Mayor Steve Black had plenty of help, as he and a group of children with autism, their parents and support workers from North Eastern Ontario Family and Children’s Services raised the flag for Autism Awareness week.
Quick to jump in and help Mayor Black hoist the World Autism Day flag in front of City Hall were Dominque Daguerre and brothers, Quentin and Austin Collins.
April 2 is World Autism Awareness day around the globe. The United Nations has been honouring he children with autism and their parents who often struggle to care for them since the first Autism Awareness Day in 2008.
“It makes me happy that we have a day like this, it is much appreciated,“ said Kyle Collins, as he proudly looked on while Austin and Quentin helped raise the Autism Awareness flag. ”We need all the support we can get.”
“It means a lot to parents of children with autism to know the city supports us, said Christina Daguerre, the mother of Dominque. ”Especially with the growing concern that services appear to be lacking from the provincial government.”
“We struggle to get the expert services and therapy for our children and we spend a lot of time on wait lists,” said Christina Daguerre.
“I think it is important to show these families of children with autism that we support them,” said Black. “Often we don’t know how difficult it is for some of these families and what they go through on a day-to-day basis."
“It's very important to welcome these children into the daily life of our city and it is amazing to see the smile on their faces as we have seen this morning,” said the mayor. “That was so much fun to see.”
Also on hand was a contingent from North Eastern Ontario Family and Children Services which provides support for children with autism.
Lisa Malette, of the North Eastern Ontario Family and Children's Services ( NEOFACS), runs an autism resources program, designed to identify the appropriate intervention and therapy for a child with autism, such as Intense Behaviour Intervention (IBI) and Applied Behaviour Analysis ( ABA),which analyzes and assess behaviour and recommend therapy.
Malette said NEOFACS is there to provide assistance to families facing a range of children related health concern including autism.
NEOFACS autism resource program
The McIntyre head frame was lit blue to honour World Autism Day. Blue is the colour chosen to represent autism and many buildings around the world, including the McIntyre Head frame and the White House were bathed in blue light.
Autism resource programs and services are also offered by the Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services.
Ontario Ministry of Children and Youth Services Autism Program Resources
Autism has been defined as a spectrum disorder, that is the severity of autism ranges from mild to severe.
Children with severe autism display serious cognitive problems, sensory problems and engage in extremely repetitive behaviours. These behaviours may include tantrums, self-harm and aggression.
Those with mild autism conditions, may function well in most areas, but have difficulties forming relationships.
The primary symptoms of autism include inability to effectively communicate and lack of social interaction skills.
Strengths exhibited by individuals with autism may include, excellent non-verbal reasoning skills; reading skills; motor skills; drawing skills
The above exceptional skills may be combined with subtle or significant delays in other areas of development. All individuals with the diagnosis demonstrate some of the following.
Early intervention is regarded as the best way of helping an person with autism adjust and manage their condition. Research into Autism has fond that it can sometimes be detected by age 18 months.
Delay in diagnosing autism often results in the child missing out on valuable therapy at a younger age that would help them adjust and better cope with the challenges of daily life.
