Staff Correspondent | Published: 00:44, Feb 09,2018
Over 1.4 million people in Bangladesh are autistic, the ICDDR,B revealed Thursday quoting Social Welfare Ministry.
In other words, the country’s one in every 500 children are suffering from autism spectrum disorder, ICDDR,B revealed at a workshop on ‘Autism Spectrum Disorders: Improving Children’s Ability to Talk and Mix with Peers.’
ICDDR,B’s Technical Training Unit with support from Faith Bangladesh hosted the workshop for the autistic children’s parents and caregivers.
The workshop was designed to enable the parents and caregivers help improve autistic children’s communication skills.
ICDDR,B head of the Technical Training Unit, Aftab Uddin, told the parents and the caregivers that tackling Autism Spectrum Disorder requires many actors, the parents, the caregivers, the policymakers, but the brunt is borne by the parents as they stay with these special children round the clock.
ICDDR,B deputy executive director, Syed Monjurul Islam, said that the ICDDR,B felt happy to be part of the team providing useful guidance to families with an autistic child.
Faith Bangladesh executive director Nilufer Ahmed Karim said meeting the needs of autistic children involves multidisciplinary and multipurpose tasks.
She invited the stakeholders to building a dependable partnership and work together to address the Bangladesh’s growing burden of autism spectrum disorder.
