THE CHILD WHO CONVIDED AUTISM EMRE
The article you will read is a success story. As a result of my work with Emre, I thought that I should write this article by meeting with his mother. It was a success story and should be a hope for other families. In the presence of Emre’s mother, I would like to thank all his family for their open-hearted support to my article.
When Emre was 4 years old; A child diagnosed with ‘Mental Retardation’ with 65% disability in Çapa Medical Faculty and ‘Atypical Autism’ with 40% disability in Bakırköy Mazhar Osman Mental and Neurological Diseases Hospital when he was 5 years old.
His mother describes those days as follows;
Not speaking since the age of 2, not making eye contact, closing his ears in noisy environments such as shopping malls and amusement parks, experiencing tantrums, not being able to tolerate any change, e.g. The tantrums he experiences when returning home from the market, when he does not always follow the same route, his arranging his toy cars in the same way, etc. I noticed some negative situations.
When Emre was 2.5 years old, he was a specialist working with autistic children, and his wife was a neurologist. When he saw Emre with his wife, he said, ‘Your child has autism, start special education as soon as possible’. However, despite all this, with the influence of his environment – of course, nobody wants to make a mess – Emre’s receptive language is good (he can do commands such as take, give) etc. We expected Emre to improve in the usual flow of these negative differences, for reasons such as having good features and some people seeing experts in his field as a money trap. But unfortunately, days and months passed, but Emre could not speak, did not make eye contact, and had more frequent tantrums.
Finally, when Emre was 4 years old, the specialist we went to get a diagnosis; He said that Emre’s mental age is 1.5 years. He even asked why we did not go to a specialist until today, especially why he still cannot speak.
And from that day on, we began to be excluded, ostracized and even accused. As if we had caused him to be in this state!
One of the things that made me sad the most was this: One day when Emre and I went to the park, one of the children playing in the park noticed that Emre could not speak and was trying to tell him something by using gestures, and almost mocked him by making Emre’s gestures. Unfortunately, the mother of the taunting child;
– Don’t play with him, don’t you see, he doesn’t talk, he’s different. Said.
I was very sad to hear that, actually she was a mother like me and her child could actually be ‘different’ like mine.
Emre started to go to a private education institution and kindergarten when the movie “Stars on the Ground”, which we watched on recommendation in those days, became a movie that affected our whole family and increased our efforts for Emre. A year later, as a result of our hard work with the experts, our Emre went into inclusive education.
Emre is now 8 years old. He is a child who has overcome autism as a result of his regular attendance to individual and group sessions, the homework given by the specialist that day, and the self-sacrifice of the tasks at home.
Emre, who is said to have a 1.5-year-old intelligence when he was 4 years old; He is currently 67th in the Placement Examination, which he took with his peers at the school he attends, and the Mathematics lesson that other ‘not different’ children attended. she is among the 5 children who get 100 points in her class in the exams. Sure, she can talk now. She can make eye contact and has good social communication skills.
According to her mother, the most important reason for her success is; all family members work hard, without great expectations, as if nothing will work.
As you valuable families accept the difference, stay with us and start working with us in the same way at home and in all other environments, the success stories of our Emres will continue…
Gamze YUCEL
* Every child is unique.
Each child’s cognitive, psychosocial, psychomotor, etc. development differs, just as we all walk and talk at different ages.
