The Special Ones
Have you ever thought of the process when a woman becomes a mother? Or let’s say have you seen a mother giving birth to a child? It’s the moment of pride for the mother to have a child, she takes the pain to carry on the foetus in her womb for 9 long months and once he develops into a baby and comes out to the world, the happiest person would be the mother on seeing the child. A woman is brave, strong and courageous in whatever she does, and acts as the pillar of the family. But, imagine how it would feel, on knowing that her child is prone to a disorder that would make the child different from the other kids. Disorder refers to the dis functioning of the body or mind of a person, similar to it is Autism that deals with a serious developmental disorder that impairs the ability to communicate and interact. For a mother to know that her child is autistic ( a special child) will be a great shock but has to live with it. And she has to take a lot of pain to bring up a child with developmental disorder as she strikes difficulty in understanding the child. To avoid all these, proper measures has to be taken.
India is home to about 10 million people with autism today and the disability has been increasing. According to statistics by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in every 88 children is born with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) against a ratio of one. It is difficult to find out whether child is autistic or not during pregnancy. Doctors say, a child can be born with birth defects if the mother is exposed to chemicals while she is pregnant. If it is harder to prevent the child from being autistic, one can at least try lowering the risk by following few changes in their lifestyle and other habits. The pregnant mother must live a healthy life. She should be regular to check-ups, eat well-balanced meals, and exercise daily. A good prenatal care must be taken, and should follow the recommended vitamins and supplements. Any kind of drugs during pregnancy should be avoided or should be taken only if the doctor has prescribed. Shout NO to alcohol and beverages while pregnancy. Vaccination before getting pregnant is a must it can prevent rubella- or other diseases associated with autism.
Surveys and researches depict that children born to older parents or those born prematurely are at higher risks of developing ASD. Also, in some cases it has also been found that harmful drugs taken by the mother during pregnancy exposes the child to this disability along with genetic causes. At times autistic behavior is caused due to certain diseases and deformities such as Rubella (German measles) in the pregnant mother, Tuberous sclerosis (a rare genetic disorder that causes benign tumors to grow in the brain as well as in other vital organs), Fragile X syndrome (the most common inherited form of intellectual disability), Encephalitis (brain inflammation), Untreated phenylketonuria (PKU) – when the body lacks an enzyme needed for normal metabolism. It is very important to be careful in try avoiding these types of disease during pregnancy.
India has many special schools for disables the facilities required by autistic children are still unsatisfactory. Since they find it hard to express themselves socially, often it is seen that teachers are not confident enough of teaching such kind of children. These children need therapists who are trained and educators who make them feel at ease and train them with more of social skills rather than bookish knowledge. Even as the law provides facilities of transport, vocational education, banking, housing and other benefits for people and children tormented with autism, face harassment and end up becoming the laughing stock of the society and are often discriminated. There have been cases of private airlines who offloaded passengers with autism. The public mistakes this developmental disability as a mental disorder.Researchers delivered convincing evidence with a rigorous intervention program for toddlers with autism that not only improves their social and communication skills, but also improves their brain activity related to social responsiveness. The intervention, the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM), adapts key techniques from Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) for toddlers, with an importance on interactive play between children and their therapists and parents. This inventive program of brain activity was connected with improved social behavior including improved eye contact and social communication. Therefore, children in the community intervention group showed greater brain activity when viewing objects than faces. A child born with autism cannot be completely cured but there can be ways to make them better.
