Children’s Conditions Including Behaviour Disorders
Symptoms of Children's Conditions including Behaviour Disorders
Autism usually presents with the parents noticing that the child does
not react normally and appears not to be relating to other people. There
is no spontaneous affection and, due to increased sensitivity, the child
can react negatively to loud noises and seeks comfort in, often bizarre,
repetitive movements and activities, and does not like to make eye contact.
ADHD is a very exhausting condition that may involve the child being
hyperactive, aggressive, uncontrollable, impulsive and socially difficult.
Attention span is poor, instructions are forgotten or not taken in (or
not received) and the child’s education and general development
suffer. (S)he may be disobedient, permanently fidgety and suffer from
low frustration tolerance, sleep disturbance, appetite problems, restlessness
and attention seeking behaviour. There are enormous problems for the
parents and other carers as the child can respond in a loud, aggressive
or even violent manner with minimal need for sleep so the situation is
relentlessly anxiety provoking and emotionally traumatic for all concerned.
The condition is significantly more common in boys. Other, associated,
symptoms may include abnormal thirst, migraine in the family, asthma
and eczema.
Diagnosis of Children’s Conditions Including Behaviour Disorders
There are no objective diagnostic investigations such as blood tests
or scans and the diagnosis of both conditions is made on the history
and observing the behaviour. Paediatric consultants and health visitors
are often involved at an early stage after an initial assessment by the
GP. It can take a long time to finally confirm the diagnosis, particularly
with autism, as there are a number of developmental disorders to consider
and exclude.
A high proportion of these children react badly to cow’s and other
animal’s milk. Sugar and chocolate can also produce hyperactive
behaviour – particularly tartrazine (E102) and benzoate preservatives
(E210 – 19). Symptoms can occur after a few minutes or up to a
week after ingesting the trigger substance. On other occasions it requires
a build up of the food over some time to produce symptoms.
Dr Ben Feingold, an American paediatric allergist, first suggested food
sensitivity as a trigger in the mid-70s. Diets avoiding food colourings
and additives, salicylate-containing fruits and vegetables such as berries,
currants, dried fruit, grapefruit, peanuts, tomatoes, strong mints, broad
beans, courgettes, peppers and sweetcorn were tried and subsequent studies
have confirmed the effect of this approach. Other factors have been suggested,
such as behavioural causes and toxic poisoning such as from lead pipes.
Sugar, sweeteners and caffeine have also been implicated.
