TEDIndia 2009
Aditi Shankardass: A second opinion on developmental disorders
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Developmental disorders in children are typically diagnosed by observing behavior, but Aditi Shankardass suggests we should be looking directly at brains. She explains how one EEG technique has revealed mistaken diagnoses and transformed children's lives.
Aditi Shankardass - Neuroscientist
Aditi Shankardass is pioneering the use of EEG technology to give children with developmental disorders their most accurate diagnosis. Full bio
Aditi Shankardass is pioneering the use of EEG technology to give children with developmental disorders their most accurate diagnosis. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
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When I was 10 years old,
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a cousin of mine took me on a tour of his medical school.
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And as a special treat,
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he took me to the pathology lab
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and took a real human brain
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out of the jar
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and placed it in my hands.
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And there it was,
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the seat of human consciousness,
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the powerhouse of the human body,
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sitting in my hands.
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And that day I knew that when I grew up,
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I was going to become a brain doctor,
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scientist, something or the other.
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Years later, when I finally grew up,
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my dream came true.
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And it was while I was doing my Ph.D.
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on the neurological causes
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of dyslexia in children
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that I encountered a startling fact
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that I'd like to share with you all today.
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It is estimated that one in six children,
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that's one in six children,
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suffer from some developmental disorder.
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This is a disorder that
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retards mental development in the child
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and causes permanent mental impairments.
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Which means that each and every one of you here today
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knows at least one child that is suffering
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from a developmental disorder.
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But here's what really perplexed me.
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Despite the fact that each
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and every one of these disorders
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originates in the brain,
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most of these disorders
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are diagnosed solely on the basis
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of observable behavior.
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But diagnosing a brain disorder
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without actually looking at the brain
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is analogous to treating a patient with a heart problem
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based on their physical symptoms,
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without even doing an ECG or a chest X-ray
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to look at the heart.
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It seemed so intuitive to me.
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To diagnose and treat a brain disorder accurately,
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it would be necessary to look at the brain directly.
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Looking at behavior alone
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can miss a vital piece of the puzzle
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and provide an incomplete, or even a misleading,
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picture of the child's problems.
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Yet, despite all the advances in medical technology,
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the diagnosis of brain disorders
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in one in six children
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still remained so limited.
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And then I came across a team at Harvard University
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that had taken one such advanced medical technology
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and finally applied it,
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instead of in brain research,
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towards diagnosing brain disorders in children.
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Their groundbreaking technology
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records the EEG, or the electrical activity
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of the brain, in real time,
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allowing us to watch the brain
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as it performs various functions
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and then detect even the slightest abnormality
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in any of these functions:
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vision, attention, language, audition.
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A program called Brain Electrical
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Activity Mapping
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then triangulates the source
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of that abnormality in the brain.
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And another program called
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Statistical Probability Mapping
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then performs mathematical calculations
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to determine whether any of these abnormalities
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are clinically significant,
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allowing us to provide a much more accurate
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neurological diagnosis
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of the child's symptoms.
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And so I became the head of neurophysiology
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for the clinical arm of this team,
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and we're finally able to use this technology
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towards actually helping
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children with brain disorders.
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And I'm happy to say that I'm now in the process
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of setting up this technology here in India.
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I'd like to tell you about one such child,
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whose story was also covered by ABC News.
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Seven-year-old Justin Senigar
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came to our clinic with this diagnosis
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of very severe autism.
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Like many autistic children,
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his mind was locked inside his body.
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There were moments when he would
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actually space out for seconds at a time.
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And the doctors told his parents
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he was never going to be able
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to communicate or interact socially,
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and he would probably never have too much language.
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When we used this groundbreaking EEG technology
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to actually look at Justin's brain,
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the results were startling.
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It turned out that Justin was almost
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certainly not autistic.
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He was suffering from brain seizures
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that were impossible to see with the naked eye,
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but that were actually causing symptoms
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that mimicked those of autism.
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After Justin was given anti-seizure medication,
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the change in him was amazing.
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Within a period of 60 days,
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his vocabulary went from two to three words
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to 300 words.
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And his communication and social interaction
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were improved so dramatically
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that he was enrolled into a regular school
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and even became a karate super champ.
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Research shows that 50 percent of children,
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almost 50 percent of children
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diagnosed with autism
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are actually suffering from hidden brain seizures.
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These are the faces of the children
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that I have tested
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with stories just like Justin.
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All these children
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came to our clinic with a diagnosis
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of autism, attention deficit disorder,
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mental retardation, language problems.
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Instead, our EEG scans revealed
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very specific problems hidden within their brains
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that couldn't possibly have been detected
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by their behavioral assessments.
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So these EEG scans
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enabled us to provide these children
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with a much more accurate neurological diagnosis
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and much more targeted treatment.
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For too long now, children with developmental disorders
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have suffered from misdiagnosis
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while their real problems have gone undetected
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and left to worsen.
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And for too long, these children and their parents
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have suffered undue frustration and desperation.
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But we are now in a new era of neuroscience,
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one in which we can finally look
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directly at brain function in real time
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with no risks and no side effects, non-invasively,
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and find the true source
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of so many disabilities in children.
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So if I could inspire
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even a fraction of you in the audience today
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to share this pioneering diagnostic approach
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with even one parent whose child
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is suffering from a developmental disorder,
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then perhaps one more puzzle
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in one more brain will be solved.
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One more mind will be unlocked.
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And one more child who has been misdiagnosed
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or even undiagnosed by the system
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will finally realize his or her true potential
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while there's still time
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for his or her brain to recover.
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And all this by simply watching the child's brainwaves.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Aditi Shankardass - NeuroscientistAditi Shankardass is pioneering the use of EEG technology to give children with developmental disorders their most accurate diagnosis.
Why you should listen
Aditi Shankardass is a neuroscientist trained across three disciplines of the field: neurophysiology, neuroanatomy and neuropsychology. She has also worked across different levels of the field, from cellular to cognitive neuroscience, and been based in research labs as well as diagnostic clinics. Currently, she leads the Neurophysiology Lab of the Communicative Disorders Department at California State University.
Much of Shankardass' work has been devoted to the use of an advanced form of digital quantitative EEG (electroencephalography) technology that records the brain's activity in real time, and then analyzes it using complex display schematics and statistical comparisons to norms, enabling far more accurate diagnoses for children with developmental disorders. She is also actively involved in public outreach to increase understanding of brain disorders as a board member of the Global Neuroscience Initiative Foundation and a consultant for the BBC Science Line.
Aditi Shankardass | Speaker | TED.com