Neurodevelopmental Program

The brain and nervous system work together to control the functions of the body. Simply put, the nervous system sends messages from the brain to different parts of the body, and it carries information from different parts of the body to the brain. Because the brain controls so much, problems with it and the nervous system can affect many parts of the body.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a condition that affects your child’s muscle tone and ability to move in a coordinated way. It can lead to other health issues, including vision, hearing and speech problems and learning disabilities. CP is most often caused by damage to the brain. There is no cure for CP. Treatment, therapy, special equipment and, in some cases, surgery can help your child live with the condition.

Some babies are born with abnormal brain development or malformations in their cerebral cortex or cerebellum. We follow children long-term to ensure they are receiving appropriate therapies and maximize their quality of life.

Children who develop at a slower rate compared to other children in their age group may have what healthcare providers call developmental delays. Developmental delays can refer to the rate at which a child’s senses develop, how they grow socially or emotionally, how they move or how fast they learn language.

Many syndromes such as Down syndrome, Rett syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome, fragile X syndrome and others are associated with developmental delays. We can diagnose, treat and provide ongoing specialized care for these conditions to maximize quality of life and promote success.

Lack of oxygen to the brain can cause injury to the tissue and associated problems with movement, cognition or language. We can follow children long-term to ensure they are receiving appropriate therapies and maximize their quality of life.

When a baby is born too early, they can have delayed development, problems with their vision and hearing and other medical issues. We follow children long-term to maximize quality of life.

Spina bifida is a neural tube defect. It happens when the neural tube, which includes the brain and spine of the embryo, does not close. This happens during the first month of pregnancy, often before the mother knows she is pregnant. There are many forms of neural tube defects, and they vary greatly in their severity. Some, such as spina bifida occulta, cause few, if any, problems. The most severe form, myelomeningocele, often causes loss of muscle use (paralysis) in the leg, bowel and bladder, along with learning disabilities. Read more about spina bifida. (PDF)

A Tourette syndrome (TS) diagnosis means a child has many different types of tics. Tics are sudden, repetitive movements (motor tics) or sudden, repetitive sounds (vocal tics). Doctors don’t know the exact cause of TS, but some research suggests that it occurs when there’s a problem with how nerves communicate in the brain.

Advances in technology mean that doctors can diagnose neurodevelopmental disorders prenatally. Neurodevelopmental counseling has been an integral part of Seattle Children’s Fetal Care and Treatment Center since it began in 2007. Our team of developmental pediatricians and pediatric neurologists provide comprehensive counseling to women carrying fetuses with abnormal central nervous system imaging findings. Conditions we identify during pregnancy include spina bifida, ventriculomegaly (enlarged ventricles in the brain), agenesis of the corpus callosum, Dandy-Walker malformation and other differences in the brain and spine. During prenatal consultations, we review how these conditions might affect your child’s communication, cognitive and social activities and motor development.

The Spina Bifida clinic provides ongoing medical and developmental care to children born with spina bifida or neural tube defects from birth through 21 years of age. The multidisciplinary team includes experts from developmental pediatrics, neurosurgery, nutrition, orthopedics, rehabilitation medicine, urology and social work.

The Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Clinic evaluates and treats children with complex congenital heart defects who had open heart surgery before their first birthday or have other risks associated with their congenital heart disease, such as genetic syndrome or a prolonged hospital stay. The clinic provides close follow-up throughout childhood and adolescence.

The Child Development Clinic diagnoses and assesses children from early childhood to adolescence when there is concern about possible neurodevelopmental disabilities.

The Down Syndrome Specialty Clinic specializes in and provides consultation for concerns about behavior and learning difficulties among children with Down syndrome.

The Infant Development Follow-up Clinic provides developmental assessments for children from birth to 5 years who were born prematurely. The clinic sees other children in this same age range, including those with in utero drug exposure, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy at birth, congenital diaphragmatic hernia or those who have been on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). 

The Late and Moderate Preterm Babies (LAMBs) Follow-up Clinic works with children who were born 4 to 8 weeks early. The clinic provides developmental assessment and ongoing monitoring.