One in 8 kids in India has a neuro-developmental disorder

The case for early paediatric intervention when it comes to neuro-developmental disorders becomes stronger. India’s first community-based survey shows that census estimates of such disorders is very far off the mark.

The study, done by researchers from across 50 institutes in India, says that one in eight children between the ages of two to nine years may have at least one neuro-developmental disorder, such as hearing-impairment, autism, cerebral palsy, ADHD and learning disability.

A large number of these disorders were caused by poor birth practices and infections in early childhood. They had received little or no treatment.

The 2011 census says the prevalence of the disabilities is only up to 1.1% among children between 0-4 years of age, and up to 1.5% in those of age 5-9 years. The community survey, on the other hand, shows that the numbers are as high as 19%!

Over 3,500 children living at five areas – Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, North Goa and Hyderabad were surveyed by the team. As many as 475 of them were found to have one or more of these disorders.

The common disorders found were hearing impairment, speech and language disorders, autism spectrum disorders, intellectual disability, vision impairment, epilepsy and cerebral palsy and other neuro-motor impairment. In addition, learning disability and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were also found.

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