Hearing, seeing, everything, all the time

Children with autism are often seen as quiet and withdrawn – so much so that some are even thought of as deaf or ‘dumb’ – unable to speak.

However, medical studies overseas show that they may only be quiet because they are seeing, hearing and thinking faster than everyone else.

Too fast. Children with autism can be ‘overloaded’ by ordinary sights and sounds because of their very sensitive minds - sights and sounds that other children are not bothered by.

Most people only focus on one sight and listen to one sound at a time. Autistic children are unable to limt life the same way.

They see and hear everything, and everyone, all the time. Six year old Juliana Tomasi, from the village of Vailoa, Faleata is one of the first children at a programme run by the country’s SENESE services for children facing physical and mental handicaps.

Yesterday she received a price from Digicel for being the first one to finish the programme “My daughter is one of the many children who have autism,” said Juliana’s mother, Nina Iosefa.

“She can do whatever she is told to do but she cannot talk much, even when she’s happy.

“A lot of people say that my daughter is deaf but I know she’s not, she has autism because she can talk but not as clear as the way I talk, that’s how I know she is not deaf,” said Ms. Iosefa.

“She can be very active but when she is angry or sad, she will not listen to anything I say to her.

“From when Juliana was young we took her to the hospital and the doctor told us that we have to be careful with her to not make her angry.”

Little Juliana was a focus of yesterday’s events aimed at raising awareness about the medical condition, with Senese Awareness and A.P.T.C., the Australia Pacific Technical College, working together in front of the Government building yesterday.

ANZ Bank also donated a 1,000 tala cheque to help out with the programme.

SENESE Awareness and Promotion Coordinator Fa’aolo Utumapu said that “Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Autism is a developmental disability characterized by a child’s inability to communicate and socialize with others”, she said.

“It is the result of a neurological condition affecting normal brain function, development and social interactions.

“Autism affects the way the brain develops early in life and the way a baby begins to collect and process information.

“The cause of autism is still unknown and there are no cures, however, the good news is that children with autism can learn and improve, sometimes significantly with the intervention to improve their communication and social interaction.

“Today is the first day of Autism Awareness and the purpose for today is to raise awareness of the community about autism.

“I know for a fact that little of them know about this condition in the country and also to promote about the services that are available in SENESE and other organisations that can assist children with autism and their families.

“We can work with families and schools on strategies that they can use in order for the child to be able to learn better, because autism is a disability that can result from the way the brain processes information and it’s different from the way we, as people without autism process information.

She said that a lot of people had come to ask a lot of questions about autism.

Ms. Utamapu acknowledged all the people that have helped, including companies that have donated for the awareness programme over the next month.

Two weeks from now SENESE will be visiting some schools to raise awareness for students that are in primary schools with autism.

“We want to raise the profiles of autism in those schools so that the teachers can have a better understanding of strategies that they can do to help the children who have autism in their schools.”