As is the case with all pervasive developmental disorder categories, there is considerable controversy about the right treatment for CDD. Signs and symptoms
CDD is a rare condition, with only 1.7 cases per 100,000.A child affected with childhood disintegrative disorder shows normal development. Up until this point, the child has developed normally in the areas of language skills, social skills, comprehension skills, and has maintained those skills for about two years. However, between the ages of two and 10, skills acquired are lost almost completely in at least two of the following six functional areas:
Expressive language skills (being able to produce speech and communicate a message)
Receptive language skills (comprehension of language – listening and understanding what is communicated)
Social skills and self care skills
Control over bowel and bladder
Play skills
Motor skillsLack of normal function or impairment also occurs in at least two of the following three areas:
Social interaction
Communication
Repetitive behavior and interest patternsIn her book, Thinking in Pictures, Temple Grandin argues that compared to "Kanners classic autism" and to Asperger syndrome, CDD is characterized with more severe sensory processing disorder but less severe cognitive problems. She also argues that compared to most autistic individuals, persons with CDD have more severe speech pathology and they usually do not respond well to stimulants. Causes
All of the causes of childhood disintegrative disorder are still unknown. Sometimes CDD surfaces abruptly within days or weeks, while in other cases it develops over a longer period of time.
Severely elevated blood pressure (equal to or greater than a systolic 180 or diastolic of 120—sometimes termed malignant or accelerated hypertension) is referred to as a hypertensive crisis, as blood pressure at this level confers a high risk of complications. People with blood pressures in this range may have no symptoms, but are more likely to report headaches (22% of cases) and dizziness than the general population. Other symptoms accompanying a hypertensive crisis may include visual deterioration due to retinopathy, breathlessness due to heart failure, or a general feeling of malaise due to kidney failure. Most people with a hypertensive crisis are known to have elevated blood pressure, but additional triggers may have led to a sudden rise.A "hypertensive emergency" is diagnosed when there is evidence of direct damage to one or more organs as a result of severely elevated blood pressure greater than 180 systolic or 120 diastolic. This may include hypertensive encephalopathy, caused by brain swelling and dysfunction, and characterized by headaches and an altered level of consciousness (confusion or drowsiness). Retinal papilledema and/or fundal bleeds and exudates are another sign of target organ damage. Chest pain may indicate heart muscle damage (which may progress to myocardial infarction) or sometimes aortic dissection, the tearing of the inner wall of the aorta.