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Written By: Agencies | Updated : October 8, 2014 10:20 AM IST
Oct 10 is World Mental Health Day
If you happen to meet Vedant, a hyper-active six-and half-year-old, you would probably never believe if we told you that last year a school he was attending in Jamnagar had asked him to leave because he was autistic.
Autism, a disorder that leads to abnormal self-absorption, is characterised by lack of response to people, and actions with limited ability to communicate.
Vedant Ruparel was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at an early age. 'When the authorities found out about his disorder, they asked us to move him to another school,' recalls Rasik Ruparel, Vedant's father, and a Jamnagar-based businessman. Not in the mood to give up, the father consulted Dr Ketan Patel, an Ahmedabad-based homeopath. 'He used to visit my clinic regularly to get medicines for Vedant. I had suggested him to take Vedant to learn swimming near their residence, but the boy did not take too kindly to it,' the doctor said. (Read: 10 things every child with autism wishes you knew)
With no school ready to admit Vedant in Jamnagar, the family shifted base to Ahmedabad last year with the hope of getting proper treatment too. It was then that Dr Patel suggested them to take their son to swimming instructor Amal Upadhyay. The boy was treated with what Upadhyay calls, 'hydrotherapy' a bunch of swimming exercises that enhance blood circulation and oxygen flow to all parts of the body. He taught Vedant to swim in six days, which resulted in better hand-eye coordination as well as boosted his concentration levels. The change has been apparent in six months.
With Dr Patel's treatment and Upadhyay's swimming lessons, Vedant soon blossomed from a non-social and extremely restless person to a hyperactive child!
'Almost all the symptoms of autism, barring Vedant's borderline attention deficit disorder (ADD), are gone. Being an intensive exercise, hydrotherapy, also controls the hyperactivity levels, especially for autistic kids, who have high hormone (testosterone) levels,' explained Dr Patel.
'Earlier we used to get complaints of Vedant not responding to teachers and other students at Shayona School here. Now they complaint about his incessant chatter,' the elated father gushed.
For the doctor-coach duo, Vedant is not the first success story. 'I have taught swimming to around 50 students with disabilities based on the diagnosis and recommendation of Dr Patel. I will also be hosting hydrotherapy sessions at Mumbai and Bangalore soon,' said Upadhyay, who recently returned from a similar session in Chennai. (Read: 1 in 200 children now suffer from Autism!)
What is autism?
Autism is a severe form of neuro-developmental disorder where a child has problems in communication, socialization and has various behavioural problems in the form of repetitive behaviour, restricted play interests and sometimes very unusual interests.
Though no cause has been shown to be linked directly to autism, a combination of genetics and the environment have been found to be contributing factors.
Here is a list of some of the early symptoms that all parents should watch out for in their child-
The presence of any of the above symptoms should prompt parents to get a developmental assessment of their child to determine if their child's development is normal or not. (Read: Understanding autism its causes, symptoms and treatment)
With inputs from DNA/Abhishek Samuel
