Adaptation of the Schoolgoing Children with Autism in Chattogram, Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder marked by difficulties with social interaction and communication, as well as confined and repetitive behavior, hobbies, and interests. The adaptation process of school-going autistic children affects their families, schools, society, learning, development, skills, and many more. Objective: To explore how the adaptation of autistic children is developing in their schools and home in Chattogram, how the teachers and the parents of school-going autistic children are engaging themselves to develop the adaption of the children with autism, and how much the teachers and the parents are aware of the adaptation. Methods: This a qualitative and the design is phenomenology. A total of 20 parents and 10 teachers of school-going autistic children in Chatatogram were sampled. The sampling was purposive. An in-depth interview was taken with the participants. The site was two autism schools in Chatttogram. Results: Parents who participated in this study, most of them shared that one of the biggest barriers to their children’s adaptation is speech. This study also finds that most autistic children are unable to express themselves, use sign language, keywords, and pictures to communicate, and cannot adapt to anything easily from their family, friends, schools, and society because of speech. The majority of teachers in this study shared that a picture-based education system is one of the successful ways of teaching children with autism. This helps them to adapt to the important activities of their practical life. Many of them also shared that training the teacher is very important and beneficial for them to understand the autistic child’s adaptation. Conclusion: This study shows that adaptation is very important for the development of a child with autism. However, their speech problem is a barrier to their adaptation process. Therefore, it is an immense need for raising awareness about this issue and open more training centers for parents and teachers for the development of children with autism.