Understanding children’s health

CHENNAI: Buddhi Clinic, the brainchild of Dr Ennapadam S Krishnamoorthy organised ‘The Problem Child’, a day-long scientific symposium and Buddhi immersion on Sunday at the Madras Management Association. Addressing the audience and setting the context of the symposium, convenor ES Krishnamoorthy said, “Today’s subject and discussion is going to be about ‘The Problem Child’ and we will be outlining the scientific advances to treatment and caregiving of a spectrum of conditions including epilepsy, autism spectrum disorders, ADHD and so on.”

The Governor of Tamil Nadu Banwarilal Purohit inaugurated the symposium and released the Tamil edition of Autism: The Buddhi Book. “Children constitute a sizeable number of our country’s population, and monitoring their health is an important area of concern for us. The government has been making continued efforts in terms of maternal and child care, and several inclusive education programmes to improve the quality of child health. I am happy to see Buddhi Clinic organising such a symposium by bringing stakeholders from other countries to India,” he said.

Talking about how integrating scientific advances with ancient practices can be beneficial, he shared, “The practice of Yoga has now become available to the world. Introduction of Yoga in schools will improve the mental health of children and wellness in society.”

As part of the event, The Thiru Appa Rao Lecture Award, Dr Krishnamoorthy Srinivas Lecture Award and Neurokrish Lecture Award were presented to Dr Joyce Harrison, Dr Jay Salpekar and Dr Pramir Rastogi respectively.

The inauguration was followed by a series of lectures including Dr Joyce Harrison’s nuanced talk on how adverse childhood experience and trauma result in neuropsychiatric, behavioural, developmental and somatic sequelae. Topics such as manifestations of adolescent stress, modern paradigms for diagnosis and treatment, management of behavioural concerns in children and a clinical approach to ADHD were also discussed.

People awarded

The Thiru Appa Rao Lecture Award, Dr Krishnamoorthy Srinivas Lecture Award and Neurokrish Lecture Award were presented to Dr Joyce Harrison, Dr Jay Salpekar and Dr Pramir Rastogi respectively.