Overcoming autism with children

April 2nd of each year is chosen by the United Nations as "World Autism Awareness Day" with the aim of calling on the community to increase attention and understanding of autism spectrum disorder, helping autistic children to be detected early, treated and easily integrated into life.

The Provincial Rehabilitation Hospital is intervening for more than 40 autistic children, accounting for 1/3 of the total number of patients treated at the hospital. Children are treated with a multi-method model such as speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy or traditional medicine therapies (acupuncture, massage - acupressure). Doctors also apply a number of other methods such as sensory therapy, music therapy to make the intervention process for children highly effective.

Ms. Nguyen Thi H. (Cam Duong commune, Lao Cai city) has accompanied her child with autism for 2 years and confided: At first, when my child showed signs of being slow, not liking to communicate, and often talking to himself, I just thought it was because he had few friends to play with. However, after going to the doctor, the doctor said that my child showed signs of autism and needed early intervention. I was very shocked and worried about my child's life. After that, my husband and I encouraged each other to accompany our child.

However, not all parents recognize the abnormal signs of their children early enough to take them for early intervention. There have been cases where parents lacked knowledge and missed the golden period for intervention for their children. There have also been cases where parents knew about their children's illness but did not accept the truth or felt ashamed and did not acknowledge the illness, leading to the child not receiving early intervention, making the child's condition worse and unable to integrate into society.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh said: When parents bring their children to the clinic, they will also be counseled to overcome emotional stages such as: shock, sadness, anger and denial of their child's illness; blaming each other or blaming themselves; comparing their children with other children or feeling lonely when they have not been able to connect with people in similar situations to share their feelings or have not been able to access medical services during their child's treatment.

April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day. The communication activities on this day have been promoted and are contributing to the dissemination of knowledge about autism to raise awareness in the community, help parents with autistic children understand more about the disease, and help the number of children receiving intervention at hospitals or centers at an earlier age.

On World Autism Awareness Day, the Provincial Rehabilitation Hospital will organize free early screening and consultation for children with signs of autism under 36 months and online examination and consultation on the hospital's Facebook page. During the out-of-hospital health check-up campaign held in April and May, the Provincial Rehabilitation Hospital plans to organize health check-ups for children at kindergartens, thereby helping to screen children for autism, explain the disease and provide psychological support to parents to find the best direction for their children.

Many parents with autistic children who have received early intervention have achieved results, such as children with improved communication skills can enter first grade; some children with severe conditions can learn letters, count numbers, shop or take the initiative to serve themselves. Parents facing autism early will help children who are unfortunate enough to have autism have a better future.

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