Edenvale resident calls out lack of facilities for autistic children

As we conclude Autism Awareness Month, the NEWS spoke with a mother of two children and a grandson who are autistic.

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The Edenvale resident, Lindiwe Ndlovu, is a clinician and the founder of Keakgona-Kefentse, an autism resource centre which held an awareness campaign for mothers and a fun day for autistic children on April 15.

The NPO was established in 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown when her children were out of their routine, and she had to do frontline work.

“One day, I returned from work to find my home looking like a crime scene.

“There were social workers, security guards and police officers because the children were screaming.

“They were taking turns screaming, but people didn’t understand what was happening in the house.

“I had to explain that I had three autistic boys and that no child was being abused,” said Ndlovu.

Her oldest son was then taken by social workers and placed in a centre.

Ndlovu said she was shocked to learn that the centre where her son was placed had no training in autism.

“When I went to fetch my boy after lockdown, he had multiple sores, had regressed, and nearly lost his leg because of a septic wound.

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“The only answer we could get from the school was that they were never trained to deal with autism, so they didn’t know what to do.

“I took him back but struggled to find a skilled, trained nanny to deal with autistic children. It nearly cost me my job,” said the mother.

She eventually secured school placements for her children but thought of those parents in the same position and their troubles.

She said the centre was established to empower, educate, and provide support and information to other struggling parents, especially about school placements.

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She also encouraged parents to seek a medical diagnosis and look into treatment options for their autistic children.

For the awareness campaign, Keakgona-Kefentse partnered with Butterfly Haven Remedial Daycare Centre.

“The aim is to place these children into various organisations until we get proper placement from the government because schools are scarce and expensive.

“We are also for inclusion. We are saying each school must have at least one class for autistic children. They must have a teacher and an assistant teacher,” stated Ndlovu.

Her organisation is based in Edenvale and does outreach all over.

Butterfly Haven Remedial Daycare Centre founder, Mandy Nelson, said the biggest challenges for parents are that they can’t take autistic children to malls or churches and lack educational facilities for children with special needs.

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She added that more awareness is needed to curb misconceptions about autism and for parents to be better equipped.