The Anita Garibaldi Health Education and Research Center, a unit of the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD) in Macaíba, hosted this Friday, the 18th, the first in-person class of the Continuing Education project in the care of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Intellectual Disability, in partnership with the National Program to Support Health Care for People with Disabilities (Pronas/PcD). The education strategy aims to improve the training of one hundred professionals from the Specialized Rehabilitation Centers (CER) who work in the care of people with intellectual disabilities and autism in Rio Grande do Norte.

The course enters the in-person phase after six months of virtual classes. The total course load is 636 hours of classes, divided into 11 modules on various topics, such as teaching-service-community integration and the contributions of speech therapy to accurate diagnoses. The hybrid training focuses on two aspects: in the online classes, the emphasis is on updating the theory on intellectual rehabilitation and, in the in-person classes, the professional practice for intellectual rehabilitation of the population with ASD is the highlight.

According to Anita’s Health Education Activities Coordinator, Samantha Maranhão, the first in-person class marks the beginning of the structuring of an action plan that will be drawn up by each CER. “These plans will be driven by reflections arising from the Arco Charles-Maguerez method, a tool that aims to align with the objective of the continuing education strategy, which is to improve the reality of intellectual rehabilitation in each service covered by the training,” said Samantha.

Physiotherapist Meyriane Morais, a professional at the Guamaré CER, says that the meetings help bring management and professionals working on the front lines of care for people with intellectual disabilities closer together. “We were able to put ourselves in the technicians’ shoes, which is a valuable exchange. The course also helps us improve the care provided to the autistic population, which has been growing in recent years. Here we learn how to optimize care for patients we already have and those who are arriving,” says Meyriane.

Autism

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a set of conditions characterized by some degree of difficulty in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and specific interests in some repetitive activities. Data from the North American Center of Diseases Control and Prevention Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (CDC/ADDM) indicate that one in every 44 children worldwide is autistic. The survey indicates an increase in the number of diagnosed cases over time, as the proportion has reached 1 in every 500 children. Current CDC data estimates that the condition affects 70 million people worldwide, with 2 million in Brazil.