Swabhimaan trust

Swabhimaan trust is a non-profit NGO committed to health, education, employment and empowerment of children and young adults with developmental disabilities such as Autism, Mental Retardation, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADD/ADHD), and Dyslexia.

A therapeutic alliance consists of a physician, who takes care of the biomedical interventions, including screening, testing for dietary and environmental allergies, detoxification, medicines, supplements and dietary interventions – therapists who take care of the speech/language training and sensory integration - an educator who takes care of the customized, child specific healing education and above all the parents who take care of the social, play and recreative intervention, altogether shall be considered as the four pillars of the effective intervention for a child with Autism. This can be termed as holistic intervention for Autism.

In this context, what we practice in Swabhimaan, shall be considered as integrative approach. At Swabhimaan, quintessential benefits from Indian medical inputs like, siddha medicines, yoga, ayurvedic therapies and personalized dietary intervention are combined with conventional therapies like behavioral approach, speech therapy, occupational therapy, auditory integration therapy and sports therapy to form a necessary comprehensive integrated intervention.

The journey is often a difficult one, but for everyone concerned, it is a journey that must be taken for the deeper level of healing to occur. Even a child with severe autism can be helped, in many cases dramatically if the child is young, ideally but not necessarily- between the ages of two and six. The task at our hand is to spread the awareness about Autism so that we can catch them young. It is also a matter of concern to plan for the teenagers and young adults with Autism who need more help in terms of vocational training, independent living skills and career guidance, since most of them have been diagnosed at least ten years earlier when not much awareness nor help was available

Working with the energy from synergy is huge and that is exactly the need of the hour. Synchronizing the required interventions and customizing it to the need of the child- is what we should be marching towards future.

Autism

We stand in the midst of a portentous epidemic, which has claimed the minds of hundreds of thousands of young children. The incidence of Autism is in alarming rise. The recent CDC (center for disease control and prevention) study from United States says 1 in 55 children comes under Autism spectrum, which now surpasses both childhood cancer and Down’s syndrome. New study in south Korea says 1 in 38 children is in the spectrum. Non availability of India specific prevalence study doesn’t mean that the disorder is rare. Lack of necessary awareness about the condition in general population and medical community prevents most of those children from being diagnosed and receive the services they need. To date, there has been little relief for children and adults who continue to suffer from this diverse range of disorder.

Autism is a complex developmental disorder that typically appears during the first three years of life, impacting development in all areas, especially social interaction and communication skills. There are many children who have never smiled and reached out to their parents. There are many children who recoil at the human touch, as if from an electric shock. There are children who are fixated for hours on an object, seemingly oblivious to the world around them, children who seemed lost beyond measure. As for the aetiology for Autism is concerned many causes have been proposed right from vaccines, genes, certain infections, environmental pollution and maternal conditions.

Autism is a spectrum disorder where no two children are alike. It is a multifaceted disorder, where the various problems of the child cannot be handled by single professional or therapy. Hence, we adapt a holistic approach to autism where we can address all the individual needs of the child.

The biological profile of Autism is complex, which extends beyond brain dysfunction. Autism is both multi-factorial, involving many causes, and multi-systemic, involving many parts of the body, not just the brain. Hence, we should guard against the tendency to embrace a tunnel vision perspective on this complex disorder.

It’s being observed in several studies among people in Autism spectrum that, it’s the co-morbid conditions which are making the picture looks severe and if they can be given proper attention, the condition is much more easily manageable for the individuals in the spectrum and the care givers.

Awareness about various facets of Autism including heavy metal toxicity, dietary allergies and sensitivity, immune system dysfunction, auto–immune issues, sluggish liver function, nutritional deficiencies, sensory integration issues, difficulty in language processing and speech, problems related to attention, concentration and memory are essential for the effective intervention of this ominous condition.

Sudden changes in behaviour, aggression, loss of acquired skills, covering ears with hands, irritability, teeth grinding, walking on toes, oppositional behaviour, self-injurious behaviour, repetitive rocking, chewing on clothes or other objects are some of the behaviours which may indicate an underlying co-morbidity.

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