Autism Awareness Day at Tamarisk Special School for Autism
TASSFA fosters resilience and lifelong learning, enabling learners to be active participants in family and community life.
SOUTH Hills is the home for Tamarisk Special School for Autism (TASSFA) and they are having an autism awareness day on April 26 from 8am until noon.
Autism is a mental condition, present from early childhood, characterised by great difficulty in communicating and forming relationships with other people and in using language and abstract concepts.
Tamarisk was an obsolete preschool which was closed down by the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE). Then, after TASSFA was registered on February 2 with the GDE, it opened its door for the community 10 days later. The school is in Johannesburg South District under the directorship of Dennis Macuacua.
How to register your child
Caretaker principal, who is a district psychologist, Busi Nthola, said when the school opened there were 40 learners. However, other learners are not attending due to transport problems hence only 23 learners attend regularly.
“All our autism learners were diagnosed by health professionals. The school has six classrooms with six qualified educators and six class assistants.
“If your child has all the medical documents that s/he is autistic, there is still space available. We take learners from three to 13 years of age. Go to your district office with all medical documents. The district office will send the learners with special educative needs (LSEN) number and your child’s documents to TASSFA,” explained Busi.
She outlined the chronological process of the child’s admission at TASSFA.
“Firstly the parents need to have all the medical documents from the hospital or clinic, and then go to the district of their area (where they will find inclusive and special school unit). The Johannesburg South ISS official will then have a meeting with TASSFA for admission,” she said.
TASSFA fosters resilience and lifelong learning, enabling learners to be active participants in family and community life. It also provides exceptional, compassionate care and education to learners so that each individual with autism will realise his or her fullest potential.
The school has also a driver, general worker and two assistant administrators.
It is situated at 27-33 Ficksburg Road, South Hills. For more information contact Busi on 083 370 3074.
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