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Autism: Learn and Educate Yourself, Part 2
The KUAM CareForce continues it's special three-part coverage on autism. Dr. Aline Yamashita shares the triumphs and struggles she's experienced raising her autistic son, Eric. While families, educators, and doctors may be aware that autism now affects one out of 166 children, the general public is not.
On Guam children diagnosed with autism has nearly tripled since the year 2000. In an effort to educate the island's community about autism the Department of Education's Special Education Division and parents of autistic children are working together to provide more training to teachers, aides and parents and all educational staff including custodians. The numbers of autism cases are increasing at a startling rate. Just two years ago autism affected 1 out of 500 children.
On Guam, we have close to 100 children identified with the disability. Dr. Yamashita is a mother of an autistic child, she says community awareness and training is imperative to meet the growing needs of our children.
"Autism is escalating not only on Guam, but worldwide. It's just blowing up. Why? Nobody really knows. It's a genetic thing. We're predisposed to it but something is happening to our children. They're not able to socialize like everybody else. They're not able to speak like everybody else. They're not able to able to in social situations. And so we do a lot of accommodating, but they're still people," she told KUAM News.
Autism is a complex developmental disability that's usually identified during the first three years of life. Aline's son Eric was diagnosed with autism when he was around two years old. During that time Eric wasn't communicating verbally and as an educator Aline knew this wasn't normal.
She had Eric tested through a series of evaluations beginning with a hearing test, observations conducted by special education professionals, and a psychologist that would bring an answer she didn't want to hear. "I was actually doing a training for school leaders at the time when I got the phone call and the phone call was Allie we just want you to know that we believe that Eric is autistic. Totally lost it absolutely lost it. Dropped the phone fell to the floor it was just like no, no way," she said.
Immediately the world of individual education plans began for Eric, Aline, and his younger brother, Ryan. Aline says it took everything she had to trust her child into a system she knew nothing about it, and quite frankly she wasn't sure if she was ready to do just that. "I know my son, but nobody else knows him. I know when he starts flapping or clapping or yelling. I know, I know, Ryan knows, we know but what does anybody else knows and I know the reactions. And it was just terrifying," she said.
Parents of autistic children are faced with the heavy burden of raising a child with the same opportunities of normal children but through the department of education and their professional, caring, and consistent support children like Eric are given a hope that at one time Aline thought may not be available for her son.
"Oh gosh people thought Eric wasn't going to read. We are star readers now. I'll sit in the morning and I'll read the paper and he's got a book in front of him and he's reading. Late at night I'm reading a novel to fall asleep and he's reading a book. And we have just soared. We're on the Principal's List this year. We have learned, I have learned a lot. I've learned a lot about people. I have learned about children. Everything that I have learned in college has come to life," she said.
For Aline one of the greatest struggles is not teaching Eric but helping others to understand that he's just like other kids and should be allowed to enjoy the simple pleasures of life such as eating out, attending parties and shopping. "There are those that really resent us. We disrupt their silence. We disrupt their peace. And if we hit them we may have hurt them. And so they become very upset with us and it's like don't you know better. Or they just, Huh! And it's just like, I wish, I wish we weren't like this but you know what we are and it is our reality. My son I'm not going to keep him at home. I will not cage him up. He has certain rights. He has rights to a life," she said.
Aline says working together with the program is important to Eric's progress. The professionals and one to one aides that have worked with her son are more than just workers but an extension of the family. "If I hadn't Miss Jeannie w ho has been our aide since first grade. If I didn't have her there and if she wasn't a drillmaster at times, my boy wouldn't be a reader. My boy wouldn't know how to use that calculator to do all his math problems. My boy wouldn't know how to look up the words in the glossary," she said.
Once a treatment program is in place communication between parents and professionals is essential in order to monitor a child's progress.
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