Occupational Therapy (OT)

Occupational therapist helps people with a physical, sensory or cognitive disability to be independent as much as possible in all areas of their lives. OT can help kids with various needs to improve their cognitive, physical, sensory and motor skills and enhance their self-esteem and sense of accomplishment.

          OT interventions focus on adaptation of the child’s environment, modifies the task, teaching skill and educating the child and /or family to increase participation and performance of the child in daily activities especially those which are helpful for the child. Occupational therapist work with association of the child’s physiotherapist, speech therapist and teacher to know and help them improve that child’s skills.

          An occupational therapist helps in child’s day-to-day activities like writing, eating, getting dressed, etc. by breaking a particular activity into smaller parts. For example, if child needs to dressed, then:-

• 1^st go to wardrobe
•  Open the door
• Select a dress
• Lay it on bed
• Then get dressed.

          In other words, the daily activity which is done by us is broken down into simple steps.

Occupational therapy (or OT) helps kids who have a physical, sensory, or cognitive disability carry out everyday activities like brushing their teeth or putting on shoes and socks etc. Many work with kids who need help with their handwriting or in developing learning strategies to help them remain focused in class and get their homework done. Occupational therapy helps children with special needs be as independent as possible or aids a kid who's returning to school after a long illness or severe injury. Some people say a physical therapist will get you where you are going, but an occupational therapist helps you out when you get there. Once the plan is made, then all it takes is practice, practice, practice.

Kids with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, etc. need help from occupational therapist to develop their hand skills.

Since needs of each child is different, therapy is unique for each child. Also since children learn at their own speed, the duration and improvement too depend on the speed in which the child picks up.

Neonatal Jaundice

              Jaundice is the yellow discoloration of the skin and the white part of eyes. It is due to the presence of too much bilirubin in blood of the baby. Bilirubin is formed when the body breaks down old red blood cells and the liver usually process and removes bilirubin from the body. Jaundice occurs usually when the livers are not fully developed or functionally resulting into inefficient removal of bilirubin from the blood.

        

           Common symptoms of jaundice are :-

• Yellow coloration of skin and white part of eye
• Fever
• Poor feeding
• White stool
• Crankiness

          Reasons for neonatal jaundice maybe :-

• Infections present at birth, like rubella, syphilis etc
• Low oxygen level
• Diseases that affect liver or biliary tract, such as cystic fibrosis or hepatitis.

Babies born premature are more likely to develop neonatal jaundice than a full term baby.

Usually bilirubin tests are conducted on new born babies to rule out any complication. Depending on the bilirubin levels, treatments are given to the child.

Treatment is not needed most of the time.

When treatment is needed, the type will depend on:

• The baby's bilirubin level
• How fast the level has been rising
• Whether the baby was born early (babies born early are more likely to be treated at lower bilirubin levels)
• How old the baby is

A baby will need treatment if the bilirubin level is too high or is rising too quickly.

If bilirubin is too high, then special blue lights are used, to break down bilirubin in skin. This process is called phototherapy.

• The infant is placed under artificial light in a warm, enclosed bed to maintain a constant temperature.
• The baby will wear only a diaper and special eye shades to protect the eyes.
• Doctors recommend that breastfeeding be continued through phototherapy, if possible.
• Rarely, the baby may have an intravenous (IV) line to deliver fluids.

Newborn jaundice is not harmful most of the time. For most babies, jaundice will get better without treatment within 1 to 2 weeks.

For babies who need treatment, the treatment is very often effective.

Muscular Dystropy

          Muscular Dystrophy (MD) is a hereditary muscular disease characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness and disability. This disorder can be observed mainly in males who inherit the gene carrying the mutation from their mothers. 

 Main symptoms of the disease are

• Poor balance
• Drooping eyelids
• Atrophy
• Progressive muscular wasting
• Inability to walk
• Calf deformation
• Respiratory difficulty
• Limited movement
• Muscle spasms.

 These conditions are generally inherited. There are several types of muscular dystrophy:

• Dunchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is most common and severe form of MD which strikes mainly boys. It is a progressive disorder caused by lack of protein dystrophin in muscle cells. It mainly affects the torso and limb muscles and as age progresses, so does the muscle weakening, resulting in confinement to wheelchair by age of 12.

• Facioscapulohumeral (FSH) dystrophy occurs both in males and females, and it affects facial, shoulder and upper arms muscles.

• Myotonic Dystrophy affects various organs as well as muscles. Most common problem faced is delayed relaxation of muscles.

• Becker Muscular dystrophy is a lesser variant of DMD.

• Congenital muscular dystrophy as name suggests at onset of birth, includes general muscle weakness, joint deformities and usually shortens life span.

Since it’s hereditary disease, family having history of muscular dystrophy are usually referred for detailed genetic tests to rule out any gene carrier. Once the symptoms start to show, doctors usually ask for muscle biopsy, electromyography, electrocardiography and DNA analysis. Physiotherapy prevents further weakening of muscles and helps kids to preserve muscle strength and develop muscle tone. Occupational therapy helps in assisting kid taking care of his/hers daily activities. Orthopedic appliances like braces, splints, crutches etc. help retain mobility.

Learning Disabilities

Learning disability (LD) is a neurologically based problem. The kid with LD has issues understanding concepts, reading or writing issues, sometimes has difficulty doing simple math facts, language or sensory issues.

Depending on the various problems faced they are classified in to different categories such as:

• Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) also known as Central Auditory Processing Disorder. This condition affects how a sound is interpreted by brain. They have difficulty recognizing different sounds in words, direction from which the sound is coming etc.

• Dyscalculia affects person’s ability to understand numbers and do maths. They struggle with memorizing and organizing numbers, poor comprehension of math symbols or have trouble with counting.

• Dysgraphia affects a kid’s handwriting ability and fine motor skills. Problems include poor handwriting and spelling, inconsistent spacing, difficulty in composing and writing at same time.

• Dyslexia sometimes referred as Language-based learning disability affects kid’s reading and language based processing skills. Dyslexia affects child’s reading comprehension, recalling, writing, spelling along with other related disorders.

          Lack of concentration and slow comprehension are main issues with learning disabilities. Kids facing these problems can be helped by remedial and occupational therapies, which help them, improve their motor skills and concentration.

     

     In other words,

Ketogenic diet

          Most of epileptic kids are prescribed with anti-epileptic drugs. But in some cases, no amount of medications helps in controlling seizures. That’s when the neurologist suggests “Ketogenic Diet”;Keto – ketone and genic – producing.

          Ketogenic diet is a diet which helps reduce the severity or frequency of seizures. Ketogenic Diet is a high fat, low carbohydrate, controlled protein diet used for treating epilepsy. This treatment has to be followed with support and instructions from experienced epileptic specialist and dietician. It’s not same for every kid. The specialist needs to know that child’s details so as to set the diet chart suitable for that particular kid so that it’s effective and also not depriving kid of the required nutrition and providing maximum benefit.  

Juvenile Diabetes

          Juvenile diabetes or type 1 diabetes as it’s generally called, is the most common form which occur in kids. It is caused due to inability of producing insulin by the pancreas. It’s an autoimmune disease, which means the condition in which the body’s immune system attacks body’s own tissues or organs. In type-1 diabetes, pancreas cells producing Insulin is destroyed.

          Reason for cause of childhood diabetes may either be genetic or obesity or some unknown environmental factors.

          The symptoms for Type-1 diabetes are similar to as in adults.

•  Excessive thirst
•  Frequent urination
•  Sudden Weight loss
•  Tiredness
•  Dry mouth and/or skin
•  Increased hunger
•  Abdominal pain
• Behaviour problems

Once the symptoms are noticed, it’s necessary to get diabetes diagnosed by getting child’s blood and urine checked for sugar. Once it’s diagnosed, doctors usually start with insulin treatment for kids to get sugar level under control.

Along with insulin treatment, diabetes must also be regulated by proper diet and physical activity. Usually doctor prescribes usual do’s and don’ts which if followed can bring sugar level under control. But even after the sugar level has returned to normal, it’s necessary to get a regular follow-up done.

                                              

Infantile Hemiplegia

          Infantile hemiplegia is a type of cerebral palsy, which occurs due to brain damage before or during birth (lack of oxygen supply) or after birth (post birth infection). Hemiplegia means paralysis in one vertical half of body and usually the paralysis occurs on opposite side of affected part of brain. That means, if right side of child’s brain is damaged then the kid’s left side will be paralyzed.

          Symptoms of infantile hemiplegia are usually tightness of muscles in the affected side often known as spasticity, difficulty in walking and balancing, delayed milestones etc. They also suffer from behaviour issues; anger issues, cognitive function governed by that side of brain gets affected. Sometimes the hand and/or leg of affected side might be short in length compared to normal limb. Because of their asymmetrical use of body, their sitting posture gets affected which might result into scoliosis.

Like cerebral palsy, treatment for hemiplegia is also similar. Kids require physical and occupational therapies for training the affected part, behavioral modification and counseling to control their behavioral issues, remedial teaching, medications for seizures, speech therapy etc. They should also get their kids examined by orthopedic to prevent them getting scoliosis.

Homeopathy for our kids

 My 2nd guest post is by Dr. Gopikrishnan Nambiar who is a well-known Homeopath, practicing since 2001 at his clinic Homeoworld at Goregaon and also at Bhaktivedanta Hospital, Mira road and has also started blogging recently. 

Dr. Gopikrishnan Nambiar became a homeopathic doctor by choice; after the “sweet sugared pills” relieved him of his childhood sickness when other medicines failed. After finishing his graduation in 1995 from Fr. Mullers Homeopathic Medical college, Mangalore he started his practice. Then in 1997 he joined for his MD (homeopathy) in Materia medica at A. M. Shaikh Homeopathic Medical College, Belgaum, Karnataka.

After his completion of MD studies in 2000, he has been working as a Consultant in his Clinic “HomeoWorld” since 2001 which is jointly run by him and his wife who is also MD in Homeopathy and as a Consultant in Bhakti Vedanta Hospital since 2002.

He shows special interest in treating respiratory diseases, Autism, ADHD, skin diseases, PCOD, Infertility & Kidney Stones.

My whole family, who is being treated by Dr. Nambiar, when I told him about this blogging challenge and requested him to do a guest post, he was more than obliged.

Over to you Doc…

Many of the illnesses of childhood can be effectively treated with homeopathy. There are many disorders that make a child differently abled, like autism, cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, ADHD etc. Ever since the science of homoeopathy was introduced 200 years ago Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, homeopathy is gaining popularity as an alternative treatment for these children. Today, there are many paediatricians preferring homoeopathic treatment for their children and patients. Children respond wonderfully to simple homeopathic medicines. The sweet pills and powders are easily accepted by children.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorder of children. It is often believed to have genetic component. Children with ADHD are impulsive, overactive, inattentive, poor learners, and are frequently disruptive, aggressive and uncontrollable. 

Homeopaths who are treating children for ADHD have reported good results. In a study it was observed that the children receiving homeopathic medicines showed significantly less ADHD behaviour than those given placebos. 

Autism, when compared to ADHD is much more difficult to treat. However homeopaths who treat autistic children are seeing significant progress in majority of cases. If treatment begins early, i.e. before the age of 5 there is room for great hope. Even later treatment can find success. But you must have commitment and patience as treatment is a long term process that will take months and years, not just days or weeks.

If your child shows delays in reading, doing mathematics, difficulty in reading and writing, take your child to a homeopath, not only will these specific problems be treated, but your child will be assessed as a whole person. Homeopathy will address his other illnesses in addition to the learning challenges. Within weeks or a couple of months of finding the right homeopathic medicine, you will find noticeable changes in your child.

The children after starting homeopathic treatment shows improvement in grades in school, ease at doing homework, changes in behavior and in handwriting. The child’s confidence and maturity increases. Teachers can appreciate the changes in the child’s learning skills. 

Cerebral Palsy is the commonest cause of physical disabilities in childhood due to defects of brain during pregnancy, child birth and the first few years of birth. 
CP child has damaged brain, so it develops very slowly. Development in CP children depends on the severity of brain damage.

Homeopathic medicines improve I.Q and neuromuscular abilities, so milestones start appearing faster. It improves in neck holding, sitting, standing and walking. It improves in understanding of the child, calculating capacity and schooling capacity. It stops recurrent infections. So the child regains immunity to fight diseases. It improves the child’s anxiety, depression, tightness of arm and leg muscles and squint.

Epilepsy is a disorder of central nervous system. The convulsions are commonly labeled as grand or petit mal (complete or partial according to symptoms). Homeopathy offers a cure in cases of epilepsy but the time taken will depend up on the severity of the case. We have many complete cures where the patient remains free from attacks of fits. Constitutional homeopathic treatment is the right option for epilepsy, however there are acute medicines which take care of attacks of epilepsy and prevent recurrence.

The homeopathic approach in handling chronic disorders depends up on the totality of symptoms presented by the patients. It targets the genetic tendencies as well and thus offers effective management.

The homeopathic case evaluation of the children who are physically challenged includes detail study of presenting complaints, past history, family history of serious diseases, personal history and mental and emotional status of the individual child. The case analysis also takes into account of altered behaviour, social skills, communication, speech, tantrums, etc. It is easy to take. The pills are sweet and are absolutely non-toxic.

Homeopathic medicines vary from individual to individual as its prescribed according to the symptoms.

The key is …..The earlier the age, the better success .

Gluten free Brownie by Gauri Kekre

Yippee 1^st guest post on my blog…

When I was preparing for this challenge, I wanted to cover different aspects for differently abled kids; therapies, conditions, food etc. Recently I got acquainted with famous baker cum blogger cum dentist Dr. Gauri Kekre. And while we were just discussing the challenge in our group, I casually asked her if she can do a guest post for me. She readily agreed.

Gauri is dentist by academics, mother of two cute, angel daughters, and baker by chance and choice.  Baking is one territory which many dread to tread as it requires exact measurement. One mistake and all effort go waste and it’s difficult to fix unlike other dishes. But not Gauri, she started baking for her family and close knit friends and slowly by trial-and-error methods she learnt the art of decorating cakes. Her creative ideas started getting her orders and now she has turned into full time baker, weaving magic and churning out mind blowing cake designs.

Thank you Gauri for doing this article.

Now let's hear from Doctor-Baker herself… 

Gluten-Free Casein-Free Brownie recipe for Special Needs Children.

A cake is a universally loved food, and in kids especially, it is usually a raging favorite. But what if you have a child with special needs, who cannot digest the gluten and casein present in most cakes?

Parents whose children are diagnosed as special needs children, especially those with ADHD or autism, are always on the lookout for a diet which can significantly improve the quality of life of their kids. However it need not mean that the kids never get to enjoy goodies in pursuit of good health.

There is a whole world of recipes out there, which are perfectly suited to their dietary needs, from cookies, to cakes to brownies. Before I share my brownie recipe with you, I’d like to bring to attention some of the flours that can be used on a day to day basis.

Sorghum Flour:

Jowar or Sorghum Flour

Sorghum is known as Jowar in India. It is an off white round grain, which is ground to make flour. This flour is often used to make rotis in households of India. What we didn’t know is it can be easily used in place of wheat flour or refined flour in cakes, cookies and brownies.

Arrowroot Flour:

Arrowroot flour

Whenever you need to use a flour to thicken sauces or gravies, such as white sauce for salads etc, arrowroot flour can be used. It is a white flour which becomes transparent and thickened upon cooking.

Cornflour:

Or cornstarch as it is also known, is also a good thickening agent. In case of cakes, it can be used to replace a part of sorghum flour to increase the softness of the cake.

Chickpea flour or besan:

Although not in cakes, but in India, Chickpea flour or besan is one flour which is indispensable. It is used to make a variety of recipes such as Besan chillas, tomato omelettes etc.

Other useful flours:

Maize flour or makki ka atta, rice flour, and soya flour are all good alternatives

You may find that some of the recipes for cakes contain an ingredient called guar gum, or any other kind of plant gum. While its use in the recipe is not known, it is known to cause intestinal disturbances in some people. I find that it is unnecessary to use it, and can be easily done away with.

Onwards to the recipe:

• 1 cup Sorghum flour/ Jowar flour
• ½ cup corn flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 and ½ cups powdered sugar
• 1 pinch baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1/4^th cup warm water or coffee
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• pinch of salt.

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C. Or if you are using a pressure cooker, remove the whistle and close the lid with the rubber ring in place. Heat on high for fifteen minutes.

2. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

3. With a hand mixer or a hand held balloon whisk, mix slowly while adding the oil and water mixture. Mix it till it is homogenous.

4. Now add the eggs one by one and beat for 1 minute after every addition.

5. Pour the batter in a butter paper lined baking tin and place it in the middle rack of your oven. Bake for 40 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs.

6. In case of pressure cooker, place the cooker jaali inside the cooker, and place the tin on it. Close the lid and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 40 minutes on medium flame or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes with a few crumbs.

Yummy Gluten-free Brownie 

You can get in touch with Gauri and view her works by clicking on following links : 

Li'l White Oven

(https://www.facebook.com/lilwhiteoven)

Mind Brew

(http://mindbrewblog.wordpress.com)