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Kids who can't say Mommy
Visual aids: Autism is usually noticed before age three when the child isnât communicating
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span class="inline inline-center">Visual aids: Autism is usually noticed before age three when the child isn't communicating. Four of every five autistic kids are boys.
At a new Autism Center in Blitar, East Java, parents are schooled on handling their offspring. Shouting and scolding is a waste of time and emotion. Positive behavior support works best.
Two years ago Joan McKenna Kerr and her colleagues from the Autism Association of Western Australia (AWA) scoured East Java for interns.
Their offer was nectar: A training program for health and education professionals learning early intervention techniques for autistic children. The location ' dazzling Perth on the placid Swan River. Cost ' zero. Air fares and accommodation included, plus allowances.
The sting? Study for six weeks, eight hours a day, six days a week plus homework. Political junketeers checking golf courses unwelcome.
Hundreds applied. Small teams were picked from five cities ' a total of 20 people. Psychologists, teachers, therapists and nurses.
'We wanted those with passion and a real commitment to helping kids, not those motivated to advance their curriculum vitae or open private practises upon returning to Indonesia,' said McKenna Kerr.
'They had to display competency and leadership. They had to work with local people.
'We insisted on high level English, but saw good candidates with limited language skills who in a typically Indonesian way would get support from their friends. We had to adjust.
'This was the first time we'd run such a project.'
With the students long back in their homeland McKenna Kerr, the chief executive officer of AWA, and Tasha Alach, the organization's executive manager for early childhood services returned in October to see if the exercise was worthwhile.
In short the answer was: Yes, very much so. So more training will follow.
In Blitar, at the Sekolah Dasar Luar Biasa state special elementary school, they reunited with principal Suud Wahyudi who'd still have a stamp-free passport had AWA stuck to its rigid requirements.
'We learned much about autism and information that can be used to help parents and children live a better life,' he said. 'It's made a difference to the way we teach.'
'My daughter Revita Selvadita, 17, has moved ahead. She has more confidence and plays with others,' said parent Lilik.
'Our decision was vindicated. The school, like others we've checked, is outstanding. It's implementing many of the techniques we taught,' McKenna Kerr says.
'Apart from small size classes [18 teachers caring for 133 kids, including 20 who are autistic], and grouping children by skills, not age, they've introduced visual cues. Autistic kids stress easily; they don't respond well to words.'
Classroom walls have Velcro strips with small pictures of activities, such as catching the bus home, playtime, music therapy and rest periods. The pupil peels the picture and heads to that activity. The system also works for deaf children.
Less than one percent of the population has a developmental nervous disorder grouped under the term autism, coined last century from the Greek autos meaning self. It's usually noticed before the age of three by signs of significant communication difficulties. Four of every five autistic kids are boys.
There's probably a genetic cause, though factors like medical problems may have a role. There's no cure; research continues worldwide but the situation isn't hopeless. The AWA says children given the right training can progress, attend a normal school and eventually get a job.
Having a hyperactive child unresponsive to standard parenting techniques often overloads families; marital breakdowns can be collateral damage. Parents' emotions swing between deep distress and fierce determination to help.
Born and educated in Ireland where she took a degree in sociology, McKenna Kerr has no family members with autism. She was previously in Aceh for two years with her husband who was involved in a health project.
'I didn't see children with disabilities,' she said. 'Handicaps were considered a curse for wrongdoing. The best way to help is through early diagnosis and therapy, not hiding the child.'
In Perth, she started working for AWA, a not-for-profit agency funded by State and Federal Governments and donors. The association with Indonesian schools is though the Western Australia-East Java Sister State agreement, but the idea first came from Indonesian students concerned that the Perth facilities weren't available in their homeland.
Links have also been made with Surabaya's Airlangga University where 48 teachers and therapists are being taught to use AWA's techniques.
'Not all ideas travel well between cultures, but these are ripples in a pond,' said McKenna Kerr. 'We'll be back next year to run workshops on communication; we'll include our former interns as local instructors.
'Indonesia has made huge advances in caring for autistic children. Even candidates for local government are recognizing the need.'
' Photos by Erlinawati Graham
