Definition:
A condition in which young children develop normally until age 3 or 4 but then demonstrate a severe loss of communication, social and other skills is called a childhood disintegrative disorder. It is also known as Heller's syndrome.
Diagnosis:
Performing developmental screenings at well-child visits may be done by the doctor if you suspect that there's a delay in your child's development or loss of age-appropriate skills.
Treatment:
Childhood disintegrative disorder has no cure. This disorder can be treated basically the same as for autism. Treatment alternatives include medication and behavior therapy.
Symptoms and Signs:
The typical signs and symptoms of children with childhood disintegrative disorder include normal development for at least the first two years of life such as normal development of age-appropriate verbal and nonverbal communication, motor, play and self-care skills and social relationship. Another is the significant loss of previously acquired or learned skills which occurs before age 10 such as play skills, motor skills (ability to voluntarily move the body in a purposeful way), ability to say words or sentences (expressive language), bowel and bladder control, social skills and self-care skills (adaptive behavior) and ability to understand verbal and nonverbal communication (receptive language).
Other symptoms include the lack of normal function or impairment such as on social interaction, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities and communication.
Causes:
Childhood disintegrative disorder occurs abruptly over the course of days to weeks or even gradually over an extended period of time for there's no known cause for this disorder.
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