Autism / PDD-NOS
What is Autism?
In one of the uncanny synchronicities of science, autism was first recognized on two continents nearly simultaneously.
Leo Kanner discovered it in 1940. "A developmental disorder of language and social development in which a child is socially withdraw, tends to avoid direct eye contact, shun physical contacts, fail to recognize facial and visual cues, and has impaired social interactions with family and peers."
In 1943, Kanner published a monograph outlining a curious set of behaviors he noticed in 11 children at John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. A year later, a pediatrician in Vienna named Hans Asperger, who had never seen Kanner's work, published a paper describing four children who shared many of the same traits. Both Kanner and Asperger gave the condition the same name: autism - from the Greek word for self, autds - because the children in their care seemed to withdraw into iron-walled universes of their own.
Autistic children may seem to have a complete lack of awareness of others or fail to comprehend their behavior upon others.
Child often becomes self absorbed and socially isolated.
Child often has serious problems emotional expression-little to no eye contact and smiling, no obvious outward joy, or sadness - no "connection".
Child may become intensely preoccupied with objects and toys, or in clutching a prop, and may have a profound dependence on routine activities, meaning less rituals with little deviation, and fear of unusual items and situations.
Hand flapping, twiddling fingers, rocking, pacing, tics, twirling, and bizarre repetitive body movements often seen.
Self injurious behavior (SIB) may appear.
May not speak much despite a high rate of comprehension.
Echolalia is common.
Speech is typically high-pitched and "singsong".
May exhibit self-stimulatory behavior - "STIMMING" ---- Any behavior the child uses repetitively to soothe himself.
Absence of pointing objects (a sense of sharing with others ones experience) is a defining characteristic. Lack of "theory of mind".
Epilepsy is common (25-30%).
A classic "spectrum" disorder as symptoms and behavior can and often vary widely.
10% may be gifted "savants" (Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of - Rainman).
12-18 months is the usual age of onset, usually before the age of 30 months.
Symptoms generally ALWAYS APPEAR BEFORE THE AGE OF THREE YEARS-BY DEFINITION. However, children not fully diagnosed until almost age 3.
Most seem to develop completely normally for the first year, then digress, losing even language they may have already acquired.
4-5 times more likely in males, 80% are males.
Among the first reliable signs of autism appears to be lack of joint attention, gaze holding, and pretend play at 18 months. These difficulties signal a failure to attend and is later manifest in failure on simple false belief test.
What Raises a Baby's Risk of Autism?
Study Flags Possible Association from Parents, Pregnancy, Birth. Pregnancy factors, parental psychiatric history, and preterm delivery may be associated with an increased risk of Autism. American Journal of Epidemiology, May 18, 2005. Here are the potential associations noted in the study:
Breech presentation of the baby
Low Apgar score, an index used to evaluate the condition of a newborn five minute after birth
Birth before 35 weeks of pregnancy
Parental history of schizophrenia-like psychosis
Parental history of affective disorder, which includes some psychoses, depression, and bipolar disorder
However, those traits are not presented as definite causes of autism or the only possible risk factors for the condition. Of course, not all babies born under those circumstances have autism or related disorders.
From my own clinical observation, parents with increased tendency of food and/or chemical allergies or allergy related conditions tend to have higher risk of having autistic children.
Imaging Studies
According to scientists, MRI research studies have shown that the brains of autistic individuals have particular abnormalities in the cerebellum, brain stem, hippocampus, amygdala, the limbic systems, and frontal cortex.
In autism, subtle brain abnormalities are present from birth. Infants and toddlers move their bodies differently. From 6 months to 2 years, their heads grow much too fast. Parts of their brain have too many connections, while other parts are underconnected.
Moreover, their brains show signs of chronic inflammation in the same areas that show excessive growth. The inflammation appears to last a life time.
Is Autism Treatable?
It depends on whom you talk to regarding autism treatment. Most doctors are still holding on to their old outdated autism treatment model.
The old autism treatment model refers to genetic factors, prenatal conditions, and hard wired brains; therefore, autism is untreatable and hopeless.
The new treatment model refers to environmental factors, pre and postnatal conditions, and the malleable brain; therefore, treatment is possible and some kids recovered.
How Do We Help Autistic Children?
By combining all knowledge learned from several medical disciplines, there are many different non-drug and non-invasive techniques we use to help autistic children and other developmental disorders children. The treatment protocol is very dynamic depends on the deficiencies of the brain function of each individual. Whatever we do, the goals of the treatment are to balance the brain hemispheres and to eliminate food and/or chemical allergies or allergy related conditions.
Our treatment protocol for autism and other developmental disorders is one year. Each treatment session is about an hour, three sessions per week. Usually each child only needs one year of treatment before he can enter his regular school or lose his autistic diagnosis. The best age for treatment is 3 to 10 years old.
We have seen selected autistic and other developmental disorders children recovered from our treatment program with functional verbal and non-verbal skills. We may be able to help your children as well. Dr. Vincent Do, MS, DC, QME can be reached at (408)770-2194.
Dr. Vincent Do, MS, DC, QME
Education: California State Polytechnic University Pomona, University of Colorado at Boulder, Palmer College of Chiropractic West, University of East-West Medicine, Carrick Institute for Graduate Studies, Trinity School of Natural Health
A Board Eligible Chiropractic Neurologist, Dr. Vincent Do has earned over 2000+ content hours in Oriental Medicine, Functional Neurology, and Allergy Elimination. A native of Southern Vietnam, he migrated to Southern California in 1985, later moved to San Jose in 1997, then attended Palmer College of Chiropractic West and Universityof East-West Medicine. Married, with two children, he has maintained a busy chiropractic practice in San Jose, California for nine years.
Dr. Do continues study on alternative treatments of brain disorders and innovative therapies for the learning impaired.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vincent_Do
No comments:
Post a Comment