JEDDAH: A number of Saudi families with autistic children have called on the Ministry of Health to run special centers to provide care for their children, claiming private institutions are quite expensive.
According to unofficial statistics, there are over 1,000 autistic boys and girls in the Kingdom who need constant care and attention. Autism is a mental condition that appears in children in early years and causes difficulties in communicating or forming relations with other people. Autistic children tend to live in seclusion.
Um Khaled said she noticed nothing wrong with her “beautiful” son Khaled until he was two years old. “I did not notice anything wrong with him except that he didn’t talk much. When he was two years old he stopped talking completely,” she said.
She recalled that everything was normal until Khaled one day locked up himself in a dark room and started crying. “It took us about 45 minutes to break open the door. Since that day he has never talked to anyone,” said Um Khaled.
She said she took her son to Germany for treatment but he did not show any sign of improvement.
“I enrolled him in a kindergarten but he wasn’t able to communicate with other children. So I taught him how to read and write but I couldn’t teach him mathematics,” Um Khaled said, adding: “My son is a gifted painter. He is 21 years old now. I have tried to improve his skills in this area but no art school would accept him.”
Um Khaled said members of the public should not make fun of autistic people. “They are not insane, though they have special needs. The government should establish special centers to teach them communication skills,” she said, adding that the authorities should also take steps to raise public awareness about their plight.
Um Maha, another Saudi mother, said her daughter was normal until she turned two. “Maha was a beautiful child but when she turned two she started talking in her own language. She would become exasperated very easily. I attributed her behavior to her being spoiled but a doctor shocked me when he told me she was autistic,” she said.
Um Maha said she enrolled her daughter in a private center for autistic children which cost her SR7,000 a year. “The fee later rose to SR15,000. Although my husband and I are both employed, we are unable to meet these expenses. I think the government should build special centers that cater to autistic children,” she said.
Um Abdullah called for special autistic classrooms in government schools. “We are a family of moderate income. I am a housewife and my husband is employed. We are unable to enroll Abdullah in a private center and the government schools that we approached have refused to accept him,” she said.
Um Abdullah said the government should establish special centers to take care of autistic children and teach them language skills. She also called for special programs for the families of autistic children to teach them how to deal with their children.
Khayriah Bafhaid, director of Al-Amal Autistic Center in Makkah, denied claims that private autistic centers are expensive. “Our center prepares autistic children to communicate with society and to join normal schools. We also provide guidance to families on how to deal with their autistic children, and organize meetings and workshops to this effect,” she said.
She said her center had no conditions for enrollment except that the child should be no less than 30 months old, and is able to see and hear properly to benefit from the program.
Narmeen Quotob, a psychologist at the center, described autism as a complicated disorder causing deficiencies in behavior and social interaction. She said the condition usually appears in children who are between one and three. “Scientific studies and laboratory research have not found any hereditary or environmental causes for the disorder. It might be caused by certain genetic malfunction or some sort of disorder in the nervous system,” she said.
