Support for Children with Autism in Tajikistan

As our last report highlighted, since the beginning of its work IRODA has been committed to offering opportunities for all children to learn in meaningful and appropriate ways. IRODA’s ‘Developmental Program’ supports children who have difficulty accessing the mainstream classes full time. Currently there are 12 children attending this program. They are supported in a small group with staff that have been trained to teach a specialised or adapted curriculum. Some children attend this program full time, while others access some mainstream classes and are supported in other areas of learning in this small group. IRODA has been working with the education department and other organisations to promote a range of options for all children to access the education system. The ‘Developmental Program’ provides an example of supports that are effective for students for whom accessing the mainstream classroom is challenging. Before programs such as this were created there were no appropriate alternatives for children who could not access their local school. IRODA hopes that through on-going advocacy and partnerships across the government and non-government sectors there will be appropriate learning environments and opportunities for all children in Tajikistan. Thank you for partnering with us in this work.