Treatment of Disorders of Tone and Other Considerations in Pediatric Movement Disorders

Pediatric movement disorders (PMDs) consist of a heterogeneous group of signs and symptoms caused by numerous neurological diseases. Different neurological disorders in children also share overlapping movement disorders making a diagnosis of the underlying cause of the movement disorder challenging. The similarity of the symptoms across multiple disease types suggests that there may be a final common motor pathway causing the overlapping movement disorders. There are numerous disorders in children associated with disturbances in tone and involuntary movements. This chapter will focus primarily on those disorders that involve abnormalities of tone and other important considerations of pediatric movement disorders. This chapter will address rating scales and goals for treatment and will include a review of symptomatic treatment and, where possible, the treatment of the underlying disease processes. The chapter will review representative disorders, including an inborn error of metabolism, an autoimmune disorder, and a group of neurodegenerative disorders. These examples demonstrate how the disorder’s underlying pathophysiology results in a specific approach to the underlying disease and the associated conditions of tone and involuntary movements. Finally, the multiple treatment options for cerebral palsy and considerations of cerebral palsy mimics will be discussed.