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Dr Reshmi Pramod
21/Jan/2023
BlogsAutism0

Triggers in Autism Children

Triggers in Autism Children

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain. The exact causes of autism in children are not known, but research suggests that a combination of genetic and environmental factors may play a role. Some studies have identified genetic mutations that may increase the risk of autism, while others have found links between certain environmental exposures, such as maternal infection during pregnancy, and the development of autism. However, more research is needed to fully understand the underlying causes of autism.

The signs and symptoms of autism in children can vary widely, but some common ones include:

  • Difficulty with social interaction and communication, such as lack of eye contact, delayed speech development, and difficulty understanding social cues or initiating interactions with others.
  • Repetitive behaviours or interests, such as repetitive movements, repetitive speech, or intense interest in a specific topic.
  • Difficulty with flexibility and change, such as difficulty adapting to new situations or routines.
  • Sensory processing issues, such as sensitivity to light, sound, or touch. It’s important to note that autism can present differently in every individual and the severity of symptoms can also vary.

There are certain common triggers for children that elevate and disturb the mind. A few reasons that the parents or caregivers should take care as follows:

  • Sensory overload. Children with autism can be sensitive to sensory stimulation. In a setting or situation—such as a store or a crowded event—all of the noises, colors, lights, and activity around them become too stressful. They might feel overwhelmed and panic.
  • Difficulty communicating. For a nonverbal child or one with limited verbal skills, the frustration of not being able to communicate can set off anger or a meltdown.
  • Information overload. Too much information coming in too fast or from many different directions can be overwhelming. Children with autism often have delayed information processing and need more time to process each piece of information.
  • Changes in routine. The need for predictability is high for children with autism. Sudden changes can create panic, stress, and meltdowns.
  • Changes in sleep routine. Many children with autism face difficulty with sleep. This creates stressful situations to child and their family
  • Changes in diet. Children with ASD exhibit refusal of certain foods. children with autism have significantly more feeding problems and eat a significantly narrower range of foods than children without autism.

This list is certainly not exhaustive, and the risk of these behaviours can increase when—as with any child—an autistic child is overly tired, hungry, or stressed out from another situation. The more parents and other caregivers can become aware of a child’s triggers and the information they reveal about the child’s needs, the more they can try to minimize stressors and help the child cope. It can be a long road to reach that point.

At Jeevaniyam our team of doctors and therapist manage these by mainly focusing on removing imbalanced doshas from the body with the help of ayurvedic therapies like nasya, shirodhara, shodhan procedures, etc.

 

 

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Dr Reshmi Pramod
16/Jan/2023
Blogs0

ORAL PLACEMENT THERAPY – FOR SPEECH AND FEEDING

ORAL PLACEMENT THERAPY –  FOR SPEECH AND FEEDING

Oral–motor is a term that is still widely used in our speech systems. The use of oral motor exercises in a feeding program has never been debated in our field. For example, the feeding activities.

Children with different special need categories cannot imitate targeted speech sounds using auditory and visual stimuli (i.e., “Look, listen, and say what I say”). They also cannot follow specific instructions to produce targeted speech sounds (e.g., “Put your lips together and say m”).

Oral Placement Therapy (OPT) is a tactile teaching technique used for children and adults with Oral Placement Disorders, who cannot learn standard speech sound production using auditory and visual teaching methods alone.

It is based on a common sequence

  1. Facilitate speech movement with the assistance of a therapy tool (ex. Talk Tools® Bite Block, horn, tongue depressor) or a tactile-kinesthetic facilitation technique (ex. PROMPT facial cue);
  2. Facilitate speech movement without the therapy tool and/or tactile-kinesthetic technique (cue fading);
  3. Immediately transition movement into speech with and without therapy tools and/or tactile-kinesthetic techniques.

Oral Placement Therapy works only on movements needed for speech clarity.  OPT facilitates the pre-requisite skills in muscle control to develop dissociation and grading in the muscles of the abdomen, velum, jaw, lips and tongue for clients who cannot approximate the standard speech sounds using the instructions. If the client can produce standard speech using adequate placement and duration using only auditory and visual cueing, OPT would not be included in that client’s program plan.

At Jeevaniyam, the Speech Language Pathologist, focus on OPT along with conventional Speech Therapy. The therapy program for each child is tailor-made based on the child’s speech and language requirements.

For more detailed information:

𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗗𝗘𝗧𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗦:
+91 996 151 8687, +91 996 129 8312
www.jeevaniyam.in

 

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Support team
11/Jan/2023
ADHDAutismBlogs

What is an ADHD diet?

What is an ADHD Diet?

Having a healthy, balanced diet is important to have a happy and healthy life. A healthy diet can provide an effective complementary approach to alleviating some symptoms of ADHD. Ideally, your eating habits would help the brain work better and lessen symptoms, such as restlessness or lack of focus. The link between diet & autism has long been investigated, with some parents of autistic children firmly believing that the symptoms were alleviated by a certain diet.

But what’s the truth? Are there actually any objective measures to support the claim?

Nutrition is a tough topic when it comes to autism. There are so many different diets, protocols and recommendations that often leave parents or autistic adults feeling overwhelmed. Children with autism may limit their food intake or have food preferences. Many children with autism also have gastrointestinal symptoms like constipation, diarrhea or abdominal pain. As a result, children with autism are sometimes low in certain nutrients. Some of these nutrients have been studied to see if giving children supplements of these nutrients may help with autism symptoms. However, more research is needed. Before giving your child any supplements, speak with your child’s dietitian or health care provider first.

The following food elements can be avoided:

  • Dairy: When casein (one of the proteins in dairy) mixes with stomach acid, it produces something called an exorphin. Exorphins bind to the opioid receptor sites and can result in a myriad of troubles – brain fog, spaciness, inability to concentrate, and a numbness to pain.
  • Gluten: A mixture of proteins found in grains such as wheat, barley, and rye, gluten can increase inflammation when ingested. In fact, your body can create antibodies to gluten which can fire up, or inflame, your brain.
  • Corn: There is simply nothing truly beneficial and many potentially harmful things that can come from eating corn.
  • Sugar: Avoiding sugar and refined carbohydrates and increasing lean protein can dramatically improve concentration and judgment, and decrease impulsiveness.
  • Artificial Ingredients: Avoid all additives, preservatives, dyes and artificial colours, artificial flavourings, and artificial sweeteners.

Food Items to consider

  • Milk Substitutes: Be sure the container states the product is casein-free, not just dairy-free.
  • Gluten-free Bread: These breads are made from rice or tapioca flour. The taste and texture are different from regular bread.
  • Cheese Substitutes: Check the ingredient list before purchasing any alternative cheese, as some brands that are labelled “dairy-free” may still contain the casein protein.
  • Meat: Pre-packaged or frozen meat may contain spices that are not gluten-free, so it’s important to check the list of ingredients.
  • Produce: Fresh fruit and vegetables are usually safe choices for gluten/casein-free foods.

At Jeevaniyam, with the help of the expert team of doctors, therapists and dietitians we find out the symptoms of ADHD at a very young age and help them achieve a social smile by integrating Ayurvedic protocols and dietary intervention in a scientific way.

 

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Dr Reshmi Pramod
07/Jan/2023
AutismBlogs

Anxiety In Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Anxiety In Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Anxiety disorders and symptoms are common co-occurring conditions in youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Research on the prevalence and clinical characteristics of this condition has soared during the past decade. Autistic children feel many of the same worries and fears as other children. Autistic children might also worry or feel stressed about things that are less worrying for typically developing children. Often parents would misinterpret certain behaviours as the child’s tantrums and try to rectify these.

Children with ASD develop anxiety mostly due to the following reasons:

  • Small disruptions to their routines or new sensations they feel in their bodies.
  • Unfamiliar or unpredictable social situations.
  • Situations where it’s hard to know what other people are thinking or feeling.
  • Their own thoughts and feelings, especially unfamiliar or unpleasant physical symptoms that are related to worried thoughts and feelings.

Autism is neurodevelopmental, whereas anxiety is a mental-emotional. Still, the area of the brain involved in the expression of fear, called the amygdala, may play a role in comorbid anxiety and ASD.

Does your child have the following behavioural pattern?

  • Always feeling on edge
  • Fatigue
  • Trouble with concentration and memory
  • Irritability
  • Muscle tension
  • Uncontrollable worries
  • Reduced amount or quality of sleep

Social and emotional factors may also contribute to anxiety. Autistic people may need support to learn how to read body language and other social cues. Sometimes these situations can make them feel overwhelmed and anxious.

You can help your child learn ways to calm down when they start feeling anxious or stressed.

At Jeevaniyam, we help children who has ASD and suffer anxiety with the help of ayurvedic protocols integrated with:

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy – This helps children develop skills to change their thinking in situations that make them anxious

Therapies And Supports – that use gradual exposure to help children face their fears

Social Stories – these can help prepare children for unfamiliar or stressful situations that generally make them anxious

Relaxation Training – to help your child learn to relax.

 

A few things that parents and care takers can teach the child to control anxiety are:

  • Counting slowly to 10
  • Taking 5 deep breaths
  • Running around the yard 5 times
  • Doing 50 jumps on the trampoline
  • Looking at a collection of favourite or special things
  • Reading a favourite book
  • Closing eyes for a few moments
  • Going to a quiet part of the house.

 

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Dr Reshmi Pramod
17/Dec/2022
Speech and Language PathologyBlogs

Speech Delay – Surprising Causes And Tips To Help

Speech Delay – Surprising Causes And Tips To Help

A speech and language delay is when a child isn’t developing speech and language at an expected rate. It’s a common developmental problem that affects as many as 10% of preschool children. If your child has a language delay, they won’t reach language milestones at the typical age. Their specific symptoms and missed milestones depend on their age and the nature of their language delay.

Common symptoms of a language delay include:

  • Not babbling by the age of 15 months
  • Not talking by the age of 2 years
  • An inability to speak in short sentences by the age of 3 years
  • Difficulty following directions
  • Poor pronunciation or articulation
  • Difficulty putting words together in a sentence
  • Leaving words out of a sentence

Speech delays often occur when there’s a problem in the areas of the brain that control the muscles responsible for speech. As a result, children may struggle to produce sounds because they can’t coordinate their lip, tongue, and jaw movement. When the brain doesn’t communicate with facial muscles, a condition called apraxia, children can’t move the muscles needed for speech. Another oral-motor disorder, dysarthria, occurs when the muscles controlling the face, lips, and tongue are too weak to work properly.

Noticing your child having a speech delay can be concerning. However, it is important for parents and caregivers to be involved in this process to give the child the best possible shot to achieve their speech and language milestones and goals suitable to them.

Unique Approach of Jeevaniyam, The Best Autism Treatment Centre In Kerala

At Jeevaniyam, We are the best speech and language therapy centre in Cochin. We take care of children with speech delay through our specialized assessments. The first step is to have a professional evaluate your child to eliminate any other problems that may be causing the speech and language delay. Early evaluation by a speech-language pathologist in addition to your child’s doctor is ideal. The speech-language pathologist will evaluate the child’s speech and language skills based on their developmental level. They will also check and do tests to determine if the child is reaching speech and language milestones.

The speech-language pathologist will also assess:

  • Receptive language (what the child understands)
  • Expressive language (what the child can say)
  • If there is any attempt to communicate in other ways like gesturing
  • Oral-motor status of the child

The speech-language pathologist in Jeevaniyam might recommend speech therapy for the child based on the result of these tests. Through speech therapy for kids, the child will improve speech and language skills and learn to communicate more efficiently. In addition to therapy, there are many things parents and caregivers can do to promote and encourage speech development at home.

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Dr Reshmi Pramod
29/Nov/2022
BlogsAutism

Obsessive Interest In Autism Spectrum Disorder

Obsessive Interest In Autism Spectrum Disorder

Many autistic people have intense and highly focused interests, often from a fairly young age. These can change over time or be lifelong. It can be art, music, gardening, animals, or numbers. For many younger children it might be a particular cartoon character or some characters that might interest them. Autistic children and teenagers can be very intense and focused about favourite toys, activities and topics of conversation. Some children move from one interest or obsession to another, and the interests last for weeks or months before they change. Others develop an interest – for example, in trains – in early childhood and continue this interest through adolescence and into adulthood.

Some autistic children and teenagers have rituals. For example, some children might keep favourite objects in specific places, like the bottom corner of a drawer in the bedroom. They might have to get their objects out and touch them before bed. Or they might drink only from cups or ask the same questions and always need specific answers. Routines are often important to autistic children and teenagers. They can find change and transitions difficult to cope with. They might like to eat, sleep, or leave the house in the same way every time. For example, children might go to bed happily if you follow their regular bedtime routines but won’t settle if the routines are broken. They might get very upset if their route to preschool is changed, or they might insist on putting their clothes on in the same order each morning. We don’t know what causes obsessive behaviour or the need for routines and rituals. The cause might not be the same for everyone.

Also, obsessions, routines and rituals help some autistic children manage stress and anxiety. When they feel stressed because they don’t understand what’s going on around them, obsessions and rituals let them take some control of their surroundings. Sensory sensitivities can lead to some autistic children developing obsessions and rituals. For example, children might stroke people’s hair whenever they can because they enjoy the sensation, or it helps them feel calm. And some autistic children have trouble with planning, so having a rigid routine or ritual helps comfort them and relieves feelings of stress and anxiety.

At Jeevaniyam we handle autistic children’s obsessions, routines, and rituals. Jeevaniam offers the best autism treatment in Kerala, India. We give trainings to both parents and children so that the child and the families can live with daily obsessive behaviour, routines, and rituals without much of difficulty. Our trained doctors and therapist help the child and the family to identify and answer the following questions:

  • Is your child’s behaviour affecting their ability to learn?
  • Is your child’s behaviour affecting their social life?
  • Is your child’s behaviour affecting your family’s ability to carry out day-to-day activities, or to go on holidays or trips?
  • How would you feel if this behaviour is the same in a few years?
  • Is your child’s behaviour causing harm to themselves or others?

These questions might help you decide whether it’s worth trying to change things. And if you decide you want to work on your child’s obsessions and routines, your answers might help you work out what to focus on. It will be easy to develop a plan to manage your child’s obsessions, rituals and routines, it’s a good idea to think about your child’s developmental level and communication skills.

For example,

Does your child have the communication skills to understand your instructions?
Working out what’s causing your child’s behaviour might also guide your next steps. Is it sensory?

Or

Does your child feel anxious when faced with the unknown?

We might be able to manage the sensory issues or the anxiety, which could lead to a decrease in the behaviour. If your child’s behaviour isn’t affecting their life or other people in a negative way, but you still want to decrease it, you could consider setting some limits on the behaviour.

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Support team
21/Nov/2022
BlogsAutism

Mental Health & Autism Children

Mental Health & Autism Children

Autism is not a mental health problem, but autistic children can have good and bad mental health like anyone else. It’s a developmental condition that affects how they see the world and how they interact with other people. Children with autism do often experience mental health problems. seven out of ten autistic people have a mental health condition such as anxiety, depression or OCD. It can be challenging to untangle autism and co-occurring mental health conditions.

The co-occurrence of mental health disorders among autistic children can complicate how clinicians understand the child’s behaviour, evaluate interventions they are participating in, and provide strategies for supporting them. When an child is showing signs of distress, knowing the cause of the symptoms can be rather challenging. For example, an autistic child in the classroom may begin to engage in disruptive behaviour, such as ripping up their paper. The teacher or other support staff may assume this behaviour is a result of autism; however, the child may be displaying an anxious behaviour because they do not understand the task at hand. There is little research into why this is, but it may be because autistic people:

  • Can struggle to try to fit into or make sense of the world, which can lead to feelings of depression and anxiety
  • May face delays in getting their mental health problems diagnosed
  • Children are more likely to face stigma and discrimination
  • Children are less likely to have appropriate support available. For example, group therapy might not be suitable for some autistic people, or therapists might not know how to adapt their approach to helping an autistic person

Research has shown that autistic youth with co-occurring anxiety, depression, OCD, and/or eating disorders often have difficulties in regulating emotions. Emotional dysregulation is the inability to adjust or control one’s emotions, making calming down and/or identifying one’s feelings much harder. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has shown positive results for assisting autistics to understand their emotions and develop the skills to manage their emotions. It is important for parents to have a positive and open communicative.

At Jeevaniyam, we support autistic children with co-occurring mental health conditions by understanding the triggers instead of making vague assumptions with the help of our doctors and supporting staff and digging into the root cause of the problems. Because of emotional dysregulation, autistic individuals are more likely to use maladaptive and involuntary emotional regulation methods, if an individual’s triggers have been addressed and supported yet the individual still demonstrates symptoms of anxiety, professionals should consider evidence-based treatments to provide the individual with healthier regulation methods. Getting an autism diagnosis with our team and developing a better understanding of themselves has helped many autistic individuals with depression to improve the overall mental health.

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Support team
17/Nov/2022
Blogs

Special Kids Aren’t That Special, But They Are Amazing

Special Kids Aren’t That Special, But They Are Amazing

Isn’t every kid special? We think so. But what do we mean when we say, “kids with special needs”? This means any kid who might need extra help because of a medical, emotional, or learning problem. These kids have special needs because they might need medicine, therapy, or extra help in school — stuff other kids don’t typically need or only need occasionally. Special kids have the same face value as others, they also have ego, fears and anxiety and they need to be happy and hear nice things. We should treat them as normal as we treat others.

No one likes to be excluded from a group. Think back to your own experiences from childhood or adolescence. Perhaps you weren’t invited to a party you wanted to go to or were rejected by members of a social group that you admired and wanted to be part of. To be excluded from a social group can bring up feelings of isolation, anxiety, doubt, confusion, humiliation, loneliness, and sadness, among many other painful emotions.

Knowing this, it is tragic to learn that most children with disabilities are excluded from being part of a normal school program. This perspective of society should change. There is no point in mentioning kids as special kids, they are not special they are just like any other child that wants to be loved and be friends with others. Kids are not only for us to form as good human beings but also to form a good society. All children are beautifully made. All children have different talents and strengths. We need to find those and  enhance those traits that the children are strong in.

At Jeevaniyam, we nurture the kids from a very young age and with our assessment techniques our team of doctors, psychologists and therapists train the children with the required therapies help the child learn new techniques and to remove blocks in the learning process.

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Support team
04/Nov/2022
Occupational TherapyBlogs

Occupational Therapy for Autism

Occupational Therapy for Autism

Autism, a developmental disability, is defined by behavioural characteristics. Primary features of autism are described as problems in language skills, play and social interaction. Symptoms begin during early childhood and distinctive incompetence and limited; repetitive behaviours are seen in the socio-communicative field. In addition to these primary features, individuals with autism generally have sensory processing and sensory integration dysfunction, which affect adaptive behaviour and participating daily activities. Many children with autism are unable to register many of the sensations from their environment. They cannot integrate those sensations to form a clear perception of space. Occupational therapy is one of the main protocols used by doctors for improving the social skill for autistic people.

Occupational therapy (OT) is a kind of medical services that assists with tackling the issues that impede an individual’s capacity to do the things that are essential to them like:
  • Taking care of oneself – getting dressed, eating, moving around the house,
  • Being useful – going to work or school, partaking locally
  • Recreation exercises – sports, planting, social exercises.

OT can help them regain independence in all areas of their lives. Occupational therapists help with barriers that affect a child’s emotional, social, and physical needs. To do this, they use everyday activities, exercises, and other therapies.

Occupational Therapy (OT) makes improvement in the following areas:
  • Attention span and stamina
  • Transition to new activities
  • Play skills
  • Need for personal space
  • Responses to touch or other kinds of stimuli
  • Motor skills like posture, balance, or manipulation of small objects
  • Aggression or other types of behaviours
  • Interactions between the child and caregivers

At Jeevaniyam, We have the best treatment for occupational therapy in Kerala, India. Our Occupational therapists work as part of a team that includes doctors, parents, teachers, and other professionals. They help set specific goals for the children with autism. These goals often involve social interaction, behaviour, and classroom performance. The therapist watches children to see if they can do tasks they are expected to do at their ages – getting dressed or playing a game, for example. Sometimes, the therapist will have the child recorded during the day to see how the child interacts with people and things around them.

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Dr Reshmi Pramod
28/Oct/2022
BlogsGlobal Developmental Delay

Understanding Developmental Disabilities

Understanding Developmental Disabilities

Developmental disabilities are a group of conditions due to an impairment in physical, learning, language, or behaviour areas. These conditions begin during the developmental period, may impact day-to-day functioning, and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime. If your child has a developmental delay, it does not necessarily mean they have a developmental disability. However, a developmental delay can be an early indicator of a learning disability and most children with disabilities exhibit several developmental delays.

The causes of developmental disabilities are varied and remain unknown in a large proportion of cases. Genetic factors have long been implicated in causing developmental disabilities. These conditions are also believed to have a large environmental component, and the relative contributions of nature versus nurture have been debated for decades. Preterm birth is known to be a predictor for potential developmental disabilities later in childhood, which complicates the question of nature versus nurture, as premature birth could already have resulted from earlier and longer existing difficulties. Second, being born at such an immature gestation could immediately have damaged the main organs (lungs and brain) or, third, such damage could arise in the neonatal period, for instance from the necessary intrusive treatment.

Without early intervention during the critical window – the first 6 years of their life – children might continue to face challenges and may have trouble in catching up. This decreases their chances of entering a mainstream school. A disability can impact one of these facets of a child’s development: cognition, motor, vision, hearing, speech, and behaviour. Cognitive or intellectual disabilities can include specific learning disabilities, as well as reading disabilities, like dyslexia. One example of a behavioural deficit includes Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder. Some disabilities are only identified later in childhood, such as when a child starts school.

At Jeevaniyam, with the team of expert doctor and therapists we intervene the child at a very young age with adequate training along with ayurvedic therapies and a good diet and enable to cope up with their peers and help them to overcome from the condition that may persist through out their life. We have specific educational programs that will enable the child to achieve their social smile and can lead good quality normal life.

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