Hyderabad: Forcing autistic children to follow testing methods designed for children with dyslexia is wrong, stated parents and psychologist on World Autism Day observed on April 2.
With one in 68 children suffering from autism, the problem is often under-diagnosed, say experts. The female to male ratio is 1:4, which means that one out of every 42 boys fall in the spectrum of autism.
It is a neurological disorder and the major problems observed are speech, development of language and delays in social skills.
Often these children, in school, have learning difficulties, repetitive movements and also attention issues.
But 30 to 40 per cent of these children have average or above average IQ and are able to cope with the inclusion in the regular curriculum of schools.
Psychologist Pragya Rashmi said, “Autistic children are found to have abstract intelligence where they are able to understand and grasp faster. But their only problem is that they take some time to communicate. And that must not be taken as a disorder. Autism is not mental retardation, it is merely a spectrum of disorders and has to be treated accordingly.”
Amrutha Ramanujam, vice-president of Autism Society of India, explained, “As social skills like communication, motor skills and also body language takes time to respond in the fast-paced world of schedules, exams and social pressure, the child is lost. Hence it is important for both parents and teachers to understand and help them cope with it.”
Sixty per cent of these kids have severe delays in sensory processing and have lower IQs. Psychologist Shoba Srivastav said, “For these children the regular curriculum becomes a major problem as they are not able to cope. They require special education schools, especially where the student-teacher ratio is less. For them the education methods also have to be different. If they are given good support in the initial classes, they will cope well and can be easily brought into mainstream schools. But for that the parents and the teachers have to understand the child and accordingly work on their development.”
However, most autistic children end up in special schools which are not meant for them. Raji, a psychological counsellor in an international school, said, “Sometimes the parents are so distraught that they merely change schools without realising what they are putting the child through. Now there are various tests available which help to recognise the problems and often we counsel parents to take these up so that the damage is limited and the problem can be addressed in a special way.”
Art-based therapy for cure
Art- based therapy is gaining a lot of ground in the treatment of autism. Art-based therapies are also used for diagnosing which type of autism a person suffers.
As autism is a neurological disorder, often, parents are unable to identify it. Dr Radha Krishna, senior neurologist, said, “Earlier, it was a subjective approach. However, now with new methods coming up, there is integration in applied behavioural analysis and art therapies which are helping identify and also treat autism.”
The methods are new and psychologist, counsellors and doctors as a team are involved in identifying and treating the condition of autism.
