Girls and boys with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and their families, after the school period, look for summer camps or other alternatives that allow minors to be cared for and carry out activities while their relatives work or rest. But for them it is more difficult, according to what Sheila Alcaraz, co-director of the Alcaraz Institute, a center specializing in child psychology, explains to La Vanguardia.
Every year, when summer arrives, “we find cases of minors not accepted in some summer camps or activities or children excluded due to the lack of trained personnel to attend to them with guarantees.” Alcaraz explains that his center, located on Avenida de la Albufereta in Alicante, organizes a summer camp “in which there is one monitor for every two children”, something that is not within the reach of most camps, be they sports, of nature or leisure.
This lack of opportunities generates a “social marginalization of the minor, who is left with no alternative, fails to integrate with other peers and loses that social and emotional bond that – with certain guidelines and mechanisms on the part of the monitors – could be very useful for them. in the learning and socialization process.
Sheila Alcaraz assures that, in cases in which a rejection occurs, it is convenient to report to the Ministry or the entity that organizes the camp in question that discrimination is taking place. She admits that “this type of child requires supervision that goes beyond a monitor for fifteen children”, so that, faced with rejection, families tend to settle because they understand that they will not be well cared for there.
Instituto Alcaraz’s proposal, especially when leisure initiatives are promoted by public entities such as town halls, is prior staff training, “a task where entities like ours can participate in staff training. There are many experts in child psychology and ASD who could train this staff with very interesting resultsâ€, comments the expert in early diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder.
The first action that the monitors of these minors must take into account is to know what their most important difficulties are. In general, they are children who have a clear deficit when it comes to relating to their peers or, where appropriate, when they interact they usually do so inappropriately. In addition, they tend to show some hyperactivity, and be repetitive and inflexible in their habits.
Adequate attention requires caregivers “to carry out a more personalized follow-up, establish very marked routines with them and explain them in detail at the beginning of each day, with resources such as drawings or lists that place them in their reality of immediate activities,” he recommends. alcaraz. It is also positive to form a ‘circle of friends’, that group of colleagues who are more sensitive or who connect better with the minor, who serve as a guide
