2023-04-29 06:15:24
Society stigmatizes them and families do not know how to deal with them. Misunderstood, autistic children struggle to develop adaptive skills that would allow them to live better. This blogger did an immersion at the Talitha Koum center which provides care for them.
At the gate of the center is a note with a phone number that you have to call to be opened to you. It’s almost always locked. When I arrive, a child is crying, he doesn’t want to do anything. His name is Jayden. A lady tries to rock him, to pamper him, but apparently, Jayden is not in his plate. Inside the house, shoes and schoolbags are neatly stored. I am told that once at the center, the children take off their shoes and put on slippers so that they are comfortable. In the living room, I see Liam, a handsome young boy, regarding ten years old. I notice something strange in the way he walks. He only walks on his tiptoes. ” He is like that, and it doesn’t matter to him at all. They give him foot massages which do him good. “says his supervisor.
Liam, like the majority of children cared for at the Talitha Koum centre, does not speak. ” Currently, we support 14 autistic children, and 3 others who are already enrolled in mainstream schools. Few of them can speak normally. Autistic people, on the other hand, develop vision. They react by what they see. “says Noëlla Ulrich Igiramana, executive assistant at the center.
Normality in particularity
10:45 a.m. It’s the end of the break, and time for work. Everyone knows their place of work, and what they are going to do. But, before doing anything, each child takes a small image, relating to the activity he wants to do, because everything is in the visual.
Maya is one of those who can speak. It’s time for her to draw horizontal and vertical lines. She repeats at the same time as her mistress: I draw a horizontal line, then a vertical line. Don’t move the slat. And she sings her song of the day, “ the larger circle he buys “. His mistress helps him. Maya has a particularity. In everything she does, she must have her dolls close to her. These give her comfort, reassure her. Maya, always happy, is on the other hand sensitive to loud sounds, such as the crying of children, or even the sound of rain on the metal sheets.
Jacob, too, speaks. He is passionate regarding animals. Hyperactive, Jacob is very loving, always smiling, a bit the opposite of his rather tall friend Salim. They share a passion for animals, specifically tigers for Salim.
Understanding autism
As the drawings and pictorial illustrations that greet everyone who enters the centre’s enclosures explain, the autistic person finds it difficult to understand and to be understood. He uses language echolically, exhibits indifference, lacks eye contact, and talks incessantly on a particular topic.
He misunderstands conventions and social rules, does not play with other children, does not appreciate changes, exhibits odd behavior, uses objects in an atypical way, and may be hypersensitive to sounds and smells.
Bear in mind, autism is by no means a disease. It is a developmental disorder whose psychological characteristics of the parents are not responsible for the child’s autism.
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