Toe walking in autism: further observations.

Toe walking has been associated with language disorders and autism. To better understand the association between persistent toe walking and sensory and motor variables in children with autism, the degree of toe walking was compared with an estimate of the severity of sensory integration dysfunction symptoms and the presence of residual components of the tonic labyrinthine in supine reflex pattern in 61 children younger than 37 months of age with newly diagnosed autism. There was no association between the presence of toe walking and sensory symptoms (P = .

Head circumference in young children with autism: the impact of different head circumference charts.

The hypothesis that the presence of macrocephaly might vary with the specific growth chart used was tested by using the Nellahus, CDC, and recent Rollins et al revision head circumference charts to plot the head circumferences of 253 children with neurodevelopmental disorders and with ages between 12 to 36 months; of these children, 59 had a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. The CDC and Rollins et al head circumference charts identified more cases of macrocephaly and fewer cases of microcephaly than did the older Nellhaus chart but did not significantly differ in their identification of macrocephaly in children with autism.

Persistent toe walking in autism.

The records of 954 ambulatory children presenting for initial evaluation to a university developmental pediatrician were reviewed for the prevalence of persistent toe walking and associated tight heel cords. The incidence of persistent toe walking (20.1%) and tight heel cords (12.

Standardization of the Capute Scales: methods and results.

The Capute Scales is a 100-item developmental assessment tool to quantitatively measure expressive and receptive language and nonverbal problem-solving skills in infants from birth to 3 years of age. The present multisite study standardized the instrument on a population of 1055 typically developing children balanced for age, sex, and race and generated normative tables to document the instrument's utility. There were no significant performance differences by race or sex.

Health and social outcomes of children with cerebral palsy.

Health and social outcomes in children who have cerebral palsy (CP) depend on several factors, including the severity of the CP, medical interventions, and the child's environment. One of the hallmarks of cerebral palsy is its variability. Several formal methods of classifying persons with CP, such as the Gross Motor Function Classification System, have been developed to standardize that variability.

Attentional function as measured by a Continuous Performance Task in children with dyscalculia.

This study determined whether or not students with dyscalculia had difficulty with attention as measured by the Conners' Computerized Continuous Performance Test (CPT). Fifty-six control subjects and 27 subjects with dyscalculia were administered the CPT. Performance was measured using percent omission errors, percent commission errors, mean response time, SE of response times (SE-RT), and a calculated overall attention index (CPT Index).

Practice parameter: screening and diagnosis of autism: report of the Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology and the Child Neurology Society.

Autism is a common disorder of childhood, affecting 1 in 500 children. Yet, it often remains unrecognized and undiagnosed until or after late preschool age because appropriate tools for routine developmental screening and screening specifically for autism have not been available. Early identification of children with autism and intensive, early intervention during the toddler and preschool years improves outcome for most young children with autism.

The screening and diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorders.

The Child Neurology Society and American Academy of Neurology recently proposed to formulate Practice Parameters for the Diagnosis and Evaluation of Autism for their memberships. This endeavor was expanded to include representatives from nine professional organizations and four parent organizations, with liaisons from the National Institutes of Health. This document was written by this multidisciplinary Consensus Panel after systematic analysis of over 2,500 relevant scientific articles in the literature.

Early ear problems and developmental problems at school age.

Retrospective history of middle ear disease was compared with developmental diagnosis in 507 consecutively referred school-age children. History of major ear problems was positively associated with discrepancies between the performance and verbal IQ on the WISC-R. History of major ear problems was positively associated with the presence of articulation disorders for children in the low social class, hyperactivity in the middle social class, and language problems in the high social class.