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Autism event about more than just awareness

Apr 24, 2016 | 8:49 AM

Everyone has heard of autism but unless it has directly affected you, odds are you don’t understand it.

An event to bring better awareness to autism was held at the National West Field House in North Battleford Saturday April. 23.

Understanding autism is sometimes hard for people, said Miena Friggstad, who attended the event and whose husband, son and daughter have autism.

“It’s hard because people will see my kids having a tantrum at Walmart and ask me what’s wrong with my bratty kids.”

“Our daughter and our son are high functioning autistics, so they tend to fall through the cracks. They’re not severe enough for one-on-one help, but they’re not main stream either,” she explained.

Autism is a developmental disorder that affects a wide range of abilities like a child’s expressive and receptive language skills, social skills and behaviour.

“Events like this are very important,” said Friggstad. “Not just to raise awareness but to show the spectrum. Kids that are nonverbal who may be handicapped in a wheelchair and there are also kids who may seem normal. If you see a kid having a tantrum, they might not be a bad kid, they might just be experiencing a sensory over load.”

The event had numerous activities including bouncy castles, face painting and different sports, allowing for parents to get together and for children to play.

“Our kids can hang out and not be worried,” said Friggstad. “Right now my daughter is playing a game of connect four with another autism kid who is older than her. For her to see him and think hey this guy is cool and he as autism and that’s OK mean a lot to me and her.”

Friggstad has been able to put her daughter into Heritage Christian School, which has small classes and teachers who understand and can work with autistic children and described it as a “blessing.”

 

ghiggins@jpbg.ca            

@realgreghiggins