The workshop was jointly held by the Ministryof Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Asia-Pacific DevelopmentCentre on Disability and the Vietnam Autism Network, offering a chancefor both domestic and international experts and parents of autisticchildren to discuss autism-related information and policies and makerecommendations to support this group.
Autism is aneural development condition characterised by impaired socialinteraction and verbal and non-verbal communication, and byrestricted, repetitive or stereotyped behaviour.
Vietnam is seeing a rapidly increasing number of children with autism, the most common among the disabilities at school.
According to an online survey of 125 parents of autistic children,their biggest concern is their children’s future as interventionservices in Vietnam have yet to help the children live independently,while many of them don’t have enough money to follow long-termtreatment.
Participants at the workshop said thatthere are still no legal documents on autism in Vietnam. They suggestedthe Government put forth policies to support people with autism andtheir families as well as intensifying communication campaigns to raisepublic awareness of autistic children.-VNA