ILOILO CITY – The Sangguniang Panlungsod (city council) here is eyeing an ordinance requiring the establishment of an early identification and intervention program for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Under the proposed ordinance, the program will have developmental screening services, referral pathways, and intervention services as components, targeting children below 18 years old who are residents of the city.
It shall be implemented through barangay health centers, public daycare centers and public schools in coordination with private stakeholders, hospitals and educational institutions.
During the floor deliberation on Wednesday, Councilor Mandrei Malabor said the program will focus on initial screening or assessment and the interventions or referral will come later.
“This will allow indigent parents in the city to have their children assessed. The most is they will have the knowledge on how to manage their children. We have gone around the city and there are a lot of parents, especially in informal areas, who are not aware of the conditions of their children,” he said.
Dr. Celina Gellada, one of the two developmental pediatricians in Western Visayas, said the initiative “is long overdue for children with developmental disorders.”
“As you all know, early childhood is the most critical period to identify children with developmental and behavioral disorders. The earlier that we identify them and we can start them on intervention, then they will have better outcomes, they can perform better in schools, they will have maybe opportunity to hold a job later on and all these things,” Gellada told the council.
“When we say early intervention, we hope that we see, we identify these children as young as three and up to five years old.”
The Philippine Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics has no exact data, but the 2023 data from the Center for Disease Control showed that the prevalence of autism is one for every 31 children below eight years old. (PNA)