On-line podrška osobama s autizmom, njihovim porodicama i terapeutima tokom vanrednog stanja

Abstract

Following the declaration of an international state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, in many countries, direct treatment of people with autism was suspended. With the introduction of the state of emergency in Serbia, effective from mid-March 2020, all forms of direct support to people with autism and their families were prevented. Instead, new forms of support in the virtual environment were increased and introduced. The purpose of this paper is to present forms of online support for people with autism during the state of emergency, in which the authors participated. Beneficiary users were either direct (people with autism spectrum disorder) or indirect (their parents and therapists). Depending on the time of effectuation, support was synchronous (in real-time) or asynchronous (appropriate materials available on the internet without direct contact between the support provider and client). Synchronous form of direct beneficiary users was the Youth Club, which included six people with high-functioning autism whose social skills treatment was accomplished in small groups, once a week, via video chat. Indirect beneficiary users in real-time support were parents who used online counseling services and early intervention providers who attended one-time online mentoring support. Asynchronous models included specially designed guidance for caregivers of people with autism in a state of emergency and a social story. Past experience indicates the need to create special protocols for dealing with people with autism in the state of emergency.

Nakon proglašenja vanredne situacije na međunarodnom nivou zbog pandemije COVID-a-19 u mnogim zemljama obustavljen je direktan tretman osoba s autizmom. Uvođenjem vanrednog stanja u Srbiji, sredinom marta 2020. godine, onemogućeni su svi oblici direktnog pružanja podrške osobama s autizmom i njihovim porodicama. Umesto toga intenzivirani su i uvedeni novi oblici podrške u virtuelnom okruženju. Cilj ovog rada je da predstavi modele on-line podrške za osobe s autizmom tokom vanrednog stanja u kojima su autori učestvovali. Korisnici podrške su direktni (osobe s poremećajem iz spektra autizma) ili indirektni (njihovi roditelji i terapeuti). U zavisnosti od vremena realizacije podrška je mogla biti sinhrona (u realnom vremenu) ili asinhrona (prigodni materijali dostupni na internetu bez direktnog kontakta pružaoca podrške i klijenta). Sinhroni oblik podrške direktnim korisnicima je Klub za mlade, kojim je obuhvaćeno šest osoba sa visokofunkcionalnim autizmom čiji se tretman socijalnih veština realizuje u malim grupama, jednom nedeljno, preko video-konferencije. Indirektni korisnici podrške u realnom vremenu su roditelji koji koriste usluge on-line savetovališta i pružaoci usluga u ranoj inrtervenciji koji su imali jednokratnu on-line mentorsku podršku. Asinhroni modeli podrške su posebno dizajnirana uputstva za negovatelje osoba s autizmom u vanrednom stanju i socijalna priča. Dosadašnja iskustva ukazuju na potrebu da se kreiraju posebni protokoli za postupanje s osobama s autizmom u vanrednim situacijama.