Today's soundtrack is Fleetwood Mac: Rumours.
This evening, I'm reading a selection from Chapter 6 of Children With Exceptionalities in Canadian Classrooms. This book isn't part of my usual reading list; it's a textbook from one of my college courses, and as I'm going to be assigned to a student with Fragile X Syndrome when I return to work tomorrow (the end of spring break), I thought it best to read up on the characteristics of people with this designation.
According to the textbook, Fragile X syndrome is common; it is "the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability known" (p. 181) primarily affecting males; between 0.025% and 0.04% of the population is affected by this syndrome, which can "[present] a wide variety of disabilities" (p. 181).
Fragile X is diagnosable by means of DNA analysis, as it "disrupts the structure of the X chromosome [...] which then makes too many [...] repeats of a particular gene" (p. 181). Because women have two X chromosomes, they are less likely to be as affected by the effects of Fragile X Syndrome.
Typical characteristics emerge from childhood into adulthood: "the face grows in an elongated pattern, the forehead becomes more prominent, and the ears enlarge" (p. 181), resulting in many males with Fragile X Syndrome displaying "a long face, large ears, a prominent forehead, midface hypoplasia, and a prominent jaw" (p. 181). I had to look up "midface hypoplasia"; it is a relatively small midface (nose and cheekbones) compared to the rest of the face.
Image from University of Chicago: Pediatrics Clerkship
https://pedclerk.bsd.uchicago.edu/page/fragile-x-syndrome
Approximately 90% males who are diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome "have intellectual disabilities" (p. 181); of females diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome, only "one-third are cognitively impaired, usually in the mild range" (p. 181).
The majority of males diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome exchibit "specific behavioural and learning [challenges]" (p. 181). Characteristic behaviours exhibited by children with Fragile X Syndrome include (hand flapping, hand biting, hyperactivity, aggression, challenging temperamental traits, and attention deficits" (p. 182); up to 1/4th of people with Fragile X Syndrome "have a diagnosis of [autism]" (p. 182); those individuals "appear to have poorer developmental outcomes and more problem behaviours than others [do]" (p. 182).
