The Fundación Síndrome 5p- explores, through the story of Sofía, a girl affected by Cri du chat syndrome, the effectiveness of neuropsychological rehabilitation in this rare disease.
What is 5p- syndrome?
5p- syndrome, or Cri Du Chat, is a rare genetic disorder caused by a deletion of part of the short arm of chromosome 5. This condition is characterized by a distinctive cat-like cry in affected infants, due to anomalies of the larynx (e.g., laryngeal hypoplasia).
5p- syndrome affects an estimated 1 in 20,000 to 50,000 live births and is more common in females by a 4:3 ratio.
5p- syndrome characteristics
Clinical features of this condition include:
- Biomedical characteristics: small head circumference (microcephaly), abnormally round face, high-arched or ogival palate, hypotonia, foot deformities, hearing (hypersensitivity to noise) and vision (strabismus) difficulties.
- Cognitive characteristics: intellectual disability, short attention span, delayed development, emotional dysregulation.
- Behavioral characteristics: difficulty in interacting with others, stereotypes and obsessive behavior.
- Communication characteristics: delay and difficulty in language acquisition; receptive language skills appear to be better than expressive language skills.
Symptoms vary greatly among individuals with 5p- syndrome depending upon the size of the deleted genetic material.
The Fundación Síndrome 5p-
The Fundación Síndrome 5p-(5p- syndrome foundation) supports families of individuals with 5p- syndrome by offering therapies and counseling. It also conducts outreach and awareness-raising activities and supports research aimed at improving the quality of life of those affected and their families.
The foundation’s professionals develop personalized intervention programs from a multidisciplinary approach for every individual. For this reason, the foundation’s team is made up of a speech therapist, two psychologists and two occupational therapists.
Speech therapy: restoration of impaired skills and maintenance of preserved abilities to help patients reach their highest possible level of function; stimulation of intentional communication, use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices, etc.
Psychology: providing attention, counseling and psychological accompaniment by developing tailored workshops and interventions. Behavioral intervention for children.
Occupational therapy: promoting maximum independence in activities of daily living (ADLs) as well as promoting appropriate sensory integration interventions.
The Fundación Síndrome 5p-‘s experience with NeuronUP
Our professionals rely on NeuronUP, a web platform dedicated to cognitive stimulation and rehabilitation that aims at training cognitive functions through the use of information and communication technology (ICT).
This platform has been very well received due to the growth of new technologies. Our clients direct their behavior thanks to motivating stimuli such as the use of the tablet, computer or any other electronic device.
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The story of Sofia and NeuronUP
15-year-old Sofia was born with 5p- syndrome. She enjoys swimming, playing drums and interactive games. This last hobby inspired the use of NeuronUP in her treatment. She has been using the platform for three years already, participating in one-hour sessions each week. For these sessions, the occupational therapist is responsible for planning activities based on her performance level. These activities particularly target literacy skills, sustained attention, and executive functions. In addition, Sofía performs tasks aimed at improving activities of daily living (ADLs) which complement and support occupational therapy intervention.
In conclusion, Sofia’s improvement resides in her motivation for NeuronUP, in the large variety of activities available and in the possibility of adapting activities to her abilities and interests, thus improving generalization of learning.
Working with people with Down syndrome by age groups
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