Giovanni Cioni – författare

Clinics in Developmental Medicine No. 176 The book provides a review of the state of the art of neurological assessment in the first two years of life and identifies the most appropriate instruments for the follow-up of newborns who are at risk of developing neurological abnormalities.After a brief description of the neurophysiological basis of development in the first years, the book provides a comprehensive review of the various methods used for the neurological assessment in young infants describing how a combined approach of clinical and instrumental investigations can provide important diagnostic and prognostic information.The first part of the book describes the most used clinical neurological examinations and their applications in infants with neurological abnormalities, followed by a description of the value of neuroimaging and neurophysiological techniques in normal preterm and full term infants in the first two years and the main types of abnormal MR findings of neurophysiological findings (EEG and evoked potentials) in relation to brain lesions.Other sections include chapters describing techniques assessing specific aspects of cognitive, perceptual and sensory abilities. Special attention is given to hearing, language and communication and to development of vision and visual attention both in normal infants and in those with neonatal brain lesions.The final chapters are devoted to intervention, describing how the identification of specific profiles of impairment can lead to the development of appropriate plans of early intervention.

A quick, non-invasive, non-intrusive and cost-effective method with high reliability and high validity is much in demand for the early detection of neurological anomalies which point to cerebral palsy and developmental deficits later on in life. Over his years as a distinguished developmental neurologist, Heinz Prechtl has devised such a method; a qualitative assessment of general movements (GMs) as a specific predictor for neurological impairments. His method is described in this book. GMs form part of a distinct pattern of movements in preterm babies, term newborns and young infants. They are complex, frequent, and usually of sufficient length. Changes in the normal quality of GMs are a reliable indicator of brain dysfunction. Includes a CD-ROM giving 15 cases selected from the book. Each is of about one minute in duration and demonstrates the different age-specific movement patterns.

This textbook, the second edition following the first published in 2009, provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis of all spastic forms of cerebral palsy, examining each aspect of the condition from various perspectives, such as motor, perceptual, and emotional.In cerebral palsy rehabilitation, the therapeutic approach should begin with an evaluation of the child's resources and the strategies they employ to build their adaptive functions, despite their central and peripheral impairments. The use of a pre-established universal model of motor performance (the so-called typical motor development), ordered by an obligatory sequence acquired in rigid and constant progression (the so-called milestones), is no longer acceptable.  Instead, it is crucial to analyze the cognitive and motor resources of the child with cerebral palsy, marked by the pathology regardless of any applied therapy, to plan a tailored rehabilitation program with the child and their family. This requires an understanding of how the child's brain responds to internal and external demands for adaptation.For this reason, it is necessary that the therapists acquire specific knowledge of the natural history of the form of cerebral palsy and its rules, to design and pursue the most effective adaptive changes (understood as stable and favorable modifications of the natural history) achievable in that specific case and specific physical, social and cultural context. This approach should not only consider motor re-education but also other therapeutic interventions, such as drugs, functional surgery, orthoses, aids, and adaptive modifications of the environment.This textbook, enriched by clinical cases and videos, will be of interest for those who already work in this field (doctors, child neuropsychiatrists and physiatrists, rehabilitation therapists), as well as for students of the first and second level degrees in the area of rehabilitation and specialization medical schools.In this second edition, all chapters have been updated and, in some cases fully rewritten. Moreover, in the new chapters the general concepts of CP re-education, the reasons that justify early treatment, the importance of the active role of family, the panorama of therapeutic tools, the description of combined treatment (re-education, drugs, orthotics, functional surgery )and of Assistive Technologies were added.

Anwendungsbezogen vermittelt der Praxis-Leitfaden Therapeuten und Ärzten ein modernes, ganzheitliches Behandlungskonzept der Infantilen Zerebralparese (IZP). Genauere Diagnosekriterien erlauben heute eine Einteilung der IZP in klar definierte Formen und Varianten. Sie bilden die Grundlage für eine differenzierte Prognose des spontanen Verlaufs beim einzelnen Kind und für eine klare Einschätzung der Behandlungmöglichkeiten. Die Autoren beschreiben die vielfältigen klinischen Erscheinungsformen der IZP und geben praktische Anleitung für eine differenzierte Therapieplanung und ein individuell angepaßtes therapeutisches Vorgehen. Dabei umfassen die therapeutischen Maßnahmen auch psychosoziale Aspekte und Hilfsmittelversorgung.

Il libro, frutto delle riflessioni sulla paralisi cerebrale infantile (PCI) che gli autori ed i loro collaboratori, medici e terapisti, hanno condotto negli ultimi anni, affronta i principali temi connessi alla valutazione delle funzioni adattive nelle forme spastiche della PCI (la definizione e le sue modifiche negli ultimi decenni, i nuovi orientamenti classificativi, l’eziopatogenesi, le correlazioni anatomo-funzionali, la semeiotica, i cosiddetti "disturbi associati": visivi, cognitivi, del comportamento). Lo scopo principale del volume non è quello di riportare lo "stato dell’arte" su questi argomenti, ma di offrire "appunti di viaggio" sui temi trattati, per suscitare riflessioni e confronti con l’esperienza dei lettori. Gli argomenti vengono trattati dagli autori secondoun’ottica fisiopatologica che guida la loro interpretazione della natura del difetto (diagnosi funzionale), dei problemi legati alla prognosi (come ipotesi di storia naturale) e alla riabilitazione (come modifica dell’architettura della funzione in senso adattivo). Il testo è corredato di un ampio glossario sui termini utilizzati e di un DVD con casi clinici, suddivisi in base alla classificazione proposta degli autori. Anche questo materiale sottolinea la grande utilità didattica del volume, sia per chi già lavora in questo campo (medici, neuropsichiatri infantili e fisiatri, terapisti della riabilitazione), sia per gli allievi delle lauree di I e II livello dell’area della riabilitazione e delle Scuole di Specializzazione.