Parents' and Teachers' Perceptions of Abnormal Attention Span of Elementary School-Age Children.

Background: To determine teacher and parental perception of minimal expected sustained attention span during various daily tasks among elementary school children.

Methods: 54 parents and 47 teachers completed the attention span questionnaire (AtSQ) that was developed for this study. The AtSQ consists of 15 academic and leisure tasks that require a child's sustained attention.

Long-term cognitive outcomes of a cohort of children with cryptogenic infantile spasms treated with high-dose adrenocorticotropic hormone.

Purpose: To evaluate the outcome of children with cryptogenic infantile spasms treated with high-dose synthetic adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and the relation between early treatment, within 1 month of onset, and outcome.

Methods: We assessed the long-term cognitive and seizure outcomes of 37 patients with cryptogenic infantile spasms (onset, age 3 to 9 months) receiving standardized treatment regimen of high-dose tetracosactide depot, 1 mg IM every 48 h for 2 weeks, with a subsequent 8- to 10-week slow taper and followed by oral prednisone, 10 mg/day for a month, with a subsequent slow taper for 5 months or until the infant reached the age of 1 year, whichever came later. Development was assessed before treatment.