Report On ASD Consultative Workshop In Delhi- by Mrs. Ruby Singh

The Ministry of Health in collaboration and support from WHO had called for
a Consultative Workshop exclusively for the Autism Spectrum Disorder which
was held at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital PGIMER Auditorium, New Delhi,
on 09thand 10

th of Nov 2011.



The two day workshop was well attended by Doctors, professionals,
government officials, other stake holders such as funding agency
representatives, parents and advocacy related people from various
organization working for the ASD.

Ruby Singh from Autism Society Of India (ASI)- Bangalore and Sharda Mani
Iyer from ASI- Delhi attended the workshop as ASI delegates. Apart from
them there were many delegates from other organizations who are also
members of ASI. It was nice to see that ASI representation from different
parts of India was in majority.




*BACKGROUND*


This Workshop was called for in the light of the forth coming 12th Five
Year Plan, and some where the initiative seems to have been made by the
Chairmen of the Planning Commission who also happens to be Mrs Sonia
Gandhi. The fact that one of the speakers on the first day was Ms Saima who
is also the daughter of Bangladesh President and was the main organizer of
the Autism Conference in Bangladesh that took place this July.

The Inaugural session made it very clear that the 12th Five Year Plan aims
to shift attention from COMMUNICABLE disease to NON- COMMUNICABLE Disorders
and the main focus is going to be on Mental Health.




*REVIEW OF THE WORKSHOP- DAY 1*

There were 3 Plenary sessions which had presentations that ranged from *Current
Scenario of ASD* (Plenary 1) in the World and South East Asia Region in
General and specifically in India. *Diagnosis and Management of ASD *(Plenary

2) saw speakers mostly Doctors and researchers, presenting on various
issues such as Assessment Tools, problems of Screening and Diagnosis,
resources needed to manage ASD and involving the 1800 Pediatricians.

*Experiences
of ASD in India* (Plenary 3) had presentations from professionals from

NIMHANS, PGI Chandigarh, CDC Trivandrum and Merry Barua giving a lot of
inputs and touching upon almost all the worries of the parents of an ASD
child.




*REVIEW OF THE WORKSHOP- DAY 2*


2nd day of the workshop was group work and the delegates were divided into
5 groups to give feasible and important suggestions to combat ASD issues.
Each team was given one topic to deliberate and discuss upon the topics
were

1) Assessment Tools : Screening and Diagnosis

2) Capacity Building for ASD

3) Intervention and Management issues related to ASD

4) Community and Family Based care of Children with ASD

5) Research Priorities



Each group later presented their Recommendations using PowerPoint
presentation.

Finally interactive open house took down the questions, doubts and requests
from the audience and delegates for Action.
Mrs. Ruby SIngh is the Secretary of Autism Society of India & Executive member of PARIVAAR, the Nationl Confederation of Parents's Associations of India.