Kazakhstan's Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population is changing its approach to working with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The National Center for Social Protection has already begun developing a practical guide for social workers, infohub.kz reports.
The new tool is intended to help specialists find an individual approach to each child with autism.
"It will present clear algorithms and recommendations that allow for consistent work tailored to the specific situation and the family's needs," the statement says.
The guide will detail how a social worker can build communication with a family from scratch: from the first conversation and understanding of the main issues to drawing up a joint action plan. It will also explain how to involve doctors and teachers in the support process, and then assess how much that support actually helped the child and their loved ones.
All of the social workers' efforts will be based exclusively on the principle of interaction with the child's family, since only close relatives know their child's needs better than anyone else.
What exactly will be written in the document is not yet known. The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population emphasizes that the practice of interaction between social workers and families raising children with ASD is still being studied.
The ministry noted that ASD is a developmental condition in which a child communicates, behaves, and perceives the world differently. No two cases are alike. Each child has their own talents, difficulties, and needs. That is why social workers cannot follow a template but must tailor assistance individually to each family.
Earlier, the Committee for Sanitary and Epidemiological Control shared the results of a World Health Organization review covering the past 15 years. In particular, a meta-analysis showed that vaccinations do not increase the risk of developing ASD.