Autism care must move beyond early diagnosis and childhood interventions to provide sustained support through adolescence, adulthood and old age, experts said at Autism Odyssey 3.0, a two-day international conference on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) held here recently.
The conference was organised by the Child Development Centre at Rainbow Children’s Hospital, in collaboration with Marham, the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped, the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, and other organisations working in the field of autism.
Lifelong condition, not a childhood diagnosis
The central theme of the conference was that autism is a lifelong developmental condition rather than a diagnosis confined to childhood. Experts underlined the need for integrated systems to support autistic individuals across education, employment, relationships and independent living, as well as in old age, while ensuring that families remain at the centre of care.
Speakers noted that while awareness and early screening have improved significantly in recent years, the systems built around autism care continue to be weighted heavily towards the early years of a child’s life. As a result, adolescents and adults on the spectrum often find little institutional support to help them with schooling transitions, employment, independent living or long-term health needs.
Dr. Pratima Giri, developmental paediatrician, said robust systems and a roadmap were needed to support autistic individuals. This, she said, would require multidisciplinary teams working across health, education, vocational training, policymaking, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders.
She said the conference itself was the outcome of one such collaboration, and stressed that similar partnerships should continue to shape how autism care is delivered within communities.
The conference brought together clinicians, educators, policymakers and representatives of organisations working with autistic individuals, reflecting a growing consensus in the field that care pathways need to be redesigned to follow autistic persons well beyond the years in which they are first diagnosed.
-Rashmi Kumari
