A diagnosis that is replaced by childhood onset pervasive developmental disorder.
Childhood schizophrenia is a syndrome with psychotic features that may include auditory and visual hallucinations, delusions, disorganized and incoherent speech, disorganized or catatonic behavior, flat affect, and loss of interest in current activities (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994). The characteristics of childhood schizophrenia mimic those of adult schizophrenia in many ways; however, hallucinations are usually less organized and more likely to be visual in children. Some studies suggest that hallucinations and delusions are extremely rare before the age of 7 years. Children afflicted with this condition also may have trouble with cognitive, memory, motor, social, and language skills. Childhood schizophrenia can be divided further into several subtypes: paranoid, disorganized, catatonic, and undifferentiated. Children with paranoid schizophrenia have frequent hallucinations and delusions of a persecutory nature. Those with the disorganized type have unclear and disorganized speech and behavior. They also are known to have a flat or inappropriate affect”. Children with the catatonic type suffer from motor problems, echolalia, and rigidity of motion. Finally, those with the undifferentiated type of schizophrenia have the primary symptoms of schizophrenia, but they do not meet the criteria for the paranoid, disorganized, or catatonic types.