Social and Behavioral Problems of Children with Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum

Abstract

Archival data from a survey of parent observations was used to determine the prevalence of social and behavioral problems in children with agenesis of the corpus callosum (ACC). Parent observations were surveyed using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) for 61 children with ACC who were selected from the archive based on criteria of motor development suggesting a relatively high general level of functioning. Younger children with ACC (ages 2-5) were rated as primarily having problems with sleep. Older children with ACC (ages 6-11) manifested problems in attention, social function, thought, and somatic complaints. The older children with ACC were also compared to CBCL data from 52 children with autism who were selected from a previous study. Children with ACC were generally less impaired than children with autism on nearly all scales, with significantly less severe problems in the areas of attention, anxiety/depression, social function, and unusual thoughts. A further questionnaire related to diagnostic criteria for autism indicated that some children with ACC had traits that are among those that contribute to the diagnosis of autism within the domains of social interaction and social communication, but fewer who manifest repetitive and restricted behaviors.

Sleep disturbance in Mowat–Wilson syndrome

“…Many conditions associated with sleep disturbance in people with ID, such as constipation, recurrent otitis media, and epilepsy [Didden and Sigafoos, 2001;Stores, 2001;Quine, 1991] are commonly seen in individuals with MWS [Adam et al, 2006]. Agenesis of the corpus callosum occurs in over 40% of individuals with MWS [Garavelli and Cerruti-Mainardi, 2007] and is associated with sleep disturbance in young children [Badaruddin et al, 2007]. Epilepsy, which is very common in MWS, shows a bi-directional association with sleep disturbance: epilepsy during sleep can induce symptoms of parasomnias, and sleep disorders or lack of sleep increase the severity of seizures and the difficulty of treating them [Grigg-Damberger, 2008].…”

Depression and hyperactivity in two patients with craniofrontonasal syndrome

“…Seven out of 58 females and five patients out of 21 females and two males had corpus callosum hypoplasia or agenesia in the studies of Wieacker and Wieland [2005] and van den Elzen et al [2014], respectively. Isolated Corpus Callosum Agenesis (ACC) itself is frequently accompanied by psychiatric symptoms also including depression [David et al, 1993;Badaruddin et al, 2007;Bhattacharyya et al, 2009].…”

Regional atrophy of the corpus callosum in dementia

“…Studies of on neuropsychological and psychosocial outcomes in high-functioning (FSIQ . 80) individuals with ACC by Brown and colleagues (e.g., Brown & Paul, 2000) have suggested a syndrome of cognitive deficiencies in the following areas that are associated with callosal absence (described in detail in Badaruddin et al, 2007): interhemispheric transfer of complex sensory information and learning; bimanual motor coordination; complex novel problem-solving; comprehension of second-order meanings of language; speed of cognitive processing; and psychosocial understanding and behavior. Whereas there are many differences between ACC and dementing illnesses, it is not unreasonable to expect that degeneration of the CC in dementia would contribute to the outcome in these same cognitive domains.…”