Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
A YOUNG schoolgirl, who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, is undergoing sessions in an oxygen chamber in a bid to help her improve her everyday life skills.
The family of Sara Hassan Mohammed are convinced that the sessions have resulted in the six-year-old showing a vast improvement in her social, behavioural, speech and mobility skills.
The child is currently receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) at Hospitalia By Yara located in Gardens Plaza Budaiya – and 40 sessions are now being sponsored by Dr Adel Abdulaal and the hospital’s founder, Yara Jameel Salman, as a gesture of goodwill.
Dad Hassan, who works for Bahrain Defence Force, said: “We cannot begin to express how thankful we are to Yara and Dr Adel for their generosity and for helping Sara. They are amazing individuals.
“This is such a blessing as continuing the treatment was proving too much for us and we already had loans out. Sara loves Dr Adel and thanks to him she has really improved.
“She reacts better now when we talk to her, she takes directions well and is really interacting with us. Before, we had to move her hand to just pick up a cup for example, or a spoon to eat. Now she gets her own water or she will ask us for help if she can’t reach for something. With consistency and direction she is starting to respond and take more notice of us.”
Sara did not show signs of the disorder at first. In fact, as a toddler she loved to dance, sing and play with her older sister, Salwa, now aged nine. The family recalls how her laughter and sweet voice would echo throughout the Mohammed family home in Salmabad.
Suddenly, around the age of two, Sara stopped singing. She stopped communicating with her dad and mum, Enas. She stopped playing with her sister and would stay alone in a room for hours on end.
Concerned by her behaviour her parents sought advice from several medical centres and after tests were carried out the diagnosis was made.
Autism, or autism spectrum disorder, refers to a range of conditions characterised by challenges with social skills and repetitive behaviour. Its most-obvious signs tend to appear between the ages of two and three.
Hassan said: “We didn’t understand it or know how to deal at first. My wife and I were devastated and while we kept asking how this happened and why, we knew that what we really needed to do was seek help and be there for Sara. She is our light and all we wanted was to see her smile, sing, play and talk again.”
Enas dedicated hours researching about the disorder and looking at ways to assist the child. She said: “By the time Sara was three-and-a-half her autism started getting worse. We were at a loss to what to do and then I came across hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) which is said to help. We were willing to try anything.”
HBOT is a treatment that involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurised room or tube. In the chamber, the air pressure is increased to three times higher than normal air pressure.
Under these conditions, the lungs can gather more oxygen than would be possible breathing pure oxygen at normal air pressure.
The blood carries this oxygen throughout the body which then helps fight bacteria and stimulates the release of substances called growth factors and stem cells, which promote healing.
Medical institutions use HBOT to treat conditions such as severe Anemia, burns and wounds that will not heal, decompression sickness, sudden deafness, infection of skin or bone that cause tissue death, vision loss and radiation injury.
The Centre for Autism Research and Education (CARE) in the US is one of the six research centres that participated in a ground-breaking study of the use of HBOT for the treatment of children with autism. A total of 62 children with autism were given either the therapy or a placebo treatment.
After 40 hours of the therapy, physicians rated children in the treatment group as significantly improved in overall functioning, receptive language, social interaction, and eye contact.
Nine out of 30 children in the treatment group were rated as very much improved or much improved.
Parents, reported improvements in overall functioning, language and eye contact as well as improvements in irritability, repetitive behaviours and hyperactivity.
These improvements were not observed in the placebo group.
Treatment often begins with 40 hours of 60-120 minute sessions in close succession, typically for two hours per day, five days per week. Assessment of response and progress then determines future treatment schedules.
Reading up on the benefits, Enas and Hassan took Sara to King Hamad University Hospital and met Dr Adel, an expert in the field. He recommended Sara undergo a course of 40 sessions which cost BD1,600.
Friends started raising funds to help cover the cost of the treatment and another stepped in to help with school fees after Sara was accepted into Kayan Special Education in Salmabad.
After completing the course at King Hamad further treatment did not appear possible because of the cost. In the meantime, Dr Adel had taken on a new role as a consultant in hyperbaric medicine at Hospitalia By Yara.
When he heard about their plight he jumped into action. “When I first met Sara she was not very responsive and wouldn’t even make any eye contact with me,” he explained. “I saw a difference in her abilities after the first course of treatment and urged the parents to continue.
“They are such a loving family and you can see they care for their daughter and are working hard to help her.”
Adel spoke to Yara about Sara’s case and they decided to work together to cover the cost of an entire second course, which is made up of another 40 sessions.
Yara said: “The family needed help and hope and it felt right to step forward at this time. Sara is a beautiful little girl and we simply wanted to help.”
Dr Adel added that Sara made great strides almost immediately after starting the new course and has notably improved in recent weeks.
“She still needs speech therapy and one-on-one teaching but if we combine all these things - the behavioural courses and the therapy - this child should live a happy and fulfilled life in the future,” he believes.
Sara has since completed 26 sessions at Hospitalia and has 14 left to go. After completing the course it will take around three months to witness the full benefits. She would then be ready to start a recommended third course if the neccesary funds can be raised.
- If you can help, contact editor@gulfweekly.com and we will put you in contact with the family.
