2 Early childhood centers for autism

There is a gap in early childhood learning for children between the ages of as early as 2 to 5 years, in the country.

With this gap and an added lack of specific schools for children with conditions like autism, the challenge is real.

However, the only two early childhood learning schools in the nation’s capital, Virtues Early Childcare and Education Centre and the Birdwing Independent School, are trying to bridge this gap.

Autism is a developmental condition which affects a person’s interaction and communication as they grow.

Directoress of Virtues, Shalanta Boli told NBC News, as an early childhood learning centre - they have about 10 children with autism and over their 14 years of operation have seen more than 30 children pass through their school:

Virtues early childhood centre has 6 classes with up to 100 children, ranging from nursery, to kindergarten and grades 1 to 2.

Birdwing Independent School Principal Mary Udu whose school has about 5 children with autism, expressed the need for more specialist teachers to deal with students with such conditions:

The two heads of schools were grateful to be a part of a first ever Autism SPELL or Structure, positive, empathy, low arousal and link framework training developed by the National Autistic Society in the United Kingdom to better deal with autistic children, in PNG.