prodroming

An early symptom that a disease is developing. Particularly used to describe young people who are withdrawing socially, experienceing developmental disturbances, such as lags in motor and speech/language development, experiencing problems paying attention,impaired memory and reasoning, speech impairments, inappropriate, or flattened, expression of emotion, poor social skills, and depressed mood. Such children may laugh at a sad event, make poor eye contact, and show little body language or facial expression. A bizarre presentation thought to possibly be linked to mental illness. Also used to describe a woman's presentation immediately before labor starts. Experiencing braxon hicks contractions, dilating, etc.