From correspondents in Kerala, India, 06:31 PM IST

While Kerala faces shortage of qualified speech therapists and continued rise in the incidence of autism, a workshop is to be conducted here for mothers and teaching aids and kits would be given away free to tackle the congenital disease.

Addressing reporters here Friday, chief of the Institute for Communicative and Cognitive Neurosciences (ICCNS) P.A. Suresh said the prevalence of autism in the state is the same as elsewhere.

'Not long ago if the prevalence was one case in 2,000, now it has risen to one in every 250. This is an alarming trend and hence we need more speech therapists. But there is a huge shortage as every year only 40 students qualify as speech therapists from the state,' Suresh said.

The ICCNS with the support of the National Rural Health Mission has brought out visual and computer software packages for the parents of the children who are autist.

'Tomorrow (Saturday) we are conducting a free workshop for mothers and teaching aids, and kits would be distributed for free. Children who suffer from this congenital disorder have to be given proper attention. If detected in the early stages, 30 percent of the cases can be reversed. And if it is identified later, then the chances are very remote,' Suresh said.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)