Sunday, February 12, 2012
Monday, June 27, 2011
How to manage an autistic child
Parents have been advised to report any difficulties in talking and communication they notice in their children at an early age to qualified medical personnel.
At an awareness seminar on autism organized by WOW D.I.V.A.S in Lagos, last weekend, child medical experts, special care givers, and other stakeholders were present to speak to parents and other interested parties on how to cope with an autistic child.
According to the medical experts, autism, a lifelong developmental disorder that seriously affects the way individuals communicate and interact with those around them, can be managed more effectively if discovered in a child at an early age, usually before three years.Abiodun Eke-Aluko, a paediatrician and director of The Premier Specialist Hospital, Lagos, said that parents should make sure that when they take their children for their vaccinations, they should ask their doctors to check the child’s development. She said a child who isn’t talking or communicating could be showing symptoms of autism.”Anytime they go to their doctors for their immunizations between the age of 6months and 3years, questions should be asked about areas of development especially in the areas that are well known to be affected - communication, interaction and play,” said Dr. Eke-Aluko.”If questions are asked at this time, we would be able to pick up these children as young as possible because the earlier it is, the better.
Early intervention leads to recovery. Most children if identified early can be helped to function better in the society,” she added.The Proprietress, Patricks Speech and Language Centre, Ikeja, Lagos, Dotun Akande, who was one of the speakers at the seminar, said she set up the first autism centre in Nigeria five years ago, after her son was diagnosed to be autistic when he was two and a half years.She encouraged parents who have autistic children to be proud of them and find ways to help the children deal with their challenges. “There are times we break down as parents but don’t be discouraged,” she said. “They should just be patient and not look at the other person. They should not look at the stigma attached to it but the benefits that the children would gain if they continue to help them out in their various challenges.”Nigeria has no recorded statistics of people living with autism, but internationally, it affects one in 150 people, putting the number of people living with it in Nigeria at an estimated 15million.
It has no known cause or cure. A child with autism has no noticeable physical representation, but has difficulties in communication.”The children are different in the sense that they have challenges with communication skills, social skills, and sometimes behaviour and imagination,” said Mrs. Akande.”They are so different in their component and in their mode of expressing themselves that sometimes people find them strange. When they see some of the behavioural issues, they think they are mad or they are badly behaved or there is something wrong with that child,” Mrs. Akande added.”You can teach skills to the children.
They take a longer period to learn but they do learn.” Ayo Idaomi, a member of WOW D.I.V.A.S network said the awareness on autism would be a continuous process. She added that there were plans to have a screening centre located in government hospitals where children can be screened early. For her, the seminar was necessary because they noticed that about 10 percent of members of the network were affected by autism.”We are a group of over 100 women who come together to empower one another, to inspire one another and uplift one another,” said Ms. Idaomi. The first Nigerian Autism Directory which contains a list of resource centres, nutritionists, hospitals, paediatricians, websites, special schools and normal schools that cater for children with Autism was launched at the seminar.
CARE Experts advise on ways to manage children living with the communication disorderPull quote: If questions are asked at this time, we would be able to pick up these children as young as possible because the earlier it is, the better. Early intervention leads to recovery. Most children if identified early can be helped to function better in the society
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At an awareness seminar on autism organized by WOW D.I.V.A.S in Lagos, last weekend, child medical experts, special care givers, and other stakeholders were present to speak to parents and other interested parties on how to cope with an autistic child.
According to the medical experts, autism, a lifelong developmental disorder that seriously affects the way individuals communicate and interact with those around them, can be managed more effectively if discovered in a child at an early age, usually before three years.Abiodun Eke-Aluko, a paediatrician and director of The Premier Specialist Hospital, Lagos, said that parents should make sure that when they take their children for their vaccinations, they should ask their doctors to check the child’s development. She said a child who isn’t talking or communicating could be showing symptoms of autism.”Anytime they go to their doctors for their immunizations between the age of 6months and 3years, questions should be asked about areas of development especially in the areas that are well known to be affected - communication, interaction and play,” said Dr. Eke-Aluko.”If questions are asked at this time, we would be able to pick up these children as young as possible because the earlier it is, the better.
Early intervention leads to recovery. Most children if identified early can be helped to function better in the society,” she added.The Proprietress, Patricks Speech and Language Centre, Ikeja, Lagos, Dotun Akande, who was one of the speakers at the seminar, said she set up the first autism centre in Nigeria five years ago, after her son was diagnosed to be autistic when he was two and a half years.She encouraged parents who have autistic children to be proud of them and find ways to help the children deal with their challenges. “There are times we break down as parents but don’t be discouraged,” she said. “They should just be patient and not look at the other person. They should not look at the stigma attached to it but the benefits that the children would gain if they continue to help them out in their various challenges.”Nigeria has no recorded statistics of people living with autism, but internationally, it affects one in 150 people, putting the number of people living with it in Nigeria at an estimated 15million.
It has no known cause or cure. A child with autism has no noticeable physical representation, but has difficulties in communication.”The children are different in the sense that they have challenges with communication skills, social skills, and sometimes behaviour and imagination,” said Mrs. Akande.”They are so different in their component and in their mode of expressing themselves that sometimes people find them strange. When they see some of the behavioural issues, they think they are mad or they are badly behaved or there is something wrong with that child,” Mrs. Akande added.”You can teach skills to the children.
They take a longer period to learn but they do learn.” Ayo Idaomi, a member of WOW D.I.V.A.S network said the awareness on autism would be a continuous process. She added that there were plans to have a screening centre located in government hospitals where children can be screened early. For her, the seminar was necessary because they noticed that about 10 percent of members of the network were affected by autism.”We are a group of over 100 women who come together to empower one another, to inspire one another and uplift one another,” said Ms. Idaomi. The first Nigerian Autism Directory which contains a list of resource centres, nutritionists, hospitals, paediatricians, websites, special schools and normal schools that cater for children with Autism was launched at the seminar.
CARE Experts advise on ways to manage children living with the communication disorderPull quote: If questions are asked at this time, we would be able to pick up these children as young as possible because the earlier it is, the better. Early intervention leads to recovery. Most children if identified early can be helped to function better in the society
Thursday, June 9, 2011
A Nigerian Wins $62,050 Harvard Scholarship Award
Two-time winner of the NB Plc sponsored National Reading Competition; Miss Chisom Mildred Okpala has been offered a four-year scholarship to study at Harvard University, United States of America.
The National Reading Competition is an annual general knowledge competition among secondary schools students in Nigeria. The competition is in three stages ; states, zonal, and national finals.And students are asked written general knowledge questions at state level before been given specific books to read at zonal and final levels.
Chisom, who is 18, and ranked No. 1 among those that applied, got admitted to Harvard with a $62,050 (N9.5 million Naira) scholarship a year to be increased each year as school fees increase. The scholarship covers tuition, room and board, personal expenses (pocket money), travel allowance (flight to the US and an international vacation during the holidays) and health insurance. This scholarship offer was made possible because Harvard has the highest endowment fund for any university in the world, which is $25 billion.
Planning to study Economics and Computer Science in addition to doing a minor in Creative Writing, Chisom said Harvard admitted just 6% of the record number of applicants this year and she was honoured to be part of the incredibly low but distinguished 6%.
Speaking on how her success in the National Reading Competition had stood her in good stead for clinching the scholarship, she said “I don’t think my acceptance to Harvard would have been possible without the National Reading Competition.
As part of supplementary materials for my application, I submitted newspaper pages on which I was featured for my victory at the two editions of the Competitions. I think it caught their fancy because the admissions officer who interviewed me mentioned something about it”.
Chisom emerged winner in the third and fourth editions of the competition in 2008 and 2009. On each occasion, she was awarded a laptop and cash prize of N200,000. She also won for her school, two desk-top computers, two printers and books worth N650,000.
The National Reading Competition is an annual general knowledge competition among secondary schools students in Nigeria. The competition is in three stages ; states, zonal, and national finals.And students are asked written general knowledge questions at state level before been given specific books to read at zonal and final levels.
Chisom, who is 18, and ranked No. 1 among those that applied, got admitted to Harvard with a $62,050 (N9.5 million Naira) scholarship a year to be increased each year as school fees increase. The scholarship covers tuition, room and board, personal expenses (pocket money), travel allowance (flight to the US and an international vacation during the holidays) and health insurance. This scholarship offer was made possible because Harvard has the highest endowment fund for any university in the world, which is $25 billion.
Planning to study Economics and Computer Science in addition to doing a minor in Creative Writing, Chisom said Harvard admitted just 6% of the record number of applicants this year and she was honoured to be part of the incredibly low but distinguished 6%.
Speaking on how her success in the National Reading Competition had stood her in good stead for clinching the scholarship, she said “I don’t think my acceptance to Harvard would have been possible without the National Reading Competition.
As part of supplementary materials for my application, I submitted newspaper pages on which I was featured for my victory at the two editions of the Competitions. I think it caught their fancy because the admissions officer who interviewed me mentioned something about it”.
FIRST MAN OFFICIALLY CURED OF HIV/AIDS
Since HIV was discovered 30 years ago this week, 30 million people have died from the disease, and it continues to spread at the rate of 7,000 people per day globally, the UN says.
There’s not much good news when it comes to this devastating virus. But that is perhaps why the story of the man scientists call the “Berlin patient” is so remarkable and has generated so much excitement among the HIV advocacy community.
Timothy Ray Brown suffered from both leukemia and HIV when he received a bone marrow stem cell transplant in Berlin, Germany in 2007. The transplant came from a man who was immune to HIV, which scientists say about 1 percent of Caucasians are. (According to San Francisco’s CBS affiliate, the trait may be passed down from ancestors who became immune to the plague centuries ago. This Wired story says it was more likely passed down from people who became immune to a smallpox-like disease.)
What happened next has stunned the dozens of scientists who are closely monitoring Brown: His HIV went away.
“He has no replicating virus and he isn’t taking any medication. And he will now probably never have any problems with HIV,” his doctor Gero Huetter told Reuters. Brown now lives in the Bay Area, and suffers from some mild neurological difficulties after the operation. “It makes me very happy,” he says of the incredible cure.
The development of anti-retroviral drugs in the 1990s was the first sign of hope in the epidemic, transforming the disease from a sudden killer to a more manageable illness that could be lived with for decades. But still, the miraculous cocktail of drugs is expensive, costing $13 billion a year in developing countries alone, according to Reuters. That figure is expected to triple in 20 years–raising the worry that more sick people will not be able to afford treatment.
Although Brown’s story is remarkable, scientists were quick to point out that bone marrow transplants can be fatal, and there’s no way Brown’s treatment could be applied to the 33.3 million people around the world living with HIV. The discovery does encourage “cure research,” according to Dr. Jay Levy, who co-discovered HIV thirty years ago, something that many people did not even think was possible years ago.
There’s not much good news when it comes to this devastating virus. But that is perhaps why the story of the man scientists call the “Berlin patient” is so remarkable and has generated so much excitement among the HIV advocacy community.
Timothy Ray Brown suffered from both leukemia and HIV when he received a bone marrow stem cell transplant in Berlin, Germany in 2007. The transplant came from a man who was immune to HIV, which scientists say about 1 percent of Caucasians are. (According to San Francisco’s CBS affiliate, the trait may be passed down from ancestors who became immune to the plague centuries ago. This Wired story says it was more likely passed down from people who became immune to a smallpox-like disease.)
“He has no replicating virus and he isn’t taking any medication. And he will now probably never have any problems with HIV,” his doctor Gero Huetter told Reuters. Brown now lives in the Bay Area, and suffers from some mild neurological difficulties after the operation. “It makes me very happy,” he says of the incredible cure.
The development of anti-retroviral drugs in the 1990s was the first sign of hope in the epidemic, transforming the disease from a sudden killer to a more manageable illness that could be lived with for decades. But still, the miraculous cocktail of drugs is expensive, costing $13 billion a year in developing countries alone, according to Reuters. That figure is expected to triple in 20 years–raising the worry that more sick people will not be able to afford treatment.
Although Brown’s story is remarkable, scientists were quick to point out that bone marrow transplants can be fatal, and there’s no way Brown’s treatment could be applied to the 33.3 million people around the world living with HIV. The discovery does encourage “cure research,” according to Dr. Jay Levy, who co-discovered HIV thirty years ago, something that many people did not even think was possible years ago.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Chelsea will be without midfiefder Franl lampard in their match aginst Man City tomorrow
- CHELSEA WILL BE WITHOUT THEIR CNTRE MIDFIEDER FRANK LAMPARD AS THEY CLASH WITH THEIR OPPONENT TOMMORROW
- ASTON VILLA STRIKER GABRIEL AGBONLAHOR IS BATTLING TO BE FIT FOR SUNDAYS DERBY WITH WOLVES AT MOLINEUX
- RANGERS STRIKER KYLE LAFFERTY HAS REVEALED HE HJAD NO INTERREST IN TALKING TO BLACKPOOL THIS SUIMMER AS HE WANTS TO PROVE HIMSELF AT IBROX.
- SUNDERLAND DEFENDER TITUS BRMBLE STREBOUSLY DENIES ANY WRONGDOING AFTER BEING ARRESTED ON SUSPICION OF RAPE, THE CLUB'S CHAIRMAN NIALL
- MARCELLO LIPPI HAS REVEALED HE IS READY TO RETURN TO MANAGEMNENT AMID GROWING SPECULATION HE WILL REPLACE CLADIO RANIERI AT ROMA
Thursday, July 29, 2010
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