Autism: NGO, trains parents on autistic behaviour

OLG Health Foundation, an NGO, on Thursday trained parents on how to care for children with special needs. Dr Doris Izuwah, Clinical Director, OLG Health Foundation, said that raising a child with special needs was very challenging so the foundation hopes to help parents reach out to their kids through the training.

Izuwah said this at a training conference for parents with special needs children in Abuja. She noted that the aim of the training was to enlighten parents on autistic behaviours and to teach them how to handle the kids at home

Izuwah said that teaching parents some of the behaviors of this children, would help them engage them with different tax at home. ”If parents understand these children and their abilities it will become very easy to relate with them. It is not all about bringing them to school because teachers can’t do it alone. ”We need the parents to understand that they must continue to teach, engage and encourage the children at home so that they don’t forget what they have learnt.

”Parents must also show them love and support so that they can express themselves easily and to bring up new ideas to help the children learn,” she said.

Izuwah further said that autism has no known cause at the moment, but environmental factors, not attending antenatal during pregnancy or prolonged labour could lead to autism.

She said that autism was the fastest growing serious developmental disability in the world adding that autism was present in all races and classes of people, and that it affected as many as one in every 68 children.

According to her, the aim of the foundation is to ensure that every child or adult affected by autism or other developmental challenge is given the opportunity to reach his or her full potential. She therefore urge parents of children with special needs not to give up on their kids, and that perseverance was key to defeating the defect.

Whitney Hammel, Executive Director, Autism Compassion Africa (ACA), urged parents with special needs children to see it as a blessings rather than misfortune.

Hammel said that parents should pay more attention to the children and discover their potential as every child has what he or she likes, that way, you can support them in achieving their goals and contributing to the society.