It never occurred to me, up until it was pointed out today that I don't include updates for our children on the distance programme. So here goes one. Over the past few days I have completed the third distance reassessment on a 22 month old little girl who suffered infantile spasms. When we first started the Snowdrop programme she was 11 months old and already age appropriate in visual development, but did have a strabismus and poor magnocellular processing. She is now just above age level with an improving strabismus and normal magnocellular processing. Auditory development was just below age level and now it is just above age level. In terms of gross motor skills, she is now showing signs that she is ready for us to start developing a standing balance and her language is now at the level where she is producing 'scribble talk' and beginning to try a few words. Fine motor development which was at the 4 month level is now touching the 15 month level and it was great seeing her trying to build with blocks and feed herself with a spoon. Social development is not far from age appropriate levels. She has made some nice progress in the last year. Well done!
If your little one has experienced infantile spasms, which have affected their development and want more information, contact us on info@snowdrop.cc
Showing posts with label Infantile spasms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Infantile spasms. Show all posts
Wednesday, 12 September 2018
Wednesday, 14 June 2017
West Syndrome - Infantile Spasms.
Today we met a lovely new family from Lithuania who have a 12 month old little boy who has West Syndrome. He has a complex combination of seizure activity, including 'infantile spasms.'
Despite 3 courses of steroids the spasms persist and indeed he had one during his initial evaluation at Snowdrop today. One of the drugs he is on, 'Sabril' has almost certainly contributed to the demise in his visual function but the spasms and steroids combined have caused developmental deterioration. I was able to see videos of him prior to his problems coming to light and he was a vibrant, interactive little boy, who was no comparison to the little boy we saw today. Hopefully as the steroids wear off, some developmental function will return but we also hope that the programme of stimulation we are prescribing will have a beneficial effect, - helping to rebuild abilities. I will keep you posted.
Despite 3 courses of steroids the spasms persist and indeed he had one during his initial evaluation at Snowdrop today. One of the drugs he is on, 'Sabril' has almost certainly contributed to the demise in his visual function but the spasms and steroids combined have caused developmental deterioration. I was able to see videos of him prior to his problems coming to light and he was a vibrant, interactive little boy, who was no comparison to the little boy we saw today. Hopefully as the steroids wear off, some developmental function will return but we also hope that the programme of stimulation we are prescribing will have a beneficial effect, - helping to rebuild abilities. I will keep you posted.
Monday, 22 May 2017
Today's Assessment, 22nd May 17. West Syndrome and CVI
Today we welcomed back a 3 year old little boy and his family for his 4th assessment. He has West Syndrome and CVI and has been on the Snowdrop programme for 15 months.
West Syndrome consists of group of symptoms characterized by epileptic/infantile spasms, abnormal brain wave patterns called hypsarrhythmia and intellectual disability. The spasms that occur may range from violent jackknife or "salaam" movements where the whole body bends in half, or they may be no more than a mild twitching of the shoulder or eye changes. These spasms usually begin in the early months after birth and can be difficult to control, requiring steriod treatment.
Cortical visual impairment, (CVI) is a form of visual impairment caused by the brain not being able to process information from the eyes passing along the visual pathways in the brain. In my observation there are varying forms of CVI, caused for instance by the thalamus not exciting the cortex sufficiently to process visual stimuli, to actual injury to the occipital cortices. Another possibility is that vision becomes 'de-automated!' Vision is something which just happens to us, we cannot help but see, - it is an automated programme, however I see children who have to be reminded to 'use their eyes!' - It comes in many forms.
With today's little boy we saw clear improvements in the use of vision, which is now 'switched on' for much of the time. He is also understanding more language, responding to simple instructions and his former auditory sensitivity is now gone. His tactile processing problems are resolved and he is now 'high kneeling' and his upper body control is good enough for us to begin working towards developing a standing balance. He also demonstrated that he now has 2 words of speech. He is though, very busy and we have to work further on slowing him down a little. His biggest change in my eyes is in sociability, he now really tries hard to interact. Well done to his parents who work so hard with him. It was great to see you again.
West Syndrome consists of group of symptoms characterized by epileptic/infantile spasms, abnormal brain wave patterns called hypsarrhythmia and intellectual disability. The spasms that occur may range from violent jackknife or "salaam" movements where the whole body bends in half, or they may be no more than a mild twitching of the shoulder or eye changes. These spasms usually begin in the early months after birth and can be difficult to control, requiring steriod treatment.
Cortical visual impairment, (CVI) is a form of visual impairment caused by the brain not being able to process information from the eyes passing along the visual pathways in the brain. In my observation there are varying forms of CVI, caused for instance by the thalamus not exciting the cortex sufficiently to process visual stimuli, to actual injury to the occipital cortices. Another possibility is that vision becomes 'de-automated!' Vision is something which just happens to us, we cannot help but see, - it is an automated programme, however I see children who have to be reminded to 'use their eyes!' - It comes in many forms.
With today's little boy we saw clear improvements in the use of vision, which is now 'switched on' for much of the time. He is also understanding more language, responding to simple instructions and his former auditory sensitivity is now gone. His tactile processing problems are resolved and he is now 'high kneeling' and his upper body control is good enough for us to begin working towards developing a standing balance. He also demonstrated that he now has 2 words of speech. He is though, very busy and we have to work further on slowing him down a little. His biggest change in my eyes is in sociability, he now really tries hard to interact. Well done to his parents who work so hard with him. It was great to see you again.
Tuesday, 14 March 2017
Infantile Spasms
Today we welcomed a 20 month old little boy who has suffered with infantile spasms back for his first reassessment. He has now been on the Snowdrop programme for 6 months. During that time he has made some nice progress in some areas, most notably in gross motor development where he has developed a sitting balance and has sufficient 'cephalo-caudal development' to warrant us beginning to work on a standing balance. Visually his eyes are straighter and he is making more sustained eye contact and auditorially he is now more in tune with the human voice and is paying attention to the conversations going on around him. In terms of fine motor development he has gone from not using his hands at all, to the 4 month level of trying to reach and bringing his hands into the midline and intertwining his fingers. So there is some nice progress to be seen, well done to a hardworking mum and dad.
Problems do remain however in that visually a great deal of his time is taken up in self stimulation of either the magnocellular pathway, (which enables us to detect movement), by waving his fingers in front of his eyes, or of the visuo - vestibular pathway, where he is constantly swinging his head from side to side. He is also very fidgety, always on the go, which is detracting from his ability to use his attention consistently to engage with his environment and the people in it. Instead, he is largely living in a world of self - stimulation and internal 'activity and agitation' and this is our next challenge with this little one, to normalise the sensory systems which are keeping him in a world of his own and to take his level of internal arousal down a peg or two. Only then will we see him beginning to engage with and to make sense of his world.
Onwards and upwards.
Problems do remain however in that visually a great deal of his time is taken up in self stimulation of either the magnocellular pathway, (which enables us to detect movement), by waving his fingers in front of his eyes, or of the visuo - vestibular pathway, where he is constantly swinging his head from side to side. He is also very fidgety, always on the go, which is detracting from his ability to use his attention consistently to engage with his environment and the people in it. Instead, he is largely living in a world of self - stimulation and internal 'activity and agitation' and this is our next challenge with this little one, to normalise the sensory systems which are keeping him in a world of his own and to take his level of internal arousal down a peg or two. Only then will we see him beginning to engage with and to make sense of his world.
Onwards and upwards.
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