Developmental neurology deals with cognitive, and psychomotor development and related disorders during childhood (i.e., during the developmental age) [with developmental age we mean the period between the prenatal age (i.e., the three phases preceding birth) and the end of the natural process of physical growth and cognitive maturation (which, according to the European standards ends up at age 18 years and by the USA standards ends up at about age 20-22 years)].
Specifically it deals with:
The course aims to provide the students with the basic knowledge of child neuropsychiatry and the fundaments of neurological and psychiatric abnormalities during childhood, which is of outmost importance for those dealing with childhood and with the children’s (and adolescents’) world and more in general with their related cognitive and neurological problems.
So as to provide the students with the basic and fundamental principles of child neuropsychiatry and neurological and psychiatric disorders in childhood the course will deal with basic principles of anatomy and physiology in the developmental age, moving then to the main conditions affecting the overall nervous system and mind illustrating the causes and the basic mechanisms of these disorders, the social impact of the diseases of nervous system and mind during childhood and the main clinical manifestations along with the most important and recent therapeutic strategies.
Thus, the topics will deal with the most frequent conditions affecting children
during development. These topics will represent the most frequent neurological and psychiatric conditions faced by psychologists. In addition the course will include basic notions of nervous system development modalities along with the related neurological, behaviour and cognitive problems.
PROGRAM:
A. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Cain, Dickey, Hogan, Jackson, Minorsky, Reece, Simon, Taylor, Urry, Wassermann: Campbell. Biology: Principles and Links. Molecular Biologu and Human Body. Linx, 2015
Rutter M, Bishop D, Pine D, Scott S, Stevenson J, Taylor E, Thaper A. Rutter’s Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 5th ed. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010
Ruggieri M – Franzoni E. Neurologia e psichiatria dello sviluppo. Milano: Elsevier/Masson, 2012.