Social Communication in Infantile Spasms before and after Vigabatrin.
Abstract number :
D.08
Submission category :
Year :
2001
Submission ID :
294
Source :
www.aesnet.org
Presentation date :
12/1/2001 12:00:00 AM
Published date :
Dec 1, 2001, 06:00 AM
Authors :
R. Caplan, MD, Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA, Neuropsychiatric Institute, Los Angeles, CA; W.D. Shields, MD, Pediatrics & Neurology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA; P. Siddarth, PhD, Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA, Neuropsychiatric Institute
RATIONALE: This study examined the development of social communication in infantile spasms patients with and without Tuberous sclerosis (TSC) who were treated with Vigabatrin.
METHODS: Sixteen infantile spasms patients, 7 with TSC and 9 without TSC, aged 3 [ndash] 12 months, were treated with 100mg/kg Vigabatrin. Nonverbal communication and facial expression of affect at baseline and 6 months after starting the Vigabatrin were measured using the Early Social Communication Scale (Mundy et al., 1996) and the Maximally Discriminate Movement Coding System (Izard, 1979), respectively.
RESULTS: After accounting for normal age-related changes in social communication, there was a statistically significant increase in the use of nonverbal communication, but not in facial expression of affect in the infantile spasms patients. Compared to baseline, the children used significantly more facial expression of affect while social referencing and significantly less when not interacting with the experimenter at the 6 month follow-up. Although the TSC patients used more social communication than the non-TSC patients, these differences were not statistically significant.
CONCLUSIONS: Although preliminary, these findings suggest that control of infantile spasms with Vigabatrin is associated with improved social communication skills.
Support: Partial support was provided by Aventis Pharmaceuticals