Can anyone explain this for me........

[mumgoingcrazy]

DD2 has recently had her MRI brain scan results but something I'm not sure about, and can't seem to find a clear concise answer if googled is this part of the letter:

"The folding of the brain was a little bit immature".

What exactly is folding of the brain?

Thanks in advance

[lou031205]

When the brain develops, there is so much of it that the brain matter has to fold to all fit in the skull. It does it in a very special, organised way.

DD1 has cortical dysplasia, which is a malformation of the folding of the brain surface.

[mumgoingcrazy]

Thanks Lou, I'm probably being naive here, but if DD2 had cortical dysplasia would they have mentioned it to me? It just seems to be such a vague statement that many things could be under the title of 'immature folding of the brain'.

Can I ask how cortical dysplasia displays itself in your DD?

[lou031205]

"Dysplasia" just means 'maturation abnormality', so I suppose 'immature' is a little abnormal, and therefore could be described as cortical dysplaia. But, I am not a doctor.

DD1 has 'subtle but extensive cortical dysplasia', which means that it is quite hard to see the differences in her brain, but they affect a large portion of her brain. Some children have quite a significant difference in just one spot of the brain, which is called "focal cortical dysplasia".

For DD1 (3¾ years):

-Speech and language delay/disorder - SALT is calling it delay, Paed says it is a bit disordered too (I agree). I would say she has speech of about a 2.6 year old, and she uses a lot of terms that are quite unique, so hard to understand. Like "bowleat" for "something to eat". She finds it hard to understand instructions, and gets confused about word meanings. For e.g. she doesn't like to be called 'beautiful' or 'clever' because she doesn't realise they are nice words.

-Fine motor delay - DD1 can draw a roughly circular shape on a piece of paper, but nothing more than that. Her marks are very faint on the paper. She has quite weak hands and so finds it hard to manipulate things. She can't dress/undress herself without lots of help.

-Gross motor- She has ataxia, so walks and runs oddly and unevenly. She still uses her arms to stabilise herself as she walks fast/runs. She falls and stumbles alot. She started jumping about 2 months ago, but it takes a lot of effort.

-Very low concentration/attention levels. Very active. No sense of danger. Needs wrist strap to keep her safe when out of home.

-Epilepsy (drop attacks/absences)

• Sleep disturbance. Has melatonin to settle at night.

She has 1:1 at preschool & we are hopefully starting statementing soon.

[mumgoingcrazy]

Thanks Lou, much of what you describe sounds quite similar. I'll bring up cortical dysplasia at my next paed appointment. Out of interest, when did you DD walk? DD2 bottom shuffles still (2.2yr) and is nowhere near standing, let alone walking. She can't even roll properly.

[devientenigma]

Hi MGC, saw this and thought I would add ds didn't stand or walk until nearly 5 yr old. He was also a bottom shuffler. I do realise he is down syndrome also but just wondered if there was maybe something with the vestibular and proprioception side of the SPD. He also didn't roll etc. HTH x Take care.

[lou031205]

mumgoingcrazy, she was 23 months.

[mumgoingcrazy]

Thanks both of you.

Devie, DD2's vestibular is really messed up at the moment. We had her standing, barely assisted for 30 minutes 2 months ago, and she had another ear infection which messed up her auditory and in turn her vestibular, so her SPD is really holding her back at the moment. We're back up to 15 minute blocks of standing (with a lot of support), but all it takes is an ear infection and she loses the skill completely.

We're going to do another lot of Therapeutic Listening in Sept so I'm hoping it'll really help with her vestibular.