Today the Orange Foundation and “Arabkir” United Children’s Charity Foundation summarised the results of the philanthropic project, implemented during 2011, the purpose of which was to support autistic children and their parents. In total 160 pediatricians and psychologists, 238 teachers, 30 parents and 120 children benefited from the project. Orange allotted a total of 24,400,000 AMD as part of their support.
The project had different components, which were presented briefly today. In order to ensure early detection and intervention, , training courses were conducted on CHAT – a new method of autism detection - for primary healthcare providers in Yerevan and Ararat marz.
Within the scope of the project, 16 children with autism were also provided with the opportunity to relax in a summer recreation camp on the shore of Lake Aparan, accompanied by their mothers and caretakers.
Within the framework of the project, two Swiss specialists were invited to Yerevan in order to introduce the ADOS (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule) method in Armenia. ADOS is known in the world of autism as a “Gold Standard” for diagnosis. This method aims to help the disgnosis of autism spectre disorders. Specialists of the regional branches of the ArBeS Health Center, as well as psychologists from Yerevan and other specialised medical staff participated in the training. The confirmation of the diagnosis of autism through ADOS has been carried out in ArBeS in the presence of the parents of autistic children. Each case has been videotaped and discussed with the specialists of the health center.
In cooperation with the Yerevan Municipality Education Department two-days trainings were organised in several schools and kindergartens in Yerevan, Ararat marz, Artashat, children and parents. The purpose of the trainings was to give more complete information about the signs of autism, its causes, extension, and in particular give details on phycology of autistic children, specificities of their interests, attention, perception and thinking.
Bruno Duthoit, chairman of Orange Armenia Foundation, said: "Autism is a disease which affects the communication abilities of a person. Our vocation, as a company, is to facilitate communication between people, that’s why we provide our assistance to the children having communication problems. For already 20 years of its operation in many countries, care for children with autism is one of the main priorities of Orange in the scope of its philanthropic activity, which is implemented by Orange through its charitable programs or Orange Foundation. We’re happy for this cooperation since already two years. In Armenia, we have found good specialists having many years of experience in their domain.”
The project will have its continuation in 2012, which in this year will include not only trainings for teachers, medical staff and parents of autistic children, but will have new components. In particular, a pilot project will be implemented in Yerevan at one of public polyclinics for the creation of an early intervention group enrolling its own medical staff. The project includes also cooperation with a French lycée having many years of experience in the area, to set up a vocational training model in teaching adolescents, in order to prepare them for increased autonomy.