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Autism in South Africa

Cindy - posted on 03/16/2009 ( 2 moms have responded )

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Hi! I am from South Africa and have a son with High Functioning Autism. Could you please let me know what your contries offer these children in terms of education and therapy as well as their ather needs.

My country doesn't offer a lot for these kids and I have confronted a political party about this and they really want to held.

If you could help me in this regard I would really be very gratefull.

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Gail - posted on 03/17/2009

cognitive behavorial therapy in the form of rewards for good behavior. a teacher works with the child to set up a schedule of actions (like sitting still on the carpet for attendance) for the whole school day and if the child completes each action they get a reward. usually a sticker on a chart. this does work well.

but other than that it really depends on the school as each school can decide how it will structure it's own SEN. some schools also offer social skills classes but they can varry in quality (by a lot!)

Janine - posted on 03/17/2009

Hi Cindy

I am also south african. There really is not much for our kids here. I am still on the road to diagnosis. Been a year now. The speech therapist told us that my son (now 4) is autistic and we have since taken him to a pediatric neurologist. She has seen him twice but has not made a final diagnosis.

In terms of education, the "special needs" schools are just not an option and we do not have an integration program in mainstream schools. I think that at the moment, the best we can do is to find private schools with really small classes so that the teachers can focus more individually and the children are not as overwhelmed as they would be in a mainstream class of 40 plus kids. The future is scary with such a lack of resources. I have found this group really helpful in terms of practical advise.

I think that one of the main things we need to work towards is integrating children with autism into mainstream schools. I would love to hear how other south african families coped - particularly those with older children who have some experience of how the schools integrate autistic children.