Developmental Disorders

Common developmental problems include:

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder generally have deficits in two major aspects: (1) social communication and social interaction; and (2) restricted interests, repetitive patterns of behaviour or activities.

Children with Classic Autism (onset before age 3) generally have the following problems:

Difficulty in social interaction: failure to notice the presence of other, understand others’ needs and feelings, and develop peer relationships; lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interest or achievements with others; lack of social reciprocity
Difficulty in communication: lack of body language, weak in verbal comprehension and expression, with echolalic speech
Highly restricted, fixated interest, inflexible adherence to routines or resistance to changes; rigid or ritualized patterns of behaviours
Weak in identifying essential details, seeing relationships and generalizing the skills
Weak concentration and self-control, easy to lose temper, self-stimulating or self-harming behaviours
Weak self-care and social adaptation ability

Children with High-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder generally have the following problems:

Difficulty in social interaction; insensitivity in interpersonal relationship; weak in understanding the perspective of others and their feelings; pursuing a conversational topic regardless of others’ reactions; preferring solitary activities or lacking of adequate social skills
Rigid behaviours, resistance to change and reluctance to accept new things; inflexible adherence to rules
Stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest,
Difficulty in communication, failure to express themselves effectively
Weak motor-coordination
Weak attention
Weak organisation skill, inflexibility in thinking; difficulty to predict consequence

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder generally have the following problems:

Inattentiveness, easily distracted and hard to follow through on instructions; often forget and lose belongings
Impulsivity: have difficulty in taking turns; often interrupt others’ speech
Hyperactivity: fail to seat quietly, often fidget and talk excessively
Weak planning and organisation ability
Easily to have social or behavioural problems
Low self-image and self-esteem

Physical Disability

Children with physical disability generally have the following problems:

If caused by damages to muscular and nervous systems, may have primitive reflexes arising from hyper-tonic muscles and hypo-tonic muscles; abnormal motor pattern associated with the delay in gross motor and fine motor development; sensory disturbance and developmental coordination disorders.
If caused by congenital abnormities, may have physical deformities or paralysis of limb
If caused by genetic diseases, may have muscular dystrophy and more severe functional disorders
Self-care and social adaptation problems
Lack of self-confidence and tend to be passive

Language Delay

Children with language delay generally have the following problems:

Speech is not clear or comprehensible
Have limited vocabulary and fail to express themselves clearly
Failure to understand abstract expressions, complex sentence structures, unfamiliar concepts, etc.
Speech content is out of the context and improper use of words
Simple or uncommon sentence structures: mix, omit or distort phrases in sentences

Global Developmental Delay

Children with global developmental delay generally have the following problems:

Lag behind peers of the same age in terms of development or quality in many areas, e.g. slower development in gross and fine motor, hypo-tonic muscles, language delay, weaker sensory reception and recognition ability.
Weaker ability to learn and understand abstract concepts or reason logically
Weaker concentration and memory
Weaker self-care skills, e.g. feeding, dressing and washing themselves
Weaker self-care ability and easily lose control of their temper

Specific Learning Difficulties in Reading and Writing

Children with specific learning difficulties in reading and writing generally have the following problems:

Difficulty in word decoding: word recognition, spelling, pronunciation and article comprehension
Weakness in organisation of spoken sentences, and comprehension of complex sentences and instructions
Difficulty in gross and fine motor coordination, weaker ability in the control of strength, slow in writing and illegible hand-writing
Weakness in visual space recognition, frequent errors in writing or missing strokes, components of characters are out of proportion, uneven distance between words
Weaker concentration and memory
Lack of self-confidence and exhibition of behavioural problems

Emotional & Behavioural Problems

Below are the emotional and behavioural problems children may encounter:

Often lose control of their temper and in tears; exhibition of damaging or offensive behaviours
Excessive anxiety or fear
Have nightmares or sleeping disturbance
Social difficulty, fear of and resistance to interacting with strangers
Recurring somatic complaints, such as headaches, stomach aches, vomiting, which are not fully explained by a known general medical condition
Regressive behaviours, e.g. enuresis
Repetitive and persistent oppositional or hostile behaviours, e.g. often arguing with adults, refusing to follow instructions, blaming others for his mistakes

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