LET'S THROWBACK

It's Thursday, and I want to do a throwback on the blog. I wrote this post on Instagram last year, and I thought to share it with you.

"Recently I had to support a child on the spectrum, in a regular classroom. His classmates gave me customized cards, saying nice things (I honestly don't believe the nice things they said, but it was still sweet to be told nice things by 11 year olds).#Perksofbeingateacher 😍😍😍

Most of the children I have worked with have speech limitations, so can't give me cards. But they find ways to show love; the smile that comes on his/her face as I enter the class, the hug that I don't ask for, the child that starts jumping when he/she sees me, that calmness and attention the child shows during therapy that says "Miss Delola, I'm just calm because I have not seen you for a week", and the "I love you" the child says and I know he/she means it. 😍😍😍

I love my job 😍"

In other news, I was featured on an online magazine last year, Feminine Nigeria.

Click here to read the interview. Thank you.

ROUNDING UP 2016

The first post on this blog was put up on December 31, 2013. Every year since then, I always put up an anniversary post on December 31. Last year, in my anniversary post, I wrote that it’s not too late to start, especially for parents with teenage or adult children on the spectrum seeking for therapy or support for their children.

My Anniversary Look 😀

For me, I started the year working with a 21 year old, and I was reminded that there are adults with autism, and the children right now will become adults. In February, I attended a training by Patrick Speech and Languages Centre on Adulthood and Autism, where I had the opportunity to meet a woman whose son had joined Patrick Speech at 35, and was making tremendous progress, to the surprise and pleasure of everyone.

In April, Mr Isaac Osae-Brown featured on the blog, writing on Transition in Autism, and I learnt a lot on preparing our teenagers and adulthood for the work place. You can read the posts here.

I spent the rest of the year observing and learning about teenagers and adults on the spectrum. The icing on the cake for me was watching the presentations by the adults at Patrick Speech, at the last Talents in Autism Show. It was an emotional time for me, as I watched them sing, play the keyboard, and danced. There was a 25 year old who could say the day of the week that any date in the past fell on, or any date in history will fall on. He is so good with dates, such that he has been taught to file documents according to dates, using it as a strength in building office skills. This young man can remember the date he handled any document, or when a meeting held.

At the Talents in Autism Show, there were other presentations that touched me; one girl painted a beautiful work of art on stage, there was a presentation by the early intervention class that has children that are about 3 and 4 years old, dance presentations by different classes, and there was a beautiful rendition of songs by Ebuka and friends while Ebuka (a ten year old on the spectrum) played the keyboard.

Did I mention that I saw an artwork by the guy that started therapy at 35, who is now 37? I saw his artwork, and it was beautiful. I also met an 18 year old, who is good with numbers, and can fix any puzzle no matter how hard (he won’t stop until he is done).

Meeting all these people reminds me that it’s never too late to start. It is better to start, even when it is late, than to assume that it is late and give up. As I say this about working with people on the spectrum, I also say this about dreams.

Do you have any dream in your heart, and you think time has passed, as we start a new year, it is a good time to start planning how to start work on that dream. It may be harder to start now, but starting brings hope. And if you don’t give up, who knows how well it will do, or how far you will go.

Anyway, Happy Anniversary to us here at Autism Gist with Adelola. It’s been 3 years of serving the autism community in Nigeria, and we look forward to more years. Don’t forget to follow our Thursday throwbacks, by following @adelolaonautism on Twitter.

Have a beautiful and wonderful 2017! Happy New Year in advance.

AUTISM IN A MOVIE

The first time I heard of autism was in a movie, Journey of the Heart; a movie based on the true story of Tony Deblois. Tony Deblois is visually impaired and has autism, but he has savant skills, he has been playing the piano since the age of 2, and can play 19 more instruments.

Years later, I have watched movies like My Name is Khan, Rain Man, and Silver lining by Patrick Speech and Languages Centre. The movie, Joyful Noise that has a character with Aspergers’ syndrome. I have also seen short stories on YouTube such as The Maid and Emere (both recorded here in Nigeria). But none of those movies prepared me for the movie I watched recently, THE ACCOUNTANT.

The Accountant

The Accountant tells the story of a man who had been diagnosed as a boy, as having high functioning autism, who is extremely good with numbers, and of course grows up to become an accountant. He talks to a lady on the phone, who we know simply as the voice, and at the end it is revealed that the voice is a lady who is on the autism spectrum, nonverbal, and uses a computer to communicate.

Although the movie creates autism awareness, I like it because it is very entertaining. Personally, I am a fan of action movies, and Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick are actors I like to see in any movie, any time, any day. For these reasons alone, I would have just been excited about seeing the movie, but the way autism is displayed as a spectrum in the movie; showing different characters, from high functioning autism to severe autism, nailed it for me. I love the fact that the movie shows the challenges parents face raising their child on the spectrum. It also expresses the issue of broken homes, one parent leaving the other because they think they cannot cope with raising a child with special needs. For these reasons, I have not only crowned The Accountant as my favourite 2016 movie, but also my favourite autism movie ever.

As I said earlier, I like the fact that the movie shows autism as a spectrum, without focusing too much on that information. One myth that I am faced with as an autism consultant is that children with autism are geniuses. Although I have worked with some people on the spectrum who are geniuses, I have worked with others that cannot be referred to as geniuses. I have met individuals with autism who have savant skills, but many of those that I have met don’t have. But one thing has been consistent, especially with early intervention, with therapy I have seen these children learn skills that help them with communication (not necessarily speech), behaviour, and social skills. I have seen children that could not hold a pencil writing, and enjoying it. I have seen children who communicated their needs only by crying, or holding an adult’s hand to the need, learn to communicate with speech, pictures, sign language, or devices. I have seen children who would injure themselves because they were angry, find appropriate ways to communicate their anger and deal with it. I have seen some children learn to make friends, go shopping with the family, and picked up many more skills.

The beauty of the first time a child blows a candle in my class; touches the right picture; says the first word; gestures that he wants to use the toilet; identifies a number or a letter; matches the right picture, etc. It is not just about the first time, but the step that leads to progress, independence, and a more successful childhood and adulthood.

I like the fact that The Accountant shows us a child that grew up into Christian Wolff, the Maths genius and accountant, and another child who grew up into Justine, a lady that has learnt to use a device to communicate. It’s wonderful to note that although they have different strengths, Christian Wolff’s being more visible, Justine shows that she is intelligent and is of great help to Christian and many other people.

Have you watched The Accountant? You should watch it if you have not. It entertains you, and teaches you about autism.

CAN A SPECIAL DIET WORK FOR YOUR CHILD?

I remember hearing about diet for children with autism at the Wow Divas Autism Awareness Seminar in 2011. Since that time, I have tried to read up on the benefits of diet for people on the spectrum.

In 2012 I read a book, Facing Autism by Lynn M. Hamilton; the author talked about how the GFCF (Gluten Free, Casein Free) diet and supplements helped her son, among other things (You need to read that book).

Cover Page for the book, Facing Autism

Recently, I met a nutritionist, Ijeoma Ugwu. Talking with her, I appreciated more, the effect on diet for people on the spectrum.

For many years, there has been a debate, if children on the autism spectrum need to be on a diet. Why bother suffering a child and restricting diet? You tell parents not to give sugar to the child, and they will say they pitied the child and gave the child juice, sweet, biscuit, cakes etc. For some parents, it’s the thought of segregating the child that makes a special diet a no-go area for them. Many children are picky eaters, so what happens when the only thing the child can handle is what the nutritionists say are bad? I know children that eat only rice, nothing else; what can the parents do?

From my interaction with Mrs. Ugwu, and some parents who have taken the diet route, children whose diets have been tailored to meet their needs have shown a lot of progress in speech, and behaviour. She said that nutrition can help to address hyperactivity, poor gross and fine motor skills, and seizures. According to Mrs. Ugwu, nutrition affects symptoms from the cellular level. For example, hyperactivity can be a result of yeast overgrowth, and that can be addressed through proper diet. Some children show poor gross motor skills, so they may have challenge in chewing food, holding pencil, or they get tired easily. This may be as a result of Mitochondria dysfunction, and this can be addressed through proper diet.

As a parent of a child on the spectrum, I am sure that you have heard about diet, but you may not have considered it before now. A mother told me recently that the doctor that diagnosed her son said that they should stop giving him sugar, but somehow she and her husband still give him sugar. Another father said that the autism centre that the son attends told him to stop giving him sugar, but the boy was taking a soft drink as he told me. I guess many parents don’t bother with diet because they don’t know how much effect it will have on their child.

Although children with autism respond to different treatments differently, there have been so many testimonies of children responding better to therapy, as their diet is changed. Last year, a child I worked with showed huge progress, and paid better attention during therapy after her parents agreed to stop sugar. Although she was still a bit hyperactive, she learnt to be calm while in class or in her one-on-one sessions, and that made therapy more fun and effective. But somehow she started “snatching” her sister’s drinks, and the behaviour just changed.

Many parents can testify that their children get more hyperactive or aggressive after they eat a particular meal. It is therefore important that parents begin to consider the option of removing food that may not be good, and introducing food that is good to the child’s diet.

If I have not said it before, let me say it now, sugar is not good for your child. Giving the child sugar is not giving the child a taste of the good life, it is harming that child. The nutritionist is the one that can tell you exactly what your child should eat or not, but I know that fruits and vegetables are good. Mrs. Ugwu said that the greener the vegetables, the better. Turmeric, garlic, onions are better options than seasoning cubes for cooking. It is better to use your chicken or meat stock to season your food than the processed seasoning cubes (maggi in Nigerian language).

I don’t know if my post has convinced you to consider changing your child’s diet, at least I hope it encourages you to speak to a nutritionist. I’m sure Mrs. Ugwu will not mind you sending an email, and I believe that she will respond. You can reach her on brainfood.gut@yahoo.com.

Have a beautiful December.

IN OTHER NEWS: COULD YOUR CHILD'S LEARNING BE DISTURBED BY DYSLEXIA

#LongPostAlert#

This is my second “In Other News” post. I promised to be a voice for other children with special needs, and this time it’s for children with Dyslexia.

I watched “Like Stars on Earth” an Indian movie in 2011, and it kinda brought Dyslexia home for me. I had read an article in a Newspaper in 2009, about a Nobel Prize winner who had Dyslexia.

Carol Greider

Carol Greider had won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine with 2 other people. They had discovered Telomerase, an enzyme that plays an important role in the division of cells, and which has a real potential to fight cancer and age-related diseases. The Nobel Prize was not her first award; she had won The Albert Lasker Award in 2006, an award for works in sciences.

Who would have thought that a lady with this much accolade struggled through elementary school because she had a disorder that made reading and speaking difficult? Spelling words, sounding letters, putting letter sounds together to form words were a challenge for her. She had challenges with speaking; sometimes the wrong words will come out of her mouth while she was thinking of another word.  Carol Greider had Dyslexia just like that little boy in Like Stars on Earth.

Dyslexia is a type of learning disorder that affects reading, spelling, writing, and sometimes speaking. Children with dyslexia may be able to understand instructions that are verbal, and have difficulty with written information. The child may find it easy answering questions orally, but may not be able to write the answers on paper. They may read and write slowly, write letters the wrong way (e.g confuse “b” for “d”), spell poorly, confuse the order of letters in words. Some children with dyslexia see the words moving on the book (at least they say so). Dyslexia does not only affect the child in writing, reading or spelling; many people with dyslexia struggle with planning and organization, have difficulty with sequence of direction. I remember that the little boy in the movie could not throw ball in a particular direction.

Dyslexia usually becomes obvious when the child starts school and starts writing, about age 5, but it can be noticed earlier in pre-school children. Just like autism, a toddler with dyslexia can have delayed speech (reasons you cannot assume that every child that talks late has autism). These children may have difficulty pronouncing long words, or may jumble up words- for example saying “beddy tear” instead of “Teddy bear”; may not understand rhyming words like “sit” and “hit” especially in Nursery rhymes; learning alphabets can be a challenge for the child.

Just like autism, dyslexia is a lifelong disorder, so the child does not outgrow it. Having a child with these difficulties can be disturbing for a parent, or teaching such a child. Learning disabilities cannot be beaten out of a child; you cannot wait it out and expect learning to get easier. Some people assume that comparing the child to other children will motivate the child to be better, rather it will make the child rebellious. As a parent, you therefore cannot leave your child’s condition to chance.

The first way to help your child is by speaking to the school if they have a Special Education Needs (SEN) Department. In Nigeria, not all schools have a SEN department, so you may have to get the help of a Dyslexia professional. But that is not all; like I always say, the bulk of the work lies on the parents. You have to work to help your child;

-         Spend time reading to your child. This will build the child’s interest in books and improve vocabulary and listening skills.

-         Read books together with your child. You can discuss the book, to improve comprehension.

-         Don’t get bored reading the same book to your child “a thousand times” (that’s just figurative) if he likes it, it will reinforce his understanding and get more familiar with the written text.

-         Encourage your child to read alone so he can get more independent and fluent.

-         Reward your child’s progress in reading, writing, spelling, speaking. Make learning fun, as it is already harder than it should be for the child.

-         As the child grows older, you can introduce the use of computers, as it makes spelling easier; there is usually the spell checker. Computers also usually have text-to-speech apps, helping your child maximize his oral skills.

-         Remember to work directly with the professional that is supporting your child. It is all about team-work.

Carol Greider is not the only dyslexic person that has succeeded in her career of choice; Whoopi Goldberg, the actress has dyslexia; Steven Speilberg, the guy that directed many movies including Transformers is said to be dyslexic; Richard Branson of the Virgin Group (you know Virgin Airways na); Anderson Cooper, a News anchor on CNN is said to be dyslexic. The list includes Tom Cruise, Leonardo Da Vinci, Patrick Dempsey, and Jennifer Aniston. On Wikipedia alone, there are so many people and what they do.

A Dyslexia suspicion and diagnosis is not the end of the world. With your support, your child can be successful.

I wish you all the best, and Happy Dyslexia Awareness Week.

Please share this post to create awareness, you don’t know the child or parent you may be helping and giving hope to. Thank you.

YESTERDAY WAS WORLD TEACHERS DAY

I really wanted to post something yesterday; it was a day celebrating teachers and as a teacher I wanted to celebrate myself. First of all, I studied Education in the University, and I have spent the last 6 years actively teaching children with special needs, training autism professionals, and teaching parents how to help their children with autism. Why should I not be excited about World Teachers Day?

But somehow, I did not get near my laptop until night time. It was such an active day for me, as I had an opportunity to attend an event for teachers.

October 5 2016 did not just give me a reason to celebrate, it raised questions in my heart. How far have we come in building and equipping children with autism and other special needs conditions? How many teachers can work with these children? How many people are willing to work with them? How available and affordable are trainings in Nigeria for  people interested in working with these children? (I know how much I have spent on getting trained. And there's still so much to spend). What does the future hold for the person interested in teaching these children, either in a mainstream school or in a special school?

Yesterday, I also met a Disability Advocate, the founder of Benola (a Cerebral Palsy Initiative), AVM Femi Gbadebo. Yesterday was also World Cerebral Palsy Day, so talking about CP in relations to Education also raised concerns on how can we get people who are first of all willing to teach children with CP and other disorders?

I cannot imagine where my life would be now if there were no teachers. I cannot remember the teachers that taught me in Nursery class, and I remember faintly those that taught me in Early Primary. I think the only ones I remember from Primary School are the people that taught me from Primary 3 upwards, but I am so sure that I would not be where I am today if all those people did not teach me. How would my life have turned out if nobody was willing to work in a school?

Maybe I will not feel like I was missing anything, but I definitely will not be where I an today; and I am grateful for where I am today.

What is the essence of my long speech? (You ask). First of all I celebrate teachers that are giving their time to train children with special needs. Secondly, I hope that celebrating World Teachers Day will not just be about celebrating the people that taught us, but also encourage people to show interest in the education of the next generation. The next generation includes children with special needs; autism, Down syndrome, Cerebral palsy, visual impairment, hearing impairment, intellectual disability, and many more. I pray that more people will become willing to teach these children with special needs in Nigeria.

Although this is belated, allow me to say Happy Belated Teachers Day to all teachers that work with children with special needs and all who will be inspired by our work to get involved and join us in teaching these wonderful children.

SPECIAL NEEDS TRAINING NEAR YOU

Sometime in May I joined a group of people on a walk to create special needs awareness in Ikorodu. I wrote here on the blog about that walk, which was organized by Pison Therapy Center, Ikorodu.

People walking to create special needs awareness

I mentioned on the blog that the walk was the first of many programs that they have planned for creating special needs awareness and solutions for families with children with special needs. On Saturday September 3, they will be hosting another event; this time it is a training.

Explaining autism and other special needs disorders to someone on the street

Pison Therapy Center is bringing to Ikorodu, seasoned professionals in autism therapy and support, to train parents, teachers, caregivers, health personnel, and other interested persons on helping children with autism and other disorders. The center caters for children with neuro-biological disorders like Autism, Down syndrome, Cerebral palsy, Hydrocephaly, Learning disabilities and other related disorders, so the training will cover aspects that concern training and raising children with such disorders. There will be training on behaviour management and building communication skill in children with these special needs. At the training, you will learn the purpose of unpleasant or maladaptive behaviours, and what to do to stop or redirect them. You will also learn how to develop expressive communication skills in a child with speech limitations.

Special needs awareness

Do you live in Ikorodu? Even if you don’t, it does not matter, you can still join us and learn. Join us on Saturday September 3, at Block 6, Flat 8, Jubilee Estate, Ikorodu by 10am for this training.

I will be there. Will you be there?