Autism Awareness Day was observed on April 2 to make people understand it and extend a helping hand to children affected by autism and in their rehabilitation.
Autism is a childhood disorder, and one of the serious mental disorders occurring in children, says Superintendent of Government Hospital for Mental Care N.N. Raju.
Autism Spectrum Disorders are a group of complex brain development disorders. Prevalence of ASDs around the world is 160 per 10,000 children.
The symptoms are: infant does not have eye-to-eye contact with parents or others in the family and does not exchange a smile. As the child turns one year or so, it is visible that it does not have social interaction and has language problem. Parents find it difficult to play with the child. The child insists on sameness (like refusing to change the position of a toy) and does not play with other children, explains Dr. Raju.
The child’s speech may be incoherent.
So far, no definite reason has been found for autism. By hypothesis, it is attributed to chromozome disorder.
There is no medicine to cure autism, but behaviour and speech therapies can be given, he says. They can be sent to special schools so that they can perform their day-to-day activities. In some cases, the child could be good in painting, playing instrumental music and have unusual mathematical abilities.
A few tips about dental care by laser dental surgeon and implantologist Kandarpa S. Srinivas. Tooth brushes should be replaced after flu or cold; tooth decay will go up by 62 per cent if three glasses of soda or soft drink is taken during a day; drinking raw lemon juice often leads to sensitivity; quality of brushing is important.
