Social Welfare Department
Director Pannee Limcharoen (center) presides over the meeting.
Warunya Thongrod
Local government, education and medical officials for the
first time are looking at ways to help autistic children and their families.
At a March 14 city hall meeting, officials from the city
Social Welfare and Education departments, Autistic Life Skills Center
Pattaya and Somdej Phra Borom Ratchathevi Na Sriracha Hospital met to
discuss treatment and education for autistic children.
Described as a growing problem in the Eastern Seaboard,
autism leaves kids mentally cut off from others around them and impairs
conventional learning. Admitting the public sector has all but ignored these
children, officials are now looking for ways to aid the development of
autistic kids and help them become more self-dependent.
As a first step, Somdej Phra Borom Ratchathevi Na
Sriracha Hospital officials volunteered the hospital to become a testing and
medical treatment center for autism.
Education, however, may be more difficult. Currently
autistic children are placed in normal classrooms beside regular students.
Education Office officials said they need more time to consider the problem
and a solution.
No matter what the pubic sector does, however, parents
still bear the main responsibility for helping their autistic child, said
Social Welfare Department Director Pannee Limcharoen.
“These children have chances of becoming better through
treatment and care if parents provide immediate treatment for their children
as soon as they suspect autism,” she said.
