SSPE (SUBACUTE SCLEROSING PANENCEPHALITIS) - THE GREAT MASQUERADER

Background: SSPE is chronic progressive encephalitis affecting children and young adults which usually presents with cognitive decline and behavioural changes followed by periodic myoclonic jerks, seizures, vision loss and ataxia. High degree of suspicion is required as the presentation can be variable and can have many differentials. Aim: We aim to study various presentations of SSPE Methods and Material: Retrospective study was done to analyse various presentations in patients diagnosed with SSPE as per modied Dykens criteria from a tertairy care centre over a period of 2 years (1st January 2018-31st December 2020). Results: 6 cases of SSPE were identied. Case1 - 22 months old presented with subacute history of ataxia, multical myoclonus and developmental regression. Gradually myoclonus worsened to involve trunk and developed drop attacks. Case 2 - 17 years boy presented with single episode of seizure. Case 3- 25 years female with 5 months gestation presented with subacute vision loss followed by progressive cognitive decline, behavioural changes, Parkinsonism, Dystonia and stimulus sensitive myoclonus. Case4- 28 years female presented with rapidly progressive cognitive decline and behavioural changes. Case 5- 32 years male presented with history of myoclonic jerks and dropping of objects. Gradually developed progressive behavioural changes and cognitive decline and became vegetative. Case6 - 9 year old child presented with faciobrachial seizures (myoclonic jerks) and scholastic backwardness. Conclusions: SSPE can manifest with varied presenting complaints. Also, Results of EEG, MRI and CSF examination can change during the disease course. Therefore, high degree of suspicion is required for early diagnosis of this challenging entity.

Newborn screening: Need of the hour

Newborn screening (NBS) is the process by which newborns are screened just after birth for disorders that can cause severe illness or death unless detected and treated early. At present, there is no national NBS program in India. Although the exact incidence in India is not known, approximately 4:1000 and 5:1000 are estimated to have hearing defects and congenital heart abnormalities, respectively, whereas the incidence of IEMs is estimated to be approximately 1:1000. This high incidence is due to high prevalence of consanguinity in our country. If undiagnosed and untreated many children develop mental retardation, learning disabilities, autism, dyslexia, behavioral abnormalities, and scholastic backwardness later in life. There is also considerable burden-financial and emotional on the parents to diagnose, treat, and manage these children. The most rational and cost-effective way of preventing such tragedies would be to have a NBS program which will detect most of the preventable or treatable, if not all IEMs and other genetic disorders. Hence, all hospitals in urban areas in India should initiate NBS at least for the common disorders: CH, CAH, and G6PD deficiency.

A CLINICAL STUDY TO EVALUATE THE EFFECT OF GUDUCHYADI SYRUP IN ENHANCEMENT OF MEDHA IN SCHOOL GOING CHILDREN

Academic underachievement of children is a big concern among parents and teachers in present day competitive society. It is reported that around 20% of school children have scholastic backwardness include physical illness, below average Intelligence, Learning Disabilities, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, Psychiatric Disorder, family and school factors. Intelligence is usually said to involve mental capabilities such as the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn. In spite of advancement in modern medicine, its success is very limited in context with the enhancement of Intellectual power and memory. Objectives: 1) To select subject with IQ ranging from 70 – 89 and study in detail about the factors influencing the Intelligence. 2) To evaluate the effect of Guduchyadi Syrup in the enhancement of Medha in school going children. Materials and Methods: An interventional Randomized Placebo Controlled Clinical study was conducted, in which 30 subjects were assigned in both Group A and Group B and given with Guduchyadi syrup and Sugar syrup respectively, with a dose of 5ml thrice a day after food for duration of 3 months. Follow up was done on 30th day after completion of the treatment. Interpretation and Result: Both the groups showed significant result in Subjective and Objective parameters. Conclusion: Both Guduchyadi syrup and Sugar syrup are having significant effect on Medha. The effect is considered to be consistent or improved even after follow up. But the change was less for the group given with Sugar syrup compared to the effect of Guduchyadi syrup.

Academic Excellence through Multi-Sensory Approach: A Model for Classroom Teaching

Human senses are natural contributions which transform the information to the brain for further processing to understand what is being presented to an individual through sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste. Senses will also determine the understanding of the different concept being presented and recall those contents or information for the right situation for the right action. To help the individual learner, teachers in various educational institutions should understand and apply the Multi-Sensory Approach in presenting their teaching contents in a classroom teaching to reach out the uniqueness of the individual learner’s learning style and bring the best academic excellence. With the main aim of helping learners with their unique learning style, the “Itagi’s Model of Multi-Sensory Approach” is been developed by Gururaj Itagi. Highlighting various methods, strategies and techniques in teaching process focussing on individual learning style to maximize student’s academic excellence. This model is framed based on the different learning style of students. This framework considers integrated phases of teaching such as auditory, visual and kinaesthetic approach. The model focuses on Adolescence (aged 12-18 years) mainly on students with scholastic backwardness.

A Study on the Teacher-Student Relationship and its Impact on the Behaviour of High School Students

High school students are in the stage of Adolescence and it is the time for developing independence. Typically, adolescents exercise their independence by questioning and sometimes by breaking rules. Parents and teachers must play a major role in supporting &influencing the children positively by their ethical & appropriate approaches. Teachers in school as well as parent at home, often wonder how to disciple a child and to mould their behaviour so to bring up the child with virtues. Although some children truly have challenging behaviours regardless of what strategies to try, many children just need to have the adults in their lives make changes in the way they react, respond, or interact with them. It is also a great responsibility of the teacher in school to have positive approach towards students. If not there are possibilities in change of behaviour among students & leads to several problems. For example, frequent episodes of fighting, scholastic backwardness, substance abuse; antisocial or institutional activities, destructive behaviour and change in attitude in students are much more significant than isolated episodes of the same activities. Other warning signs include deterioration of performance at school and running away from home. This research paper’s aim is the teacher-students relationship and its impact on the behaviour of High school students. The objectives are to know the teachers attitudes both positive and negative towards students and its impact to bring positive as well as negative behaviour change in the students. The study has reported that students are often facing emotional problems by the negative approach of the teachers. It is recommended that to create awareness among teachers in the school for the smooth handling the children with the positive approaches. 50 high school students; 25 girls and 25 boys were taken and interview schedule is used. Both the primary and secondary methods are used and the study is descriptive in nature.

Assessment of knowledge level on learning disability among primary school teachers

Background: Learning disability (LD) is one of the major causes of poor scholastic backwardness. Undetected and unmanaged specific LDs result in chronic scholastic backwardness ensuing school dropouts, emotional and behavioral problems such as depression, substance abuse and social delinquency. Since teachers are the ones who first encounter academic difficulties of children, their knowledge and training on LD is of utmost importance in identifying it at an initial stage and to prevent further mental and social damage. This study is to assess the knowledge level of primary school teachers on learning disability.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among government primary school teachers of Malappuram district, Kerala from April 16, 2018 to May 20, 2018.Convenient sampling method was adopted. The study sample consisted of 709 primary school teachers from 21 schools in Malappuram district of Kerala and the teacher’s knowledge level on learning disability was assessed using a questionnaire.Results: Even though majority of the teachers had some knowledge about the outcome and treatment of learning disability, they lack sufficient knowledge about its concepts and causes and it is grossly insufficient for its practical application in the class room.Conclusions: There is a need to improve the knowledge of primary school teachers on LD and to enhance their basic skills in recognizing learning disability at the earliest. This is very important for the management of these children by introducing and applying the appropriate remedial measures on time. This can go a long way in improving the quality of learning among children with poor scholastic performance.