WORLD AUTISM AWARENESS DAY 2NDAPRIL 2019

One day a parent approached my clinic saying, “Doctor, please check my two year oldson whoonly  responds to his name occasionally, is showing regression in speech,lack of social interest in others,lack of pretend play, inability to follow verbal commands… but he never disturbs us and physical activity seems normal.”

There are many psychiatric disorders, of which neurodevelopmental disorders are specific to children.

Different types of neurodevelopmental disorders include Intellectual Disability(ID), Communication Disorders(CD),which includes language and speech, Autism Spectrum Disorders(ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders(ADHD), Specific Learning Disorders(SLD), and Developmental Coordination  Disorders .

ASD affects around 3 million people in the Indian subcontinent and is rapidly increasing, with one out of sixty children having this condition. In India today,Autism has been widely studied recently, due to showing good improvement in children on early intervention measures.

Autism may be due to both genetic and environmental factors; pre and perinatal events like pregnancy disorders, foetal distress, labour complications, low birth weight, premature birth, neonatal jaundice, delayed birth cry, asphyxia, etc.

Autism spectrum disorder includes Autistic Disorder, Aspergers,Rett and Pervasive Developmental Disorders, all of which are recognised byimpaired  social or emotional reciprocity, poor eye contact,no sharing interests due to deficiency of mirror neurons,delay in  language acquisition skills, and abnormal responses to stimuli due to sensory integration deficits (unable to tolerate touch, light,sound,smell,pain, etc.)

ASD Effective Interventions  are behaviour approaches, skill based interventions, and physiologically based intervention.

Parents need proper awareness and  guidance about this situation.Expecting things to happen in its own pace could be a wrong notion,resulting in further deterioration in uplifting the child.

Strategies for children include using visual schedule, developing measured,predictable routine, matching academic expectations,utilising paraprofessional help,requesting few words and more demonstration,using sensory aids, etc.

Improvement in a child’s self-esteem can be accomplished by identifying and cultivating the child’s strengths and passions, developing the child’s independence, and surrounding the child with people who accept and believe in him/her.