Treatment of autistic people in the Community Center

The Malteser Community and Competence Center for socially deprived people continues its activity in supporting marginalized people, children with mental and physical problems, disabled elderly people, and people with few opportunities, through which it seeks to promote equal opportunities and equal rights for people with disabilities, accessibility from the society, safety in transportation, employment, education, and freedom from abuse.

This activity is held in collaboration with the Regional Development center in Shkodra. There are 60 children and teenagers who are permanently treated in the Center and 40 others who come daily. Malteser supports the Development Center with a logoped and different activities of its volunteers with the disabled children who are treated there.

 “Different by equal” is the motto that guides our work and activity with this group of people.

One of the most important points of the Community Center is the activity held with the autistic people. These activities, held in the Center, start with the following assessment:

*    General assessment of the child
*    Disorder assessment of autism spectrum
*    Detailed assessment of the development level
*    Assessment of specific needs of the child
*    Logopedic treatment 

The purpose of the activities is that children acquire the basic elements of communication through a logopedic treatment, as one of the main social factors of integration in society. Leaving space to their integration in other environments, such as kindergartens and schools, the therapy is supposed to take place in the afternoons, as a special specialized support for children, parents and educators who work with these children.

 

The therapy is individual. It takes place in sessions which last 45 minutes with each child. This individual therapy is time to time combined with group therapy consisting of two or three children selected according to the skills they have, developing more other interactive and communicative skills.

 

There are 21 people aged 3 to 16 years who are treated in the Center and almost all are of the autistic spectrum. The Center operates twice a week, according to a schedule set by the therapist.

 

A special place is given to the meeting with the parents, who are interested in their child’s performance as well as on methods and techniques necessary for the continuity of the work. The meetings with the parents are held once in two months, to assess the progress of the child. During these meetings, thoughts on a wide field of action are exchanged, such as: the collaboration parent-teacher-therapist, the difficulties encountered in the integration of children in kindergarten and school environment, information on autism, legal ways to benefit KMCAP and many other problems, which are identified and worry their parents.

 

All these children are treated by a Speech Therapist (logopedist), who is part of the staff who assess the autistic spectrum of the children, and as such gives the necessary assessments on skills, needs, and intervention techniques and based on these data compiles a plan, which is applied to the children and that has to do with the child’s performance and the continuation of therapy. This is always done in close cooperation with the parents, giving space to their suggestions.