Daily Times

Nobody is perfect, parents must accept their physically or mentally challenged children as a blessing of the Almighty Allah and put in their maximum efforts to improve the quality of their lives, said Autism Spectrum Disorder Welfare Trust (ASDWT) Chairperson Rukhsana Shah on Friday.

She was addressing a seminar in Wazirabad organized by the ASDWT to raise awareness in the local community about the about the Autism Spectrum Disorder.

District Officer Special Education Abdul Rafa and about 250 teachers, lady health workers, parents, psychologists and doctors attended the seminar.

Rukhsana Shah laid stress on recruiting trained teachers and clinical psychologists in all schools for autistic children instead of refusing admissions to them. She said there was no medicine for autism; it could only be cured by training, love and care.

Shah said autism was three times more common than the Down syndrome; one person in 68 had Autism Spectrum Disorder. It’s common in boys than girls with a ratio of 4:1. She said that it was very unfortunate most of the children with autism were tortured due to lack of awareness in the society.

ASD Welfare Trust Senior Clinical Psychologist Ms. Farah Amanat educated the participants about the symptoms of autism in children which included difficulty in mixing with other children, inappropriate laughing and giggling, no fear of dangers such as fire, little or no eye contact, sustained odd play, apparent insensitivity to pain, repeating of words, inappropriate attachment to objects and difficulty in expressing needs. . She said that symptoms of autism became visible in children in very early age, but parents went into self-denial due to lack of awareness. She also gave a short overview about the therapies used for curing autism spectrum disorder.

Later, Clinical Psychologist Sidra Ashiq also briefed the participants about another common disorder in children, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Published in Daily Times, November 17^th 2018.