SHILLONG: To spread awareness about certain behavior of children known as autism, World Autism Day was celebrated on Saturday at Community Hall, Mawkhar in which parents of autistic children and others attended the programme.
Sandi Syiem, director of SANKER spoke of the theme of ‘Toward autonomy and self-determination’, he said, “Many people think that autistic people are helpless but people with autism are not retarded.”
He informed that 1 in 100 children suffer from autism spectrum.
When asked on what are the factors that leads to autism in the child, Syiem said, “Reasons are plenty. There is genetic factor. If the maternal age is higher or if the mother is 35 years and above there are chances of children getting autism.”
Maintaining that autism has no cure, he said that autistic children can lead a life of autonomy and teach them to be self dependent. Speaking on the plight of parents, he said, “It is difficult for parents to come to terms that their children are suffering from autism.” In this connection, he said that parents need to be counseled that their children can be taught to live a life like others.
He added that awareness programmes will help parents comprehend and accept their children as they are. When asked about the symptoms of autism, Syiem said, “It is when children have difficulty in communication, even after they reached 3-4 years of age.”
“There are others who learn to communicate but after sometime, they stop communicating. Their actions also tend to be repetitive,” he added.
He informed that some famous people who are known to be autistic are Albert Einstein, Mozart, Leonardo Da Vinci.
Replying to a query as to the number of people who frequented SANKER who have autism, he said, “In these three years, there are over 30 people out of which two are females. But for the last two months, three females came here. Most of them are young people” he added.
