One day in early 2023, a family walked into a small building, a sweet little boy in tow. They had walked in uncertain of what they would find. A year later that little boy would consider this place his second home.
This place is the Pacific Autism Centre (PAC), an organisation established to provide support to children on the Autism spectrum and their carers and families.
PAC co-founder and co-director Merina George, a mother to a brilliant preteen boy who is on the spectrum, shared her pride in all the children who have engaged the centre’s services.
Ms George shared the story of a particular little boy who showed remarkable growth in only a year since his family found the centre in March of 2023.
“He was undiagnosed, but the grandparents saw the signs and raised the issue with the parents,” Ms George said.
Many children on the spectrum in Fiji go undiagnosed for a lack of awareness among caregivers. While a caring and concerned parent may be able to tell their child is delayed in certain areas of development, they may not be aware that they are seeing symptoms of Autism nor where to seek help.
“Fortunately, a very strong-willed grandmother pushed for that family to seek help and they joined us last year around March,” Ms George shared.
“When he came in, he was two and a half, going on three. Which is the perfect age for intervention.
“This child had all the symptoms. He was a little fireball! A little livewire! There was no sense of boundary, he lacked the ability to settle down; like a typical two-year-old but to another level,” Ms George said.
While toddlers aren’t exactly known for showing emotional maturity nor for their self-control, a child with autism can exhibit uncontrolled behaviour to a more severe degree.
American non-profit organisation, Autism Speaks outlines two core symptoms of autism in children: challenges with social communication and interaction skills, and restricted and repetitive behaviours.
People on the autism spectrum may struggle with making eye contact, understanding social and behavioural cues, and making friends and playing with peers, among other social struggles.
They may also make repetitive body movements to regulate their emotions such as rocking, hand flapping, spinning, running back and forth, and may have an intense need for routine and foster very focused interests.
For a toddler these struggles can very easily become overwhelming and result in extreme and regular outbursts and meltdowns.
The centre offers one on one sessions for the children to aid in their development towards independence. The organisation also offers family and parent coaching, group sessions split by age for the children and much more.
“After six months of sessions, this particular child began to sit down for our sessions,” Ms George shared.
“He is participating now in activities, his attention span has increased, he’s completing activities on his own. He is now three and a half and he is very calm. He has his own class group, but he likes to join the big kids; he’ll do the activities that they’re doing.
“He’s now uttering a few words that he wasn’t able to do last year, he’s singing rhymes, man, it’s just unbelievable!”
Having found they can make a positive difference in the lives of children; the organisation has now begun training schoolteachers so children on the spectrum can continue to have access to the proper support even when they return to school.
“One common thing we’ve seen here at PAC is that, especially for the children referred to us from schools, they refuse to go back to their schools,” Miss George said.
“The families have told us it’s a struggle now to make them go back, they want to remain at PAC.
“But we are not a school. So, what we are doing now is that we are liaising with their heads of schools, and they are accepting the recommendation that the children come in for sessions two days a week. So, they come for their one and half hour and they do their sessions and then they go back to school.
“That’s the thing, if we can impact the children and families, then we can help teachers dealing with this do the same.
“We want to help teachers have the same impact we do on children, with the students in their own schools.”
PAC is now seeking to establish partnerships with government agencies to help in their mission to raise awareness at the grassroots level and provide autism awareness brochures at antenatal clinics across the country.
The Pacific Autism Centre was officially established in January of 2023 by Merina George and Josefa Baleinukulala. The Centre can be reached at pacificautismcenter2022@gmail.com or at +679 7698545 / +679 9367315.
For those with even the slightest concern that your child may be exhibiting signs of autism, let reaching out to the centre be your first step towards finding your child the support they need to thrive in their life.
