Autism is a bio-neurological disorder that affects an individual’s way of communicating and relating to the social environments. Autism in children is usually recognized within the first three years of life. While some of the Autistic child might have learning disabilities, some might experience over-sensitivity or under-sensitivity to touch, sounds, smells, tastes, colors and lights.
Autism is a lifelong developmental disorder and no medication or therapies have been discovered that would completely cure the autistic conditions. All the autistic individual experience difficulties in three main areas (triad of impairments), but their condition affect them in different ways. While some of the autistic individuals can lead their everyday lives; others might require a lifelong support of specialists.
The three main areas (triad of impairments) include-
- Trouble in making social communication
- Trouble in making social interaction
- Trouble with social imagination
Creating awareness for Autism Spectrum Disorder is pretty hard, as there are no physical deformities with the patients. As a consequence, the parents often tend to think their children are naughty or too timid while, the fact is that they are autistic.
As started earlier, there is no bluebook for curing autism but the autistic conditions can certainly improve with therapies, timely diagnosis and appropriate support. Some of the common therapies such as HBOT therapy, CranioSacral therapy, behavioral and speech therapy, Sensory Integration Therapy along with other programs, medication and diet have been successful in improving autistic conditions.
High levels of metal toxicity are evident within many autistic children and Chelation therapy is one of the viable options that purify the bloodstream from the toxic metals. Hence, this therapy is deemed as one of the viable options for treating autistic conditions.
Many experts have also suggested behavior modification techniques that would control the repetitive or the aggressive behaviors of an autistic child. Over the years, behavioral therapies have exhibited to help the child adapt the right behaviors
Multiple occupational therapies can be of great help allowing the autistic children to carry out their daily tasks smoothly. This therapy has helped many autistic children in developing proper hygiene sense and as well as taught them the methods of dressing by their own. There are some physical therapies as well which help the children control their bodies, whereby their repetitive behaviors could be brought under control.
Music therapy is one of the innovative ways which have helped the autistic children develop better focus along with the vision therapy, where there have been instances of children connecting with the visual clues and translating them verbally.
Proper diet and nutrition is also believed to be an integral part of autism treatment. Nutritionists suggest that the diet of the autistic children should be gluten-free. Nutritionists also put a restriction on casein, wheat and oats as these types of foods might have problems of breaking down properly and might affect the brain’s functions. Instead, vitamins A, C and D rich nutritional supplements are believed to be effective in Autism treatment.