PPD afflicting more children, say doctors

PPD afflicting more children, say doctors

JAKARTA (JP): Doctors are calling for a greater awareness of
Pervasive Development Disorder (PDD) such as autism, as
statistics show a dramatic increase every year in the number of
children in this country suffering from the ailment.

PDD is a condition where the basic development in children,
such as their social behavior, oral and motor skills, and ability
to concentrate are impaired.

While the exact cause remains unclear, experts say viruses,
genetic factors, complications during pregnancy or delivery,
blood RH factor incompatibility between mother and child or even
air pollution, may contribute to the illness.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, the
number of children afflicted with PDD has been rising by around
10,000 to 12,000 annually in the past few years.

This number accounts for 0.15 percent to 0.2 percent of the
total number of births annually.

"But this problem is still untouched, even by doctors, as
proven by the lack of treatment centers for the illness, leaving
thousands of children untreated," former chairman of the
Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) Merdias Almatsier told
reporters on Wednesday.

These children, Merdias said, will become a burden to the
country in the future as they will be highly dependent on others
for their daily needs.

Merdias, who also chairs the Atira Treatment and Education
Center for PDD patients, said awareness of the disorder is very
poor as many still misperceive the condition as mental
retardation or mental disorder, when it is neither.

Psychologist Tisna Chandra said the general symptoms of the
illness include repetitive movements such as hand clapping and
moving about in circles, avoiding eye or other physical contact,
emotionally unresponsive and delayed or robotic speech tones.

"Autism patients also overly respond to sensory stimuli. They
can't stand light, pain or sound. They can be hypersensitive or
lacking sensitivity, aggressive, have sleeping or eating
disorders, a tendency to hurt themselves and laughing or crying
without reasons," she said.

According to Tisna, while autism is the most common type of
PDD, there are actually several other types of PDD that afflict
children such as Asperger Syndrome and Rett Syndrome.

The former is similar to autism but with normal cognitive and
verbal development. These children respond faster to therapy.

"Rett syndrome exclusively afflicts girls where the motor
abilities they once acquired gradually disappears. The other
symptoms are similar to other PDDs," she said.

PDD, she added, must be treated at a very early age, the best
period is between ages two and four.

The treatment is a combination of medical therapy and
behavior, speech, relaxation, sensory and occupational therapies.
The treatment also includes an educational program.

"It can't be 100 percent cured, maybe only 80 percent. But
some cases show that PDD patients are brilliant," Tisna said,
adding that Einstein had been autistic and Indonesian designer
Harry Dharsono was said to be autistic too.

PDD patients, she said, have an incredible visual capacity,
many even have photographic memories.

"While normal people think with language, they think visually.
That's why they have problems in associating things with words.
Their mind is like a video camera which records everything as
pictures," she said.

Unfortunately, parents are often late in recognizing the
telltale signs, thinking that their children are deaf, or worse,
mentally ill.

"Doctors, especially pediatricians are often unaware of the
signs too. They often tell parents that their children are normal
and that they should just be patient. By then, it will be too
late to treat them," Tisna said.

In an effort to increase awareness, she added, Atira will hold
a seminar on Nov. 10 to Nov. 11 at Le Meridien Hotel.

Any questions about PDD can be addressed to Atira at Jl.
Mampang Prapatan Raya No. 28, South Jakarta, telephone number
79191271 and e-mail address atira@satumail.com.(hdn)