Parents focus on autism

Cheryl is a diminutive housewife who drives around island in an elevated pick-up. Jack is a construction worker while his wife Paulina prepares food for a catering concern, both are Filipino contract workers.

Angela is a Korean business entrepreneur. Frank works for the government; his wife Vivian managed the family business and household. Emri runs a water delivery service and wife Gemma handles books for a store.

Willie and Ann manage a private mailbox enterprise. Elaine is a Special Education aide in one of the Elementary schools.

They all seem to be doing different things but they share something in common. They are all parents of children diagnosed with autism.

Their autistic children at age two invariably refused to make eye-to-eye contact when being talked to, or would communicate by pointing or grabbing their parents’ hand to bring them to the object of their interest.

They tend to echo other people’s words. When at play, they consistently line up toys symmetrically, and they seem satisfied playing alone for great lengths of time. When under stress, they have a habit of repeatedly banging their head against the wall or the floor, and they tend to repeat certain actions over and over again.

Banding together as a support and advocacy group called the Parents Association for Children with Autism (PACA), they have launched an Autism awareness campaign that begins with a Symposium this Saturday, Jan. 27, at the Joeten Kiyu Library Conference Room from 8:00am to 12:00noon, and will culminate with the declaration of April as Autism Awareness Month.

In coordination with the Office of the Governor, the Special Education Division of the Public School System, and the Mental Health Division, this Saturday’s Symposium will focus on what Autism is from a medical and diagnostic perspective, followed by a review what educational responses exist on island through the public school system.

“We want to enlighten and engage parents, aunties and uncles, grandparents, and anyone bewildered by what seem to be arrested development of children they know,” says Elaine Crisostomo, one of PACA’s treasurer.

“Parents need to participate in deciding the course of their children’s adaptation and learning interventions. PACA is reminiscent of the name of a typhoon, and we wish to harness the collective power of parents in advocating for the cause of children with developmental disabilities,” she added.