Following OMPACO’s visit to Msimbazi Mseto Autism Unit in July-August 2011, sponsored by OMPACO and the Ministry of Education, Ms Grace Mtunguja, who administers autism spectrum disorders in the schools in Tanzania, invited us to return in 2013 to run another training session for teachers of children on the autism spectrum and other developmental disorders.

 

The Team from OMPACO was varied and experienced in this field and we were fortunate to have Dr. Philip Altekruse, child and adolescent psychiatrist, Ms. Jill A. Morris, retired teacher of children with special needs in the Boston School Department and a founder of the special needs division in the Ministry of Education in Kuwait, Ms. Deborah Arin, OMPACO board member and speech and language pathologist and speech therapist who had visited Msimbazi Mseto Autism Unit in 200- ,Ms. Amanda A.  Martinage, OMPACO board member and  occupational therapist who had been part of the team of 2011, Dr. Amanda M. Canarella, psychologist who worked with families of children with disabilities including autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Dr. Martha Collins, OMPACO board member and child and adolescent psychiatrist, who also was on the 2011 team.

 

Thirty six teachers from three school districts in Dar es Salaam were present for the sessions at Mbuyuni Autism Unit in the Primary School compound. They had various levels of training in teaching children with special needs including children with ASD. Although there is a Teachers Training College in Arusha Region, there is very little taught on autism spectrum disorders. Ms. Grace Mtunguja, herself a teacher of children with special needs, saw the need for extending knowledge of ASD, both academic and practical to these teachers.

 

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