Educate public on autism, says mother, Senator

Wider sensitization and increased data collection on children on the autism spectrum are among the improvements that a government senator wants to be addressed in Barbados.

During her contribution to the Appropriation Bill, 2022 today, Senator Dr. Crystal Haynes acknowledged World Down Syndrome Day, recognized on March 21 annually, by sharing her personal story as the parent of an autistic child.

Addressing her colleagues in the Upper Chamber, Haynes spoke about the difficulties she faced in accessing help for him. She said she noticed challenges in her son when he began to regress in his use of simple words around the age of two years.

“It actually coincided with the start of the pandemic and initially we supposed that perhaps it was related to the fact that he was not allowed to go to nursery at the time and he was home a lot. But he started to lose his words gradually and kind of retreated to himself and started using gesturing and not using any words at all.”

She recalled that it was the pediatrician who flagged the possible diagnosis but the difficulty came, according to her, when they tried to get him assessed, and tried to find a therapist locally to help to support him in his early stages. The one major take away from that exercise, she noted, was that there were severe deficiencies both in the private and public sectors in this regard.

She told the Chamber there is a need for a wider sensitization effort so that the wider public could understand the early signs to look out for, since with most conditions, early intervention usually tends to mean more successful outcomes.

To this effect, Dr Haynes, a physician, applauded the Ministry of Education for its commitment to increasing its budget in the area of special needs education. She revealed that 15 teachers are expected to be on the receiving end of intensive training in a technique called Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communicationshandicapped Children (TEACCH).

The TEACCH programme, which was developed in the mid-1960s in the United States, was developed for autistic people of all ages and skill levels. It is used to promote learning and development – in particular, communication and social skills, independence, coping skills and skills for daily life.

Dr Haynes said: “What we do know based on data out of the Centre for Disease Control, levels of autism are rising in the United States. There is a relative deficiency in data for our population but between 2014 and 2021 there has been a 10 per cent increase in autism cases in the United States. So, the condition is on the rise and it would require our heightened level of vigilance and awareness in order to ensure that these children can be supported and they don’t fall through the cracks and that they can find a way to navigate life in a safe way and they can ultimately become productive citizens.”(KC)