The New York State Nurses Association is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

This course has been awarded 1.2 contact hours.

Bobby was diagnosed at age 20 months with autism by his primary care provider. The diagnosis was not based on specific testing or diagnostic procedures, no referrals were made to specialists, and no one advocated for him or for his parents, who accepted the diagnosis with no basic understanding of the nature of autism.

Although Bobby continued to have difficulties that an informed observer might have differentiated from autism, he was thereafter labeled by all of his healthcare providers as autistic and mentally retarded. At age seven, when he became extremely ill and symptomatic, it was discovered that he had a large choroid plexus papilloma. His caregivers realized far too late that his developmental delays had been the result of the tumor and not autism. Bobby is now severely retarded and will require a high level of care for the rest of his life. His developmental disorders could very likely have been ameliorated to a great extent by early awareness and treatment of the tumor.

The intent of this course is to establish the necessity of looking very carefully at developmental disorders. Developmental delay manifests during the early years of life and often seems quite non-specific, but may have a variety of very serious underlying causes. This seems especially true with regard to autism and brain lesions, which develop among similar age groups, share some similar physiological and neurological signs, and are more common in boys. An uninformed approach to these problems can cause irreparable damage at a particularly vulnerable time in a child's life. Astute nursing observation, surveillance and advocacy can contribute to early recognition and treatment, thus limiting or preventing permanent disability in otherwise salvageable children.

2004 NYSNA, all rights reserved.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, the learner will be able to:

• Discuss normal growth and development from birth to 7 years of age.

• Identify the roles of various healthcare professionals in the assessment of developmental delays.

• Describe the role of the registered nurse in the assessment of developmental delays.

• Discuss autism and the criteria for its diagnosis.

• Distinguish between autism and brain lesion.