All you need to know about Autism

Understanding Autism

Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) refers to a range of neurodevelopmental disorders that affect social, behavioral, and communication abilities. The causes of Autism are unknown in most cases, although environmental and genetic factors are said to play a role.

Children with Autism display significant difficulties with communication, processing emotion, and functioning in social circles. They also often have sensory processing issues when exposed to different environments. As a result, they can find it difficult to express themselves through words, gestures, or facial expressions. Autism affects about one to two percent of the population worldwide and is equally prevalent among all ethnic and racial groups. Autism in India affects about one in every 500 people.

Autism can take a variety of forms, from mild cases to severe disorders that require round-the-clock care. While there is no Autism cure, recent advances in Autism treatment have made it possible for children to enhance their social and behavioral skills early on and help them enjoy a healthy social life with their peers.

In particular, Stem Cell Therapy for Autism has been recognised as an effective way to address the root physiological causes of Autism, and potentially reverse several of its symptoms.. Read on to learn more about how Stem Cell Therapy treats Autism and how you can sign your child up for the best stem cell for Autism in India.

Causes of Autism

There is still no clear agreement as to what exactly causes Autism in children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) mentions a number of risk factors, including:

Genetics, as Autism is much likelier if there is a family history of it
Having certain chromosomal or genetic conditions, such as tuberous sclerosis or fragile X syndrome
Low birth weight
Being born to older parents
Oxygen deprivation immediately after birth
Certain drugs that the mother may take during pregnancy
Metabolic imbalances
Exposure to certain heavy metals or environmental toxins

In general, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) states that both environmental and genetic factors usually play a role in the occurrence of Autism.

Types of Autism

Autism is a spectrum disorder, which means that the types and severity of symptoms will be different for each child. Broadly, there are four types of Autism that your doctor may diagnose:

Autistic Disorder: This is the ‘classic’ form of Autism, which is what comes to most people’s minds when they think about Autism. Children with Autism disorder demonstrate significant language and developmental delays, have trouble fitting into social environments and communicating, and may even have unusual interests or behaviors. Such children may also have intellectual disabilities
Asperger’s Syndrome: This is a milder form of Autism where there are no language difficulties or intellectual delays. Such children may in fact be highly intelligent and are able to focus well on topics that interest them. However, they will still have trouble with daily social behaviors
Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS): This is also known as atypical Autism. Doctors may diagnose your child with PDD-NOS if they display some of the signs of autistic disorder or Asperger’s Syndrome. Children with PDD-NOS face social and communication-related challenges, but may otherwise function normally
Childhood disintegrative disorder: This is the rarest and most severe diagnosis on the spectrum. Children with childhood disintegrative disorder will develop normally and then suddenly lose many social, behavioral, and language skills, usually between the ages of two and four. They may also start having seizures

It is important to note that these distinctions of Autism are no longer used widely, and all of them are classified under Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Early signs of Autism

The American Academy of Pediatrics strongly recommends screening for Autism as early as possible for treatment to have maximum benefit. It is important to remember that each child is different, and the symptoms that two children with Autism will have may vary greatly.

However, there are certain behavioral traits that are widely regarded as indicators of Autism and worth checking. While most cases of Autism are diagnosed when the child is between one and three years of age, there are several early warning signs that the CDC has specified as possible signs of Autism. In fact, many parents have reported spotting the first signs of Autism before their child was 12 months old.

Here’s an overview of the symptoms that your child may display during the initial months.

Symptoms at 2 months

Does not follow moving objects with their eyes
Does not pay attention to new faces
Does not make eye contact
Unable to hold head up when pushing up while on tummy

Symptoms at 4 months

Does not try to grab nearby objects
Does not make vowel sounds
Appears stiff or floppy
Has difficulty bringing objects to the mouth

Symptoms at 6 months

Does not smile
Does not bring objects to mouth to explore them
Cannot hold head steady
Does not babble or coo
Does not laugh
Does not display affection for the parent or caregiver
Does not respond to games like peek-a-boo
Has trouble moving one or both eyes
Does not push down with legs when feet are placed on a hard surface

Symptoms at 9 months

Does not sit or stand with support
Does not play games with back-and-forth interaction
Does not transfer toys from one hand to another
Does not appear to recognise familiar people
Does not babble
Does not raise arms in anticipation of being picked up or held

Symptoms at 12 months

Does not turn their head or respond when addressed by name, but may respond to other sounds like a dog barking
Does not point to objects or pictures
Has not uttered their first word yet
Does not stand with support
Does not look for things they see the parent or caregiver hide
Does not make gestures like shaking head or waving hands
Does not try to walk by holding onto furniture
Loses skills they formerly had

Symptoms at 18 months

Does not make any attempt to compensate for delayed speech
Does not point to objects of interest
Does not notice or care if the parent or caregiver leaves
Does not speak except to repeat what was just said or what they heard on television
Does not learn new words
Does not know what to do with simple objects like a spoon or a glass

Symptoms at 24 months

Does not copy actions
Does not follow simple instructions
Does not respond with interest to the company of other children
Does not use two-word phrases like ‘drink milk’
Cannot walk steadily
Does not show interest in finding objects that the parent or caregiver has hidden
Loses skills they formerly had

Symptoms at 36 months

Frequently falls down
Has difficulty climbing stairs
Does not speak in sentences
Cannot work simple toys
Speaks unclearly or drools
Does not make eye contact
Does not show affection
Does not play pretend
Shows no interest in playing with other children

Getting an Autism diagnosis

If as a parent you are concerned about any of these symptoms in your child, you should take them to a specialist doctor. The doctor will conduct a variety of tests to assess the degree of developmental delay and rule out possible causes other than Autism for the same. These tests may include:

Behavioral evaluation
Genetic testing for any hereditary conditions
Visual and audio tests to rule out any non-Autism disorders that could be affecting visual- and audio-processing
Developmental questionnaires like the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS)
Occupational Therapy screening

If your child does have Autism, the doctor will prescribe the best Autism treatment therapy based on their individual needs and symptoms. Current treatments for Autism typically consist of Stem Cell Therapy, Behavioral Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Social Skills Training and Speech Therapy. All of these therapies serve to assist your child with expressing themselves better and with feeling more comfortable in social situations.

As a parent, it is also essential that you read up as much as you can about Autism, its symptoms and effects, and the forms of treatment available so that you can make an informed decision about the best Autism clinic in India for your child.

Current treatments for Autism

Autism treatment therapy has advanced greatly in recent years and it is certainly possible for children to have a healthy and fulfilling life by managing their symptoms. The best treatment for Autism will usually consist of a combination of the following therapies, depending on what symptoms your child has and what they respond best to.

Speech Therapy: Some children with more severe cases of Autism may be unable to articulate sounds with their mouth, which makes it difficult for them to express what they want. Speech therapists can help these children develop their speaking abilities through certain exercises that train the muscles in the mouth to utter different kinds of sounds. They can also train the child to communicate through non-verbal means like through gestures, picture cards, or devices like tablets

Through consistent speech therapy, children with Autism can catch up on language developmental delays. This form of Autism treatment can also help to correct any swallowing disorders

Occupational Therapy: This type of Autism treatment enables children with Autism to lead a more functional and independent life. Through structured exercises, therapists can help children perform daily activities like getting dressed, eating their own meals, playing with toys, and so on. Occupational Therapy can also help improve cognitive abilities, stabilize the child’s emotional state, and help them become an active member of society.
Psychological counselling: This type of Autism treatment therapy helps to better understand and identify children’s personalities and attributes.. It helps them gain greater self-awareness, work on their behavioural problems, gain greater emotional maturity, and feel more independent. Through careful testing and appropriate psychological intervention, children with Autism can gain more confidence
Social skills therapy: This type of Autism therapy helps children mix better with their family members, teachers, classmates, and other people they encounter. Storytelling, supervised roleplay, board games, and fun conversation challenges can all help your child adjust to playing in a group and expressing what they want or what they think. It also helps to have a list of social rules written down prominently somewhere the child can see it. This serves to remind them about what they can and cannot do when in a social setting
Floortime: This type of Autism treatment involves therapists and children literally getting down on the floor to perform the activities and games that the child likes. It helps them improve their emotional awareness and communicate their feelings, thus enabling both intellectual and emotional growth
Visual-based education: Children with Autism tend to have trouble learning in a traditional classroom format. To help them grasp concepts better, many therapists will use picture cards with information broken down into small steps along with appropriate illustrations. This type of Autism treatment therapy can help your child understand concepts like how to dress themselves or pack their bags for school

Another type of visual-based therapy is the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), which helps children communicate through special symbols. Through guided special education, the child with Autism has a higher chance of reintegrating into a traditional school setup faster. It also improves the child’s self-esteem and reduces the frustration and anger that may happen as a result of being unable to perform classroom task

Medical care: Autism has no physical symptoms of its own, but certain behaviors that your child displays can be physically harmful as well. For instance, if your child has a tendency to bite their nails or bang their head against the wall, the doctor at the Autism clinic in India may prescribe treatment to curb such tendencies or to minimize the physical harm caused by them
Dietary changes: Some parents may observe that certain foods trigger more aggressive behavior in their children than others and may thus want to remove those foods from the child’s diet. For instance, food items that trigger gut inflammation may increase the child’s discomfort and make them more agitated.

However, before making any such modifications, it is important to take a doctor’s approval so that your child continues to get the vitamins and minerals they need. In particular, some research has shown that children with Autism tend to have thinner bones than usual, so talk to your doctor about incorporating bone-building nutrients into your child’s meal plan. Overall, a diet that is rich in immunity-building foods will improve your child’s overall health and fitness and thus help them respond better to Stem Cell Therapy for Autism

Sensory integration: Many therapists and doctors recommend sensory integration therapy for children with Autism to compensate for the sensory overload they may experience when exposed to harsh noises, loud colors, or bright lights

Sensory integration therapy typically involves exposing your child to a variety of textures and products to handle, taste, smell, hear, and see. It is the best treatment for Autism to ease your child into a calm frame of mind so that they can concentrate on schoolwork and other activities. Additionally, it also reduces the occurrence of tantrums, roughhousing, and meltdowns that happen due to poor ability to cope with sensory input

Art therapy: Art therapy can help children with Autism develop a greater sense of self-awareness and experience a sense of ‘feeling good’ owing to the release of endorphins in the brain. Art therapy drawing, painting, sculpture, craft, and any other forms of art. It does not matter how talented the child is, art therapy is about encouraging happiness
Stem Cell Therapy: Two physiological findings consistently reported in children with Autism is the presence of a chronic inflammatory condition in the gut as well as diminished oxygenation in certain parts of the brain. In this context, recent advances in Autism treatment have demonstrated that the intravenous insertion of stem cells derived from umbilical cord tissue or bone marrow can decrease inflammation in the patient, thereby reducing the symptoms of Autism

How Stem Cell Therapy is used in the treatment of Autism

As a parent, if you notice Autism symptoms in your child such as delayed developmental milestones, inability to meet the eye, lack of babbling, lack of response to the child’s name being said, and so on, the first step is to contact a pediatrician for a confirmed Autism diagnosis. After evaluating your child’s symptoms and assessing the severity of brain damage, the pediatrician will work with you to decide on the best Stem Cell Therapy for Autism for your child. While it is not true that Autism is curable with early intervention, it is certainly highly treatable with the right kinds of therapy and Stem Cell Therapy in particular.

The use of Stem Cell Therapy became popular in the late 1990s and the early 2000s as a way to treat rare metabolic disorders. After witnessing breakthrough results in reversing cognitive decline, it was speculated that Stem Cell Therapy could also be effective as a treatment for neurodevelopmental disorders like Autism. Several clinical trials have in fact demonstrated the efficacy of Stem Cell Therapy in Autism. It is rapidly becoming a favored treatment option in India for children with Autism to help them develop the functional abilities they need.

Unlike typical forms of Autism treatment therapy, stem cell treatment targets the core disease pathology and is therefore a crucial first step towards giving an affirmative answer to the question ‘can Autism be cured’. Essentially, Autism stem cell treatment involves harvesting the cells either from the patient or from someone else, mixing it with growth factors and hormones as needed, and then injecting or infusing the cells through controlled doses over several days or weeks. The more these cells are administered, the better they can gravitate towards the damaged area and heal it.

Most medical Autism treatment involves the use of anti-inflammatory agents, antibiotics, and hyperbaric oxygen to alleviate and reverse the symptoms. However, these current treatments for Autism do not focus on the root causes of Autism symptoms, namely immune degeneration and deprivation of oxygen to the brain, both of which are directly linked to impaired brain function. In recent years, Stem Cell Therapy has come into the limelight as one of the best Autism treatments in India and the first step towards a potential Autism cure. Stem Cell Therapy for Autism is minimally invasive and a safe option that can significantly reduce your child’s Autism symptoms.

Umbilical cord tissue

In one popular type of Stem Cell Therapy for Autism, the stem cells used are derived from human umbilical cord tissue, donated by mothers after healthy live births. These stem cells are scanned thoroughly for viruses and bacteria before being approved for use in Autism treatment. Stem cells from umbilical cord tissue are ideal for treating Autism as it removes the need to collect stem cells from the patient, which can be a tedious and unpleasant process for young children and their parents. Physicians can easily administer these cells in uniform doses over the course of several days, with as high a concentration of stem cells in each dose as needed.

Bone marrow tissue

This is a highly effective form of Stem Cell Therapy for Autism in India. Stem cells possess the unique property to morph into different cells and structure-specialized cells from the original mother cell. These stem cells from bone marrow tissue have the capacity to repair root-level neural damage at the molecular, functional, and structural levels. They can also regulate cell differentiation, anti-inflammatory action, and organ and tissue repair.

Children with Autism who have received bone marrow stem cell treatments have shown significant improvement in behavioral patterns like hyperactivity and repetitive motor mannerisms, as well as sensory processing abilities. Improved eye contact, less aggressive behaviour, stronger speech and communication skills, and reduced self-stimulating behaviours are some of the other results observed in children after Stem Cell Treatment for Autism in India. Bone marrow tissue may be autologous (taken from the patient’s own body) or allogeneic (taken from a third-party after suitable tissue matching).

As the parent of a child with Autism, it is essential that you read up as much as you can about Stem Cell Therapy for Autism, including peer-reviewed journals where the information is far likelier to be accurate than in videos created by amateurs. You should also ask the right questions at the Autism clinic in India, such as

Who will be administering the Stem Cell Therapy for Autism doses
Whether the person in question is equipped to handle any adverse reactions to the transfusion that may occur
Where the stem cells have come from
What the dosage amount is
Which laboratory has provided the stem cells
How the cells will be shipped and stored prior to application
Whether donor-patient matching is required
Whether there are any clauses in the treatment agreement that prohibit you from discussing the outcomes of the stem cell treatment
Whether receiving treatment now at a for-profit clinic will disqualify your child from taking part in any clinical trials later

It is also important to be aware of the side effects of Autism stem cell treatment, such as the patient’s body rejecting the donor cells or even being attacked by them as a result of donor-graft disease, a potentially dangerous condition.

Cost of Stem Cell Therapy for Autism in India

Stem Cell Therapy is a highly complex process that requires trained professionals and suitable physical and emotional care for the patient both during and after the procedure. While the Autism stem cell treatment cost in India depends on the type of stem cells used, quality of treatment, overhead costs, expertise of the surgeons and other factors, it is generally an expensive procedure.

A patient can expect to pay about 7000 to 12000 USD as stem cell Autism cost at hospitals in major cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai or Pune. Even so, the stem cell transplant cost in India is much lower than in countries like the US or the UK, making it a preferred destination for people around the world seeking low-cost Stem Cell Therapy.

With regard to the question of ‘does Stem Cell Therapy work for Autism?’, the success rate for Stem Cell Therapy treatment is about 60% to 80%. Most patients have shown a significant improvement in symptoms like hyperactivity, eye contact, and overall motor control, making Stem Cell Therapy a significant breakthrough in Autism treatment that is worth your time and investment.

Best Autism treatment clinic in India

At Plexus Neuro and Stem Cell Research Centre in Bangalore, we are committed to ensuring that your child can get the most from recent advances in Autism treatment. Our experienced stem cell therapists make use of autologous bone marrow stem cells to treat patients with Autism. By extracting cells from the patient’s own body, we eliminate the risk of any side effects that may occur when third-party cells are injected into the body.

Prior to commencing Stem Cell Therapy for Autism, we conduct a thorough examination of the patient and make note of any underlying conditions before extracting the cells from the patient’s bone marrow under local anesthesia. After the Stem Cell Therapy for Autism has been conducted, patients are discharged on the same day and called back for sessions as needed.

We also work with you to decide on other forms of Autism treatment therapy for your child, such as Occupational Therapy or Social Skills Therapy. As the best Autism clinic in India, we offer world-class Stem Cell Therapy for Autism and ensure a safe and comfortable environment for you and your child.

Frequently Asked Questions related to Stem Cell Therapy for Autism in India

What is the success rate of Stem Cell Therapy in India?
The success rate for Stem Cell Therapy in India varies from case to case.

Can Autism be cured permanently?
With early intervention, there are high possibilities of curing Autism.

Does Stem Cell Therapy work for Autism?
Yes, Stem Cell Therapy works for Autism.

How much does Stem Cell Therapy cost in India?
The cost of Stem Cell Therapy depends on the condition that is being treated with it, However, it usually varies between 3 and 5 lacs.

Where can I find successful Stem Cell treatment in India?
You can find successful Stem Cell Therapy with promising results at Plexus Neuro and Stem Cell Research Centre.