{"id":70451,"date":"2019-07-19T10:40:48","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T08:40:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.autismsrezekne.lv\/?p=70451"},"modified":"2019-07-19T13:43:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T11:43:00","slug":"autisma-atbalsta-punkts-rezekne-sobrid-musu-valsts-sistema-berns-autists-pilnvertigi-dzivot-nevar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.autismapunktsrezekne.lv\/en\/autisma-atbalsta-punkts-rezekne-sobrid-musu-valsts-sistema-berns-autists-pilnvertigi-dzivot-nevar\/","title":{"rendered":"Autism Support Centre in R\u0113zekne: Currently in our State System a Child with Autism Can\u2019t Live a Full Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The \u201cAutism Support Centre in R\u0113zekne\u201d, which unites families that have children diagnosed with autism, has been functioning in R\u0113zekne for seven years. The Society writes projects and attracts funding to be able to organize sessions for the children in the region, invite the specialists required and support each other. In an interview with the Latgale Studio of Latvijas Radio, the Society\u2019s Board President Sandra Bi\u010dkova-\u0160ilina told about the work of the \u201cAutism Support Centre in R\u0113zekne\u201d, what problems they have to face and what \u201cautism\u201d actually means.<br \/>\n&#8212;<br \/>\nIn 2012, together with your husband you founded the Society \u201cAutism Support Centre in R\u0113zekne\u201d. Why was such a Society necessary in R\u0113zekne?<br \/>\nAt the age of three my child was diagnosed with Childhood Autism; thus neither kindergartens, nor Social Services, nor the Education Management could help us in this matter because practically there was very, very little knowledge about autism in 2012; about the autistic spectrum in particular.<br \/>\nThus we didn\u2019t really have anywhere to go and we had to do something, because since my child was diagnosed, I spent two years trying to understand what autism is; how to approach it; how to work with it at all. I went to seminars in R\u012bga.<br \/>\nThe Autism Society of Latvia was practically the only place where at the time any information was available at all.<br \/>\nThere were consultations, seminars, but there was no individual work with the children. It is possible that it was available somewhere in R\u012bga, but I had not found it. R\u012bga is also too far, which is why it was necessary to work here with each child individually. Thus we needed premises in R\u0113zekne and individual sessions.<br \/>\nWhat happens in the Society, what activities, sessions take place?<br \/>\nWe attract the specialists that we need \u2013 social educator, audiologist and speech therapist, physiotherapist, massage therapist.<br \/>\nWe have a drama club, self-defence classes, a sensory room, music therapy, a speech and language pathologist, and in cooperation with the Saint Petersburg clinic \u201cDoctrina\u201d we also provide bioacoustics correction (BAC) sessions.<br \/>\nWhat does the autism diagnosis mean?<br \/>\nIt means different thinking and different perception, to an extent. This is a fear of anything unfamiliar \u2013 fear of the street, fear of people, fear of dogs, fear of pigeons.<br \/>\nFor example, if for an ordinary child eating and other processes are normal, to a special child everything needs to be taught, and it has to be taught throughout their entire life. Social communication is affected.<br \/>\nThey are unable to communicate like you and me \u2013 freely and naturally. They need to be prepared for it, and this is huge work for years.<br \/>\nIs it easy to find specialists that can work with such children?<br \/>\nIt is very difficult to find specialists. First of all, they are not taught anywhere. I know that they more or less teach specialists in R\u012bga, but this is an awfully expensive and long process. Not every parent can afford it.<br \/>\nNot all specialists want to work with special children. It is huge, hard work.<br \/>\nAnd I believe that we need to start by preparing specialists for these children. To a specialist who can work there is a long waiting list, with others you can\u2019t get an appointment at all. This is everyday reality. There is a very high demand for such specialists in other cities and towns too, not just in R\u012bga.<br \/>\nHow would you evaluate it now, can children with autism live a full life?<br \/>\nIn the system that is currently in Latvia \u2013 no, they can\u2019t. And I believe they won\u2019t be able to for many more years. The impediment is the entire unorganized aid and support system.<br \/>\nYes, there is the deinstitutionalisation process now, but it is short-term. OK, there will be these group homes or apartments, but for how long? The funding will end at some point. We need help every day.<br \/>\nThe education system, special education is outdated. Schools don\u2019t have special education programmes. Nobody works with autistic children. There are simply no education programmes for them. They study either in general education schools and receive an assistant or in special schools where their intelligence is lowered because they are placed together with mentally challenged children.<br \/>\nMany children with autism are very well developed intellectually. And another tendency \u2013 in special schools, children with different diagnoses are placed together in one class. This isn\u2019t normal; it shouldn\u2019t be like this.<br \/>\nFor example, one has delayed mental development, another has hyperactivity, others have physical disabilities. However, children who have good intellectual development, who are able to learn, need a different system.<br \/>\nHow many members does your Society have at the moment?<br \/>\nThirty-two, but up to 100 people have applied for consultations, because there are no societies like this in other regions.<br \/>\nAbout help from the state. Since July 1, the benefit has been raised by a hundred euro; it currently reaches 313 euro. Can you now say that this benefit is more significant support?<br \/>\nFirst of all, it hasn\u2019t been approved yet; we are still waiting for it. Well, what can these hundred euro do&#8230; I, for example, would like to comment on medical treatment. I would be ready to pay these hundred euro if I knew that my child will have a normal health check-up. Autistic children have big health problems in addition to their diagnosis. As soon as you tell the diagnosis, doctors refer you to each other, forcing you to go around in circles.<br \/>\nI would like the medical system to have the following system \u2013 when a diagnosis is received, to be able to receive an individual rehabilitation plan appropriate specifically for my child, which would state what I need to do; what specialists we need to see; which school we can go to and what the school can offer. And if all specialists cooperated in the healthcare, as well as the social sector, the parents wouldn\u2019t have so many problems.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The \u201cAutism Support Centre in R\u0113zekne\u201d, which unites families that have children diagnosed with autism, has been functioning in R\u0113zekne for seven years. The Society writes projects and attracts funding to be able to organize sessions for the children in the region, invite the specialists required and support each other. In an interview with the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autismapunktsrezekne.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70451"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autismapunktsrezekne.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autismapunktsrezekne.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismapunktsrezekne.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismapunktsrezekne.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70451"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismapunktsrezekne.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70460,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismapunktsrezekne.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70451\/revisions\/70460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismapunktsrezekne.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.autismapunktsrezekne.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismapunktsrezekne.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.autismapunktsrezekne.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}