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1Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology - Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre Gothenburg, Sweden Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology - Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre Gothenburg, Sweden.
Insights
Early Symptomatic Syndromes Eliciting Neurodevelopmental Clinical Examinations (ESSENCE) involve co-occurring conditions in children. Early identification and holistic assessment of these neurodevelopmental disorders are crucial for predicting future mental health outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Child psychiatry and developmental medicine
- Neurodevelopmental disorders
- Pediatric clinical assessment
Context:
- Co-occurring conditions like ADHD, ODD, ASD, and tic disorders are common in child psychiatry.
- Symptoms often overlap across these neurodevelopmental disorders.
- Children present with impairing symptoms before age 5, affecting development, communication, social interaction, motor skills, attention, behavior, mood, and sleep.
Purpose:
- To define Early Symptomatic Syndromes Eliciting Neurodevelopmental Clinical Examinations (ESSENCE).
- To highlight the need for a holistic approach in assessing children with early signs of neurodevelopmental challenges.
- To emphasize the predictive value of early problems in ESSENCE domains for later mental health.
Summary:
- ESSENCE encompasses a range of neurodevelopmental disorders presenting with overlapping symptoms in young children.
- Early identification of significant problems in development, communication, social relatedness, motor coordination, attention, behavior, mood, or sleep is key.
- Problems in at least one ESSENCE domain before age 5 predict poor mental health later in life.
Impact:
- Highlights the need for specialized ESSENCE centers for assessment, habilitation, and treatment.
- Underscores the importance of early, comprehensive evaluations for children with neurodevelopmental concerns.
- A holistic approach from the outset can improve long-term mental health outcomes for affected children.
Abstract:
Co-existence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, tic disorders, developmental coordination disorder, language disorder, learning problems, and autism spectrum disorder and sharing of symptoms across disorders, contribute to the typical clinical presentation in child psychiatry as well as in developmen-tal medicine. The acronym ESSENCE refers to Early Symptomatic Syndromes Eliciting Neurodevelopmental Clinical Examinations. Affected children are brought for clinical assessment because of impairing symptoms that raise concern before the age of about 5 years in general development, communication and language, social inter-relatedness, motor coordination, attention, activity, behaviour, mood, and/or sleep. Such children are usually in need of a range of expert assessments, but a holistic approach is rarely taken from the start. Major problems in at least one ESSENCE domain before 5 years of age predict poor mental health later in life. Expert ESSENCE centres for assessment, habilitation and treatment of these children are needed.
