. The children’s development and growth underscores the impact of this research and emphasizes the need for more specific identification, especially early identification, and treatment of this sub-group of individuals experiencing electrophysiological disturbances affecting their development and learning.
AUTISM SONG
With unyielding passion of heart, mind, and soul you embrace your children empowering their growth and development. You are determined to prevent your children from being “Driven to Distance”, pursuing biological, environmental, and spiritual avenues developing brain connections that have a profound impact upon your children’s ability to love, grow, and interact with others. You nurture their capacity for feelings and attachment, which are very necessary steps toward thought and language. You embrace that the brain learns and environment plays a powerful role in affecting biology and developing children’s potential. You are truly great explorers of new territory, querying the map of billions of chemical “letters” that make up human DNA. You challenge what turns genes on/off and what drives this process. Advances in neuroscience have helped us to better understand the role of biological sensory pathways in Autism Spectrum Disorders, that for multiple underlying reasons, are overexcited (too many switch-ons) and/or overinhibited (too many switch-offs). The brain learns and sensory pathways can be developed. YOUR LOVE, FORTITUDE, AND YOUR CHILDREN’S GROWTH ARE EVIDENCE OF THE POWER OF HUMAN POTENTIAL.
To listen to “Driven to Distance: A Sensory Journey through Autism” (click here)
To listen to “Driven to Distance: A Sensory Journey through Autism” (click here) Visit us on Facebook (click here) Also Available at the Neuropsychology C.H.I.L.D. Foundation:
Child Health Initiative for Learning & Development (non profit) For more information regarding neuropsychological evaluation and treatment, child development information guides, papers, professional staff/consultation: please return to main menu (click here)
PEDIATRIC NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AUTISM INITIATIVE:
BRAIN-BASED BEHAVIOR AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM CENTURY MEDICAL PARK
16001 S. 108th Avenue Suite 2 Orland Park, Illinois 60467 708-403-9000 ndcbrain@aol.com |
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