How Dementia Impacts Children?

Majorly found in adults particularly elders, dementia also affects children. Children with dementia show personality changes and unusual or distressing behavior. Further, it leads to memory loss; affects ability to think clearly, creates difficulty in understanding words and recognizing people.

Causes

In children it may result due to several factors like - infection, poisoning, lack of some nutrients, brain injury etc. Also, some unique disorders can also cause dementia. In some cases dementia arises due to genetic factors and often metabolic disorders also that affect brain. In pregnant mothers, insufficient folic acid i.e. Vitamin B9 can also cause underdeveloped infant brain cells resulting in dementia later in child’s life.

Symptoms

The commonest symptom of dementia is memory loss. But just memory loss by itself does not mean that a child has dementia. Other accompanying symptoms are personality and behavior changes, clumsiness, stumbling, or slow learning. Children may also develop mental impairment, progressive loss of motor skills and sight, and seizures. The child may look healthy from outside but, on the inside, their brain is not functioning appropriately.

Problems Faced By Children Afflicted With Dementia

Dementia affects people differently. Children with dementia have significantly impaired intellectual performance and it interferes with their normal activities. Due to increasing forgetfulness, the child may not be able to follow directions and instructions. A child may lose his ability maintain emotional control, and may experience problems such as agitation, delusions, and hallucinations etc. He may repeat the same story over and over, again and ask same questions many times. Also they face difficulty in communicating. He may face difficulty in finding right words or completing sentences. They also have problems with thinking and recognizing people, and will sometimes forget what things are used for.

Coping Dementia In Children

Most importantly parents must always be in contact in with the child and must interact with him frequently. It will give the child an opportunity to ask questions and express his feelings, fear and experiences. Adults around kids affected with dementia must always remember that the child may not be able to take too much information download at one time and so you must always try to keep it simple and respond to their questions at their level.Be in strong coordination with the child’s teacher or school counselor. Let them know about dementia and that child suffering from it requires specialized attention. Visit school from time to time to check if the child has experienced any problems. Encourage learning about dementia in the school environment and with the child’s friends and peer groups.

Ahead With Autism

Autism is just another word for many parents till their child gets diagnosed with it. Their immediate response to the shocking news is – ‘absolute denial’. They enter into the denial mode and further they decline to accept the child’s present health condition. They begin to feel anxious and depressed and some parent may even feel angry and resentful; others totally feel helpless and defeated. They start worrying about the child’s future and his ability to live normal life. Living with autism pose several new challenges for the person afflicted with it and along with him - his parents, family members and friends.

Identifying Autism

Behavioral characteristics: For onlookers it’s not easy to figure out if the child is autistic. Instructions like ‘be quiet’ or ‘behave properly ‘holds very little meaning for an autistic person. Petty day to day task such as going to park or shopping may present difficulty for parents and friends. Some of the behavioral characteristics of  autistic children are – delayed or no response to stimuli , repetition of certain words or activity, use of reversal pronoun such as ( calling ‘you’ in place of ‘I’) etc.

Diagnosis: For identification of any disease proper diagnosis is essential. One of the major hurdles faced by parents of children with autism in India is to obtain an accurate diagnosis. Presently, there are no sure shot medical tests for Autism. A general diagnosis is based on observed behavior and psychological analysis. Moreover, they are to be to be done in the presence of team of specialists consisting of a pediatric neurologist, a psychiatrist, etc. Also, team may include an audiologist, to test if there is any amount hearing loss, a speech and language therapist to determine language skills, an occupational therapist to evaluate motor skills.

Understanding Autism               

Autism, also known as pervasive developmental disorder (PDO) majorly affects social interaction communication and reciprocity, ranging from mild to severe.  Autistic disorder begins early in childhood and it starts becoming apparent from the age of two or three and becomes noticeable as the child grows. Basically, Autism results because of neurological problem affecting the brain.

Curing Autism

Autism unlike other developmental disorders does not have a proper cure. There are varied therapies and programmes meant for healing Autistic persons. It is important for the parents of autistic children to be informed of issues related to the disease. Parents and family members should seek advice from professional team of doctors for their child’s treatment. They must address and communicate their concerns to counselors from time to time.