A mother’s struggles

Kristy Gopaul had to buy herself a Mother’s Day present. When she told someone this, she was asked why that was the case, and replied that her only child, Dillon Gopaul, is autistic.

The gentleman just could not understand what she meant by “autistic.”

In an interview Gopaul explained that many people do not know about autism and simply thinks her son “has no behaviour.”

Autism is a brain disorder and life-long developmental disability that is diagnosed in early childhood. It affects the way a child thinks, feels, communicates and relates to others. This is because of differences in the child’s brain, which affects his sensory system, communication skills, social skills and behaviour.

Gopaul said she realised that Dillon, who is now six years old, did not do the things “normal” children did.

Dillon’s parents took him to a doctor when he was younger but the doctor did not recognise that the child was autistic but told them that Dillon suffered from brain damage.

However, Gopaul’s grandmother Pearl Motilal once took care of an autistic child in the US. On her return to TT she recognised that Dillon displayed most of the symptoms of autism and gave Gopaul several magazines about autism.

“When I found out I was very upset. I was unwilling to accept it because Dillon looks so normal,” said Gopaul who lives at Ben Lomond Village, Gasparillo.

The Autistic Society describes autism as challenging, puzzling and heartbreaking. These are the exact sentiments which this struggling mother holds.

Gopaul said whenever Dillon goes out and misbehaves, they get “funny” looks from people. She felt that the Government is not doing enough to educate the public about this disorder.

“A lot of people are not aware of it and the Government needs to make people aware and assist families,” she said. She stressed on how desperately parents and families of autistic children need Government’s help. “If the Government could train people just like they have social services to go to people’s homes and help the children in their own environment and train the parents how to deal with it, that would be a great help. We can’t always move around with them.

“As a mother I feel bad and it hurts a lot when you take him out and people look at you in this way,” she said with tears in her eyes. “He cannot tell me how he feels, if he’s in pain, if he’s hungry, if he’s upset. Everything is complicated with Dillon and it’s very difficult to deal with him.

“He bites himself and still wears pampers. Sometimes I give up. I have to thank God that my grandmother and my mother are here to help take care of him because it takes a lot of patience to deal with him.”

Dillon was unable to get into any of the special schools for autistic children because he is not potty-trained and cannot read.

“He has a lot of problems paying attention and because of this I can’t get him to do things I want him to. For example, I have problems getting him to sleep and when he falls asleep late I have problems waking him up early so he really can’t be up in time to go to school.

“To be honest it’s God that keeps me going and gives me the strength on a daily basis. It’s very difficult to deal with him. I prefer to stay at home and not go to work just to make sure everything is alright with him,” said the concerned mother.

Dillon likes music and likes to clap. “If he’s looking at the television and he likes a song, he would come