High demand for treatment at children's centre

(26 Dec 2016) LEAD IN:

An educational centre for children with autism in the eastern Libyan city of Bayda has been attracting children from all over the country.

Opened just four years ago, the centre now has plans to more than double in size due to high demand for its specialist care.

STORY-LINE

The happy squeals of young children fill this playground in the eastern Libyan city of Bayda.

This playground is part of a centre of which every aspect has been specially designed and built for youngsters with autism.

Trainer such as Ahlam Faraj work with the children, providing dedicated care.

Reported cases of children on the autism spectrum have been rising.

Specialist care can be very hard to come by in Libya, which has been riven by conflict and political instability since 2011.

"The autism disorder is one of many disorders that have spread in recent times," Faraj says.

"The nature of our work and its concept are centred on adjusting behaviour."

The children are placed into small groups.

"To each specialist (trainer) we assign four or five children, with the help of one assistant in the class. And the way we work is to adjust the behaviour using games, so our work is, in an indirect way, using toys."

There is a scarcity of centres like this, and this place has proved very popular since it opened in 2012.

Around 120 children from all over Libya are currently being treated here.

Faraj says demand is very high and there is a need for more trainers.

"The reason we are not receiving all the children every day is because the lack of specialist trainers and because the place is too small to handle them all in the same day," she explains. "God willing, we will move to the bigger main building in a new location, which is currently being furnished."

The head of Bayda Autism Centre, Fathy Adayekh, explains that the centre was established using charitable funding, largely via Libya's Social Security Fund.

The centre also raised money from local residents and continues to do so.

Adayekh says the centre has been set up to "international standards", with facilities including an indoor swimming pool, an occupational therapy hall, a games hall, a natural therapy hall, and a sandpool.

The complex also has passages and corridors specially designed to help children with autism break their routine, assisting in overcoming issues such as hyperactivity or excess lethargy.

The centre was borne out of the Bayda Autism Association.

The organisation's chairman Wanis Abdallah says parents of children with autism have been "suffering" because of a lack of (specialist) centres.

Bayda is aiming to provide help to many more children with autism.

Abdallah says the centre is seeking to raise two million US dollars to expand, with the aim of being able to treat up to 260 children.

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