Homeopathy and Autism: A Unique Opportunity for Transformation
Has your child been diagnosed with Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Asperger’s?
Are you looking for a Natural Cure for Autism or Alternative Treatment for Autism?
If your answers are ‘yes’, read this most exhaustive guide on Autism Spectrum Disorder, its causes, symptoms and homeopathy treatment options.
What is Autism?
Autism is a disorder in which children have impaired or poor communication and social skills. It usually becomes apparent within first three years of life but some mild cases get diagnosed during early schooling. People often confuse the meaning of autism with a psychiatric illness. However, Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and verbal and non-verbal communication, and by restricted or repetitive behavior. But many parents feel that their kids start showing autistic traits suddenly after a period of normal development.
What are the signs and symptoms of Autism?
Autism (or ASD) is a wide-spectrum disorder and children with autism often vary in the severity and range of signs and symptoms. As well as experiencing varying combinations of symptoms, some people will have mild symptoms while others will have severe ones.
Onset: Overt symptoms gradually begin after the age of six months, become established by age two or three years and tend to continue through adulthood.
Social Skills – signs and symptoms
Very little or no eye contact.
Resistance to being held or touched.
Tends to get too close when speaking to someone (lack of personal space).
Difficulty understanding jokes, figures of speech or sarcasm.
Prefers to be alone, aloft.
Unaware of/disinterested in what is going on around them.
Talks excessively about one or two topics.
Language Development – signs and symptoms
Abnormal use of pitch, intonation, rhythm or stress while speaking.
Speech is abnormally loud or quiet.
Repeats last words or phrases several times. Makes verbal sounds while listening (echolalia).
Speech started very early and then stopped for a period of time.
Behavior – signs and symptoms
Obsessions with objects, ideas or desires.
Ritualistic or compulsive behavior patterns (sniffing, licking, watching objects fall, flapping arms, spinning, rocking, humming, tapping, sucking, rubbing clothes).
Fascination with rotation.
Play is often repetitive.
Unusual attachment to objects.
Emotions – signs and symptoms
Sensitivity or lack of sensitivity to sounds, textures (touch), tastes, smells or light.
Difficulty with loud or sudden sounds.
Learning Development – signs and symptoms
Exceptionally high skills in some areas and very low in others.
Difficulty with reading comprehension (can quote an answer, but unable to predict, summarize or find symbolism).
Difficulty with fine motor activities (coloring, printing, scissors, gluing).
Locomotor Skills – signs and symptoms
Walks on toes.
Unusual gait.
Gross motor skills are developmentally behind peers (riding a bike, skating, running).
Fine motor skills are developmentally behind peers (hand writing, tying shoes, and scissors).
When should you get your child evaluated for Autism or ASD?
If your child has any of these delays or behavior, consult your pediatrician ASAP for evaluation and treatment of autism or ASD:
No babbling by 9 months
No pointing or gestures by 12 months
Not responding to their name by 12 months of age
No single words by 16 months
Lack of pretend play by 18 months
No two-word phrases by 24 months
Any loss of language or social skills at any age
Your infant or child resists cuddling and doesn’t respond to his or her environment or to other people
Your child bangs his or her head or demonstrates self-injurious behavior or aggression on a regular basis
Your child demonstrates unusually repetitive behaviour, such as repeatedly opening and closing doors or turning a toy car upside down and repeatedly spinning its wheels
How prevalent is Autism? Incidence and Epidemiology of Autism
Autism is approaching the numbers of an epidemic. The figures are staggering—in the 1960s, four in 10,000 children had autism. Today, according to Autism Speaks, an organization dedicated to autism, one in every 110 children is diagnosed with autism. U.S. government statistics suggest the prevalence rate of autism is increasing 10-17% annually. Boys are nearly five times more likely than girls to have autism.
The rate of autism diagnosis in Canada was 1 in 450 in 2003. However, preliminary results of an epidemiological study conducted at the Montreal Children’s Hospital in the 2003-2004 school year found a prevalence rate of 0.68% (or 1 per 147). The current prevalence rate is estimated to be 1 in 66.
What is the treatment available for ASD, Autism?
Autism treatment includes intensive, sustained special education programs and behavior therapy early in life can help children acquire self-care, social, and job skills often improve functioning and decrease symptom severity and maladaptive behaviors. Available approaches for autism treatment include applied behaviour analysis (ABA), developmental models, structured teaching, speech and language therapy, social skills therapy, and occupational therapy.
In conventional medicine, many medications are used to treat ASD symptoms that interfere with integrating a child into home or school when behavioral treatment fails. More than half of US children diagnosed with ASD are prescribed psychoactive drugs or anti convulsants, with the most common drug classes being antidepressants, stimulants, and antipsychotics. All these medicines have their own side effects and they should be used for autism treatment only after weighing the pros and cons with your physician.
Homeopathy has advantages in treating autistic children
Homeopathy has several advantages over conventional medicine when it comes to treating children on the autistic spectrum. First, homeopaths love people who are “out of the box”—whose symptoms are quirky, unique, and odd. It is precisely these unusual rather than common symptoms that lead us to prescribe a homeopathic remedy. A homeopath treating an autistic child will want to determine what makes this child different even from every other child with autism. Ironically, symptoms like toe walking, arm flapping, and obsessing over trains may seem unique and uncommon behavior for most kids, but they are commonplace among autistic children. So, it is helpful for the homeopath to treat a number of autistic children in order to get a clear idea of what is unusual and what is not.
A second advantage of homeopathy is that we treat the whole person—all, not part, of the symptoms. Take a child with language delay, heightened sensitivity, a bowel problem such as chronic constipation or incontinence, and impaired social functioning. A conventional doctor, or even a holistic or complementary physician, would need to address each of these problems separately. Not so with homeopathy. A single homeopathic remedy can address all of these symptoms. Of course, the parent has the choice of adding other modalities, such as a casein and gluten-free diet, nutritional supplements, occupational therapy, sensory integration therapy, and other therapies that have been known to offer some help. But these may prove unnecessary once the right homeopathic remedy has been given. I have found it most effective to try the homeopathic remedy without introducing any new therapy, and then to evaluate the results.
Third, these children can be very sensitive to and finicky about taste and smell. Homeopathic remedies taste great—in fact, kids often beg for them. They may not need to be given very frequently—in some cases, just one dose every few months. And, fourth, homeopathy is the safest type of medicine you will find. Parents who are afraid after immunizations and other medications can rest assured that homeopathy is nontoxic and natural.
What can be expected from homeopathic treatment?
How far can an autistic child progress under the care of a homeopath? This depends on where the child falls on the autistic spectrum to begin with, how clear an understanding the homeopath can attain of the child, and how well the homeopathic remedy fits the child. With more severely autistic children, I have found homeopathy to be especially effective for physical and behavioral complaints. A significant improvement in seizures and bowel problems, for example, along with a decrease in outbursts can thrill the parents of such children, as can even small increments of improvement in language and social interaction. Some children in the mid-range of autism can experience more dramatic changes in all of these areas.
