Parent empowerment programmes will be conducted in all districts to provide scientific training to parents of children on the autism spectrum, Minister for Social Justice R. Bindu has said. Funds have been earmarked in the budget for the empowerment programmes, she said.
She was speaking after inaugurating a State-level workshop ‘Autism: new perspectives’ here on Thursday.
The workshop was organised to hold detailed discussions on autism and ensure social acceptance for children on the autism spectrum and their parents.
The Minister said the pilot of the parent empowerment programme held in Malappuram was successful. The programmes would be implemented in other places on the same lines.
Parents of children with autism should never subject their children to unscientific experiments.
The Minister said a proposal to start assistive villages in four places had been submitted, and its preliinary procedures were under way. These villages would be places where parents of children on the autism spectrum could leave their children safely. They were envisaged as rehabilitation villages that included health care, skill development, therapy facilities, and activities to generate employment.
At present, ways to handle children on the spectrum in a scientific manner were being developed at the National Institute of Speech and Hearing and the National Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Social Justice Director Chetan Kumar Meena presided over the workshop inaugural.
