A Non-Governmental聽Organisation, Child Health Improvement聽Programme聽(CHIP), in collaboration with the School of Medical Sciences (SMS), has organized workshop on Autism and Special needs. The workshop, which is the fourth to be held, had the theme: 鈥淏iomedical and Nutritional Intervention for the Special Needs Child鈥� and attracted participants from Pre-Schools, caregivers and some medical personnel. Autism is a whole body, multi system metabolic disorder which is also described as neurological and psychological criteria. Cells within the body play an important role and affect persons with such disorders especially their gastrointestinal system. For example, a leaking gut can cause discomfort to a child with this defect could be seen throwing tantrums anytime the system goes wrong.If this is detected early enough and the right help is provided, the consequences of the disorder are reduced to the barest minimum. Food and nutrition is also important to such persons since if the right food is not identified for them, it could also aggravate their conditions and they cannot therefore act well. Speaking at the workshop, a clinical nutritionist and metabolic specialist,聽Peta聽Cohen said identifying and forming a multidisciplinary network helps to find support for children with such disorders. The Metabolic specialist indicated that, children with Autism and other disorders were more likely to have greater intellectual disability and increased mortality than those without. 鈥淪eizures range from 5% and 38% than observed in typically developing children鈥�, she said. Peta聽Cohen noted that although many deficits in Autism Special Disorder (ASD) were social and cognitive, many affected individual with聽ASD聽also have substantial Gastrointestinal morbidity. 鈥淢ajor findings that may shed light on GI morbidity in聽ASD聽include the observation that children with Autism and GI systems show evidence of microbial deficiencies鈥�, Again Cohen said: 鈥渢he reported prevalence of GI disorders in children with聽ASD聽ranges from 9-91%鈥�. She said such children suffer from abdominal discomfort, constipation and persistent diarrhea. She averred that biology was not part of the definition or prognosis in spite of the prevalence of co-morbid conditions, 鈥渘o biological situation exits to identify autism at the moment鈥�. 鈥淢any of the co-morbid medical conditions can significantly impact health, development, social, education and daily living of persons with聽ASD鈥�. Again, she said many children diagnosed with聽ASD聽exhibited a wide range of co-morbid conditions including but limited to anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, bowel disease, gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and immune disorder. Others are聽neuro聽inflammation, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) Sensory integration disorder disorder, seizures and epilepsy, sleep problems and tuberous sclerosis. Explaining further, she mentioned that anxiety disorders were one of the most prevalent co- morbidities in聽ASD聽which might exacerbate and at times drive the core deficits of聽ASD. She noted that symptoms of聽ASD聽overlap with genetic,聽neurobiological聽and phenotypical symptoms of anxiety disorders.聽 聽聽
