Have you heard about Temple Grandin before?

I promised to put Temple Grandin story up before the end of October, so this is it...

Sometime in 2010, I stumbled on a movie called “Temple Grandin”. The movie was a biography of a woman, Temple Grandin, living with autism. It was inspiring for me, mostly because as a support worker in a centre for children with autism, it stirred up hope in my heart for the children I worked with at the time. It was proof that there was hope for recovery, as the story was about a living person who in spite of the limitations of autism was a doctor of animal science, a consultant to the livestock industry on animal behaviour, an engineer, and an autism advocate.

Fast forward to 2012, a parent asked me if there was anybody on d spectrum that she could read about. One name came readily to my mind; Temple Grandin. So here I am sharing the story of this amazing woman living with autism, and has been able to make the most of life in spite of the disorder and its effects.

                                                      Image gotten from wikipedia.com

Temple Grandin was born on August 29, 1947 in Boston, Massachusetts, to Eustacia Cutler and Richard Grandin. When she was two years old, she was diagnosed with autism.  Her mother placed her in a structured nursery school. Temple Grandin suffered delayed speech, which is a typical sign of autism. After a doctor suggested speech therapy to her mother, she hired a nanny who spent hours playing turn-taking games with Temple and her sister. She eventually started talking at age four.

Temple went on to primary school, where she says she had supportive mentors. She had a rough experience in middle school and high school because of her poor communication skills. She recounts that it hurt her then when other students ridiculed her. They referred to her as “tape recorder” because she used to repeat herself constantly.

Temple Grandin went on Franklin Pierce College, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 1970. She later obtained a master’s degree in animal science from Arizona State University in 1975. In 1989, she earned a PhD in animal science from the University of Illinois.

Although Grandin was initially diagnosed with Brain damage, her mother decided to find the help she needed. Now she is considered one of the most successful people with autism. She is an inventor, as she invented the “hug box” which is a device that can be used to calm a hypersensitive person, usually a person with autism, by providing deep pressure to the person. She has authored many books including Thinking in pictures: My life with autism, The Autistic Brain: Thinking across the spectrum, The Way I see it: A Personal look at Autism & Asperger's, Emergence: Labeled Autistic, Sensory Challenges and Answers, Different not less: Inspiring Stories of Achievement and successful employment from adults with Autism, Asperger's, and ADHD, and so many other books on autism. She has also written books as an animal scientist, such as; Animals make us human, Genetics and Behaviour of Domestic Animals, Improving animal welfare: A Practical Approach, Livestock Handling and Transport, and many more books. She has also authored many articles along these lines.

According to her biography on her website, Temple Grandin “is a designer of livestock handling facilities and a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. Facilities she has designed are located in the United States, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries. In North America, almost half of the cattle are handled in a center track restrainer system that she designed for meat plants. Curved chute and race systems she has designed for cattle are used worldwide and her writings on the flight zone and other principles of grazing animal behavior have helped many people to reduce stress on their animals during handling. She has also developed an objective scoring system for assessing handling of cattle and pigs at meat plants. This scoring system is being used by many large corporations to improve animal welfare. Other areas of research are: cattle temperament, environmental enrichment for pigs, reducing dark cutters and bruises, bull fertility, training procedures, and effective stunning methods for cattle and pigs at meat plants.”

Temple is an autism advocate, and she is very much involved in autism awareness. She talks about her own experiences and challenges as a person living with autism. She talks about her anxieties, sensory processing difficulties, challenges with social interaction, and most importantly how pictures and not words are her primary language. These are similar to the experiences our own children with autism (as parents and care-givers) face.

   Image gotten from www.biography.com

For me, Temple Grandin’s story gives me hope and inspires me. As long as I don’t give up on any child, and as long as I give my best to each child; the limitations that autism present can be made to work to the child’s advantage. I hope Temple’s story does the same for you.

Letter to Bubu

There are just a few people that I have met that "literally" blew my mind. From the first time I saw this woman on WWTBAM (Who wants to be a millionaire) on TV and I thought "Wow,this woman is pretty"; then I met her at GTB autism seminar in 2011 till I finally heard her story in June 2011 and up till now, my respect and love for her just keeps growing.

October 19, 2012; she wrote a letter to her son on his birthday. It blessed my life and I know it can bless yours too. So I got permission to share it then. And I want to share it again with you.

"An open letter to Bubu from his mummy on his 6th birthday.

Hey Baby, it's your birthday today and am almost moved to tears taking a trip down the path you've come. For a kid so young, you have lived a hundred years beyond your age and all with a smile on your face, eyes twinkling and a rich laugh to go.

We knew you were definitely going to be a special child before you were born, you see complications from multiple surgeries had damaged mummy's reproductive organs and the doctors had said you couldn't be birth (not without assisted reproductive techniques anyway but the Great Man above had other plans. )

The name "CHUKWUEBUKA" was chosen years before the miracle that was you came along, before even daddy came along (- I will tell you a lot more about the man your father is when you are a bit older). I was convinced despite what the doctors where saying, that God was gonna show what a Great God He is. The world was in need of Joshua's for this generation and I believed that the gift that would be you would be one of them.

Fast forward a couple years, soooooooooo much more than I can recount here now has gone on, mum and dad are together now (a crazy enterprise for dad really) and are trying to workout a path to you through IVF when you burst through to the shock and amazement of everyone, the doctors at the reproduction center, us , everyone but God who had decided you were coming and not through IVF. Initially we were skeptical, it couldn't be.... how was it even possible???? But alas weeks after we could confirm you were there alright, smack in the uterus, how you got there, till today we would never know and honestly don't care. You were there and that was all that mattered.

You made landfall, six years ago to the sound of grandma and her sisters singing at the top of their voices in the hospital to the amusement and I dare say the irritation of the nurses and other patients. But there you were - tiny, breathing, crying, brand spanking new and I would never forget the rush of emotions. Daddy was right there sweating profusely, looking like he was the one that they had cut you out of, lol. What a precious gift???? What a unique child, conceived on Avenue Tedesco, born on Hospital Drive and bred on Ademola Close, who can beat such an exotic start???

Your first years were better than we could have expected as new parents. We poured through the books trying to keep up, checking up on monthly milestones and charting your progress and you exceeded them each month, you were used as the yardstick to measure the other kids around. You held ur head, crawled walked and started talking. I remember I was soooo pained your first words were dada and I started drilling you everyday to see if you would switch to mama - you didn't but on Christmas day while in church 2 months after your 1st birthday and months after you started saying everything but that, you finally called me mama, very loudly to the amusement of all.

Even as a kid you showed a great love for music and would run around the house singing rhymes. But a dark cloud appeared to be looming, it started with repeat bouts of upper respiratory tract infections, we were told it was expected, you sucked your fingers so as a toddler you were exposed to lots of stuff that could cause infections via the sucking, hmmm, ok. We took antibiotics for that, lots of it. Then it was chronic constipation, dietary change wasn't cutting it, they put you on daily laxatives, it didn't cut it still, we got worried, then the straw that broke the camels back, you received a seemingly harmless shot and got ill, we went on admission, came out and you started stuttering, then struggling to speak, then you lost all speech totally. Like it wasn't enough already, the wardrobe door unhinged and landed on your head in a freak accident that still defies explanation till date. Immune dysfunction, mecury toxicity, head trauma, hypothyroidism, mitochondrial dysfunction, you name it, we have known it. It was the commencement of a journey that eventually led us down the rabbits hole to regressive autism.

The day you finally got officially diagnosed, almost 8 months later following a lot of drama, you and I shared a moment I want to share with you. At this point, I had started working with you personally, not knowing much, all we knew was we needed to keep your brain stimulated while awaiting diagnosis and we did. That night I lay in bed with you and had a conversation that went like this " Bubu, am sure you heard what the doc said this afternoon, but what the doc didn't know is that you are not just an ordinary boy. You already made it into this world when it had been said you wouldn't, you won that fight. You've got another battle on your hand now that you need to gear up for. I promise to fight with you and for you with everything I got but to do that you have to officially appoint me your arbiter be4 God, so I can have the authority to speak on your behalf till your able to, if you agree to this, shake my hand and it will be the sign of our agreement".

To my greatest surprise, you got up from the bed, knelt over me, shed a tear from just your left eye, brought your hands out and shook my hand. If there was ever a time I would have broken down, it would have been then, but you still had more in you. You held my hand and said very audibly, in a voice I hadn't heard in over 8months, the word - APPLE. I was gobsmacked, this was one of the words we had been working with you on and wasn't even sure you were paying attention to it and you had just said it, very clearly. That for me was all I needed. It was for me, the confirmation that we were yet again going to win another battle.

We knew it wasn't gonna be easy, but we knew the victory was already ours and pledged to do all we can to make sure we got you all you needed and then let God do His bit. Fast forward again to date and what an adventure it has been. I have never known anyone work as hard as you have in life, God's grace has just been upon you causing you to make ridiculous progress despite continuos challenges. Today on your 6th birthday, we are so close to the finish line, it is so tantalizingly close, we can see it.

We are buckling down for that final push, you are ready for it and with God on our side we've made it already. I write you today publicly cause I want you to be able to come back to see the day and time I knew for sure we were home free. What ever lies ahead, WE ARE HOME FREE. We love you beyond measure son and celebrate you with the world today. We are so proud of you, our little musician, it,maths/puzzle guru. The world is yours to conquer and conquer it you shall. May God continue to bless and increase you in all good things today and always.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUBU!!! (Oct 19)"

GET UP and HURRY

“After the wise men had gone, an angel from the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Hurry and take the child and his mother to Egypt! Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is looking for the child and wants to kill him."  That night, Joseph got up and took his wife and the child to Egypt” (Matthew 2:13-14)

Hello everyone. I've missed you, and I hope you've missed me too.  Anyway, I’m back and today I’ll be writing based on a scripture from the Bible.

Recently I was at a training in Johannesburg, South Africa. It’s called “Hands on Autism”, organized by Autism South Africa (a:sa) and Johannesburg Hospital School (a school for children with autism). We had the opportunity to see different children on the spectrum, with ages ranging from 3 to 21.  Of course the children were in different classes based on their ages and level of support needed. We had the opportunity to observe the “morning ring” (circle time) of a class that had children of ages 5 and 6. That experience inspired this article.

Back to the Bible story; Jesus had been born and I’m sure his parents were happy. In fact, one night some wise men came visiting and brought wonderful gifts for their new born baby. How glad the parents would have been. But that night, Joseph was told that someone wanted to kill his son (his precious child). Does that not sound like when a parent hears that his/her child has autism, or any form of special needs? What could he or the child have done to deserve this judgement of death? What could a parent or the child have done to deserve autism?

Well, Joseph didn't sit there crying and wishing away the judgement. He had to do something. He got up and hurriedly took the child to a safe place. That seems exactly like the story of the parents of the children we saw in Giraffe class in JHS. These kids were pretty independent. It was amazing watching them communicate using words and sign language. They showed good turn-taking skills, as each child had to wait for his/her turn. The truth is that at their age, they still had some challenges caused by the autism, but they had really come a long way from how they were when they resumed at the school for the first time. This experience taught me that EARLY INTERVENTION CAN NEVER BE OVER-EMPHASISED.

So Dear Parent, I know it might be hard to take in the news of your child’s autism. In fact, you think I can’t imagine how you feel right now (Maybe I can’t). But can you GET UP and HURRY? You don’t have to be in Lagos or Abuja to get help for your child. Well, if it means going there or anywhere that has a center to find out how to start helping your child, then by all means, GO. But don’t sit there and wish away autism. Do something.

Sometime this month, I shall share with you the story of Temple Grandin who was born with autism AND is now a doctor of Animal Science in USA. On October 19, I shall share “letter to Bubu” which was written by a mother to her child on the autism spectrum. These stories tell us about mothers who decided to GET UP and HURRY, regardless of the challenges they faced or how they felt. So please watch out for these stories.

You can like my FB page, Autism Gist with Adelola or follow me on twitter, @adelolaonautism. I shall be sharing pictures of my Jo’burg experience and tips that you might find useful... Muah

More about seizures

Now I feel like a Nollywood (or is it Ghollywood) producer, with this my part 1 and 2 posts. Please forgive my long posts. I wish I could make them shorter.

Anyway, today I'm continuing my gist on seizures. You can click here for the part 1 of this article, and learn what we have learnt earlier. Now I'll just give points on other things you need to know about seizures. Please read and comment.

• ·         Seizures can be triggered by fever, so it is important to treat fever immediately, especially for a child prone to seizures. Please if your child has a fever; bathe the child with cold water. I can testify that it reduces the fever and prevents seizures. I learnt it at the seminar, and I believe it strongly. This is good for any child, even if the child has never had a seizure before.

•  It is important to keep records of your child/ward’s seizures. This is important for diagnosis and treatment. Your record should include the time the seizure occurred, how the seizure began, how long the seizure lasted, the kind of movements that accompanied the seizure, if the child felt any warning signs, whether the child is sick, tired or stress. Record whatever else may be of concern to you.

• Seizures can occur as a result of some medical problems, such as head injury, infection or health problem in the brain, brain tumor, low blood sugar, accidental poisoning, or drug overdose. This is why it is important to see a doctor before starting any medication. Please I don’t know if I can beg you enough, but please don’t do self medication. See a doctor.

• ·        At the seminar, we were told that epilepsy does not affect IQ, although some people that have epilepsy may have average or low IQ. But it can affect learning. Depending on the frequency of the seizures, some children miss school often. The doctor advised that extra lessons, classes can be provided to help the child level up with the other classmates. This applies even to a child under Special Education.

• ·         Before you say Adelola mentioned only EEG, I need to add that the neurologist may also order for a CT (Computerized tomography) scan or MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging) test. These help in diagnosis as well.

• ·         Epilepsy is NOT contagious. The fact that you help a person with seizures does not mean you will have one or you will have children who are epileptic. Please do not let superstition stop you from being your brother’s keeper.

• ·         In Nigeria, certain cultures have dangerous approaches to dealing with seizures. I heard of a child in Ile-Ife, Osun State, whose feet were badly burnt because her family had tried to use fire to stop her seizures. Please do not use fire to burn your child’s feet. We said earlier that you should not put objects in the child’s mouth during seizures. It does not help in any way; rather you may end up spoiling the child’s teeth, or even harming the child.

• ·         I’m afraid that I also have to add that there have been cases of death as a result of seizures/epilepsy. That is why it is important to take the cautions that have been stated in the previous article; loosen any clothing around the neck, turn the person to the side to avoid choking and don’t put any object in the person’s mouth.

• ·         And most importantly, I must say that epilepsy does not stop the child’s life. The boy with seizures that I met is just like any other child on the spectrum. He loves to be loved. He has fun just like the other kids. Although he knows that he’s on medication unlike the other children, so he needs to sit down and take his drugs. That does not stop him from standing up afterwards and going to play. The seizures scare us, but we love him all the same. Love your child and let that love drive you to seek help for him/her.

I love you, I love your child... And together we will fight the limitations of autism or any other disorder. *muah*

I would appreciate comments. Please read, comment, and share. Thank you.

CAN WE TALK ABOUT SEIZURES?

I heard quite early in my autism journey or experience that some children with autism have seizures. But I didn’t meet anyone like that for a long time. Sometime last year, I finally met a child on the spectrum that suffers from seizures. Witnessing this boy’s fits made seizures very real to me. But I still did not understand what the seizures were about. Fast forward to March 2014, I was privileged to be part of the “World Epilepsy Day” seminar organized by Society for Neurology and the Mental Health Department of Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, and I was privileged to learn a lot. So here I am bringing the gist to you about seizures; what it means and how to handle it.

According to an article by Autism speaks, studies suggest that about 15 to 30 percent of people on the spectrum experience seizures. Seizure refers to abnormal movements or behaviours that happen as a result of unusual electrical activities in the brain. The most common type of seizure is the one that involves jerking. I grew up referring to that as convulsion, and that was what I recognized as seizure in the boy I met last year. But now I know that there are other types of seizures. When seizures recur, especially for no identified reason, it is referred to as Epilepsy.

There are different types of seizures. As I said earlier, the most common is the one that involves jerking. The whole body may jerk or just a part of the body may start jerking. But some seizures are not as dramatic. Seizures can be as mild as the individual perceiving a strange smell to the severe case where the individual will fall down and start jerking. Other seizure signs include;

·         A period of unresponsiveness, which may lasts for about 10-20 seconds. It may seem like the person is daydreaming or aloof. In the video we watched at the seminar, the guy just stopped responding to the other guy talking with him, and just kept walking. The person becomes alert afterwards.

·         Repetitive blinking, eyes rolling, head bobbing etc.

·         There may be sudden lose of muscle tone. The individual may go limp and fall down.

·         The person may make a loud sound or just go through the fit quietly.

·         Numbness in some parts of the body, or feeling like one is being pricked by pins.

·         Change in breathing or heart rate.

·         Some people that have seizures may sense it coming before it actually starts. This is referred to as aura.

Seizures can occur in babies, children at any age, and even in adults; the causes may just vary for different age groups. For adults, it might be a sign of stroke. When your child has seizures, it is important to see a neurologist. The neurologist will most likely order an electroencephalogram (EEG), which is a non-invasive process that helps to monitor activities in the brain. The neurologist will then analyze the brain activity patterns that the EEG measured, to determine if the individual is having seizures.

For children with autism, some signs of seizures may be mistaken for odd behaviour or vice versa. Children with autism can show staring episodes or stereotypic movements which are not seizures, it is therefore important that one sees a doctor and conduct the test in order to know what exactly is being exhibited.

Epilepsy cannot be cured, but seizures can be controlled by antiepileptic drugs. These will be prescribed by the doctor. At the seminar, a staff of Novartis (they produce an antiepileptic drug), came to talk to us. He told us that it was good to buy “controlled release” versions of antiepileptic drugs. Controlled release drugs just reduce the number of times the individual has to take the drugs per day (at least that's what I remember him saying). I must testify here that the child I know on the spectrum has been on antiepileptic medication, and yes we and his parents pray for him all the time. When I first met him, he used to have seizures a lot. But the episodes have reduced greatly. We can go two whole months without a seizure episode. So please as you pray for your child, still follow the doctor’s orders and give your child prescribed drugs. Don’t just say “I read about a drug for seizures” and then you’ll start using it for your child. Make sure the doctor tests the child and prescribe the drugs and tells you how to administer it.

For some individuals, drugs don’t work. The doctor may advise surgery for extreme cases, or the individual may be placed on a special diet. This special diet is called “Ketogenic diet”.

When an individual around you has a seizure (especially the jerking kind), what should you do? Number 1, DO NOT PANIC. Place the person on the floor in a safe area. Remove objects nearby. Loosen any clothing around the neck or the head. Please do not put anything in the mouth or between the teeth. And do not attempt to restrain movements. Turn the person to the side, so that in case there’s vomit, he/she won’t choke.

Call the doctor or rush the individual to the hospital if the person; has sustained an injury during the seizure, has never had a seizure before, has a known heart condition, or might have ingested something poisonous. If the seizure lasts for more than 5 minutes or the person has had about 4 episodes in the day, please talk to a doctor. This is important so as to avoid any danger.

This is not all. Even though I know some people will consider me to be like Nollywood, with my part 1 and 2 articles, I'll still have to put up a part 2. This article is already too long, and if you are like me, you will stop gaining anything from the post when it's long. So tomorrow, I shall put up a sequel. It's very important for you to read it, there's still a lot to learn about seizures.

I love you and I hope I've not bored you. I'll appreciate comments, even if it is to correct something I've read.You can also send me an email adelolaedema@gmail.com Thanks

Ninety-Nine or One?

Wow! It’s been such a long time I posted here. I’m really sorry for the looooong delay (that sounds like tautology right? At least in my ears)! I've really missed this blog. And I repent today. You won’t have to wait long for subsequent posts (I pray).

“Then Jesus told them this story: If any of you has a hundred sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won't you leave the ninety-nine in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it? And when you find it, you will be so glad that you will put it on your shoulder”. (Luke 15:3-5. Contemporary English Version)

Many parents tell the story of their child being rejected by a school because the child has autism (and may have been displaying some challenging behaviours). I remember being angry the first few times I heard such stories, but overtime I realised it was better the parents found a school that would accommodate their child than insist on keeping the child in a school that may be hostile to the child, which won’t help anyway.

Sometime recently my boss and I considered going round mainstream schools around our community to create awareness on autism and probably organise trainings for the teachers, so that they can handle any child they suspect may be on the spectrum.  At the first school we went, the Headmistress did not mince words in telling us she was not interested in any awareness or training, as she had no plans of accepting any child with special needs. She was really angry that we even considered coming to her school for training. Needless to say, we left that school extremely sad. We were sad because we feared for any child in that school that may be on the autism spectrum, or may have any other related disorder.

In the scripture above, Jesus told the story of a shepherd that left ninety-nine sheep behind to find a missing one. And I ask myself if as shepherds, either as teachers or parents, would we have gone out of our way to find that ONE?

I believe strongly in the idea of “no child left behind”. Some people in Northern Nigeria are campaigning for education for the girl-child. Some of us are campaigning around the world for education for children with special needs. In Nigeria, at least, there are still some families that keep their children with autism locked up because they think the child cannot go to school or the child is a waste. Please that child can go to school. There are mainstream schools here in Nigeria that provide special education and learning support for children on the spectrum. And there are special schools or centres that provide special education to meet the needs of these children and to help them develop skills that they need to achieve independence.

I hope that with the autism awareness campaign going on in Nigeria now, school proprietors will be encouraged to provide quality education for children with autism and children that have other types of special education needs. If autism is as common in Nigeria as reported, there is a need to provide education for the children on the spectrum that are around us. Like the illustration in Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep, do we want to leave these children that we consider as different, without help? Do we want to leave them in a wilderness? I hope we all answer NO. If as a school proprietor, you want to help, you don’t have to just provide somewhere for them to go everyday. Employ the services of special needs teachers or send the teachers you have in your school for training. You must decide that you want to give them QUALITY education.

In our campaign for quality education for children with special needs, we would not overlook neuro-typical or regular children (children that do not have autism or related disorders). Although that shepherd left the ninety-nine to look out for the missing one, we are not saying “neglect other children”. No way!!! It’s actually not a question of “99 or 1?” What we desire actually is 99 and 1. A situation where regular children, male or female, and children with special needs can have access to quality education, regardless of the social class of their parents or their location in the country.

Thank you for reading... I’ll be back with more autism gist.

Happy World Autism Awareness Day

I wrote this for a friend's blog a while ago. Today is World Autism Day and it just seemed perfect to share this today. It's simple and can easily be shared.

A woman discovers that she's pregnant and she's happy. It may be the first, second or maybe tenth child she's expecting. Apart from the difference in experience, the fact that she's expecting to give birth safely is the same.

Some months later,a child (let's say a boy) is born and everyone rejoices. He doesn't look different from a regular child. The doctor and the parents have no cause to worry. He seems to grow normally; crawling at the right time, attempts walking at the right time etc. But then at 18 months, the mother notices that her child is not talking. It dawns on her that he didn't babble at 9 months and then she starts getting worried. She runs to the paediatrician and he says it's late development; boys sometimes develop later than girls. Her mind is put at rest for a while. But then she begins to notice other things; he doesn't seem to notice people around him,he does not play with the other children, and it seems he does not like to be touched, he avoids eye contact with people. She notices other strange behaviours; he flaps his hands, covers his ears, arranges things in a particular order, he does not point at what he wants but would lead a person's hand to his object of interest. She also notices that toilet training seems harder for him to grasp. She is getting more worried,but the doctor does not recognize that something is wrong.

Now he's almost 3 and things are not getting better, then the truth is revealed. Her son has AUTISM. How? Why? What did she do wrong? What did she eat when she was pregnant? Was it the age when she conceived? The doctor tells her that it's not her fault. Autism is a disorder whose cause is not known and is certainly not a parent's fault.

He tells her that Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder that affects a child's social, behavioural and communication skills. Some children actually talk and acquire some skills at the right time,but lose these skills before they are three. It is more common in boys than in girls,with a ratio of 4 boys to 1 girl. In the US, autism is found in 1 out of 88 people. Nigeria does not have documented statistics,but autism is getting more common around us...

The doctor continues to talk, but it's all a blur as she sits there crying and wondering what the future holds for her son. Will he ever talk? Will he be able to go to school like other kids? Will he live an independent life like other children? Different questions run through her mind and she has no answers.

The truth however is that her child can attain independence like every other child if she seeks help. He can go to school like other children. Therapy is available for children with autism in some states in Nigeria. And the different types of therapy available are to help the child attain maximum independence. The child's social skill can be developed, communication skills can be built and behaviour can be modified. And there's support available for parents now in Nigeria so that these parents and their children with the support of other parents and professionals, can fight the battle against autism. AUTISM does not have to stop a child's destiny.

For more information, you can join the Nigerian Autism community through Nigerians for Autism on Facebook. There is also a parent group in Nigeria called Parents Against Autism Initiative (PAAI). I also always tell parents that "google is your friend". The internet affords you the opportunity to get any information you may be seeking and find support in the international community. 

That's it folks. April is Autism Month,so this blog should be busy. I hope to share stories of parents that have had to deal with Autism in their kids. There will be a book review (you don't want to miss that) and so much more. Please follow me on twitter @adelolaonautism and like my Facebook page Autism Gist with Adelola. I'm sure you will learn a lot this month about autism.

And please read, comment and share o. Let's get this word out people.

Much love from me to you this Autism season... muah