09 May 2016

Autism Botswana recently organised family fun day for children with autism to give them platform to interact with each other.  

Speaking at the event, the chairperson of Autism Botswana, Mr Monde Kote, said the day was for children with autism to celebrate with others and also to spead the message about autism.

He noted that the event that was a wrapping up the month of autism, which was April, was also organised for parents and guardians to come together to share ideas on raising children with autism.

Member of Autism Botswana, who is also a certified behaviour analyst consultant, Ms Maleswana Mauco, said autism was a developmental disability caused by differences in the mind. 

She said children with autism could show different symptoms such as delay in development stages, failure to communicate and they were also sensitive.

Ms Mauco stated that they might communicate, interact, behave, and learn in ways that were different from most other people. 

She said the learning, thinking, and abilities of people with autism could range from gifted to severely challenged, adding that children with autism  needed a lot of help in their daily lives.

She further noted that autism was a community disorder because the family members as well as other community members were involved in the growth of such kids.

In addition to that, she said raising a child with autism was always difficult since the parent could not attend community events such as weddings or funerals because the child needed a parent close by most of the time.

Ms Mauco explained that children with autism developed the same way as others in terms of puberty stage, citing that their bodies changed like any others and they must be taught well on how to take care of such changes and it is again a major challenge.

However, she mentioned that Autism is still a major concern because of lack of facilities and some services like occupational therapy, speech language therapy as well as behavior analyst therapy for building up their skills.

Meanwhile, the pricipal disability officer from Office of the President Ms Moshia Moalusi said though autism was not known much in the country, government was putting in efforts to assist those living with autism.

She said Camphill School was under piloting initiative to provide services which cater for children with autism. 

She also noted that parents groups to educate and exchange information on autism are important as they raise awareness about the condition. ENDS