Behavioral outbursts in a child with a deletion syndrome, generalized epilepsy, global developmental delay, and failure to thrive

Abstract

A 7-year-old girl with 20q13.33 deletion and a history of generalized convulsive epilepsy presented to the Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Clinic due to concerns about her behavioral outbursts in the context of overall delayed development. Evaluation by the Developmental and Behavioral and Gastroenterology teams revealed failure to thrive (FTT) as the primary cause of the behavioral outbursts and developed a high-calorie, high-fat, high-protein nutritional counseling plan. Children who have FTT and a genetic disorder are often thought to not thrive because of their underlying genetic disorder; however, feeding skills and nutritional intake need to be thoroughly investigated before determining an etiology for FTT. Motoric, communicative, and developmental skills in children with genetic disorders may impede appropriate feeding mechanisms, inducing or exaggerating FTT in these children with developmental disabilities due to genetic etiologies.