In a first-of-its-kind study of Autism in India, Mumbai's New Horizons- a multi-disciplinary child development centre, has proved that the condition of children with Autism can improve.
In a first-of-its-kind study of Autism in India, Mumbai's New Horizons- a multi-disciplinary child development centre, has proved that the condition of children with Autism can improve.
The centre treats 70 children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum disorder (ASD).
The clinic's founder Dr Samir Dalwai, developmental pediatrician, said, "It is generally thought that Autism cannot be cured. Our centre's research wing conducted a secondary analysis of changes in children diagnosed with ASD, after receiving intervention in 2014."
The research analysed 30 ASD children in the age group of 2-7 years undergoing treatment at New Horizons. Most of the children were 2 to 3 years old, thus emphasising that early intervention is critical.
All the children underwent treatment for six months to one year. "The intervention programme was given for at least 2-3 times a week and their parents were trained to give the therapy at home too. The duration and type of intervention changes from child to child," said Deepti Kanade Modak, clinical psychologist and in-charge of the research department at the centre.
New Horizons' clinical director Sohini Chatterjee said that the children were evaluated on the standardized Autism rating scale both before and after therapy. "We found that the scores showed remarkable improvement. If a child had higher severity of symptoms of Autism spectrum, after the therapy, the standardised autism rating scale showed the child to have lower severity," explained Sohini.
Dr Dalwai added that there was improvement in communication skills, interaction with parents, responding to stimuli and overall conceptual understanding.
"It was observed that children improved in eating and dressing on their own, engaging in play activities and physical coordination," said Dr Bansari Bhoite of the research team.
The centre is in process of sending the study to an international conference and journal. "We are dependent upon the research work done abroad, thus there is a dire need for data on outcomes of intervention for children with autism in India," said Dalwai.
In India, 10 million children have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and it affects 1 in every 66 children born today, as per International Clinical Epidemiology Network's survey findings reported in 2013.
A child with ASD shows problems in understanding or using gestures or speaking, difficulties in expressing affection or in making friends, and restricted and repetitive behaviour, that is, lining up of toys or flipping objects.
The problem is made worse by a deeply pervasive social stigma. Previous perceptions of children with ASD were of 'mentally ill' individuals or worse, individuals that were 'dangerous' to others. Gradually, this changed to 'individuals having special needs or differently-abled children.' Today, we know that things are different and with multidisciplinary intervention the child can be included very well in society.
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