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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saPgAv2Q4js

It’s Autism Awareness Month this April and several groups in Nigeria are advocating for greater awareness and engagement in providing care for this special segment of our population. In this week’s piece, we highlight the challenges surrounding autism care in Nigeria, focusing on one special needs group in Abuja where parents and caregivers meet, to share and advocate for the needs of children with autism.


“One of the things we observed was that at an early age he reproduced everything he saw on the screen… He could spell all the colours, he could produce Channel’s logo, AIT’s logo, and if you gave him sheets of paper he would just keep on drawing… but he could not talk, he would not socialize.” Mr. Babatunde Akano is talking to a room of parents and caregivers in the NAF Conference Centre, Kado, explaining when his son, who is now 7 years old, first began showing signs of autism.

He says that at first he didn’t take the speech delay seriously, because his son would gesture for everything that he wanted. That changed one day when he disciplined him out of frustration with his non-verbal communication. “Whenever he cried, it was so intense, you could feel the pain. You could tell that he was hurting inside. I realized that we were not communicating on the same level.” At this point, he started considering the thought – could his son have autism?

READ more here: http://nigeriahealthwatch.com/how-families-are-finding-strength-in-each-other-while-caring-for-children-with-autism-in-nigeria/