By: Spokesman Newsroom

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Thursday 12th June 2025)-“Somebody walked by this family and said ‘Do you want me to help you beat them?’ and the man said ‘Well she has autism, so this is okay, this is how she reacts’, and they said, ‘That’s not how any child should react’.”

So said Founder of the St. Kitts Spectrum Services Center Dr. Sheryl Rosin, during an appearance on Freedom FM’s ‘Issues’ programme aired on Wednesday 11th June 2025(with host Austin Edinborough), while sharing a real-life local example about how negative societal reactions towards children impacts families. 

Dr. Rosin, an autism specialist and speech-language pathologist with nearly thirty ( 30) years of experience, called for the need for change in acceptance and awareness of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

“So I have a little story, you know, somebody here who-and it’s a good example of that- their child has autism, and they brought their child into town, and the ice cream store was closed that they wanted to bring the child to and the child had a big negative reaction to the ice cream store being closed and was screaming and was crying and was just having a lot of tantrums,” she explained.

“Somebody walked by this family and said ‘Do you want me to help you beat them?’ and the man said ‘Well she has autism, so this is okay, this is how she reacts.’ And they said, ‘That’s not how any child should react.’ And then that father stopped taking that child into town or out to see people because he was made to feel ashamed of the child and the disorder and there was no awareness or acceptance-and that needs to change.”

Dr. Rosin emphasized that such public shaming not only isolates families but also prevents children with autism from accessing vital experiences that support their development.

“If somebody has a negative feeling or reaction to that child, the child and the family is going to isolate, and that is going to stop inclusion, collaboration and awareness, and understanding that these children have amazing gifts that we need to tap into and see the potential within,” she stated. “We don’t want to provide negative thoughts and feelings. We want to encourage and embrace the individual for who they are because that is what is going to help them continue to develop and to gain the critical skills for their future potential.”

During the programme, Dr. Rosin and school psychologist Sloane Rosin provided details on ASD and the importance of early diagnosis and intervention.

“So autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder, which means it affects the brain, the neurology, and the development of the child. So what happens is, early on, you start to see deficits in three different areas. Deficits in speech and language, which we would call communication. Deficits in social, emotional reciprocity, that back and forth interaction, social skills. And we see some types of behavior we would call restrictive or repetitive behavior where we like sameness and we like to do things over and over again, which affects our play and which affects our sensory system, which can be one of seven different things,” Dr. Rosin stated.

She continued: “So we may be over or under sensitive to hearing, to sight, to taste, to smells, to touch, and to two other sensory systems. One is called the vestibular system, which is movement, and the proprioceptive system, which is our input to our joints and our muscles and kind of knowing where our body is in space and so autism is a spectrum disorder. Hence why it is called autism spectrum disorder and can affect people in a variety of different ways but the core deficit in autism is in social emotional reciprocity; those social skills and that ability to relate to people in functional ways. The quality of their social interaction is different.”

Sloane Rosin highlighted the vital importance of identifying autism as early as possible.

“The earlier we can diagnose, the better, because early intervention really matters. And when we can work with students or children as young as possible, they have the potential to grow and to really learn those skills early on,” she said.

Dr. Rosin also emphasized the role of pediatricians in this process.

“You can see the signs of the disorder as early as when the child starts to develop some crucial social milestones, like a social smile at three months of age and a response to their name. Most of the visits that you’re going to have with your child at that young age are going to be with a pediatrician, and the pediatrician should be aware of red flags, the early signs of autism, and ask those critical questions to parents and families.”

As gathered, Dr. Rosin is currently based in Florida where she runs a private practice for children with autism. She also operates in Boston and founded the St. Kitts Spectrum Services Center in Basseterre, where she previously served as consulting director. In addition, she works as a research professor and adjunct lecturer at multiple universities, focusing on evidence-based practices for autism.

The center was opened in September 2018. It is located at the Industrial Site in Basseterre.