HYDERABAD: The penchant of parents to give their young children mobile phones and tablets to keep them engaged is being seen by doctors as the main reason for the rise of autism cases.
Commemorating Sunday’s World Autism Day (April 2), many doctors caution parents against exposing their children to long screen times, while advising that early detection helps address the problem.
They recommend regular baby talk and developmental screening as a remedial measure. These help identify children with a high risk of autism at an early stage.
According to Dr Garima Vegivada, clinical director and child speech therapist at Hear ’N’ Say Clinic, “Motherese (baby talk) is a form of simplified, exaggerated melodic speech that parents use to communicate with new-born babies and toddlers. A horse becomes horsie; a dog becomes a doggie and parents become mama and dada. The tendency to speak in such short sing-song phrases is universal across cultures. The early signs of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are reduced by motherese communication. If a child does not respond to motherese before turning two, then it is time to seek help from a professional.”
Dr Vegivada cautioned parents, “Stop giving gadgets to infants and toddlers, just to engage the child in activities so that they can relax. This screen exposure can lead to autism.”
Sweta Siram, mother of an autistic child, said, “Initially I was not willing to accept the theories. Moreover, there was not much information about this. I did not want anybody to treat him differently. When I hit a dead-end, I started asking around in my friends circle and was surprised to know that so many of them had children in therapies.”
- Today is World Autism Day
