Mauie Flores

The Association for Adults with Autism Philippines (AAAP) will hold an educational seminar on diagnostic, treatment, and policy issues affecting adults with autism.

The seminar will be held on Saturday, October 13, 2012, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Justitia Room, 4/F, Ateneo Law School, Rockwell Center, Makati City.

An all-Filipino panel of specialists based in Manila and the US are the featured speakers:

• Autism Spectrum Disorders: Criteria and Causes. Speaker: Lirio Sobrevinas Covey, Ph.D., Professor of Clinical Psychology in Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, New York
• Philippine laws on the rights of persons with disabilities. Speaker: Atty. Nina Patricia Sison-Arroyo, Assistant Director, Ateneo Legal Services Center, Ateneo De Manila University
• Medical and pharmacological interventions for persons with autism. Speaker: Christine Leonor Ma. C. Conducto, M.D., DPPS, Fellow, Philippine Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
• A comprehensive framework for understanding autism and the families with autism. Speaker: Ma. Lourdes “Honey” Carandang, Ph.D., President, Metropolitan Psychological Corporation
• Enhancing creativity among persons with disabilities. Speaker: Erlinda F. Camara, Ph.D. University of the Philippines
• Residential community living for adults with autism: the Life-sharing Model. Speaker: Ronald Sanchez, M.A., Director, Camphill Community, Santa Cruz, California

Autism is among the most prevalent conditions recognized during childhood. It has been estimated that there are close to 1 million Filipinos with autism. Caring for a child with autism is considered one of the most difficult of parental challenges. An additional challenge is that autism is a life-long condition. About a third of persons who meet the clinical diagnosis of autism may be able to lead independent lives as adults, but the greater majority will be dependent on caregivers to meet their daily needs throughout their lives.

There are few resources in the Philippines for persons with autism, even children and virtually none for Filipino adults with autism. As persons with autism approach adulthood, their family members begin to ask themselves the anguished question - Who will take care of my child when I am no longer able to?

Meeting this need is the mission of AAAP - to draw attention to the needs of adults with autism, to improve the quality of their lives, and to provide a safe, comfortable, productive, and long-term context for them, in the company of their peers.

The seminar is the first in a series of educational and training programs designed to build capacity for meeting the wide breadth of caregiving issues concerning adults with autism. Donations and proceeds from the seminar will go to the construction fund for the first residential community for Filipino adults with autism to be named “A Special Place”.

Further information about the seminar, AAAP, and A Special Place can be obtained at http://adultautismphil.wordpress.com. Inquiries may also be directed to AAAP officers at adults_with_autism@yahoogroups.com.