Lecturer of Dai Nam University of Medicine "decodes" autism spectrum disorder in children

In the US, the autism rate in the 1960s was 1/2500 children, by 2000 it was 1/150, by 2010 it was 1/68 children and by 2015 it was 1/45 children.

In Vietnam, research by the National Children's Hospital shows that the number of children diagnosed and treated for autism is increasing; the number of autistic children coming for examination in 2007 increased 50 times compared to 2000; the number of children coming for autism treatment in 2007 increased 33 times compared to 2000.

Research by some authors in 2014 (Nguyen Thi Huong Giang, Pham Trung Kien, Nguyen Thi Hoang Yen) found that the rate of autism in children fluctuates between 4-5‰. Research by Hoang Van Minh (2019) showed that the national rate of autism in Vietnamese children is 7.6‰. Up to now, the cause of autism has not been determined, there are only a few hypotheses such as poisoning, brain damage, environment, genetics, etc.

Research by many authors shows that early detection and treatment are very important. If detected early, there will be many opportunities (30%) to integrate into society.

In developed countries, autism can be diagnosed very early in the first months of life through screening and the use of early autism detection screening tools. However, in Vietnam, there are still many misconceptions about autism, even pediatricians do not fully understand autism and do not have the skills to diagnose early. This is also the reason why children with autism are often detected late after 36 months of age.

Many studies have shown that parents play a very important role in detecting early signs of autism. If they see “warning” signs of autism in their children, parents need to take their children for autism screening using specialized tools.

Illustration photo.

The “warning” signs of autism in children include: no eye contact, no response to name, no response to affection, no imitation, no play with others, no babbling at 12 months, no single word utterance at 16 months, unclear speech at 24 months, loss of language or social skills at any age. In contrast to the indifference and subjectivity towards autism, many children are overdiagnosed with autism.

In Vietnam, there is a lack of coordination between relevant sectors, leading to a lack of consensus on approaches, perspectives on diagnosis, intervention and care for autistic children. Autism diagnosis is often “late, missed” or “overdiagnosed”.

According to the World Health Organization's standards, diagnosing a child's developmental disorder (including autism) requires 5 experts trained in the field of child psychology/psychiatry such as a pediatric psychiatrist, child psychologist, special education teacher, speech/occupational therapist, etc., and according to the US standards, 6 experts independently assess children in different environments including hospital, family and community.

Currently, there are many autism intervention methods, but in general, there are biomedical methods (using pharmaceuticals, nutrition, physical therapy, stem cells, etc.), psychological-educational methods (psychoanalytic therapy, psychomotor therapy, speech therapy, special education methods such as ABA, TEACCH, PECS, PCS, FLOORTIME, etc.) and some other methods such as animal therapy, hydrotherapy, music therapy, etc.

However, the results of intervention methods are still very limited, parents must be very patient, spend a lot of time and money, not only that, it also greatly affects the quality of life of families with children with autism. If unfortunately having a child with autism, parents will have a very hard time, the child will be lucky and can have a life close to normal if accompanied by parents, relatives and society.

Sharing with families with children with autism, the United Nations has chosen April 2 every year as “World Autism Awareness Day”, with the aim of calling on countries to increase attention and understanding of this syndrome. Let us all act now for autistic children with the message “Autism cannot wait”.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Trung Kien