A step towards an Inclusive Society
On the occasion of autism awareness month, Kidaura held an event to spread the awareness of a more inclusive society along with Digital Impact Square at Digital Impact Square, Nashik on Saturday, 2nd of April, 2019. The event started at 4:30 pm. Many of the Psychologists, parents, and students came together and shared their wonderful ideas and experiences. Everyone had gathered together to spread the message of accepting differences but with a similar vision of scattering hope, and contributing for a Noble cause.
The event was started by a small introduction by the team members about Kidaura, the importance of early identification, the golden period and how technology can help in early identification. The people on the panel were introduced and welcomed with a warm heart. The people on the panel were Dr. Rohini Achval, Dr. Uma Bachhav, Dr. Anjali Kale and Mrs.Sarita Pagare. They shared valuable thoughts to the questions asked by the team members and the audience present. The few questions addressed by the panel were,
Why the Symptoms of autism in the golden period is sometimes missed or overlooked?
The children’s show symptoms from a very early age which are often not taken seriously. Some people say these symptoms are due to hyperactivity or are due to the Hearing impairment or that the children are just misbehaving according to their age which some people think will be fine as they grow and start to understand.
How parents contribute to early identification?
Parents play an important role as they are with the child most of the time. Some of the common early symptoms of autism are poor or no eye contact, not sitting in one place, not responding to when their name is called. These symptoms if identified should be taken seriously by the parents.
What is the role of the school and teachers?
Along with the parents, teachers should also be trained in this condition and the special needs of the children’s. As in Autism, what not to do is more important than what to do. They should be able to identify the symptoms and convey to the parents tactfully without hurting their emotions.
How to infer that the child is getting proper help?
With proper interventions, the child show improvement in eye contact starts responding to name,(may not be all the time but 3 out of 5 times when you call). There are various scales to measure the development like the Indian Scale for Assessment of Autism (ISAA), behavioral checklist, childhood Autism rating scale. The evaluations should be bought out periodically.
A very important thought shared by the panel was, as autism is not a disease, it is a dynamic condition so there is no question that is it curable or not.Interventions can prove to be very helpful in the development of the child.The parents present shared their views and experiences. A great message to spread hope was given by, Mr. Anthony.
The next session was Technology as assistance, by the team. A video on this topic was presented followed by information on how the technology can help in the betterment of the child. Early Screening, constructive plays can be a very helpful tool in early identification. The team of Kidaura gave information about their contribution to this.
This was further led by a key speaker of the event, Dr. Krishnaveni Achary. She gave information about the three main aspects affected in this condition and how they can be overcome. The aspects discussed were communication, writing, and observation. Dr. Krishnaveni put the light on how new technology and tablet intervention can be helpful in education and life learning.
It was an amazing experience that would help everyone to widen their tubular vision. Also, the Views exchanged during the event were indeed thought-provoking. It was truly a valuable effort of the young generation to create a more inclusive society.
Everyone present shared their aspirations on how they would like to see the future of autism. People want to see the future where these conditions are viewed and treated the same way other physical conditions are treated. They think of more schools and properly structured curriculum to be developed for children’s with autism. The future needs to have more NGOs and government support. They want the world to accept them with their uniqueness.
A succulent plant was given to everyone as a token of love and the bond to grow as the plant grows. The event came to end by a thank you note by the team members. Then the booths were open to giving more information about Kidaura and Auptimism team.
