A ray of hope for children with Autism

Autism calls for urgent and early intervention as the disorder affects not only the person who suffers from it, its repercussions can be seen on the family and ultimately the society in which people with special needs live. Medical science is working on the reasons and its possible remedies, to avoid such births. But the fact remains a fact for those who are born with autistic syndrome or develop it at a later stage. This is the responsibility of the society to extend a helping hand and create an inclusive atmosphere in which they develop necessary skills, realise their full potential and manage day-to-day chores.

The Sultanate of Oman has been proactively taking up the cause of children with autism through government initiatives and private participation as the current numbers and projections indicate some 27,300 cases between 2020 and 2030.

Amita Sharma Director of Al Injaz Private School has taken up the cause of the children with special needs in a proactive manner. She feels not only for such children, but also for their parents, who need moral as well as financial support to deal with the situation.

“The disorder does not differentiate between rich and poor. When it comes, it comes as an unfortunate situation for a family. Rich families manage it financially, but they are drained physically and emotionally, while others suffer on all the three fronts, as the education as well as treatment for such children is expensive and time consuming.”

Moved by the necessity of education as well as rehabilitation needs of children with autism, Amita Sharma started a section for special needs children in Al Injaz Private School to provide necessary support to the “specially gifted” children to help them blend in the society.

“Our special needs section has spacious, custom made class rooms with all the safety and support measures along with special furniture and tailored facilities. This section has qualified and experienced teachers and therapists, including physiotherapist, speech occupational and behavioural therapists. They help develop the skills for daily life, language, maths, general knowledge, vocational skills and skills to interact in a society confidently,” she said.

The section currently has around 60 students with different abilities within the age groups of 3.5 to 16 years. The school believes in an inclusive education for these students once they are ready for the main school integration. The school has also been training them in vocational activities to help them be on their own, to a certain level, independently. The students are trained in vocational activities to help them try and get employment in occupations in which they can use the vocational skills taught.

“We have two students who have successfully been absorbed to receive permanent employment in a five- star hotel after their training and probation period,” says Amita with a sense of pride.

She admits the challenges of working with special needs students. The qualified, trained and experienced staff members work hard to manage these students. “In some difficult cases we require parents to provide a shadow teacher who supports the student whenever needed.”

Amita is proud to say that with the excellent, dedicated team that the school has in the special needs section, the school is able to achieve a near 100 per cent success rate. “This is achieved with the hard work of the team members and regular coordination with Parents,” she says.

Commenting on mode of education, she says, “Such students are initially taught separately in groups as well as individually based on their abilities and skills. Once the educators observe that a student is ready to be integrated into the mainstream schooling, preparations are made to shift the student to the same along with a shadow teacher. The student is gradually weaned off the shadow teacher if he/she is able to cope independently with the support of the mainstream teacher.”

She fully agrees with the idea of inclusive education with two types of inclusion at the school. One is ‘partial inclusion’, which is available to all students in activities like sports, arts, music, morning assembly and other events. Second is ‘total inclusion’ which is the integration of students who have academic abilities that allow them to join classes. They are fully integrated after obtaining the approval of the special education supervisor from the ministry, and the integrated student is completely under the supervision of the department.

“Big responsibility yet one of the most fulfilling endeavours to see smiles on the faces of parents and their ‘specially-gifted’ children when they leave the school after 100 per cent success,” says Amita.