Autism: Raising a different child

By the time he was four, Benjamin Opiro could not yet talk or use the potty. This got his parents worried and a trip to the hospital showed he had autism. This was the start of a long journey for his parents, but one that has come with its rewards.

How to help your child if they suffer from the condition

Dr Henry Bukenya, a physician describes autism as a rare and severe mental disorder of childhood with an onset before the age of two and half years. It is medically known as Kanner’s syndrome.
It usually comes with severe difficulty in communication, developing language and the child may stammer, spilling a lot of saliva when they try to talk. They also have difficulty in engaging in social interactions making it hard to form relationships with other people.

The doctor says autistic people may have repetitive and limited partners in behaviour. This explains why Benjamin watched TV most of the time. They also resist any slight change of their environment and this might be just the colour of the curtains used or removal of one type of flower from the compound.

Dr Bukenya says autistic people have learning difficulties and for them to pick up they need to be taught the same thing for a long time. He says some of them are very intelligent and others are gifted in a particular thing.

Causes
According to the doctor, the cause of autism is not so clear but it is believed to be due to genetic factors or brain damage. Conditions like schizophrenia that affect the brain are believed to cause the condition. Different children exhibit different symptoms so in order to find out what exactly is wrong, a child with any of the mentioned signs and symptoms should be taken to a psychiatrist to help identify the specific condition.

Word of advice
Florence Namaganda a therapist at Dawn Centre for Children says, “The most important thing is to accept that your child has a problem and find help.”

She says parents also need to understand that autism is not curable and that there is no quick fix. “Once this has been understood, then, they will stop wasting time and money and a whole lot of emotions on a ‘cure’,” she adds.

Treatment
For treatment of autism, early and continuous therapy interventions done consistently and patiently are the only ones that have been proven to work. Namaganda says that parents or guardians need to be on board and willing to invest a lot of time and emotions (positive) to help their child especially in the initial stages.
She says it is no easy task and involves a lot of hard work, but there are great rewards of seeing your child improve. It is also not good to compare your child with another because children are different and will therefore progress at different levels.

Therapy
Namaganda says, there are a number of basic therapies done that help shape a child’s behaviour. These include:
· Speech and language therapy: Since difficulties with communication is one of the main symptoms observed in children with autism, speech and language therapy is one of the major services required for their general development.

· Dance/movement therapy: This fosters a child’s ability to relate, communicate and connect on a non-verbal level.
· Music therapy: This provides a natural, enriching environment for addressing goals in areas such as communication, social skills, sensory issues, behaviour, cognition, perceptual/motor skills and self-determination.

· Occupational: This increases an individual’s functional independence. This can be very effective in improving functional fine and gross motor skills, postural control and movement patterns, motor planning, self-help skills, hand-eye coordination and visual perceptual and spatial skills.