Team

I noticed that my child has a problem, at 3 years, but the diagnosis of «autism» was put to him only at 5 years. At first the doctors did not see anything — he went to the contact and could work according to the instructions, they told me: «Mom, you think you’re making up.» But with the age of strangeness in behavior, more manifested themselves, more qualified specialists, and we were diagnosed with «atypical autism».

On the picture of classic autism, this is not quite similar, someone from the experts even suspected schizophrenia. In Aliaskar, speech problems are minor, because of mental retardation, his situation is much worse with contact and emotions. At the age of 5 we got to the Association of Parents of Autistic Children in Almaty, where they were taught according to the methods of Vladimir Yakovlevich MATVIEVSKY. Then we went to Moscow for master classes of parents of children with autism. We had good results, the son learned a lot. I am very glad that the specialists from the project «Autism We Will Win» were our first teachers. Now for me it does not matter what son’s diagnosis, I see problems and try to solve them. It is important for me that a child can build contact, be able to behave in society, find his place in life. We compare the skills of a healthy child and one’s own, we teach him what he does not know how.

The last 4 years, we with Leila BAYRAMOVA are holding each other, united our efforts. Once we dreamed that we would come to each other’s houses, drink tea and watch our children play different games themselves. After all, if normative children play with each other easily and naturally, it is difficult for our children. We thought: let them have some special features, most importantly, that they perceive each other. To date, we have achieved this, we have a lot of such happy episodes. I understand that this is all thanks to us, parents — we literally taught them to be friends, with the help of games they taught them to interact with each other. However, there is a minus: when you are for the child and mother, and father, and teacher, and speech therapist, then at some point you get lost for him like a mother.

We were not taken anywhere: because of intellectual violations, we were long refused in ordinary schools, in sports sections, in circles. We with great difficulty found the capoeira coach (Brazilian national martial art, combining elements of dance, acrobatics, games) to the boys. We were important sports component, coordination of movements and the example of men for boys. We would be happy with any sport where we would be taken, but we are happy that this sport has become an exotic martial art. With the professional trainer, the president of the Association of Capoeira in Kazakhstan Rustam Balabayev our children in the mini group are engaged three times a week for 1.5 years. They have a dramatic change. Rustam prepares them without discounts for diagnoses, they feel the attitude, and they have a desire to engage in. For him it is also very valuable!

Now, Aliaskar visits school every day. 1-2 lessons with him individually for a special program are engaged in good teachers. I’m glad that they could find a common language with the son, try to develop it in every possible way and are very indifferent to his problem. However, such a scheme does not imply socialization. It offends me that ordinary children are given the opportunity to fully study, and with the specifics in development — no. This is unfair, the state saves on the development of such children. Many such children are very resourceful, many of them can be reached to the lower limit of the norm if they are dealt with on a daily basis. I do not believe in the inclusion program in the form in which it are presented here. It is very difficult to get into the project of inclusion in our country. I am impressed by the experience of Italy, where the state allocates a tutor — a personal assistant to the mother for the child’s education.

Officially, the correction-development center for sensory integration «Ray of Light» was opened last fall, but in fact we have been working for 2-3 years. We wrote the project for a long time, gathered, planned — in the yard, at home, in the park. We realized that our center is needed (despite the fact that there are specialists in Almaty in general), when they realized that not all methods of work are suitable for all children with Autism. In our center, we use the method of sensory integration, psychomotor correction, classes in speech therapy and defectology, as well as group classes in game therapy and art therapy (music classes and other areas of creative development). Now we are applying for a grant from akimat of Almaty. Its award will allow us to equip our center and organize training seminars for specialists. We hope that in future either the akimat or private sponsors will help us with the premises: rent is a significant part of our budget. We hope for the support of the state, because for today our incomes are enough only for renting premises and salaries for specialists, we are not talking about buying additional equipment for our own money.

Sensory integration is based on the regulation of three systems, which are laid down in utero: vestibular, tactile, proprioceptive (self-perception of oneself and the boundaries of one’s own body). If to explain briefly, then to effectively teach a child with autism, it is enough to put him on a swing, in a hammock. The effectiveness of any mental processes multiply increases: the child quickly memorizes verses, repeats better after the speech therapist, he finds it easier in the mind. In addition to the developmental function, the jump in intellectual development, the effect of the exercises can be seen in everyday life: children begin to feel the boundaries of their body, stop striking about all the jambs and corners, they lose stereotypes (obsessive movements, attempts to switch the child from which cause hysteria), in general Behavior improves. I will cite as an example a girl diagnosed with autism: when she came, she had minimal eye contact, a small set of words, now she is much better at contacting, speech activity began. There are also ordinary children, which will be useful for such stimulation of the vestibular apparatus. You probably saw children in schools who are spinning, spinning, spinning — they are so stimulating their vestibular system. I later asked: these children have problems with mathematics, attention, memory. Some of my acquaintances now lead us to the lessons of a normative child with such problems — he has improved performance and behavior.

We all take pictures with children on video, for a few years a large video archive has accumulated. For us and parents it is an opportunity to track the child’s successes. We are in close contact with the parents of children involved with us: we give advice, support, share our experience. The child is very important when the family participates in his successes — without his support, he can not cope. Plus this is peace for the parents. The higher the level of nervousness in parents, in particular with mom, the more twisted the child. Amina and I were trained at the Parent University at the Brant Homeopathic Center. Parent University is based on the teachings and experience of the founder of Brant Marina Zamsharifovna TARGAKOVA and the author of the method of humane pedagogy, teacher and psychologist of the world name Shalva Alexandrovich AMONASHVILI. In the near future, we plan to organize Saturday meetings to support parents, in which Marina Zamsharifovna’s students will conduct lectures on the topics of building child-parent relations, the upbringing and education of children, and the spiritual development of children and parents. After all, an unhappy man can hardly raise his child happy! It is important for us to show our parents, that to develop the intellectual, physical and social sphere of a child’s life is good, but not enough. The importance of the spiritual sphere is very great!

There is a mistaken belief that all autistics are geniuses and clever men, all future Bill Gates. This stereotype appeared after a number of Hollywood films: «The Man of the Rain», «Forest Gump», «Reckoning.» To our great regret, this is far from the case. With an easy degree of autism, children really look like normative, they can adapt to normal life in full. But with severe forms of autism, concomitant diagnoses include mental retardation, speech disorders such as dysarthria, motor alalia. If you want to see a truthful film about autism spectrum disorders, then I recommend the Chinese ribbon «Ocean Paradise» in 2010. It tells about a 16-year-old guy with autism and his father, who has a month to live. This month he will devote training the son to vital skills: how to prepare food, ride a bus, wash floors, etc. Unfortunately, many autists by 15-30 years remain dependent in everyday life, for them, everything is still done by moms and dads. Leila and I dream of creating a place for autistic children, where they could realize themselves. For our children, we dream of buying a house in the village with a garden, a vegetable garden, so that they themselves all grow and sell. First, they can themselves provide this way. Secondly, physical work has a healing effect. In general, autistics are recommended to master a particular craft in order to live life when their parents become weak or go away. We are actively searching for highlights, abilities of children that can be developed: my Aliaskar skates well, and Leila’s son Sasha simply loves to cook, the best way is for him to make pancakes and salads. Our main task is to allow the child to do what he likes and what works best!