I started my project early enough and I had to visit the hospital which was situated in Lagos a number of times for approval, that meant I had to travel from time to time since my school was in Ile-Ife Osun State. Traveling didn’t feel like a burden to me because I was eager to see the wonders of music.
I visited the hospital about two times before my project work with them was approved and they asked that I be posted to the children section of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital which is situated in Oshodi, Lagos State.
I was slated to work with children ages 4-10 years but during the course of the project I worked on teenagers too.
One experience that stood out for me was an autistic child who I would love to give the fictional name, Amina. Amina is a child of 10 years who has lived with autism since she was a year old. Week-in, week-out, she came with her mum to the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Annex at Oshodi to see the doctor, get medications , attend educational therapy and what have you.
So this day, she came in sobbing and I had so much empathy on her that I would have shed a tear. Her mum said to me, “She likes covering her face whenever she steps into a room filled with people but I discouraged her from doing this which leads her to always cry”. This scenario is common with children with this disorder because of their poor social skills
I’m sure you might be curious as to what happened next, how I was able to manage an autistic child who was sobbing, knowing the struggles of children who live with this ailment…
Watch out for my next blog post.
Have a great week ahead!
ESCAPE GLOBAL 