The World Health Organization (WHO) defines autism as a neurodevelopmental condition that is characterised by a “lack of social and communication skills”. It says severely autistic children face difficulty transitioning from one activity to another. For autistic children, any alteration in routine is accompanied by different levels of resistance. In society, where autism management infrastructure access is limited and inequitable, several psychologists believe the pandemic has undone most therapy efforts. Several studies have found that families of autistic children believe that lockdowns have made them more aggressive and many have even lost the ability to speak after missing speech therapy. Parents feel that the pandemic has taken away the golden period of their child’s developmental stages.
Toddlers (one-three years) and pre-schoolers (three-six years) are at the most important stages of development where the child should start getting oriented to his/her surroundings and learn to adapt the environment faster. Their development in terms of communication, social ability, emotional and cognitive aspects is the highest in this age and improves more with the ongoing social interaction existing in the surroundings. “This is the age where Developmental disabilities like Autism, ADHD show their prevalence where the child shows delay in speech and social interaction, mostly between the age group of two-four years. Early detection is mandatory at this age,” Dr. Sumit Shinde, a Paediatric Occupational Therapist.
Most autistic children have co-occurring neural conditions like epilepsy, depression, anxiety as well as difficulty sleeping and self-harm. Shahida Ahmed, senior therapist at Learning Edge, a centre for autism and early intervention said, “Autistic children have heightened levels of attention deficit making them more mentally hyperactive. Consistent special schooling since childhood is what prevents children from experiencing anxiety.” “Teachers at special educational needs schools felt “forgotten” by the government during the pandemic as, national guidance didn’t apply to them.”
Dr Shilpa Manogna, senior associate professor at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), believes that the pandemic has created a lot of idle time which leads to aggression. “Therapies cannot be given online. Be it speech or occupational therapies, these exercises have to be done physically,” she said in an interview with an online news agency. She further said that some families did not have access to the internet, and in many instances there is just one smartphone to share between two kids. “Parents mostly would prefer giving the phone to their non-disabled child for online classes and not the ‘special ones', thinking their education was less important.”
In his column for TOI, Dr Shinde highlighted the problems faced by these children during the lockdown period:
• Loss of early intervention period: The children in the age group of two-three years who had been diagnosed with developmental disorders like autism and ADHD, could not overcome the dysfunctions in the early intervention period as maximum brain development happens in this age group. The child and his parents had to work hard to bridge the gap.
• Regression in child development due to lack of stimulation from the environment and lack of opportunities to mingle with the surroundings.
• Children in the age group of three years to five years, where effective integration is essential in order to cope-up with the challenges in school, such as social compatibility. Most school admissions take place as per the age criteria and not the ability criteria. Many pre-schoolers suffering from autism are directly given admission to Senior KG. However, due to the lack of developmental ability, social and cognitive problems, these children face problems in the higher grades.
• Lack of connect with the society during the pandemic has affected the integrity of autistic children. Such kind of integrity is only possible for these children once the social environment opens up. A child suffering from autism shows a lot of adaptability issues, this becomes a challenge for parents in social situations.
• Lack of online study compliance has affected the academic skill development and performance of children suffering from autism.
• Parents who have been overprotective for their autistic child during the pandemic are apprehensive to send their kids in the open environment. Effective social interaction is important for overall development of such children. Overprotection and fear will delay the process of integrity for coping up with Autism.
“These are some of the important aspects which need immediate attention from schools, parents and professionals in managing a child’s developmental disabilities, especially autism,” he concluded.