Consensus Statement of the IAP - Neurodevelopmental Chapter On Neurodevelopmental Disorders Habilitation Process: Strategic Plan for Prevention, Early Detection and Early Intervention.

Justification: Neurodevelopmental disorders, as per DSM-V, are described as a group of conditions with onset in the development period of childhood. There is a need to distinguish the process of habilitation and rehabilitation, especially in a developing country like India, and define the roles of all stakeholders to reduce the burden of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Process: Subject experts and members of Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) Chapter of Neurodevelopmental Pediatrics, who reviewed the literature on the topic, developed key questions and prepared the first draft on guidelines.

A clear CSF is not always a normal CSF: a case report of pneumococcal meningitis.

A normal initial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) study has been traditionally used to exclude the potential diagnosis of bacterial meningitis. However, cases of pyogenic meningitis in the absence of CSF pleocytosis have been reported in which smears for gram stain or CSF culture revealed the diagnosis of meningitis. In the presence of clinical signs of meningitis, an abnormal initial CSF study indicates a diagnosis of bacterial meningitis but a normal result may not necessarily exclude it and therefore, should not delay early institution of appropriate antimicrobial therapy.