ayurveda therapy for autism | Jeevaniyam Hospital

29/Jun/2022

Ayurveda Beyond Therapeutics In Autism

Ayurveda is one of the world’s oldest holistic healing systems that was developed more than 3,000 years ago in India. It’s based on the belief that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body, and Indriya. Its main goal is to promote good health, and not fight diseases. However, treatments may be geared toward specific health problems.

Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviours, speech and nonverbal communication. The reason for autism cannot be tagged with a single factor and this must be dealt with and healed at the physical and psychological levels.

Agasthya protocol in Ayurveda is proved to be one of the best ways in handling autism. One of the components of Agasthya Protocol highlights the importance of lifestyle management.

Dinacharya

– Dinacharya or daily routine is a concept in Ayurvedic medicine that looks at the cycles of nature and bases daily activities around these cycles.
Rithucharya

– “Ritu” which means season and “charya” which means Regimen or discipline. Ritucharya consists of lifestyle and ayurvedic diet routine to cope with the bodily and mental impacts caused by seasonal changes as recommended by Ayurveda.
Rathricharya

– The regimen followed between evening hours (sunset) and night shall be included under Ratricharya. These activities shall be strictly followed for the maintenance of health and also to prevent many diseases.

Autism, as we are aware about has a strong connection with the gut-brain balance and children who are suffering from autism has various issues with the gut flora balance. So with the main principles of Agasthya protocols along with dietary protocols and Vyayama or physical exercise ,

we can regain the biological rhythm and thereby clearing the issues in the gut and improve the derailed metabolism of the child. Along with this we conduct Panchakarma therapies like dhara which helps correct the sleep pattern,, sensory issues and higher mental functions.

At Jeevaniyam, for children we recommend to follow the timely protocols of at least 6 regimes like awakening, brushing, toilet activities, food habits, physical activity and sleeping patterns to tune the biological rhythm of the child. One of the most important question asked by any parent with an autistic child will be

“What would be the future of my child?”

We detect & train children from a very young age with our unique integrative treatment, therapies & training which helps the child to achieve a social smile. Our unique concept at Jeevaniyam is to identify the hidden talents and inner strength of special children and training them to be part of the inclusive world. This will help the child find his own pace & harmony of living that can lead him to his destiny. It includes basic training like feeding, toileting,

social interaction and other daily activities. It is important to find the reason, like sensory or organic in each child and train him accordingly. Here, a team of trained special educators, caretakers, and therapists work under doctors making it a complete team to train the child to become self-dependent and more confident.

30/Jan/2022

Ayurveda Feeding Practices for ASD Kids

A healthy diet becomes one of the biggest hurdles when feeding the kid with ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder). It can relieve us of all the additional concerns about alternative diets. Nutrition can change the essence of your autistic kids. The good news is that Ayurveda has solutions for multiple problems.

Ayurveda has long used diet as a principal means of creating health within the body and mind. Hundreds of years before Hippocrates instructed, “Let food be thy medicine,” Ayurveda defined principles for making that advice practical.

Choosing foods according to your constitution, paying attention to food and eating as per your capacity are some of the Ayurvedic practices that could bring about a great deal of change in your overall well-being.

Cultivating healthy eating habits is essential for maintaining healthy body weight and the ancient Indian science of Ayurveda has some principles pertaining to just that. Ayurveda is an ancient system of medicine that goes back 4000 years. It believes in maintaining the balance of the bodily system through diet, natural herbs and some yogic practices.

A lot of these Ayurvedic practices are being studied in labs across the world and many of these practices have been shown to have scientific backing too. An ideal Ayurvedic diet talks about many eating habits that have the potential to cure so many of our modern and urban woes.

key areas Ayurveda concentrate related to food:

Digestion – Eating involves sight, smell, taste, chewing, swallowing and digestion. Suitable nourishing diet for each individual need to be set and monitored by the Ayurvedic professional.
Allergies – Individuals need to be monitored for food allergies.
Toxins – causes of illness could be related to undigested, unsuitable foods that can lead to the accumulation of toxic material.

Things to remember while feeding kids with ASD

Try to be a vegetarian maximum. Stay away from shellfishes and meat.
Maintain a minimum gap of 1.5 hours between food and sleep.
Ensure an absolute gluten-free diet.
Wash hands, foot, ears, mouth, and face before food with normal water/cold water.
The amount of food should be strict as per his/her appetite- not as per the nutritive value or affinity towards that food.
Food should always be warm and fresh.
Avoid too spicy and fried food.
Prefer a calm and quiet place for eating or feeding.
Ensure the use of an ash guard.

Food & food practices that parents need to avoid

Microwaved food.
All refined processed and chemical food (this includes white sugar, chips, chocolates, white flour, legumes other than green and white mung, soft drinks and most anything you would find on a modern supermarket shelf).
Dairy Products, including tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, peppers, Citrus Fruits, Peanuts. Preservatives, colours, food additives, Leftovers, Old cheeses, Cold foods and drinks.
If you are lactose intolerant and can’t take organic milk, then make almond or rice milk (do not purchase readymade milk powders).

At Jeevaniyam we have professionals & specialists to guide parents or caretakers to create a food habit like this for the child from a very young age.

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24/Jan/2022

Why Gluten-Free/Casein-Free Diets For ASD Affected Children

One of the most important issues faced by parents having children affected with ASD is eating disorder. This will result in lower gut health thereby affecting the general health of the child. In Ayurveda, we manage this gap by suggesting & cultivating healthy food habits for the kids.

A gluten-free/casein-free diet is also known as the GFCF diet. It is one of several alternative treatments for children with autism. When following this strict elimination diet, all foods containing gluten (found in wheat, barley and rye) and casein (found in milk and dairy products) are removed from the child’s daily food intake. The benefit of a gluten-free/casein-free diet is based on the theory that children with autism may have an allergy or high sensitivity to foods containing gluten or casein.

Children with autism, according to the theory, process peptides and proteins in foods containing gluten and casein differently than other people do. Hypothetically, this difference in processing may exacerbate autistic symptoms. Some believe that the brain treats these proteins like false opiate-like chemicals. The reaction to these chemicals, they say, leads a child to act in a certain way. The idea behind the use of the diet is to reduce symptoms and improve social and cognitive behaviours and speech.

Autistic children can be notoriously fussy eaters, this diet may be very difficult to implement. Also, some supporters of this diet suggest parents stick with the diet for a year ideally, which can be a long time simply to evaluate this type of intervention.

Cutting any food from one’s diet unnecessarily and without guidance from a dietitian or other medical professional may lead to deficiencies in essential nutrients. There have only been a few scientific studies regarding whether a gluten and casein-free diet is effective for those with ASD. It is important to make sure that the child (or other people) receives ample fibre, vitamins, and minerals. Ayurveda feeding practices and dietary interventions will help your child to have a healthy gut and a healthy brain.

At Jeevaniyam once we adopt these kinds of diet changes and make sure the there are no deficiencies for our young patients, the majority of their parents reported significant improvements in various aspects of their child’s wellbeing on a gluten and/or milk-free diet with significant improvements in bowel habits, general health, sleeping patterns, concentration and social communication.

23/Nov/2021

Sensory Processing and its Applications in ASD

In this world with over 7 billion humans, one thing we all have in common is our senses. In this social environment, we respond to various kinds of senses in order to receive information and to communicate with other beings. We get various cues from our surroundings that is fed to our brain using various senses provided by our overall sensory system. For example: While we are in a conversation with other persons, there are various senses that work together that enable each other to communicate in an adequate manner such as their looks, their voice, touch etc. Likewise, humans respond to different cues provided by our surroundings in different manners varying from individual to individual as human sensory system responses act in various methods i.e from person to person. For example, how we respond to situations that create happiness, fear, anxiety etc, differ as well.

Sensory processing deals with how the brain processes sensory input from multiple sensory modalities. These include the five classic senses of vision (sight), audition (hearing), tactile stimulation (touch), olfaction (smell), and gustation (taste). Other sensory modalities exist, for example, the vestibular sense (balance and the sense of movement) and proprioception (the sense of knowing one’s position in space) Along with Time (The sense of knowing where one is in time or activities). The above seven senses work in a multidisciplinary fashion that helps the brain to process & responds to different situations.

Autistic children are different in a lot of ways due to various reasons, sensory disorders being one of the major ones. Sensory processing in autistic children is different from that of normal children. Children with ASD possess either Hyper Level Sensory Processing or Hypo Level Sensory Processing Unlike normal children, where the sensory processing is in the normal range where they can accumulate the senses and respond to it in an appropriate manner. Autistic children often show tactile issues and other discomforts where parents conclude that it’s their adamant behaviour but it is actually a sensory dysfunction.

There are various categories in sensory processing disorder such as sensory modulation disorder, sensory discrimination disorder, & sensory-based motor disorder. Children suffering from any of these disorders may show much less sitting tolerance, learning disability, behavioural issues etc. Until we correct the sensory processing issues we will not be able to manage ASD and make them independent in society.

At Jeevaniyam we manage this issue by doing sensory profiling and finding out the issues that are faced by the child. Once the profiling is completed we analyse the results & provide professional sensory integration therapy along with sensory diets, Ayurveda medicines & treatments such as Udwarthanam, Nasyam, Thalapothichil, Dharas, Avagaham, Dhoopanam etc. in the needed cases. Tremendous improvement is seen in children when more than one therapies are scientifically used in one child with proper Ayurveda treatment protocol because these treatments are also good sensory diets as well. We perform these above-said diets in a periodic manner under the professional guidance of Ayurvedic Consultants at our state of the art lab at our facility. We also provide adequate training for parents or caretakers so that they can help the child follow the sensory diet chart that is to be followed at home.

15/Nov/2021

How do we manage Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a behavioural abnormality with its roots situated in the defective neuropsychological system and disorder in the digestive and metabolic system. In case of any early signs that you are noticing with your children, make sure that you consult an expert group of professionals so that they can give them a quick diagnosis and care so that they have more options for treatment. There is no one fixed strategy to manage individuals who are suffering from this because they have varying talents and difficulties.

We at Jeevaniyam address this issue in the most scientific way by assessing & monitoring the child’s current physical and mental state. Our main goal is to improve food habits, diet, exercise, play and sleep in treating the central nervous system disorder. We use an interdisciplinary approach by combining different Ayurvedic therapies with alternative therapies to achieve good results on a case-to-case basis. Modern medical science & technology provides us with the tools to identify, assess and monitor the conditions, the rich tradition of Indian Ayurveda holds the promise of regenerating and rejuvenating the Pranas to mitigate the negative fall-out to a large extent. In Ayurveda, we follow the treatment procedures and therapies based on a unique protocol called AGASTYA PROTOCOL, which is a research work done at Ayurveda college Kottakkal under the ministry of Ayush. It is an integrated method that combines the most effective and needed therapies adopted worldwide, along with Ayurveda medicines for a complete approach towards a better life for the ASD child. The integrated therapies that are commonly used are:

- Speech and Language Pathology
- Psychology and Behavioural Management
- Educational Rehabilitation
- Physiotherapy
- Occupation Therapy
- Sensory Integration
- Music Therapy
- Clinical Yoga

We also give adequate training to the parents or guardians in how to handle these kinds of situations. As a parent, they should understand that the time taken for the improvement differs from child to child depending on the severity. Jeevaniyam Ayurveda Hospital & Research Centre is committed to making your special child future-ready & giving you back the joy of parenting, without falling prey to feelings of frustration, self-rejection and hopelessness very common in such a situation.

Newer Posts

Ayurveda Beyond Therapeutics In Autism

Ayurveda Beyond Therapeutics In Autism

Dinacharya

Rithucharya

Rathricharya

“What would be the future of my child?”

Ayurveda Feeding Practices for ASD Kids

Ayurveda Feeding Practices for ASD Kids

key areas Ayurveda concentrate related to food:

Things to remember while feeding kids with ASD

Food & food practices that parents need to avoid

Why Gluten-Free/Casein-Free Diets For ASD Affected Children

Why Gluten-Free/Casein-Free Diets For ASD Affected Children

Sensory Processing and its Applications in ASD

Sensory Processing and its Applications in ASD

How do we manage Autism Spectrum Disorder?

How do we manage Autism Spectrum Disorder?

Treatments

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