Parents call attention to Autism's mysteries

Parents, professionals and legislators are gathering tomorrow from 8am to 11am at the Joeten Kiyu Library conference room for a workshop organized and facilitated by members of the Parents Association for Children with Autism.

The debate between genetics and environment is heating up among professional circles as care providers and parents seek remedies and design therapies to address the condition now popularly called “mindblindness,” or Autism Spectrum Syndrome.

Are children born to be autistic, or did they get something from the environment (chemical and social) that caused the disorder?

Pediatrician William Flood and mental health officer Adrian Brenn informed symposium participants in January that the state of knowledge on autism is primitive.

Diagnosis and evaluation is done purely on observed behavior. Causes and cures are as varied as there are diagnosticians and evaluators.

In October 2000, President Clinton signed into law a bill that will provide $40 million a year for five years for autism research. It will set up “centers of excellence” for studying causes and treatments for autism as well as other centers for tracking the disorder.

It will also fund an awareness campaign aimed primarily at doctors.

PACA members took the initiative to organize and gather information about the disorder before the Developmental Disabilities Council even recognized the disorder as falling within their purview.

Frank D. Cabrera, PACA president and now, vice chair to the DD Council, recalls how he and his wife wandered about for three years trying to locate information and assistance upon recognizing that their son was differently-abled.

There are therapies that carry the approval of mainstream medicine and special education programs.

But for Elaine Crisostomo, currently a special education aide with PSS, getting the diagnosis of autism for her son was just one step up a long, rough road that continues as her son now struggles through Junior High School special education curriculum.

For some in the CNMI, this crucial step of diagnosis often comes late. It takes time for parents to realize that something is different about their child, and more time to accept it before they seek assistance.

It takes more time for professionals to agree that there’s a problem, and more time to figure out what it is. One will diagnose a hearing disorder, another a language problem, and still another, that the child is emotionally disturbed.

Not very long ago, autism was attributed to the mother’s coldness and was used by moralist against women in the workplace to convince them to stay at home and care for the kids.

Jerry and Lanie just had their child diagnosed with autism and is now receiving peripheral attention from PSS Early Childhood program.

They recently joined PACA. With the slow and scarce attention being provided by the public sector, parents are educating themselves to mainstream and alternative remedies. Most recently, the use of the hormone secretion to induce brain cell growth became a craze in the internet community.

Issues on diagnosis and evaluation, interventions and remedies, public programs and private initiatives, government policies and budgetary apportionment are expected to be items for discussion in Saturday’s workshop.

PACA secretary, Cheryl Salalila, said: “hot beverages and pastries will be served,” to encourage participants to come to the Workshop early.