Jamaica Gleaner Report | May 22, 2023
Psychologist Dr Orlean Brown-Earle believes that more education is needed for parents of autistic children to accept their children’s developmental challenges and to move towards moulding them into independent adults.
“Dealing with denial takes education, and it is not going to happen overnight, and for some parents, they never accept the situation. But I do believe that if we go within the schools with education, it must be constant. We wait on a special month and do a little presentation, but we need to stop engaging just parents of children with special needs and engage all parents,”
said Brown-Earle.
The child psychologist was addressing a panel discussion on autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disabilities at the Llandilo School of Special Education in Llandilo, Westmoreland, last Thursday. The forum was part of a symposium held at the school under the theme ‘Building Self-advocacy and Self-determination Through Partnership’.
“There are a lot of children in mainstream schools that are crying out for help, but a lot of times, the parents are scared and are uneducated about what is happening. We need to push for more education within the public school system,” Brown-Earle continued. “What is critical is to get the professional assessment done because it will ease your mind to understanding what the child wants, and because you want to maximise the child’s potential.”
Autism is a developmental disorder that affects communication and behaviour, for which symptoms generally appear during the first two years of life. Approximately one in every 68 children born in Jamaica annually is affected by autism, which is categorised together with pervasive developmental disorder and Asperger’s syndrome as autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Jamaica’s Special Education Policy remains in the draft stage and has been awaiting the final stages of approval at the Cabinet level since 2018. The policy is expected, among other things, to promote awareness of students’ right to quality education and outline how children will be placed in schools.
Brown-Earle, who is based at the Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville, Manchester, told the forum that it is important for parents to train their autistic children to fend for themselves.
“You, as parents, are not going to be here all the time, and our children must be able to self-advocate. They must be able to go to a KFC and be able to order, and they must be able to speak up for themselves in situations that they are not comfortable in,” she said.
Dionne Gayle, acting assistant chief education officer in the Ministry of Education, noted that placement of special-needs children in public schools depends on the severity of their diagnosis.
“For all disabilities, they are on a spectrum from mild to moderate to severe. If the student is diagnosed as moderate to severe, we would target a more segregated setting, but once the student is mild, we would then speak to inclusion in a regular school with some amount of support,” said Gayle.