How homoeopathy can help address developmental disabilities in children
What you can expect from homoeopathy's holistic treatment approach
In conversation with Dr Rajichandran Ramachandran, Homoeopathy specialist, Medstar Healthcare, Oud Metha in Dubai
What are developmental disabilities?
These are a group of psychiatric conditions originating in childhood. This includes developmental language disorders, learning disorders, autism spectrum disorders (ASD), attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome, anti-social behaviour and schizophrenia.
At what age does a learning and developmental disorder begin to show its signs?
Signs of developmental disorder usually start to show early in childhood. While most conditions improve as a child grows older, some may stay with them throughout their lives. However, most of the conditions can be identified before a child reaches the age of nine.
We believe that early identification and intervention can significantly improve treatment outcomes among children with developmental delays.
What causes these disabilities in children?
While it’s not easy to identify a specific reason, these are mostly caused due to an interplay of genetic and environmental factors. Some studies suggest that early childhood trauma, stress in parents, excessive indulgence in video games and television, and metabolic issues such as leaky gut syndrome lead to the development of these conditions.
We believe that early identification and intervention can significantly improve treatment outcomes among children with developmental delays.
What are some of the obvious signs of ADHD?
Failure in expressing emotions, communication problems, avoiding eye contact, repetitive patterns of behaviour, difficulty in adapting to a new environment, academic problems, temper tantrums, sleep disturbances, aggressive behaviour, hyperactivity, and impulsive behaviour are some of the common signs of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
How can homoeopathy help children with learning and behavioural problems?
We try to analyse the condition from an evolutionary perspective, understanding how the child is being brought up, their surroundings, mother’s experience during pregnancy and state of mental and physical health of parents during conception. In homoeopathy each child is treated as unique and we create the treatment plan based on his specific symptoms.
What are your main target for treatment protocols?
We look at restoring the child to their natural state of emotional heath and well-being without any side effects. Individualised and holistic homoeopathy treatment targets the child as a whole and not just as a specific disorder. We treat the source of the emotional problem.
New research suggests that some of the problems are caused by metabolic disorders. Hence, we look at fixing the metabolism of a child and strengthening the bowel function with homoeopathic management.
What are the common medical and nutritional challenges for kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)?
They are at risk of many nutritional problems such as food allergies, intolerances, nutritional deficiencies and leaky gut problem.
Generally, a casein- and gluten-free diet, along with probiotic and mineral supplements, is prescribed to control the symptoms. We also test for specific allergies to prevent any further complications. Complimentary therapies such as homoeopathy, along with physical, social, occupational, educational and speech therapies as well as a proper diet, can help relieve the symptoms.
Can other therapies be combined with homoeopathic medicines?
Therapies such as applied behaviour analysis, cognitive behaviour therapy, speech and language, occupation therapy, sensory integration therapy and family therapy can be combined with homoeopathic medicines.
If you need to see a homeopathy consultant, call Medstar at 800 22 33 for an appointment
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