Mothers of autistic children join hands to create awareness

In celebration of Autism Awareness Month, the not-for profit organisation Reach Beyond Autism and the Child Development Centre are organising a walk to raise awareness about children and adults with disability. The walk will take place around Viharamahadevi Park on Saturday, March 31 from 7 a.m. to 12 noon with several tri-lingual events including a talent show, funfair and forum for parents also being held.

Reach Beyond Autism, co-founded by Tharsiny Markandu, Samantha Wilatgamuwa, Nelun Guruge and Malathi Kahandaliyanage, four mothers of children with disability, believes in family centred support and has programmes to empower children and their parents.

Reach Beyond is a one- stop holistic development centre with multidisciplinary support services for individuals with disabilities and their families. The tailor-made programmes are conducted in a 1:1, 2:1 student teacher ratio and primarily focus on developing selfawareness, independence, communication and social skills to successfully inte- grate children with disabilities into mainstream schools. Early intervention, school readiness, a toddler programme, life skills, behaviour therapy, social skills, emotional regulation, home support programme, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, yoga, sports, percussion and drumming and play therapy are some of the programmes that the Reach Beyond Centre at Tickell Road, Borella offers.

An islandwide support network called ‘Parents and Partners’ with a current membership of 700 has also been launched.

Autism is not a sickness. It’s a disorder and it cannot be cured, said Tharsiny Markandu, co-founder of Reach Beyond. There may be a gap between the functionality of a child with autism and a child without it. Intervention is what can help a diagnosed child reduce that gap, she added.

Co-founder Nelun Guruge emphasized the importance of early diagnosis, acceptance and intervention as it can help the child progress immensely.

Parents are afraid to expose their children with disabilities to the society because of social stigma. Starting with the household, parents should empower and equip their children to come out to the society and function as independent individuals, said co-founder Samantha Wilatgamuwa.

Malathi Kahandaliyanage stressed on the importance of the education system being accommodative and supportive of children with disability.

Reach Beyond invites you to join them at the Viharamahadevi Park on the 31st at 7 a.m. to raise awareness on Autism. For more information contact Reach Beyond via info@reachbeyond.lk or visit www.reachbeyond.lk