Special care must for autistic children

Autistic children need special care for their advancement in society, said speakers at a programme in Chittagong city yesterday.

They were addressing the inaugural ceremony of The Roaming Yard (TRY), a centre working for autistic children, at Chittagong Press Club. Autism has emerged as a big problem in the last few decades, said Premier University Vice Chancellor Prof Anupam Sen, who was the chief guest.

Stressing awareness about autism, he said the whole society had to come forward for their proper treatment.

Presently, one in every 68 children is found to be suffering from autism, said Abdullah Al Harun, a physician and a social worker. "…among them, the number of male children is four to five times more than that of the female ones," he said.

Roohi Safdar, one of the five entrepreneurs of TRY which is going to start working on April 1 at the city's Goolpahar Intersection, Prof Dr Rashida Khanam of Chittagong University, and cultural personality Alam Khorshed also spoke.