Background: Children with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) are at risk for social-behavioural and neurocognitive sequelae throughout development. The current study examined the impact of family environmental characteristics on social-behavioural and cognitive outcomes in this paediatric population. Method: Guardians of children with 22q11DS…

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and mathematics ability are associated, but little is known about the genetic and environmental influences underlying this association. Methods: Data came from more than 6,000 twelve-year-old twin pairs from the UK population-representative Twins Early Development Study. Parents…

Determining a child's chronological age and stage of maturation is particularly important in fields such as paediatrics, orthopaedics, and orthodontics, as well as in forensic and anthropological studies. Some systemic conditions can cause abnormal physiological maturation, and skeletal maturation is usually more delayed than dental maturation.…

To describe the early phenotype of girls with full mutation fragile X, we used 54 observations of 15 girls between the ages of 6 months and 9 years to examine developmental trajectories as measured by the Battelle Development Inventory. In this sample, autistic behavior was associated with poorer developmental outcomes, primarily due to…

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic disorder that adversely impacts child development and health conditions, and is often associated with significant behavioral challenges. In particular, children with PWS typically exhibit extremely high levels of maladaptive behavior (e.g., excessive food seeking, hording, and binging; temper tantrums;…

Lowered intelligence relative to controls is evident by mid-childhood in children with sickle cell disease. There is consensus that brain infarct contributes to this deficit, but the subtle lowering of IQ in children with normal MRI scans might be accounted for by chronic systemic complications leading to insufficient oxygen delivery to the brain.…

Recent advances in neuroscience show clearly how experience can change brain neurochemicals, and how this in turn affects the way the brain functions. As a result, early negative events actually get built into the growing brain's neurochemistry, altering the brain's architecture. Research is continuing to investigate how children with genetic…