26/05/2009 Uncategorized
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UPH?s Faculty of Psychology hopes that this seminar and workshop will equip parents, students, and the public with the knowledge about how to nurse a child with autism.
Parents observing the trainers practicing the new autism treatment approach, Structured Teaching
Lippo Village (22/5) ? For three days in a row, The Faculty of Psychology of Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH) held a seminar and workshop which discussed autism treatment to a great length.
This seminar and workshop invited a psychologist and counseling expert, Esther Susabda, as the speaker. Susabda is the Head of?Program Magister Konseling (MK)?in Sekolah Tinggi Theologi Reformed Injili Indonesia (STTRII).
Indonesia has not yet been able to figure out the exact number of people who suffer from autism.
Himpunan Autisme Indonesia (HAI), however, published a crude rate that every polyclinic is at least visited by 4 to 5 autistics. HAI estimated the number would increase rapidly. Meanwhile, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) ? US reported that autism happens to one of 250 births everyday in the world and the risk of male to suffer from autism are four times greater than? female.
Concerning these facts, UPH?s Faculty of Psychology hopes that this seminar and workshop will equip parents, students, and the public with the knowledge about how to nurse a child with autism. ?We want the society, especially the parents to know how to handle autism appropriately through early identification and intervention on the sufferers,? said one of the committee, Esther Kurniawati Witarsa, who is also a teacher in UPH?s Faculty of Psychology.
This seminar and workshop particularly introduced a new treatment technique for autism, structured teaching. Structured teaching was practiced directly in the workshops, totally involving the parents and their autistic children.
Esther Susabda stated that this technique is very potential for treating children with autism.?This technique helps accustom autistic children with a structured, consistent, and predictable environment,? she stated.
The parents asserted their satisfaction with Susabda?s teaching in the theory and practice area. One of the participants admitted that before the seminar she only understood very little about autism.
?The lecture enhances our knowledge, we were taught to see from the children?s point of view to the things which will help them act and think more comfortably. I am glad we could make a better living quality for these children,? she said.
UPH?s Faculty of Psychology furthermore will increase the efforts of equipping students and the society with thorough autism treatment knowledge by opening counseling and training center for autistic children, Autism Training Center (ATC) along with Counseling and Assesment Centre (CAC) in the future, as the center of excellence and the primary resource in training Autism trainer & assessment in Indonesia.
??We are planning to open the counseling center in the five years ahead. We hope that autistic children could have proper place in the society and same opportunities, just like non-autistic children,? said Esther Kurniawati Witarsa.
