IUBio

role of thalamus in intellectual development

Dave L dave at lud-low.freeserve.co.uk
Tue May 25 22:45:11 EST 1999


On Mon, 24 May 1999 21:37:12 GMT, cijadra at zedat.fu-berlin.de
(Cijadrachon) wrote:
>(SKIP to most.)
>
>>However, maybe learning more about cat's tails will help 
>>him to teach the cat another way to swat some of the
>>flies away (or whatever tails are for). 

>Maybe navigation (like when hopping from one branch to another) 
>among other thingies?
>Could you give examples of what does not seem to work 
>at all or not well and what does 
>for the areas of movement,  especially movement sequences supervision ?
>And what else does not seem to function the way it is supposed to?

Sorry, I should have posted this after the query in your first
response. I will try to fill in some of the detail. Following the
helpful responses to my query, I can now re-examine with more
understanding the copies of some MRI studies I obtained on children
with basal ganglia/thalamic injury and dyskinetic CP (some had
learning difficulties). This will have to be in two days time (after
the European Cup Final !!).

The paediatric neurologist who assessed her reported: "interpretation
of her motor examination is that her essential disability is the
inability to organise and properly execute intended movements and also
to co-ordinate automatic movements".

There is severe speech difficulty. She is clearly understood only by
family and close friends. She can understand more than she can speak
or sign. Lip and tongue movements are limited and there is some
associated drooling. These are thought to relate to lack of control
over the bucco-pharyngo-laryngeal muscles. The speech problem adds to
the learning difficulties and is compounded by a hearing problem (see
below). Regular speech therapy is provided.

There is moderately poor gross and fine motor control in all four
limbs. Until age 7 to 10 spasticity was more apparent but muscle tone
has slowly improved and the muscle control probems have become more
predominant over the last 3  to 5 years. She is mobile but cannot jump
or run normally. Has a  rather uneven/clumsy gait which is much less
obvious when walking slowly. Can ride a three wheel bike but not a two
wheeler. First walked at age 3. Used to fall a lot but this has
stopped since the spasticity lessened.  Writes and 'signs' very
crudely and slowly (large wobbly letters). Types on the computer very
slowly - auto-repeat delay on keystrokes must be set at 1 second. 

There is a sensori-neural hearing loss - severe at high frequencies,
slight to moderate elsewhere. Wears hearing aids but is intolerant of
them outside school. Vision is excellent. Appeared to be very
insensitive to pain in the early years but now has a relatively normal
pain threshold. She is excessively excitable (and noisy!) at times. 

There is a clear impression of slow and deliberate thought and speech
processes. There is a 2 to 3 second pause between each spoken word and
a 10 second pause (accompanied by deep concentration) between each
sentence. Sings along to songs (roughly) by dropping words to keep up,
in a way that reminds me of a slow computer system dropping frames
when processing hi-res video. You can almost hear the brain ticking.
Most people do not have the patience or determination necessary to let
her complete her sentences and to understand what she is
saying/signing. This is can be frustrating for her.

She is progressing generally at a little under half the normal rate of
learning, but faster than this in some areas of development e.g. has a
good memory for routes when travelling, knows precisely how to 'wind
up' other people and is highly amused by their reactions (doesn't work
with me, though!).  Exhibits some obsessive behaviour. Overall, a
happy fun-loving child when in a familiar environment and if she is
not being ignored.  Health is good and life expectancy (with
appropriate care) is normal.

Dave L







>
>Ci.




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