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History
Cri du Chat was first described in 1963 by renowned pediatrician and geneticist Jerome Lejeune. Dr. Lejeune devoted his life to the search of a cure for Down syndrome, so he was involved in genetic work before he described Cri du Chat. On a side note, the man is in consideration to be a saint by the Catholic Church.
http://amislejeune.org/images/JLP.jpg
After Lejuene's initial discovery of the disorder, not much else has gone by in the way of specialized treatment. Because cri du chat is such a rare disorder, it does not have very much public recognition, and most therapies are identical to those given to other mentally/physically disabled people. This is not necessarily bad. Makaton, the portmanteau sign/speech communication system, was originally developed to encourage speech development. However, cri du chat patients have adapted it as an effective language.
Current Cri du Chat research is aimed mostly at the genetic aspects of the disease. But because gene therapy is in its infancy, progress is limited. Some other progress is being made in the behavioral and developmental areas in an attempt to find quicker, more effective interventive techniques.
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Comments (2)
rryoung@... said
at 10:03 am on Oct 29, 2009
Maybe add a picture of Dr. Lejuene. This page is lacking in information...it might not be a bad idea to add this information to the main page, if this is all that you have available to th readers.
Need: colors, pictures, etc if you are NOT going to add it to the main page.
Zachary McCormack said
at 6:38 pm on Nov 1, 2009
I agree with mrs. young this page does seem to be lacking some information, although what you have is good. And why is Lejeune considered a saint?
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