CHILDREN with autism do not suffer because they do not try to do better to control their condition but the biggest problem is that the people around them are not ready to understand how they communicate, how they play and how they deal with the changes that are happening in their lives.
This is what Dr. Onyinye Nwaneri, the executive director of Sesame Workshop International South Africa, says about the challenge facing the whole world in the fight against autism, as on Friday, the World Autism Awareness Day was celebrated, which is a day whose purpose is to teach, enrich and make people aware of this condition.
Autism is a condition that affects the way a person communicates with others, the way they send messages to others and the way they look at life. Dr. Nwaneri said that the biggest problem in this country is that there is very little – if anything is being done by the educationists – to teach about this situation which makes it difficult for many people to fully and completely understand it.
“In rural areas it is worse as it is often seen after a while that a child has autism and it is difficult and that families with children with this condition are quickly taken advantage of and resources are scarce,” said Dr Nwaneri.
Continuing, he said that making a difference can start by understanding that correcting the situation will not be possible by celebrating this day and doing campaigns only from time to time, rather it must be an activity that is done every day especially in schools because that is where the children are.
“It is also necessary to quickly identify which children have a problem with this situation, so that those who need support like their parents at home, can take advantage of it as soon as possible to reduce the burden,” he said.
A study conducted in Limpopo, in 2023, found that teachers trying to support children with autism are required to face a number of other challenges every day. The challenges include inadequate infrastructure, lack of school resources and inadequate support from their administrators.
“That indicates that the big problem is not that the teachers do not want to help these children but that not enough is being done so that they can achieve that task in the right way. This clearly shows that instead of helping each other to solve the existing problem, a lot of responsibility is being pushed on the teachers to see for themselves. It turns out to be very bad at home as many people do not understand this situation,” said Dr Nwaneri.
Ngo-2024, i-South African Journal of Communication Disorders conducted research that revealed that in the rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal, there seems to be a greater need to raise awareness and educate people about autism, the need to create groups to teach about it, to give psychological advice to those who care for children with it and to teach about it in general.
Another study conducted by-South African Journal of Communication Disorders in 2024, it found that there is often a delay – at least three years – to find the first sign that indicates that a child has autism and to start a care program so that the condition does not enslave him and does not torture him.
“That delay is a problem because it can interfere with the child’s education for the rest of his life and if everything had been found early and quickly – it would have made the damage less than that or not at all,” advises Dr Nwaneri.
“This existing gap needs to be closed immediately and people should be taught about the nature of autism, which if a child has it, it will make it difficult for them to communicate with other people in a normal way and for it to be difficult for them to understand what they are being told. We need to start slowly now and teach each other about this condition to help our children grow up in the same way as others who do not have it,” he advised.