“I used to hide my autistic child from relatives”

Caring for a child with Autism needs patience and a strong support system to ensure that they are nurtured in the right way.

For Moroki Mooketsi, raising an autistic child has never been easy until she accepted her now 17-year-old son. She told The Midweek Sun during World Autism Day 2024 how she deals with this condition on a daily basis and acknowledged that Autism Day is important in bringing the much-needed awareness.

“As a parent, accepting the condition of your child is not easy, it takes time. I started accepting my son’s condition in 2020,” she said, adding that she used to hide him from relatives and thought she would manage his condition on her own. Mooketsi learnt about the Autism Parent Support Group while attending Autism Day commemorations in 2019, and shortly joined the group.

“I felt much better after joining that group, the burden I was carrying on my shoulders is much lighter as I now interact with parents who were battling the same condition as me,” she shared.

Mooketsi is also a member of Autism Botswana, a non-profit organisation aimed at improving the quality of life of people living with autism and to raise awareness about the condition. Autism Botswana also holds workshops for caregivers to encourage them through family fun days and art therapies for the children, something that encouraged her to look after her child well. In addition, she is grateful for her child’s supportive father, as well as his 16-yearold sister and his cousins.

She has joined a WhatsApp group for parents with Autism, which she says keeps them sane as parents of autistic children. “In this group, we share our frustrations without any fear of being judged. We also share the changes we see in our children and their achievements,” she said. Mooketsi explained that a child with autism looks like any other person and it is not easy to notice that they have any condition unless they show a particular behaviour. She admits that before her son’s diagnosis, she was never aware of the condition. Her worst time, she says, is when people ask her about the grade her son is in at school. “The most difficult question for me is when people ask, ngwana wa gago o bala mang,” she shared. Mooketsi observed that the recent Autism commemoration was not well attended as only 10 parents attended, an indication that parents might not have accepted the condition of their children.

Communication with an autistic child is also not easy, as some are non-verbal like Mooketsi’s son. “This frustrates him and once in a while he has tantrums. My other main challenge is that I can’t leave him alone. I have to always make sure that there is someone at home to take care of him,” she said. The 17-year-old goes to Ledumang Special Unit class, where all children with special needs are placed in a special class. Sadly, Mooketsi wishes that there could be resources and that the special unit could have teachers specialising in Autism. She also wishes for continuous learning for autistic children as it is the case for other children with special needs. “My son is turning 18 years this year, and it is his last year at the special unit. After that, he will have to stay home. At his age he could be doing Form 5, but he does not know how to read and write and as a mother I have to counsel myself most of the time to be strong for him. I just trust in the Lord and hope to see my son being independent,” she said.

Another biggest challenge that frustrates her is that he cannot relate well with his peers. This means they do not accommodate him and he finds solace in younger children less than 10 years of age. He does not have friends and his mother is his best friend. Her observation is that most autistic children usually have a specific gift and his son is gifted with singing. “Even though my son has a three-word sentence cognition, he is gifted in singing. He sings gospel songs and it’s amazing the way he knows songs,” she said.

Her daily duty is to keep everything together for her son and always ensure that he has some supplements to assist in his brain development.