The Severity Factor
I use two different scales to assess the severity of the autism before starting autism treatment; one is a form that I devised long ago and the other is CARS (CHILDHOOD AUTISM RATING SCALE) they serve as an extensive study of the case.
Here is a sample section of the rating form (atec) that I ve modified over the last 12 years
Sensory assessment cognitive assessment scale
Give 2 if he scores poorly- give 1 if his ability is between 30 percent and 75 perecnt ,, give zero (0) if he is above 75 percent mark in his particular ability.
1. Ability to respond when called out his name |
2. ability to look at pictures in a book in a focused way |
3. Looks at people and animals |
4. his ability to respond to praise |
5. can draw some figures or scribble constructively |
6. his ability to play with toys constructively |
7. does he have appropriate face expressions |
8. Understands stories on T.V. |
9. his ability to understand emotions and respond accordingly |
10. his awareness of the surroundings |
11. Danger awareness |
12. activity initiation |
13. Imaginative Abilities |
14. his age appropriate ability to dress himself up |
15. Curious, interested |
16. his ability to explore things around him in a constructive way |
17. Is he in tune with the world or does space out |
18. Focus in a group |
This above is just a small sample of the form.
It can take 3-4hrs even for a parent who is pretty hands-on with autism, to fill the forms properly. Based on that I usually form my opinion. My observation also plays a role; over the period of last two years since I started treating autistic kids online, I have to rely more on these forms (that’s why I keep on modifying the form time to time). At present I am treating autistic kids from nearly 30 different countries around the world.
Homeopathic relation to the severity of autism is not as simple as it might sound initially. The statement that less severe the autism, the faster and better is the chances of recovery is true. But what is severe autism? and what is mild autism? (from the treatment point of view) differs from the rating scale point. Again it will be slightly complicated but I’ll try and describe it in as explicit way as I can.
For example -Being verbal or non verbal is one of the major issue. Even though other symptoms are less and the rating may be not very high, the severity of that autism will be higher in relation to the homeopathic treatment of autism. What I mean to say is that some aspects of autism bear more gravity to the case in comparison to other symptoms. The virtue of being verbal for an autistic kid has a strong value and such kids improve much faster than non verbal kids.
Presence of some speech even ‘very little’ if present has a great value in the homeopathic treatment of autism.
Another example is that of symptom ‘being hyperactive’. This also tends to define the severity of autism. More hyperactive the child; slower is the rate at which he would improve with homeopathy.
Now when I look at my stats , I can easily infer that kids with hyperactivity being very severe ,have improved less in comparison to kids who were less hyperactive. Here I am talking about cases where the hyperactivity was high and all other symptoms were not severe and even cognitive abilities were not bad.Plainly speaking some symptoms or some aspects if present in more proportion cause hindrances and are a dampening factor in the homeopathic treatment of autism.
Please remember that overall severity of autism is also very difficult to treat. In the previous paragraphs I have been talking about cases where specific symptoms were more in proportion to other symptoms. If the overall rating of the child is high the recovery chances are less and if at all, will be very slow