Autism
Autism is a disorder with a wide range of severities. The major issues that come up while dealing with autism are in the following areas:
1] Behavioral issues such as hyperactivity, temper tantrums, poor attention span, decreased concentration and poor focusing.
2] Speech, language and communication issues
3] Social skills impairment such as poor eye contact and poor interaction with peers.
It has been seen that it is not possible to manage the above mentioned problems with just training alone. Learning is not possible when the child is hyperactive or is not able to focus or concentrate. Also the behavioural and communication problems may stem from an internal rather than an external cause that needs to be rectified. In such a situation it has been observed that with homoeopathic treatment the child’s understanding, eye contact and in the long run, communication also improve. Homoeopathy can be used as an effective tool for the management of Autism The diagnosis of Autism leads to a kind of despair and feelings of hopelessness in the parents, as they are told that it is a lifelong developmental disability and that there is no treatment available for it except for training. Homoeopathy is a system of medicine that deals with treating the person as a whole. It is a system that treats the person with the problem rather than just the problem. That is to say, if there are two children with Autism, they may require totally different homoeopathic drugs based on their individualised symptomatically. Homoeopathy believes more in treating the person rather than the label that is attached to the person, such as Autism or Cerebral palsy. This is not to say that the disease is not cured but the treatment is tailored to that particular individual. Homeopathy is based on the theory of ‘’Similia Similibus Curanter’’, i.e. drugs that can cause symptoms in a healthy human being can cure the very same symptoms in a diseased individual. Symptoms of drug proving are recorded and these records are matched with the patient’s symptom picture. When the similar drug is administered it neutralises the patient’s disease force. The homoeopathic remedies are prepared from natural substances. Also the potency is so low as to not cause any harmful side effects. Such being the case, homoeopathy is ideally suited for children with Autism.
With Homoeopathic medicines there is
• Reduction in hyperactivity
• Improvement in sitting tolerance/attention span
• Improvement in sensory perceptual skills
• Better & appropriate expression of emotions
• Improvement in both fine motor & gross motor abilities • Improvement in social skills/eye contact
• Improvement in speech, language & communication skills
• Reduction in anxiety states/temper tantrums
• Better sleep patterns
Homoeopathic treatment is a treatment modality that encompasses the following: Able to bring about a change in the treatment paradigm of Autism from just a behaviour modification approach to the homeopathic principle of antecedent cause removal Internal treatment with Homoeopathy that is dynamic in nature possibly helps bring a quick recovery of this problem.
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is the most common motor disability in childhood. Cerebral palsy is a disorder of the development of movement and posture causing activity limitations attributed to non progressive disturbances of the fetal or infant brain that may also affect sensation, perception, cognition, communication and behaviour which partly explains the variability of clinical findings. The expression of this disorder is manifested at multiple levels, thus affecting the quality life of the child and parents. Although CP itself is not a progressive disorder, its clinical expressions may change over time as the brain matures. Usually reduction of physical disability and maximising the patient’s independence remains the usual focus with minimum attention to other domains. But with Homeopathic medicines not only gross, fine motor and daily activities improve but associated complaints also get improved. Cerebral palsy is static encephalopathy .In addition to motor developmental delay most patients have speech and social developmental delay. Speech and language improvement along with emotional and behavioural progress can also be achieved with Homoeopathic medicines.