As a Paediatrician with subspecialty training in Neuro-developmental Paediatrics, I basically take care of all children health issues especially those with physical and mental disabilities. This group of children are often referred to as Children with special needs.
This is a topic I am particularly passionate about especially in the part of the world where I practice with so much ignorance and superstitious beliefs about this wonderful group of children. This post is to provide you with the basic information you should know either as a parent or caregiver with special needs children
Even if you don’t have a child with special needs, you need this information as well to know how to relate better with children and families with special needs.
Who is a child with Special Needs?
First every single child is special!
But what do we mean when we say “children with special needs”?
Merriam Webster dictionary defined “special needs” as mental, emotional, or physical problems in a child that require a special setting for education.
⦁ This means any child who might need extra help because of a medical, emotional, or learning problem.
⦁ these children have special needs because they might need medicine, therapy, or extra help in school — things that an average child won’t typically need or only need once awhile.
⦁ Basically, these are children with physical and developmental disabilities
Common medical conditions that predispose children to have special needs:-
- Cerebral palsy
- Down Syndrome
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Intellectual disability
- Congenital syndromes
- Hearing impairment “Deaf”
- Visual impairment “Blind”
- Learning Disability – Dyslexia, Dysgraphia,
- Spina Bifida
- Hydrocephalus
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Behaviour disorders – conduct disorders, oppositional defiant disorders.
These disabilities can be mild, moderate or severe. Children with disabilities do not constitute a uniform group, We have are children who are completely independent and at the other end of the spectrum are those who are completely dependent on others for every activity of daily living.
Why does my baby have special needs?
- Disabilities can begin anytime during the developmental period and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime.
- Most disabilities begin before a baby is born, although some happen after birth.
- The causes of disabilities in children are often due to multiple factors some of which the affected families have no control over.
- Sometimes we simply do not know why the condition happened!
Common Causes
The Causes of disabilities BEFORE birth include:
- Genetic:– Children with Down Syndrome have an extra chromosome 21. There are many other congenital disabilities that have to do with problems at the level of the Chromosomes or genes, some of these may be inherited conditions; others are not.
- Infections the mother might have during pregnancy affecting the baby in the womb – popularly called the TORCHES can lead to birth of babies who may later have disabilities such as Cerebral palsy, deafness, blindness.
- Malformation of the brain, spinal cord and other vital organs causing hydrocephalus, spina bifida.
- Parental health and behaviors (such as smoking and drinking) during pregnancy can cause Fetal alcohol syndrome.
Causes AFTER birth include;
- Prematurity – babies born before 37 completed weeks of pregnancies
- Complications during birth – failure to cry at birth (birth asphyxia), birth injuries (Erb’s palsy).
- Severe Jaundice
- Severe infections in the early newborn and infancy period especially involving the brain (meningitis)
- Exposure of the mother or child to high levels of environmental toxins, such as lead.
Thanks Dr for the article on autism. Please ma, how can one differentiate it from dyslexia.
That is the job of the Developmental Paediatrician….children with dyslexia do not have problem with social communication and interaction; just only with reading….dyslexia is a reading disability
Absolutely!
Thank you!
Goodevening ma, thanks for aall that you are doing , God will compensate you ma, pls ma, what of a 5years of girl that can humme any ryhm not audibly but whenever she hummes, you will get the song shes singing but not writing or reading and also very hyperactive, covers her face at times then screams to demand for things.she follows instructions, uses the toilet by herself, put on her shoes and clothes. Shes presently in a private school as we concluded shes autistic. ..ma, can you shed more light or any advise ma
Yes, I agree that she fits the picture of a child on the Autism Spectrum. Kindly read more about autism in the article I wrote about it here
Thanks Drs for this platform. Pls I have a child with cerebral palsy, at one year he could only sit, couldn’t crawl nor stand, then we started with physiotherapy where he was always made to stand, now he crawls and can stand while holding something, so I decided to stop the therapy just to make him do things on his own. He is now a year and five months. Pls I want to ask if my decision is ok.. Thanks
I think you should discuss first with the Physiotherapist before stopping completely. You may just reduce the frequency and still see the therapist until they are okay and ready to discharge him completely from therapies. What is he able to do now?
Thank you for the good works ma,please ma i have a 20 months daughter she had delay in her milestone ,she started crawling at 17 months ,she crawls very fast now and stand to hold something to walk ,but she cant not stand on her own and is not yet walking ..i have taken her to the hospital they did EEG for her and i was told she has been having abnormal waves (epilepsy) and that may be the cause of her delayed milestone,so right now we have been placed on neurovite,epilim and cord liver oil. Ma please just to confirm if these drugs will help her and if she will outgrow the developmenatl delay and be like her peer
I am afraid that abnormal waves on EEG does not explain why the child is delayed. It may just be a sign of the delay itself. It is better to see a Paediatric Neurologist or Developmental Paediatrician in a Teaching Hospital. If the child is not having seizures, there is no need for the child to be taking Epilim. It is difficult to answer the questions about the future outcome without seeing the child and knowing the underlying cause of the developmental delay. However it if the child is already crawling and standing holding to support, I believe there is hope.
Hello doctor, my lil girl’s neck is not strong enough to be on her own yet and she cant sit at six month. Heard jundice at birth and blood transfusion was done on her. Pls doc what should i do am so confused
You should see a Paediatric Neurologist who will recommend appropriate intervention.
It appears the jaundice has affected the brain despite the exchanged blood transfusion. I am afraid the child may have developed the long-term complication of severe jaundice on the brain.
God bless you so much mummy Gbemisola for this enlightment. I watched the benola program on cerebral palsy on channels news and it prompted me to read about it on Atp and Google and it’s really an eye opener. I’m in the children’s department of our church and there’s an adorable boy who’s a special needs child and everything explained here has given me an insight and I’m truly grateful
Thank you Helen!
Good Morning ma,still on my daughters development ma,i posted on this platform sometimes in August ma about my daughter not yet walking and not standing on her own ,ma as at november 2017 she started walking and can stand on her own and at each day passes she gets her balance ,she walks better than when she started but she runs most times and before i know it she falls down because she is not yet balance but my one thing i observe is that she plays aggressively with her sister and people she associate with.she is now 2 years old and the only thing she says is BABA AND PAPA.Thank u ma,looking foerward to your response ma.
Of course it takes a little more time to get her balance so relax and keep encouraging her. If you are very worried, you can see a Paediatric Neurologist for further evaluation and treatment.
Hello Doctor, I have a 12month child who can sit unsupported, bottom shuffle, army crawl on belly, hold on to furniture and stands, climbs the bed and says Papa. He can’t stand on his own or walk. He was able to carry his neck unsupported at 5months, sit unsupported at 8months as well as army crawling at 9months. He had mild seizures two days after birth but it stopped same day as he was taken to the hospital thrinite I noticed he was twitching two days after birth. His birth weight was 3.5kg and after two weeks of birth he was 2.7, exclusively breastfeed till six months. He has trouble gaining weight. I went for one year immunization yesterday and he was just 6.4kg at 12 months. Also he doesn’t have any bcg scar on his arm even though he was given one on the day of birth. Shod I be worried about his physical development? What can I do about his weight? He eats well, pap, rice,eat, egg, peanut butter and etc
Hi Lucy…your baby needs to see a Paediatrician urgently as he is really underweight for age almost severe. He should be under follow-up by a Paediatric neurologist as well though his development is fair but with his weight he really needs support fast. You should take him to see a Paediatrician at a Teaching Hospital so he can have care by all the different professionals and therapists necessary. Please treat as urgent. All the best