Child Development and Disability

Lead: Alan Emond, with Carol Joinson, Matthew Ellis, Tom Allport, Toity Deave, Raghu Lingam, Cathy Williams, Jean Golding, John Henderson, Jane Heraghty and Debbie Johnson.

Collaborators:Jon Pollock, Bhupinder Sandhu and Sue Roulstone (UWE), Kate Northstone and Jon Heron (ALSPAC) and Medicines for Children Network .

Our main interests in this area are:

The epidemiology of developmental conditions in childhood and adolescence
Evaluating methods to promote the early identification of developmental problems in childhood
Building up the evidence base for clinical practice with disabled children in community child health

The aetiology of autistic traits

Alan Emond is collaborating with Jean Golding and others on a MRC funded project using ALSPAC to investigate the distribution of autistic traits in the population and test hypotheses regarding aetiology and co-morbidity.

Childhood continence

Carol Joinson has been working with Jon Heron on a collaborative project between ERIC (Education and Resources for Improving Childhood Continence) and ALSPAC, funded by the Big Lottery Fund. This project is investigating how childhood incontinence affects children psychologically and has defined the developmental trajectories of children’s continence from age 4 to 9 years.

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) - Risk and Resilience

Raghu Lingam is investigating DCD using a quantitative analysis of existing ALSPAC data looking at the prevalence, impact and associations of DCD in primary school children. A qualitative analysis to explore health care provision and the experience of disability related to DCD through interviews of teenage children with DCD is being used.

Depression in childhood

Carol Joinson is using ALSPAC to investigate the development of depression in children and young adolescents

Development of visual function.

Cathy Williams has an NIHR career development fellowship to investigate detection, diagnosis and management of children with vision problems in the context of other developmental conditions. In addition she heads a programme of work on visual development within the ALSPAC cohort. Current projects include:

Systematic review of interventions for children with vision and other problems
Grading study of optic nerve pictures from ALSPAC participants, to examine predictors and associations of optic nerve morphology
Imaging studies of children who have had perinatal insults and do or do not have vision problems
School-based normative data study on children’s cognitive visual functions
Aetiology (including genetic) and impact of myopia within ALSPAC
Nutritional predictors of visual function in ALSPAC
Ocular sequelae of alcohol exposure in utero
Prevalence models for different definitions of cerebral visual impairment

Use of melatonin in disabled children with sleep problems

Alan Emond, Matthew Ellis and Tom Allport are collaborating on a multi-site RCT to investigate the effectiveness of melatonin in children with developmental disabilities (MENDS).

Mother-baby interactions and infant care practices.

In the sleep laboratory Professor Fleming and team have carried out longitudinal studies of the physiological and behavioural interactions between mothers and infants during sleep, and the effects these have upon the development of respiratory and thermal physiology in the infant. (Diamond cot death appeal). They have carried out longitudinal studies in the home of the development of infant thermal physiology, and the effects of environmental temperature and wrapping, in the UK and in Mongolia.

Respiratory function

Jane Heraghty is measuring respiratory muscle endurance in children with disabling neuromuscular disease. John Henderson is undertaking a series of studies using ALSPAC on the epidemiology and life course trajectories of respiratory function through childhood and adolescence, funded by the MRC.

CENTRE FOR CHILD AND ADOLESCENT HEALTH