Hi, my name is Amy Barkham and I am a postgraduate student at the University of Birmingham.

In September of this year I took over a study kindly funded by the Child Growth Foundation. The study is specifically looking at the psychosocial and behavioural aspects of Russell Silver syndrome in comparison to children born small for gestational age (SGA) and children born expected weight. Carly Sutton, whom I have taken over from, wrote a small piece in the winter 2005 newsletter about the aims and reasons for carrying out this research and for those of you who remember this, the study is remaining essentially the same. I will however outline it again below.
The study is trying to find out if there are any aspects of Russell Silver syndrome (RSS) children’s psychological and social development which are common to a significant proportion of the RSS group. It is also aiming to see if children with RSS are more likely to show an intellectual disadvantage and look at the possible reasons for this being the case. This is an area which has been researched in the past, though no definitive conclusions have been drawn. To assess whether their development would be rated as expected for their age and to look for the possible causes, children who were born small for gestational age without RSS and those with normal birth weight and subsequent growth will be used as comparisons.
To assess these factors we have developed a pack of questionnaires to be completed by children and their parents. This information will be supplemented by some work done with the children directly; these are just some simple tasks to look at IQ and body image perception.
Alongside this major study I am hoping to run a supplementary one looking at body and face shape perceptions of the general public, both children and adults. This will be specifically geared towards the perceptions of faces and bodies typical of a child with RSS. What I am hoping to gain from this is whether people are likely to treat a child with the characteristics of RSS differently and to see if this could be a possible cause for any long term psychological issues they may have.
When these studies are completed the findings will present us with a better understanding of the psychosocial and behavioural problems faced by children with RSS and possibly SGA and Intra Uterine Growth Retardation (IUGR). A higher awareness of potential issues that they may contend with will allow for better and quicker interventions and hopefully a reduction in any potential long term consequences.

Now I come to the point where I need to ask for your help!

In order to carry out this study and draw significant conclusions I need a lot of participants in all 3 groups. The experimental participants need to be between 5 and 15 years of age and have a diagnosis of RSS or SGA. If your child is in the RSS group and falls within this age range you should have already received information pack and consent form. If you are happy for your child to take part please send the signed consent forms back to me as soon as possible. If your child would be in the SGA group which is inclusive of IUGR, then I shall be in contact soon.

Once I have received your consent form I will send you the first stage of the study. This is a pack of questionnaires to be completed by both parents and children. I will enclose postage so you can send them back when they are completed.
On receipt of the questionnaires I will be in contact to arrange a mutually agreeable time to come and visit you and carry out the final stage of testing, which should take about an hour and a half.
If you and your child would like to participate but have not received an information pack or if you have misplaced it, then you can contact me and I will be happy to send you one.
If you have any further queries about the study and its aims please feel free to contact me at any time, I am always happy help!
Thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope to see you soon.

Amy Barkham
School of Psychology, University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT
Tel: 0121 414 3507 (office hours) 0121 4334 598 (outside of office hours)
Email - axb242@bham.ac.uk