Monday 9 December 2013

Deafness Awareness:documentary in kannada

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQZayyuI7jA

Finally I made a documentary for the Kannada audience as well.Please share this & help to create awareness about hearing disability & its impact on lives of kids.I also happy to inform that I have finally been able to convince National Rural Health Mission (Dept of Women & Child Health,Karnataka) & they have decided to carry out hearing screening for children all over Karnataka.We are starting a pilot at K C General Hospital & NRHM with six center's outside Bangalore.I have been pursuing this cause & must thank Bangalore Pediatric Society (IAP,Bangalore Branch) to give me a platform to present this cause.This is just the beginning & there is a long road ahead to reach the goal of improving lives of the hearing impaired.Please help to spread awareness about hearing loss & its impact.

Thursday 5 December 2013

Unilateral hearing loss in children

share click share to read.

We have diagnosed 7 cases of unilateral sensorineural hearing loss in children in the last 6 years in our center.I would like to add that clinical history,examination & radiological investigations usually help to find etiology or cause of deafness.3 cases had distinct radiological findings like abnormal inner ear development.Other 3 had history of viral illness like mumps.One case did not have any specific finding & was worked up for autoimmune etiology.
Habilitation & regular follow up is vital.

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Working with special or differently abled children

On the International day of persons with disability 3rd December -would like to elaborate the role of my specialty with the differently abled.

The United Nations report of 2013 enumerates 15% of the world population to be living with some form of disability (physical,mental & sensory).In India ,approximately 10% of population suffers from disabilities related to locomotion,vision,hearing & intellect as per the NSSO 2010 report.

All you need has been given to you with your child. You’ve got love. Everything starts from there.
As an ENT surgeon,I routinely work with special children & their parents.The role of an ENT will be in assessing,diagnosing ear, nose,throat problems & helping in habilitation alongside the therapists.
Ear:
Often hearing disability or impairment goes undiagnosed as it is not as explicit or obvious as physical impairment or blindness.Ear wax & middle ear effusions should be regularly attended to as in any other child.
Reduced hearing acuity during infancy and early childhood interferes with the development of speech and language skills, because it is likely that the child will not receive adequate auditory, linguistic, and social stimulation required for speech and language learning, social and emotional development, and that family functioning will suffer accordingly (NIH, 1993).It can be argued that these effects are even larger in a population with an intellectual disability.
There are also communication disorders which can be of several types including expressive language disorder & mixed receptive-expressive language 
Nose: Commonly we come across nasal allergy,infection,muscular tone /nasopharyngeal narrowing due to structural abnormality or adenoids.
Throat:
Specific problems in differently abled children are drooling & swallowing or feeding difficulties.
It is considered abnormal for a child older than four years to exhibit persistent drooling and this problem is most commonly seen in special children.The management is tailored case basis.It can be conservative-speech therapy & oral stimulation therapy to use of Appliances –Dental.We also sometimes use anticholinergic drugs.Injection of botox in the salivary gland & Surgery is reserved for severe cases.

Inter relationships  among development of feeding & swallowing & other developmental domain.
Motor skills -> Ability to hold things -> Delay in self feed
Communication development ->Ability to express need ->Attitude towards food
Medical condition -> Delayed feeding patterns->Need to be fed with food textures

ENT Surgeon plays an important role in feeding & swallowing team.
I love my different special beautiful children




In conclusion,there is so much to do & help our special kids.Its all about strengthening their abilities...as a team.

"It was ability that mattered, not disability, which is a word I'm not crazy about using." - Marlee Matlin











Trust real doctors sitting in front of you, not internet....

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