This page explains several diagnoses commonly seen in early intervention services.
There are more resources listed in the "Community Resources" tab that families of children with these or other diagnoses may utilize.
Autism spectrum disorder is a range of conditions characterized by difficulties with social skills, repetitive behaviors, restricted interests, and speech & communication. (12)
In the social/communication domain, children with autism may display poor joint attention, lack of intentionality, impaired receptive or expressive comprehension, or impaired internalized language. Common behaviors include minimal eye contact, echolalia, poor awareness of non-verbal social cues, excessive emotional reactions/outbursts, poor problem solving, and/or egocentric conversation.
In the repetitive behaviors domain, children may display common behaviors including rocking or spinning self or objects, hand flapping, biting, and/or persistent sorting/arranging objects
In the restricted interests domain, children may display common behaviors including extreme distress with slight change in routine, indifference to hot or cold, preoccupation with unusual objects, excessive smelling, touching, tasting objects, and/or visual fascination of lights or movement. (7)
Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a group of clinical syndromes that are caused by damage to the underdeveloped brain, either in utero, during birth, or shortly after birth. The risk of CP increases with prematurity and low birth weight. Movement, muscle tone, and coordination are largely affected in one or more extremities, depending on the location and severity of the damage to the brain. (1)
CP is typically characterized by delayed motor development, altered muscle tone, retained reflexes, and orthopedic impairments such as contractures and shortened tendons. Other symptoms of CP may include hearing impairments, visual perceptual impairments, seizures, difficulty sucking, chewing, & swallowing, uncoordinated reach, asymmetrical use of extremities, unusual gait, impaired cognition, dental problems, gastrointestinal reflux, and frequent upper respiratory infections. While CP is not progressive, the neurological impairments associated with CP change over time and associated disabilities may develop. (1)
Cleft lip is an opening in the upper lip, either on one side of the lip, both sides of the lip, or in the middle of the lip. It occurs when the tissue making up the lip does not join in the middle completely before birth. Cleft Palate is an opening in the roof of the mouth. It occurs when the tissue making up the roof of the mouth does not completely join together before birth. Cleft lip and palate can occur in isolation or concurrently. Children with cleft lip and/or cleft palate often have associated problems with feeding, speaking clearly, ear infections, hearing, and teeth. (3)
Hearing loss is identified in varying degrees of severity, from slight to profound. A child is considered deaf if they have profound hearing loss (little to no functional hearing) and is considered hard of hearing if they have mild-to-moderate hearing loss. (4)
There are several types of hearing losses, including conductive, sensorineural, mixed, and central hearing loss. Conductive hearing loss is a result of diseases or obstructions in the outer or middle ear, which contain structures responsible for relaying sound to the inner ear. This type of hearing loss does not typically result in severe hearing losses. Sensorineural hearing loss results from damage to the cells or the nerves in the inner ear that detect sound. This type of hearing loss can be mild to profound and is difficult to be corrected by a hearing aid as sounds will continue to appear distorted at different frequencies. Mixed hearing loss is a combination of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss with damage to both the inner ear and the outer or middle ear. Central hearing loss refers to damage to either the nerves associated with hearing pathways or the brain areas related to interpreting auditory information. (5)
Developmental delay (DD) refers to a child who is not meeting developmental milestones within the typical age ranges. According to Rule 52, in early intervention settings a child can qualify as having a developmental delay if they are at least 2.0 standard deviations below the mean in one area of development or at least 1.3 standard deviations below the mean in two areas of development (cognitive, adaptive, physical - fine motor and gross motor, social/emotional, and communication). A developmental delay may or may not indicate a long-term issue with development or learning. (6)
Down Syndrome is a condition caused by an extra 21st chromosome in all or most of the cells in the body. It is characterized by low tone, hypermobility, reduced strength, impaired cognition, delayed development of anti-gravity postures or movements. It is also characterized by physical features including small stature, small oral cavity, an upward slant of the eyes, an extra fold of skin at the corner of the eyes, flattened midface, short and small hands and fingers, and shortened toes. (2)
There are often health conditions associated with Down Syndrome, including congenital heart defects, visual deficits, hypothyroidism, hearing problems, frequent upper respiratory and ear infections, increased risk of atlantoaxial dislocation, and gastrointestinal malformations. (2)
Premature birth occurs when a baby is born prior to 37 weeks of gestation. Further categories of prematurity include extremely premature (23-28 weeks gestation), very premature (28-32 weeks gestation), moderately premature (32-36 weeks gestation), and late preterm (36-37 weeks gestation). (10)
Premature infants often face health challenges after birth that can include respiratory problems, anemia, Jaundice, infections, gastrointestinal problems, and heart problems. (8)
After these medical concerns post-birth are addressed, the majority of premature infants experience normal development. However, premature infants are more likely than infants who were not born prematurely to experience dental problems and delays in physical, motor, sensory, thinking/learning, and social/emotional development. The risk of developmental delays or disorders increases with the severity of prematurity (extremely premature infants are more likely to experience delays than moderately premature infants). (9)
Visual Impairment is a broad category of the visual consequences of certain conditions. Visual impairments include, but are not limited to, near-sightedness, far-sightedness, strabismus, congenital cataracts, retinopathy of prematurity, retinitis pigmentosa, coloboma, optic nerve hypoplasia, and cortical visual impairment. The degree of visual impairment caused by conditions such as these varies from mild to severe (blindness) depending on the eye condition, the part of the visual system which is affected, and the amount of correction possible. (11)