Monday, May 3, 2010


What is Vertigo?



  • Nausea or vomiting
  • Sweating
  • Abnormal eye movements


The vertigo can be caused by a problem with the balance mechanisms of the inner ear, a problem with the brain, or a problem with the nerves that connect the brain to the middle ear.


Inflammation of the labyrinth, a system of canals and cavities within the inner ear which gives us our sense of balance.

Vestibular neuritis

The vestibule is in the inner ear. The vestibule and the semicircular canals work with the brain to control balance. Vestibular neuritis is inflammation of the vestibular nerve (the nerve running to the vestibule).

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)

The vestibular labyrinth, inside the ear, includes semicircular canals (loop-shaped structures) that contain fluid and tiny hair-like sensors that monitor the rotation of the head. The otolith organs, also in the ear, monitor movements of the head and its position. There are crystals in the otolith organs that make us sensitive to movement. Sometimes, when the patient is lying down, these crystals can become dislodged and move into one of the semicircular canals, making it sensitive to head position changes - something it would not normally do. This unusual response to head movements by the semicircular canal can give patients vertigo symptoms.

Meniere's disease


Head injury

Some patients can develop vertigo after a head injury



Usually characterized by periodic headaches and some vision problems, such as seeing stars (as if someone had quickly flashed a strong light in your eyes). Some migraine patients also experience dizziness and vertigo. In fact, for some migraine patients, vertigo can eventually become the only symptom.



Boat, airplane, car travel (motion sickness)



Some people who have been in a strong earthquake can suddenly feel that the firm ground around them moves long after the earthquake is over. This sudden sensation can occur on-and-off over a number of days, and sometimes weeks.


Treatments depend on the causes of the vertigo.

Treatment for Labyrinthitis

In most cases, labyrinthitis resolves itself without any treatment. If it is caused by a bacterial infection the doctor may prescribe antibiotics.
If symptoms are severe and the patient has suffered hearing loss from one ear the doctor may perform a labyrinthectomy - surgical removal of the vestibular labyrinth. After the operation the other ear will take over the patient's hearing and balance. A labyrinthectomy results in total hearing loss of the affected ear; therefore it is only performed if that ear has already suffered serious hearing loss.

Treatment for Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV)

Canalith repositioning procedure - the doctor, audiologist or physical therapist may treat the patient with a series of movements. These consist of several simple and slow maneuvers for positioning the patient's head. The aim is to move particles from the fluid in the semicircular canals of the inner ear into a vestibule (small bag like open area) where the otolith organs are - if the particles can be moved there they won't cause any problems and are more easily absorbed.
Each head position is held for about 30 seconds after vertigo symptoms or abnormal eye movements stop. The patient must avoid lying flat or placing the affected ear below shoulder level for a specified period after treatment - usually about a week, but this may vary. This will mean propping the head up with some pillows while sleeping so that it is higher than the rest of the body.
If the canalith repositioning procedure does not work there is the option of surgery. A bone plug is used to block the portion of the inner ear that causes the dizziness.

Treatment for Meniere's disease

There is no cure for Meniere's Disease; however there is treatment for the symptoms

Group members:

  1. Nik Areena
  2. Alya
  3. Khairunisa


What is Vertigo? Vertigo is the feeling that you or your environment is moving or spinning. As if you feel like your flying or about to fall. It differs from dizziness in that vertigo describes an illusion of movement. When you feel as if you yourself are moving, it's called subjective vertigo, and the perception that your surroundings are moving is called objective vertigo.

There are three types of general medical disease topics related to Vertigo, which are:

  1. Balance disorders
  2. Brain conditions
  3. Ear conditions

Problems in the brain or the inner ear can cause vertigo.

  • Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is the most common form of vertigo and is characterized by the sensation of motion initiated by sudden head movements or moving the head in a certain direction. This type of vertigo can be easily treated because it is rarely serious.

Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV)
  • Vertigo may also be caused by inflammation within the inner ear (labyrinthitis), which is characterized by the sudden onset of vertigo and may be associated with hearing loss. The most common cause of labyrinthitis is a viral or bacterial infection in the ear.
  • Meniere's disease is composed of a triad of symptoms: episodes of vertigo, ringing in the ears, and hearing loss. People have the abrupt onset of severe vertigo, fluctuating hearing loss, as well as periods in which they are symptom-free.
  • Acoustic neuroma is a type of tumor that can cause vertigo. Symptoms include vertigo with one-sided ringing in the ear and hearing loss.

Vertigo is a very common symptom. Even celebrities like Janet Jackson have vertigo. Other than that, one of our group member's mothers has Vertigo, too. It is not something serious, but it can be. One should always take precaution when one has it.

If anyone who needs help with vertigo, they could refer to a book called The Consumer Handbook on Dizziness and Vertigo

Thank you.

Group members:
  1. Renia
  2. Namirah
  3. Nadiah KA

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Dyslexia - Aini, Noddy and Fatihah

Peter is a little boy. He works so hard at reading, but it just never gets easier. He knows he's smart so why can't he read like the other kids? Peter has a problem called dyslexia.

Dyslexia (pronounced: dis-lek-see-uh) is a learning problem that some kids have. Dyslexia is a reading and spelling disorder. The problem is inside the brain, but it doesn't mean the person is dumb. Plenty of smart and talented people struggle with dyslexia. Among some of those famous people who have dyslexia are,

· Walt Disney, founder of Disneyland, cartoonist

· Thomas Edison, inventor

· Leonardo Da Vinci, Renaissance artist

· Orlando Bloom, actor

· Tom Cruise, actor

· Richard Branson, English Entrepreneur, founder of Virgin brand


The most common childhood dyslexia symptoms are when a child:

  • Avoids reading aloud
  • Trouble with word problems
  • Difficulty with handwriting
  • Awkward, fist-like, or tight pencil grip
  • Slow or poor recall of facts
  • Difficulty making friends
  • Delay in learning tasks such as tying shoes & telling time
  • Inattentiveness; distractibility
  • Inability to follow directions
  • Left-right confusion
  • Difficulty learning the alphabet, times tables, words of songs or rhymes
  • Poor playground skills
  • Difficulty learning to read
  • Mixing the order of letters or numbers while reading or writing

How Does Reading Happen?


  1. Understand the way speech sounds make up words.
  2. Focus on printed marks (letters and words).
  3. Connect speech sounds to letters.
  4. Blend letter sounds smoothly into words.
  5. Control eye movements across the page.
  6. Build images and ideas.
  7. Compare new ideas with what is already known.
  8. Store the ideas in memory.


How Kids Become Readers






Making Reading Easier




How Do Kids With Dyslexia Feel?

Kids who have dyslexia might get frustrated, ang


But getting this help is so important and will help them go on to do great things in life. Some of the most creative and successful people have dyslexia, but it didn't stop them from chasing their dreams and becoming successful in what they have achieved.

Friday, April 30, 2010

An Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asperger's Syndrome)



Signs and Symptoms


· inappropriate or minimal social interactions

· conversations almost always revolving around self rather than others

· "scripted," "robotic," or repetitive speech

· lack of "common sense"

· problems with reading, math, or writing skills

· obsession with complex topics such as patterns or music

· average to below-average nonverbal cognitive abilities, though verbal cognitive

abilities are usually average to above-average

· awkward movements

· odd behaviors or mannerisms



What Causes Asperger Syndrome?




Treating Asperger Syndrome


· specialized educational interventions the child

· social skills training

· language therapy

· sensory integration training for younger kids, usually performed by

an occupational therapist, in which they are desensitized to stimuli

to which they're overly sensitive

· psychotherapy or behavioral/cognitive therapy for older children

· medications



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Done by:


Nurul Nadirah


Thursday, April 29, 2010

Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks the upper and lower motor neurones. This dsease basically causes loss of mobility in the limbs, and difficulties with speech, swallowing and breathing. This disease refers to a group of diseases that affect motor neurones. There are other diseases of the motor neuron that should not be confused with MND such as spinobulbar muscular atrophy, spinal muscular atrophy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, and many others.
Tentative environmental risk factors identified so far include: exposure to severe electrical shock leading to coma, having served in the first Gulf War, and playing Association football (soccer). However, these findings have not been firmly identified and more research is needed.
Putative theories involve neurotoxins in the traditional diet including cycad nut flour and bats that have eaten cycad nuts.The search for a drug that will slow MND progression is under way. Agents that are currently in trials include ceftriaxone, arimoclomol, IGF-1, lithium and coenzyme Q10 to name but a few.
In conclusion, Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a rare disease that affects the mobility of the body which in some cases will eventually lead to death. Currently, there is no known cure for this disease. However, we should not underestimate the people who have this disease as they can be strong and survive long enough to benefit the society such as Stephen Hawkings.


Dyslexia is a learning disability that manifests primarily as a difficulty with written language, particularly with reading and spelling.

Dyslexia symptoms vary according to the severity of the disorder as well as the age of the individual.

With pre-school age children
It is difficult to obtain a certain diagnosis of dyslexia before a child begins school, but many dyslexic individuals have a history of difficulties that began well before kindergarten. Children who exhibit these symptoms have a higher risk of being diagnosed as dyslexic than other children. Some of these symptoms are:
* Delay in learning to speak
* Learns new words slowly
* Has difficulty rhyming words, as in nursery rhymes
* Late in establishing a dominant hand

With Early elementary school-age children
* Difficulty learning the alphabet
* Difficulty with associating sounds with the letters that represent them.
* Difficulty identifying or generating rhyming words, or counting syllables in words
* Difficulty segmenting words into individual sounds, or blending sounds to make words
* Difficulty with word retrieval or naming problems
* Difficulty learning to decode words
* Confusion with before/after, right/left, over/under, and so on
* Difficulty distinguishing between similar sounds in words; mixing up sounds in multisyllable words

With Older elementary school children
* Slow or inaccurate reading
* Very poor spelling
* Difficulty associating individual words with their correct meanings
* Difficulty with time keeping and concept of time
* Difficulty with organization skills
* Difficulty comprehending rapid instructions, following more than one command at a time or remembering the sequence of things
* Reversals of letters (b for d) and a reversal of words (saw for was) are typical among children who have dyslexia. Reversals are also common for children age 6 and younger who don't have dyslexia. But with dyslexia, the reversals persist.
* Children with dyslexia may fail to see (and occasionally to hear) similarities and differences in letters and words, may not recognize the spacing that organizes letters into separate words, and may be unable to sound out the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word.


Dyslexia is an inherited condition. Researchers have determined that a gene on the short arm of chromosome is responsible for dyslexia. That gene is dominant, making dyslexia highly heritable. It definitely runs in families.






Multi-Sensory Approach

The multi sensory approach takes the importance away from reading and directs it more towards hearing the material and getting involved with it while learning. For example, for a child to be more fluent read out loud, try letting them listen to the book on tape while following along before reading it out loud by themselves. Younger children can also learn by tracing the letters of the alphabet and saying the sound that the specific letter makes. Then when they get stuck they can think of the shape and connect the sound with the shape. This approach is all about making the right connections in order to avoid the difficulties that comes with dyslexia.


Encouragement is just as important as any other treatment options. If a child/student feels discouraged they are not going to want to eve attempt the treatments. One of the most popular ways to encourage a child is to show them how many successful people have dyslexia. Show them a list of great athletes or writers and name all of them, then, point out that they were all dyslexic. Showing them that they can still be just as successful or even better then people without their disability.

"bed" trick

For students that get their “b's” and “d's” mixed up they can use the bed trick. Students take each hand and connect their forefinger and their thumbs together. The left hand forms a b and the right hand forms a d, and if they picture an “e” in the middle. It will spell "bed". Then whenever they get stuck they can think of the "bed" trick and remember what each letter looks like.

"bed" trick




Monday, April 26, 2010

Down Syndrome

The physical structure of Down syndrome babies
The image of the extra of the 21st chromosomes

Down Syndrome, otherwise known as Down's Syndrome is a chromosomal disorder where there is an extra of the 21st chromosome. This syndrome was named after the physician who described the syndrome in 1866, John Langdon Down. The condition is characterized by a combination of major and minor differences in structure. Down Syndrome foetus can be identified with amniocentesis during pregnancy or in a baby at birth.

Many of the common physical features of Down syndrome may also appear in people with a standard of chromosomes , including, abnormally small chin, unsually round face, protuding tonge, wide forehead and many more. Down syndrome includes a higher risk for compulsive heart defects, recurrent ear infections , thyroid dysfunctions and more. Some physical genetic limitations of Down syndrome cannot be overcome. However, education and proper care will improve the quality of life of a Down syndrome individual.

The medical consenquences of the extra genetic material in Down syndrome are highly variable and may affect the function of any organ system or processes of certain cells. Down syndrome can result from several different genetic mechanisms. This results in a wide variety in individual symptoms due to complex gene and environment interactions. Prior to birth, it is not possible to predict the symptoms that an individual with Down syndrome will develop. Some problems are present at birth such as, heart malformations. Others become obvious over time such as epilepsy. The most common indications of Down syndrome are the facial features, venticular septal defect, hearing deficits , short stature and more.

In education, mainstreaming of children with Down syndrome is becoming less controversial in many countries. Mainstreaming is whereby the process of differing students with different abilities to be placed in classes with their chronological peers. Children with Down syndrome may benefit from mainstreaming provided that some adjusments are made to the curriculum. Some european contries such as Germany and Denmark advise a two-teacher system , whereby the second teacher takes over a group of children with disabilities within the class. A popular alternative is cooperation between special schools and mainstream schools. The core subjects are taught in seperate classes, which neither slows down the typical students nor neglects the students with disabilities.

Treatment of individuals with Down syndrome depends on the particular manifestations of the disorder. For instance, individuals with cognital hear disease may need to undergo major corrective surgery soon after birth. Other individuals may have relatively minor health problems requiring no therapy. Plastic surgery has sometimes been advocated and performed on children with Down syndrome, based on the assumption that surgery can reduce the facial features associated with Down syndrome ,therefore, decreasing social stigma , and leading to a better quality of life.

376 words

Done by ;
-Nurul Aiman
-Aliah Hisham
-Nur Sarah