Ramachandran SK - Autism Spectrum Disorders: Triumph over with Ayurveda and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

AUTISM
SPECTRUM
DISORDERS

RAMACHANDRAN SK

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2016 Ramachandran SK. All rights reserved.

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Published by AuthorHouse 06/09/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-3533-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-3534-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-9183-4 (e)

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CONTENTS

Ayurveda, the five thousand plus year old Indian system of medicine is gaining a lot of popularity and acceptance globally in the last two decades. Due to lack of research and publicity it was dormant for centuries. I am convinced that it can give a lot of treatment options for many medical problems at reasonable cost and with fewer side effects.

Professor (Dr) S K Ramachandran, a sought after pediatrician and a very popular post graduate teacher in Kaumarabhritya is known to me for a while. His interest in medical research needs special mention.

This book by him gives a detailed account of Autism/ASD in simple language which could be useful for the common man and doctors of all systems and post graduates students in Kaumarabhritya.

It is astonishing to know about the high incidence of this condition. One in hundred children suffers from Autism/Autism Spectrum Disorders! There could be a real increase in this condition or cases are detected early by physicians of all systems.

This book will go a long way in alerting parents in suspecting this condition in their children and seek medical care early. The guidelines of management of this condition will also help childrens specialists of all systems.

Col (Dr) S Mohan M.S
Director of Medical Services (Rtd)
Armed Forces, Sultanate of Oman
Muscat.
www.drsmohan .com

FOREWORD

I know Dr. Ramachandran, the author of this book, personally more than anyone else. Presently, I am also involved in some Autism project. That may be the reason for choosing me to foreword his book on Autism Spectrum Disorders. Both Dr. Ramachandran and I walked strikingly similar paths for more than 40 years in public and private Ayurveda colleges of the state in the Ayurvedic scenario of Kerala, the southern state of India. Both of us have started our mission in 1973 in Govt. Ayurveda College, Thiruvananthapuram and travelled together as classmates, teachers, practitioners and researchers sitting in adjacent seats. While I have struggled to mend the Obstetrics and Gynecology topic of Ayurveda, Dr. Ramachandran has put great effort on redeveloping the pediatrics division of Ayurveda, both are considered as the twin topics of the branch Kaumarabhritya, one of the eight branches of Clinical Ayurveda.

Presently, Dr. Ramachandran mends graduate students of Ayurveda as the Professor and Head of the Kaumarabhritya Department of S.N. Institute of Ayurvedic Studies and Research, Puthur, Kollam. He has dedicated the last two decades of his service for the redevelopment of Indian Pediatrics in Kerala and other parts of India. He has worked out a strategy for management of children with developmental problems who had been sidelined by the core population of the society. He has organized a number of seminars and workshops in academic institutions for the popularization of effective management techniques for such problems. He has travelled all over Kerala conducting many medical screening camps to detect children with developmental disorders such as Cerebral palsy, Mental retardation, Epilepsy, ADHD and Autism. He has guided around fifty dissertations; most of them were on developmental issues of children.

After starting a post graduate course in Kaumarabhritya (Pediatrics) in 2004, he has concentrated on the study and management of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and developed a treatment protocol in Ayurveda. He has saved many children those who behaved selfless due to Autism Spectrum Disorders. Hence, Dr. Ramachandran is the right person to write a book on Ayurvedic perspective of Autism and Ayurvedic management of the same.

While giving authentic Ayurvedic concept of Autism and its management, he is advising simultaneous use of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to provide maximum benefits to the child population affected with Autism.

The reading of this book will be beneficial to Ayurvedic practitioners, psychology students, researchers, caretakers and parents of Autistic children all over the globe. This book will be a boon for Autistic children and brings new hope to their parents who have tried and failed every other source of management to bring back them to normalcy.

I strongly recommend having a copy of this book for those who are engaged in the study, practice and research of Autism Spectrum Disorders. You will reap rich rewards if you are following the Ayurvedic way of Autism management demonstrated in this book. I, with immense pleasure, present this book before the international community to take in the merits.

Dr. A. Nalinakshan. M.D (Ay)

Pro Vice Chancellor,

Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS)

Thrissur, Kerala, India.

T he purpose of this book is to outline Autism Spectrum Disorders and its management options to date and to bring into notice of the international society about the utility of Ayurvedic Drugs and Procedures in conquering Autism.

There has been an increase in the reported prevalence and incidence of Autism Spectrum Disorders for the last two decades. The label given to these disorders has also changed (Infantile Autism, Autistic disorder, Autism spectrum disorder etc) overtime. Though the causes of ASD are still controversial, the genetic susceptibility and the environmental trigger factors are considered as the most possible ones. Environmental toxicity is found to be a major provoking factor in many neuro developmental disorders including Autism. Since medical management was fruitless in these conditions every other therapy has been tried to obtain a satisfactory relief for the affected population. Different therapy available such as Cognitive behavior therapy, Play therapy, Speech therapy, Holding therapy, Music therapy, Reiki treatment etc have been tried for longer periods to obtain substantial improvement in these children. Many children have to be followed up to whole part of their life to live a meaningful life. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and the Discrete Trial Training (DTT) method is the latest among these series of therapies that was found more successful. And by passage of time, the design and method of these therapies for Autistic will change.