Centre needs vehicle for autistic students

The National National

By YVONNE KAMBIBEL
ONE of the main challenges facing the Callan Services Inclusive Education Resource Centre in Gerehu, Port Moresby, is lack of transportation, an official says.
Sr Shiny Mary, a Catholic nun from the Daughters of Wisdom (DW) congregation and specialist teacher at the centre told The National, the centre was in dire need of a vehicle.
“Our students with special needs are scattered around the city and reaching them has always been a major challenge,” she said.
Sr Mary, who worked as a speech therapy for many years, has been working closely with autistic students at the centre since joining in 2019.
On a daily basis, apart from teaching autistic students at the centre, she has to visit autistic students from three or more locations to teach them and has emphasised on the challenges of moving from one location to another by public motor vehicles (PMVs).
She said autistic students were a special group of students unlike the ones with hearing and visual impairment taught by other teachers at the centre.
Autism based on research is a neurodevelopment-mental brain based lifelong condition.
Sr Mary explained that students with autism were unable to relate to others and some symptoms included hyperactivity or passivity, oversensitivity, poor speech or lack of speech, and some spun or ran in circles and avoided eye contact.
“They need close and constant supervision from adults and specially trained people to teach them.”
Other teaching staff at the centre told The National that currently, Sr Mary was the only specially trained person who understood and was also passionate about helping these students but one of her biggest issues was moving around the city to attend to them.
“If only the centre had its own vehicle, we would be able to move around more and try to help these special students more,” she said.
Sr Mary said parents who owned vehicles were able to bring their children to the centre while those who did not have vehicles could not always bring their children to the centre.