Congenital abnormalities.

Abstract

Many congenital abnormalities may be associated with impairments in cognitive, psychological, and social functioning. Congenital abnormalities include various anomalies of physical development, including the brain and nervous system, eyes, ears, heart and circulatory system, respiratory system, cleft palate and lip, upper alimentary tract, digestive system, genital organs, urinary system, musculoskeleton and limbs, diaphragm, integument, and chromosomes.Congenital anomalies such as tracheoesophageal fistula, imperforate anus, Hirschsprung's disease, biliary atresia, diaphragmatic hernia, gastroschisis, ambiguous genitalia, and hypospadia, are typically repaired by pediatric surgeons during infancy or early childhood. Although surgical outcomes are generally good, many of these disorders require extensive medical follow-up and ancillary services including physical and occupational therapy and may be associated with significant psychological morbidity. However, relatively little psychological research has been conducted with these patient populations.Psychologists have made many contributions to understanding how health care professionals can best manage individuals with several specific congenital anomalies. This chapter focuses on a few of these disorders, including congenital heart disease (CHD), craniofacial anomalies, spina

Craniofacial Anomalies.

“…Some CFAs are not predictive of intellectual or academic performance, as illustrated by Speltz, Endriga, and Mouradian (1997), who found that 19 infants with nonsyndromic sagittal synostosis (absence of connective tissue between the parietal bones of the skull) did not differ in any developmental aspect from matched control children without CFAs. Overall, however, children with CFAs appear to be at a somewhat elevated risk for cognitive impairment, poor academic performance, and learning disabilities, particularly in the area of reading (Delameter & Grus, 2002;Endriga & Kapp-Simon, 1999). For example, in a study of school children with clefts, 47% were functioning below grade level, and 46% were diagnosed with a learning disability (Broder, Richman, & Matheson, 1998).…”