Thiruvananthapuram: Child development centre (CDC) of govt medical college hospital in Thiruvananthapuram will do a study on grief among parents of autistic children to develop support tool.Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued a grant to carry out the study, which is being done as the issue is not being addressed because society usually blames parents for children’s development issues.CDC director Dr Deepa Bhaskaran said that parents of autistic children experience profound grief as their kids may be unable to participate fully in social situations.“People blame the parents. When it comes to autism, it is going to be a lifelong effort. As a result, parents experience grief for ever, and this remains unresolved. They have to deal with it at every stage of the child’s life. While parental anxiety has been studied, grief has not,” she said.She said that it’s a qualitative study carried out with extensive interviews with the parents. The aim is to create a tool for them to handle it, she added.Deepa said that CDC provides habilitation services for such children. “We try to identify conditions early. Detection within the first three years is crucial, as it allows interventions to have the maximum impact. As a referral centre, CDC conducts three to four diagnostic assessments a week. We provide group therapy and then transition the children to preschool teachers. The aim is to help them join mainstream schools rather than special schools,” she said.State nodal officer for adolescent health, school health and DISHA scheme, Dr Amar Fettle, said that health staff are being trained to identify children with needs and then interact with their parents.At present, they are identified during immunisation drives and weight checks that are done at anganwadis, he added. Once the children are identified, the 1,100 specially trained Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram nurses screen them for birth defects, diseases, deficiencies, developmental delays and disabilities.
