Autism in Egypt

There are a lot of things in this world I don't know how to do such as fractions, read maps, count money, give directions or speak Chinese (Cantonese or mandarin ;) But I do know the language of Autism. For some reason I understand it. It makes more sense to me than a lot of other crooked things in this world. I have learned that to be able to understand a  child with Autism you really must allow yourself to think like him and perceive the world from his perspective …. then everything makes absolute sense. A young child with autism is primarily governed by two things; his needs and his senses. Needs ASD children are target oriented. They want someTHING rarely someONE and their entire mission is to get it. This need can either be for security or for reinforcement Security : ASD children need to understand what is about to happen in order to feel safe. They are usually poor at understanding language at a young age so rely on routine and structure to predict what wi

This is a picture of Khaled on his graduation day from Arden College. Khaled was one of the first students i worked with and was fortunate enough to move to the UK and was therefore a given chance to go to college. Everything I pushed for regarding rights and services for ASD children was always inspired by the parents and the circumstances of the students i work with. I started pushing for kindergartens to accept them because they were 3 and needed  social skills and peers to imitate. I pushed for schools to accept them simply because they got older. I started trying to know people in the Army because we needed Military exemption for the boys . Oddly enough we got them exempted from military due to having "flat foot" not due to being Autistic !!!!!! as this "diagnosis " was not on their "list of reasons for exemptions!!" Anyway my point is this year I have a 12th grader who I'm sure will succeed if he is given a chance at college. Ahmed. My