Sarah Kisitu Kasule, the Executive Director and founder of Teens and Tots Neuro Development Centre, a Non-Governmental  Organisation (NGO) for special needs children in Uganda, has appealed to the government and Ministry of Education to cooperate with them and push for inclusion amongst schools with autistic children.

She made the appeal while attending the commemoration of World Autism Awareness Day that was celebrated on March 2, 2024, at Kati Kati grounds in Kampala under the theme “What is mild autism and why is it difficult to diagnose it?”

According to Kasule, inclusion will help in equipping people with knowledge and skills to handle the cases of autism in these facilities.

“Autism is a spectrum. Children progress differently; we have those who are high-functioning and those who are low-functioning. The way you handle one child may differ from the way you handle the other, thus requiring a lot of skills for individual sessions so that each child has a session of their own,” Kasule said.

She noted that this will help in understanding the child deeper because, if put in a group, you won’t see much achievement due to the fact that they possess different potentials.

Kasule said that the organization also faces the challenge of delays in early diagnosis and intervention that have hindered the progress of the children.

According to Kasule, the major symptoms of autism are poor communication skills, repetitive behavior, and antisocialism, among others.

She added that the causes of autism are not very clear, but it’s assumed that autism is caused by environmental factors such as the exposure of a woman to harmful substances during pregnancy, a situation that may activate genetic mutation.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain. People with ASD may also have different ways of learning, moving, or paying attention.