Smart Autism Barta

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Neuro-Developmental Disability (NDD) refers to a cluster of disorders occurring at the onset of the human developmental period causing impairments in personal, social, academic, or occupational functioning and autism is one of the most common variations of NDD. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental Disorders version, 5 (DSM-5) autism is characterized by deficits in social communication, repetitive behavioral patterns, inappropriate response during the conversation, and less verbal and nonverbal interaction with others. It has been reported that 1% population of this earth have autism and when it comes to Bangladesh, it has been found that 7.1% of children are affected by NDD and the prevalence rate of autism is 0.15%.

Though autism is not fully curable but through early screening and diagnosis, along with providing early intervention, it is possible to make these children with autism nearly functional to society. In developing countries like Bangladesh, there remain typical autism screening tools operated by specialist doctors or speech therapists but the problem is these services are very limited considering the need because most autism dedicated institutions are located in urban areas. Therefore, the parents of children with autism in our country are not very aware of the initial period of autism. Thus, to ensure early screening and diagnosis, and intervention, we do need an automatic autism screening tool.

Parents, community health workers, or social workers will use ‘Smart Autism Barta’ in both urban and rural settings to screen children for the possible risks of autism. Once child screens are positive, ‘Smart Autism Barta’ will connect the family with Autism resources (i.e., nearby Upazila Health Complex, Child Development Center, or Protibondhi Seba o Sahajjo Kendro) for diagnosis and intervention. The application will provide a tracking system for every child who is diagnosed with autism. The application will also automatically send proper information from time to time to the phone of parents. Thus, it will become easier for them to address the concerns of the families. As ‘Smart Autism Barta’ uses the Bangla version of M-CHAT and M-CHAT/R which are globally accepted autism screening tool and is totally free and easy to use, parents, health workers, and social workers can easily use the app for the betterment of autism affected children across the country.