Who develops autism spectrum disorders (ASDs)

Who develops autism spectrum disorders (ASDs)?

Autism and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are general terms for a group of complex disorders of brain development. 

What is Autism?

Autism is a lifelong developmental condition that occurs in the first 3 years of life and affects the way an individual relates to his or her environment and their interaction with other people. The main areas of difficulty are in social communication, social interaction, hypersensitivity, repetitive behaviours and restricted interests.

1. Social Communication

Children with autism may find it difficult to meet people and develop friendships. They often seem to exist in their own world and may be isolated.

They may also experience delayed speech development and have difficulty understanding many of the things that people say to them. This affects their ability to initiate and sustain conversations.

They don’t understand sarcasm and will take things literally. People with autism are often brutally honest as they don’t filter what they say before they speak.

2. Social Interaction

Children with autism have difficulty forming and maintaining relationships. This is because they do not instinctively respond to non-verbal forms of communication, such as facial expressions, physical gestures and eye contact. They may have a staring gaze or no eye contact at all when they are spoken to. 

They are often unable to understand and express their needs just as they are unable to interpret and understand the needs of others. This impairs their ability to share interests and activities with other people.

3. Hypersensitivity

Children with autism may also be hypersensitive to sounds, touch, tastes, smells, light or colours. For someone with hyper-sensitivity, sounds that others might not notice can be overwhelming or physically painful for someone with autism and they may need to wear ear defenders to block out the noise.

4. Repetitive Behaviour

Children with autism may indulge in self-stimulatory behaviours, like hand flapping, spinning or head-banging. Children might spend hours lining up their cars and trains in a certain way, not using them for the type of pretend play expected of a non-autistic child. If someone accidentally moves one of these toys, the child may be tremendously upset. Autistic children often need, and demand, absolute consistency in their environment. A slight change in any routine like in mealtimes, dressing, taking a bath, or going to school at a certain time and by the same route, can be extremely disturbing to them.

5. Restricted Interests

Autistic children may have highly restricted or fixated interests that are abnormal in an intensity of focus. Some may have a very strong interest in one or more special topics. A child with autism will sometimes have persistent, intense preoccupations. For example, the child might be obsessed with learning all about computers, TV programs and movie schedules or lighthouses. Often they show great interest in different languages, numbers, symbols or science topics.

Autism treatment in Homeopathy:

• A well-strategized homeopathic treatment plan for an autistic child would be based on the case history which includes a detailed study of the family history of any serious diseases and pregnancy history of the mother which could be known to form autism in the progenies and would be highly effective in treating Autism.
• While taking the case, the homoeopathic doctor observes the child’s behaviour, speech, etc which helps in arriving at the most similar homoeopathic medicine which would help to calm the child. It helps to reduce irritability / anger/ crankiness.
• Age is a very big factor for treating child with autism. The earlier the child is treated the better are the chances of recovery.
• Homeopathic autism treatment help to improve responsiveness, improve the ability to comprehend, reduce associated complaints and build immunity.
• Homeopathic medicines are safe and have no side-effects unlike conventional medicines.
• The homeopathic medicines can be combined with behavioral therapy and speech therapy which would help in accelerating the treatment progress.
• Homeopathy helps to improve the health-related quality of life.

Success also depends on you…

1. Diet is an important and integral part in treating autism. But before starting the diet, figure out what improvements you're hoping to see. Take a day or two to establish a "baseline" by asking yourself these questions: How many words is your child saying? How frequently does she make eye contact? How many tantrums does she have in a week?  Then, over the course of weeks and months on the diet, reassess your child's development.
2. Firstly it is a strict elimination diet with no cheat days.
3. Gluten-free and Casein free diet is highly recommended for autistic children. It is known as GFCF diet.
4. Eliminating gluten and casein means eliminating processed foods, restaurant foods and dairy products.
5. The foods many kids rely on such as regular crackers, cheese, and yogurt aren't allowed on the GFCF plan because gluten and casein proteins are thought to have an impact on the brain; children may go through a type of withdrawal when they're removed.
6. Some parents who have had success with the GFCF diet suggest removing casein first and then gluten a week or two later. Gradually introducing substitute foods like non-dairy milks that don't contain casein, or gluten-free can help too.
7. You can expect to spend more time planning and preparing food, especially when you first begin the diet.
8. You'll also need to be mindful of cross-contamination with gluten: Avoid sharing serving spoons or using the same cutting boards or toasters.
9. But if your child experiences improvements on a GFCF diet, these extra measures won't seem like a big deal.