ASD Cases Increasing mild to Severe in India
Nearly 1 in 100 under age of 10 children in India has autism and near about at least 1 in 8 has one neurodevelopmental condition. This estimations are based on the first meticulous study of this kind in the Nation.
The estimate for neurodevelopmental conditions is about 10 times higher than the 1.3 percent reported in India’s 2011 census.
The overall estimate for autism is about 4 times from a 2017 study of more than 11,000 children in just one city in India.
Narendra Arora, executive director of the INCLEN Trust International and his colleagues fanned out to five regions of India that differ economically and culturally, and worked door to door to recruit children for evaluation and Analysis.
Narendra Arora said, “This is the first ever community-based assessment of prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders in children in India, and probably in the whole of the developing world.”
The most common conditions detected in research are hearing impairments and intellectual disability. Nearly one in five children who has one neurodevelopmental condition also has a secondary condition.
Causes of autism:
Research showcase that genetics play a vital role in majority of the cases.
Children born to older parents are at a higher risk of Autism.
Parents having first child with ASD have 02 to 15 percent chance of having a second child affected by this.
In identical twins cases, if one child has autism, the other will be affected about 35 to 95 percent of the time.
In non-identical twins cases, if one child has autism, then the other is affected about 31 percent of the time.
Vaccines is not the cause of autism.
Challenges Faced by Autistic Child:
Near about 40 percent of people with ASD are nonverbal.
31% of children with Autism have an intellectual disability (intelligence quotient [IQ] <70).
Majorly, two-thirds of children with autism between the ages of 6 and 15 have been bullied.
Nearly 28 percent of 8 to 10 -year-olds with Autism have severe self-injurious behaviors.
Head banging, Arm biting, Repetition and skin scratching are most common with people with ASD.
Drowning is a leading cause of death for children with autism.
The Govt. Policies for people with Autism:
The National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities was constituted by the Central Government as a legal bodies. The National Trust has various schemes and programmes available for people with autism and their family members. Some of the schemes are detailed below :-
Samarth Scheme
GHARAUNDA (Group Home And Rehabilitation Activities for Disabled Adults)
Niramaya (Health Insurance Scheme)
VIKAAS Day Care
Income Tax concessions
Travel Concessions
Hotel Discounts
Rehabilitation Council of India
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