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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke-Senior Health Reporter
When Mrs Sihle Nyashanu gave birth to her second son Darrly, she was quick to notice that just like her first born son, he had autism.
But Darrly was on the severe end of the spectrum.
Unlike now where a diagnosis for children with autism can be accessed at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital and Parirenyatwa Hospital, Sihle says she had to go from one doctor to another until she was referred to South Africa where she stayed for 16 months
Coming back home after that presented a challenge that she had not anticipated.
“I could not find an appropriate school for Darrly because there were no autism-specific schools so this meant I had to enrol him in the special schools that were there. Unfortunately, he was not able to cope in that particular setting and I realised that he was actually regressing so I had to pull him out and start home schooling him,” she said.
To help her cope with teaching her son at home, Sihle enrolled for a bachelor’s degree in special education and later went on to attain a masters degree.
From her realisation of the huge gap that existed in terms of support for parents of special needs children, Sihle registered her private voluntary organisation Safe Haven Zimbabwe which sought to offer psycho-social support for parents.
“In most cases when you take your child for assessment, the doctors are mainly focusing on that child who has a condition but as a parent, I also need to be equipped in terms of knowing how to handle the condition my child has been diagnosed with,” she said.
“I realised that there was that huge gap and that gave birth to Safe Haven Zimbabwe. We offer psychosocial support for parents with special needs children where we get professionals who come in and do different presentations with the aim of helping the parent to be able to help their child thrive at home.”
For the children affected by autism, Sihle is in the process of registering a school which caters specifically for children with autism.
While registration is in progress, Safe Haven Zimbabwe has been offering lessons to a group of children whose lives have already been changed.
“Autism comes with a lot of behavioural and communication challenges and there are specific methodologies that need to be used when it comes to those affected by autism. After I realised that my son was not coping, the next logical step was for me to try and set up something for my son and for other children in the same boat as him.
“When it comes to autism the approach is totally different from just saying this child has intellectual disabilities,” she added.
She said they were offering basic academics for the children who could not fit into the mainstream education system where they came up with individualised education plans seeing that every child with autism differed from the next.
The children are taught to write their names, respond to basic questions about their name, where they live and their parent’s phone number.
For those who would have progressed well, they move on to basic addition and subtraction.
“We are also big on adaptive skills because we want them to be as independent as possible. There are children with autism who find it difficult to master bathing so we teach them here. We also offer cookery lessons, they need to be able to at least make themselves a cup of tea or put butter on their bread, and also teach them bed making, laundry, sweeping and mopping. Just the basic chores that a child is expected to do at home,” said Sihle.
So far, processes of registration with the City of Harare have been completed and Safe Haven Zimbabwe has submitted papers with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and are waiting for feedback.
While Safe Haven will be one of the very few facilities offering autism-specific education, more still needs to be done to ensure that children affected by the disorder do not miss out on their basic right to education.
Sihle said it was important for all teachers in the mainstream to learn the basics of special needs education to be able to identify autistic children and help them fit in.
She called on the Government to establish more vocational training centres to take in children with autism after they reach 18 and cannot be accommodated in special needs schools.
Autism comes with challenges in communication, some children are completely non-verbal while some are averse to cuddling and holding, and seem to prefer playing alone.
According to experts, for children with autism to live normal or near-normal lives they need to be diagnosed early so that they can get the necessary interventions.
Clinical psychologist and behavioural analyst Mr Tino Zvirahwa, who is part of the staff at Safe Haven Zimbabwe, said early intervention was vital for children with autism.
“If a child has been diagnosed with autism, it is important not to neglect that child but it is important to seek help, be it occupational therapy or speech therapy or even behavioural analysis. In my field we stress more on behavior management because autism has a lot to do with behavioural challenges. We want their behaviours to be acceptable to society so if we start to work on it in the early stages it will be easier for them to improve and fit into the society,” he said.
Another psychologist Mr Panashe Chipunza said autism did not only affect the child, but the parent or caregiver as well.
He stressed the importance of offering psycho-social support to caregivers for them to continue offering quality care to the children.
“At the moment we do not have adequate facilities in Zimbabwe that assist us in helping children that are autistic so this gives pressure to the parents. We need to have more awareness campaigns, more meetings and get together as parents so that everyone is aware of autism and the help available to them,” he said.
Online Reporter