Autism Spectrum Disorder and Covid-19

For a number of years now, the Onassis Foundation has been seeking to improve the daily lives of people living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It has done this by nurturing their strengths, celebrating diversity, and teaching them to overcome their weaknesses, and by offering a wide range of programs and activities – from combined music and movement workshops, to awareness lectures providing information and practical tips to airport personnel, police officers, and firefighters.

Pandemics, such as the Covid-19, give rise to fears, thoughts, concerns, and strange patterns of behavior. Why is this? And how best to handle them, especially when we find ourselves in a situation beyond our control - in the midst of a pandemic? When tackling such questions, it’s important first to acquaint ourselves with the world of autism more generally, and then to explore what autistic adults, teenagers and children might be told about coronavirus. How best to explain a pandemic to them, and the precautions it imposes on our lives? How best to encourage them to accept the changes that life in quarantine brings? How best to instill a sense of social responsibility, so that they are more inclined to protect their own health, and the health of those around them? There are no easy answers, but these questions do provide us with the opportunity to step inside the world of children, the world of autism, and to encourage children with autism spectrum disorder to place their trust in us, and join us in new ways of experiencing the world.

Watch the video Autism Spectrum Disorder and Covid-19, directed by Christos Sarris and featuring the distinguished speakers Aggeliki Gena (Clinical Psychologist, Professor of Psychology at Athens University), Katingo Hadjipateras-Giannoulis (Chartered Clinical Psychologist, American College of Greece, Deree College), and Katerina Drosinou (Special Education Teacher), here.

Explore the teaching materials created to provide practical tips and guidance on how to
deal with all questions, fears and worries concerning Covid-19, and to learn about every precaution that needs to be taken to ensure a safer everyday life, here.

Building on the video and teaching materials created as part of the “World of Autism in the Midst of a Pandemic” program (Two Social Stories, My Social Circle, Self-Assessment Form, Five Tips for Teenagers and Adults with Autism), the Onassis Foundation hosted a webinar for educators on the topic: “Coronavirus and Autism Spectrum Disorder”. This webinar for educators, led by Specialist Education Teacher Katerina Drosinou, is still freely available to watch online here. Beyond the high level of participation amongst educators and therapists, as well as individuals and organizations supporting families with autistic members, this webinar allowed people across Greece – from Kastoria to Kalymnos, and from Crete to Trikala – to join in from afar.

Educators and mental health professionals working with children and teenagers living with ASD often have no access to such therapy/teaching methods, which are scientifically proven forms of intervention. Thanks to the “Coronavirus and Autism Spectrum Disorder” webinar, anyone who is interested can be informed about best practices, and in such a way that specialists are able both to implement these practices, and to pass on this knowledge to parents so that their positive effects are multiplied many times over. The webinar also presents good therapy practices that can be used to help children living with ASD to better understand the pandemic, and to adjust smoothly to its new realities.

The Onassis Foundation will be continuing its work on ASD programs in the firm belief that it is vital to be informed about this disorder a society, so that we are all in a position to better understand the people around us, since certain behaviors and reactions may in fact spring from ASD.