Accra, April 27, GNA - Dr Ebenezer Vincent Badoe, Director of Neurology Development Clinic, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, has advised government to set up special pre-schools, classrooms and job facilities to suit persons with any neurobiological disorder like autism. He said a plan needed to be initiated to encourage early treatment of autistic children which would facilitate a faster speech and language development of the child to make life easier for both parents and diagnosed children.

Dr Badoe said this at a seminar on Autism in Accra on Saturday under the theme: "Bridging the Gap - Stand up for Autism". It was organized by Awaawaa2, a centre for children with communication disorders, as part of World Autism Month celebration. He tasked parents to assess their children's communication and language response for early intervention if they were diagnosed with autism.

Autism is a condition or neurodevelopment disorder which impacts on the whole communication system of a person by experiencing among others, a language delay or disorder and difficulties with understanding languages and rules of communication.

Dr Badoe said even though there was no official prevalence rate in Ghana, there were 67 recorded cases of autism over a period of four years at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and it was overwhelmingly common in males than in females in the ratio of 5:1. He said there were many diseases similar to autism, hence the need for in-depth evaluation to attain the real diagnoses for a reported case.

Dr Badoe added that there were no specific causes of autism but evidence suggested biological causes including genetic factors, viral infections and birth and pregnancy complications. Mr Andrew Okaikoi, National Executive Chairman of the Disability Council of Ghana, who chaired the function, said there was a promising future for persons with disability and autism since the newly inaugurated Disability Council was working hard to create an opportunity for the impaired to be empowered.

He said about two million Ghanaians were physically impaired and the Council had organized a programme to address the negative perceptions people had of them and urged the public to serve as ambassadors of persons with any impairment by helping them with their needs.