By Telesha Ramnarine

ONE day when she felt like she could no longer stand up to the pressure, Samantha Alicia Thompson left home in search of a place that might be able to accommodate her son with autism. Equipped with very little knowledge more than two decades ago, she figured it might’ve been a step in the right direction to get little Kester the help he so badly needed.
But on her way to look for a suitable home, Samantha’s conscience started to plague her and she started quizzing herself about whether or not she was doing the right thing.
“Are you sure this is the best thing to do? How would the people there treat him? Would they be able to deal with him and care for him?” she recalled asking herself.
The tender, loving feelings that are generally present within mothers must have kicked in because Samantha made her way back home and decided to keep trying with Kester, irrespective of how hard she knew it would be.

Speaking with the Pepperpot Magazine, the 43-year-old mother of East La Penitence, Georgetown, got Kester when she was only 19 years old, and then his sister Kennyah one year later. She hadn’t a clue that Kester had any problems, but her mother did notice that at three months old, Kester was not able to hold up his head like other babies that age would do.
As the months went by, Samantha further observed that Kester was unable to creep, walk and do other things expected of children at his level. “We didn’t know anything and thought he would do these things later. When it was time for school, the nursery teacher noticed he was unable to do stuff like the other children but she too was giving him a chance,” Samantha recalled.

When he reached Grade One, the teacher there said that Kester needed to be in a special school and that’s when he went to Ptolemy Reid rehabilitation Center where he spent about three years before moving on to David Rose Special School until he turned 18 years old.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a diverse group of conditions, characterised by some degree of difficulty with social interaction and communication. Other characteristics are atypical patterns of activities and behaviours, such as difficulty with transitioning from one activity to another, a focus on details and unusual reactions to sensations.

Autism, according to WHO, often has an impact on education and employment opportunities and the demands on families providing care and support can be significant. Samantha knew this all too well. Life for her was very difficult during Kester’s school years; so overwhelming at times that she just wanted to quit. She shared that she even got very close to committing suicide but it somehow didn’t happen.

As more knowledge became available on autism though, Samantha began learning how to better cope with Kester and her situation. She eventually became very grateful that she didn’t take her life and did not send Kester away. “It’s the best thing I did to keep him,” she heartily expressed.

It was a time where she had to focus entirely on her son. Even well-meaning relatives were not able to provide what Kester needed; only his mother had what it took, and she knew that. Perhaps that’s why she placed her studies – in fact, her whole life – on hold to look after Kester.

She was working a shift system at Banks DIH and recalled some of the daily hardships she endured. “Sometimes I had to be called off the job because teachers weren’t trained to deal with kids like Kester. So many times I had to leave and go for trivial things, such as him wetting himself or not finding his school bag. It was overwhelming and tiring.”
But through it all, Samantha found that continuing to show her son lots of love helped a great deal. She would constantly hug and kiss him and try her best to calm him when he started to throw tantrums.

Dealing with Kester has certainly turned her into a more patient person and today she can help other parents. “And I’m continuing to help my son. I’m glad I did not give up.”

Attending UG

It has been more than two years now since Samantha, a Ministry of Education Teacher, received her secondment to the Step by Step Foundation, a school that specifically caters for the needs of children with autism.

Samantha did not write CXC at the time but never gave up on the idea of continuing her studies. In fact, she resumed her studies at the age of 38. “Education wasn’t what I was thinking of at the time,” she admits, but she eventually did a one year programme at the Institute of Distance and Continuing Education (IDCE) which gave her entry to the University of Guyana.
Just last year, Samantha was able to finish her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work. She also learnt the Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) method of dealing with children with autism, and that greatly helps in her work. At the moment, she works with three autistic children ages seven, eight, and ten, two of whom are non-verbal.

Having been dealing with her own child for 24 years now, Samantha says patience is a key requirement for dealing with autistic children. “Also, try to get your child into a school that deals directly with autism and make sure you’re very involved with the teachers,” she said.

Many parents, she said, will tell her that their family members do not understand what their child is going through, and this, in turn, results in them feeling more depressed. Reflecting on her life so far, she noted how things have gotten easier in some matters. “When Kester was younger, he couldn’t go to the washroom, walk and eat, but now he can do all those things. Now he wants a girlfriend and all sorts of things; so the challenges are different.”