Aditi Shankardass: A second opinion on learning disorders

Translator: Ditte Duclert Reviewer: Louise Frilund

When I was 10 years old,

Da jeg var 10 år gammel,

a cousin of mine took me on a tour of his medical school.

viste min fætter mig rundt på sit medicinstudie.

And as a special treat,

Og som noget helt særligt

he took me to the pathology lab

viste han mig patologilaboratoriet

and took a real human brain

og tog en rigtig menneskehjerne

out of the jar

ud af glasset

and placed it in my hands.

og lagde den i mine hænder.

And there it was,

Og der lå den,

the seat of human consciousness,

sædet af den menneskelige bevidsthed,

the powerhouse of the human body,

kraftens hus i det menneskelige legeme,

sitting in my hands.

liggende i mine hænder.

And that day I knew that when I grew up,

Og den dag vidste jeg, at når jeg blev voksen,

I was going to become a brain doctor,

så ville jeg være hjernelæge,

scientist, something or the other.

videnskabsmand eller noget i den retning.

Years later, when I finally grew up,

Flere år senere, da jeg endelig blev voksen,

my dream came true.

blev min drøm til virkelighed.

And it was while I was doing my Ph.D.

Og det var imens jeg var i gang med min Ph.D.

on the neurological causes

om de neurologiske årsager

of dyslexia in children

til ordblindhed i børn,

that I encountered a startling fact

at jeg stødte på en overraskende kendsgerning,

that I'd like to share with you all today.

som jeg gerne vil dele med jer i dag.

It is estimated that one in six children,

Det anslås, at 1 ud af 6 børn,

that's one in six children,

det er et ud af seks børn,

suffer from some developmental disorder.

lider af en slags udviklingsforstyrrelse.

This is a disorder that

Det er en lidelse, der

retards mental development in the child

forsinker den mentale udvikling i barnet,

and causes permanent mental impairments.

og forårsager permanente psykiske handicaps.

Which means that each and every one of you here today

Og det betyder at hver og en af jer her i dag

knows at least one child that is suffering

kender mindst ét barn, der lider

from a developmental disorder.

af en udviklingsforstyrrelse.

But here's what really perplexed me.

Men det der virkelig forvirrede mig var,

Despite the fact that each

at til trods for kendsgerningen, at hver

and every one of these disorders

og en af disse lidelser

originates in the brain,

har oprindelse i hjernen,

most of these disorders

så bliver de fleste af disse lidelser

are diagnosed solely on the basis

kun diagnosticeret på basis

of observable behavior.

af observerbar adfærd.

But diagnosing a brain disorder

Men at diagnosticere en hjernesygdom

without actually looking at the brain

uden rent faktisk at kigge på hjernen,

is analogous to treating a patient with a heart problem

svarer til at behandle en patient med et hjerteproblem

based on their physical symptoms,

baseret på deres fysiske symptomer,

without even doing an ECG or a chest X-ray

uden overhovedet at foretage en EKG eller røntgenfotografering

to look at the heart.

for at se på hjertet.

It seemed so intuitive to me.

Det virkede så intuitivt for mig.

To diagnose and treat a brain disorder accurately,

For at diagnosticere og behandle en hjernesygdom præcist,

it would be necessary to look at the brain directly.

måtte det være nødvendigt at kigge direkte på hjernen.

Looking at behavior alone

At kigge på adfærden alene kan betyde,

can miss a vital piece of the puzzle

at man går glip af en vigtig brik i puslespillet

and provide an incomplete, or even a misleading,

og det giver et ufuldstændigt, eller ligefrem vildledende

picture of the child's problems.

billede af barnets problemer.

Yet, despite all the advances in medical technology,

Og til trods for alle fremskridt inden for den medicinske tekonologi,

the diagnosis of brain disorders

forblev diagnosticeringen af hjernesygdomme

in one in six children

i et ud af seks børn

still remained so limited.

stadig så begrænset.

And then I came across a team at Harvard University

Og så stødte jeg på et team på Harvard Universitet,

that had taken one such advanced medical technology

der havde taget den avancerede medicinske teknologi

and finally applied it,

og endeligt anvendt den

instead of in brain research,

i stedet for hjerneforskning,

towards diagnosing brain disorders in children.

for at diagnosticere hjernesygdomme i børn.

Their groundbreaking technology

Deres banebrydende teknologi

records the EEG, or the electrical activity

registrerer EEG eller den elektriske aktivitet

of the brain, in real time,

i hjernen i realtid,

allowing us to watch the brain

hvilket lader os se på hjernen,

as it performs various functions

mens den udfører forskellige funtioner

and then detect even the slightest abnormality

og vi kan se selv de mindste abnormaliteter

in any of these functions:

i hver af disse funktioner:

vision, attention, language, audition.

syn, opmærskomhed, sprog, hørelse.

A program called Brain Electrical

Et program kaldet Hjernens Elektriske

Activity Mapping

Aktivitetskortlægning

then triangulates the source

triangulerer så kilden

of that abnormality in the brain.

til denne abnormalitet i hjernen.

And another program called

Og et andet program, der hedder

Statistical Probability Mapping

Statistisk Sandsynlighedskortlægning,

then performs mathematical calculations

udfører så matematiske udregninger

to determine whether any of these abnormalities

for at bestemme om disse abnormaliteter

are clinically significant,

er klinisk signifikante,

allowing us to provide a much more accurate

hvilket giver os en meget mere nøjagtig

neurological diagnosis

neurologisk diagnose

of the child's symptoms.

af barnets symptomer.

And so I became the head of neurophysiology

Og så blev jeg leder af neurofysiologi

for the clinical arm of this team,

for den kliniske del af dette team.

and we're finally able to use this technology

Nu kan vi endelig bruge denne teknologi

towards actually helping

til rent faktisk at hjælpe

children with brain disorders.

børn med hjernesygdomme.

And I'm happy to say that I'm now in the process

Og jeg kan med glæde sige, at jeg nu er i gang med at

of setting up this technology here in India.

etablere denne teknologi her i Indien.

I'd like to tell you about one such child,

Jeg vil gerne fortælle Jer om et sådant barn,

whose story was also covered by ABC News.

hvis historie også blev fortalt på ABC News.

Seven-year-old Justin Senigar

Syv-årige Justin Senigar

came to our clinic with this diagnosis

kom til vores klinik, diagnosticeret

of very severe autism.

med svær autisme.

Like many autistic children,

Ligesom hos mange andre autistiske børn

his mind was locked inside his body.

var hans sind indelåst i hans krop.

There were moments when he would

Der var øjeblikke, hvor han

actually space out for seconds at a time.

blev helt tom i blikket i flere sekunder ad gangen.

And the doctors told his parents

Og lægerne sagde til hans forældre,

he was never going to be able

at han aldrig ville kunne

to communicate or interact socially,

kommunikere eller fungere socialt,

and he would probably never have too much language.

og at han sikkert aldrig ville have meget sprog.

When we used this groundbreaking EEG technology

Da vi brugte den banebrydende EEG teknologi

to actually look at Justin's brain,

for faktisk at se på Justins hjerne,

the results were startling.

var resultatet overraskende.

It turned out that Justin was almost

Det viste sig at Justin næsten helt

certainly not autistic.

sikkert ikke var autistisk.

He was suffering from brain seizures

Hen led af slagtilfælde i hjernen,

that were impossible to see with the naked eye,

som man umuligt kunne se med det blotte øje,

but that were actually causing symptoms

men som faktisk forårsagede de symptomer,

that mimicked those of autism.

der lignede autisme.

After Justin was given anti-seizure medication,

Efter Justin fik anti-slagtilfældemedicin,

the change in him was amazing.

var forandringen i ham utrolig.

Within a period of 60 days,

Inden for en periode på 60 dage

his vocabulary went from two to three words

voksede hans ordforråd fra to-tre ord

to 300 words.

til 300 ord.

And his communication and social interaction

Og hans kommunikation og sociale adfærd

were improved so dramatically

blev så meget bedre,

that he was enrolled into a regular school

at han blev indskrevet i en almidelig skole,

and even became a karate super champ.

og han blev endda karatemester.

Research shows that 50 percent of children,

Forskning viser at 50% af børn,

almost 50 percent of children

næsten 50% af børn

diagnosed with autism

diagnosticeret med autisme,

are actually suffering from hidden brain seizures.

rent faktisk lider af gemte slagtilfælde i hjernen.

These are the faces of the children

Disse er ansigterne på børnene,

that I have tested

som jeg har testet,

with stories just like Justin.

med historier ligesom Justins.

All these children

Alle disse børn

came to our clinic with a diagnosis

kom til vores klinik diagnosticeret

of autism, attention deficit disorder,

med autisme, opmærksomhedsunderskud,

mental retardation, language problems.

mental retardering, sprogproblemer.

Instead, our EEG scans revealed

I stedet viste vores EEG-scanniger

very specific problems hidden within their brains

meget specifikke problemer gemt i deres hjerner,

that couldn't possibly have been detected

som umuligt kunne have været opdaget

by their behavioral assessments.

via adfærdsmæssige vurderinger.

So these EEG scans

Derfor hjalp disse EEG-scanniger

enabled us to provide these children

os med at give disse børn

with a much more accurate neurological diagnosis

en meget mere nøjagtig neurologisk diagnose

and much more targeted treatment.

og en meget mere målrettet behandling.

For too long now, children with developmental disorders

I alt for lang tid nu har børn med udviklingsforstyrrelser

have suffered from misdiagnosis

lidt af fejldiagnoser,

while their real problems have gone undetected

mens deres rigtige problemer forbliver uopdagede

and left to worsen.

og forværres.

And for too long, these children and their parents

Og i for lang tid har disse børn og deres forældre

have suffered undue frustration and desperation.

lidt unødig frustration og desperation.

But we are now in a new era of neuroscience,

Men nu er vi i en ny æra af neurovidenskab,

one in which we can finally look

i hvilken vi endelig kan se

directly at brain function in real time

direkte på hjernens funktioner i realtid,

with no risks and no side effects, non-invasively,

uden risici eller bivirkninger, ikke-invasivt,

and find the true source

og finde den sande kilde

of so many disabilities in children.

til så mange handicaps i børn.

So if I could inspire

Så hvis jeg kan inspirere

even a fraction of you in the audience today

selv kun en brøkdel af jer i publikum i dag

to share this pioneering diagnostic approach

til at dele denne banebrydende diagnostiske metode

with even one parent whose child

med blot én forælder hvis barn

is suffering from a developmental disorder,

lider af en udviklingsforstyrrelse,

then perhaps one more puzzle

så bliver måske endnu et puslespil

in one more brain will be solved.

i en hjerne løst.

One more mind will be unlocked.

Endnu et sind kan blive befriet.

And one more child who has been misdiagnosed

Og endnu et barn som er blevet fejldiagnosticeret,

or even undiagnosed by the system

eller helt udiagnosticeret af systemet,

will finally realize his or her true potential

kan endeligt realisere sit sande potentiale,

while there's still time

mens der stadig er tid

for his or her brain to recover.

til at hans eller hendes hjerne kan komme sig.

And all this by simply watching the child's brainwaves.

Og alt dette blot ved at kigge på barnets hjernebølger.

Thank you.

Tak.

(Applause)

Bifald.