HEALTH Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, has acknowledged that, on the strength of concerned parents, advocacy for its awareness and stepped up support, autism has been recognised in the last two years. In an invited comment, to the Guyana Chronicle, he said the health sector’s push to deliver improved services will see greater emphasis being placed on such forgotten issues and mechanisms are being put in place to ensure that its workers recognise children victims much earlier.
“Because people did not recognise autism for what it is, children fell into a vicious cycle of not learning, adding to their other challenges,” Ramsammy admitted.
However, he said this paradigm will shift, starting with health workers, who will be trained to recognise autism in support for stakeholders dealing with it.
Vice-President of Guyana Greenheart Autistic Society (GGAS), Mrs. Karen Williams, welcomed the changed approach and said it will bolster their work.
Currently, GGAS operates from the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) building, in Brickdam, Georgetown.
“The YWCA offered us the use of space and we are grateful for that,” she said, noting that a major feature of their work is the delivery of education through Guyana Greenheart Autism School.
Williams, who is also the school’s Administrator, explained that classes are for children between the ages of three and seven years, as well as teenagers up to 17-years-old.
She said morning classes are for the younger children and are structured for three terms a year to make sure they have the support they need.  But the teenagers have a more flexible arrangement.
Williams pointed out that each child has an individual curriculum dedicated to their educational needs.
Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others.

DIFFERENCE
For children, specialist individual education, therapy and structured assistance can make a difference.
Williams said GGAS is looking to further collaborate with the current Administration on other fronts.
“There have been moves in the area of health, but now we are hoping to work with other Ministries to further develop the support framework autistic children and their parents have,” she said.
Williams said, through GGAS, a proposal has been sent to the Ministry of Education to help train specialist teachers who will be dedicated to working with affected children.
“We have two specialists from overseas we want to bring in to work with teachers here and we hope to work with the Education Ministry, so that we could have teachers from CPCE (Cyril Potter College of Education) and the special needs schools involved. We need dedicated teachers,” she said.
Williams said GGAS hopes to have dialogue with Minister of Housing, Mr. Irfaan Ali, to secure a lot for a permanent facility where services to stakeholders will be available.
She reported that autism stakeholders are making progress and Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) is a leading partner of GGAS.
According to her, several workshops have been conducted for parents and some special needs education teachers dealing with autistic children.
One of GGAS teachers, Mr. Keon Cheong, said each child will have an individual programme plan, which is developed in collaboration with parents and supporting specialists.
“We are expecting the curriculum to be very beneficial because it employs different methodologies, which were researched and proven as workable,” he informed.
Cheong said the curriculum spawns art, physical education, dance, music and swimming.
Autism has no known single cause but is a mental disorder that affects the way the brain works; is not contagious; is more common in boys than girls; is found throughout the world in families of all ethnic and social backgrounds and does not have a cure but there are treatment options that can help a child lead a fulfilled life.                                                  
However, early diagnosis and treatment programmes are, therefore, crucial for the improvement and progress of a child patient.