‘Cid is autistic’
Cid as a senior scout.Second installment of the story about Cid Tampo, a child with autism who has come a long way
WE enrolled Cid in the nursery where he stayed for three years. You could say he had a PhD in the Nursery. Something was terribly amiss.
One day we learned of a coming episode of Loren Legarda’s ‘Inside Story’ advertised in ABS-CBN which was to be about autistic children.
We decided to watch, and to us, it was like watching a horror movie. The small boys (3 of 4 autistic children are boys) we saw on the screen behaved exactly like him. Awkward playing habits, sleeping positions, head and body banging, rocking, and seemingly endless tantrums, they all looked too familiar.
Cid sleeps like an airplane. Face down, arms spread wide, and knees bent backwards so his legs are actually raised like a plane’s tail. He also rocked sometimes, but more often he banged his head and body against anybody and anything, including walls! He didn’t know what sitting and waiting was. He didn’t know how to use his forefinger to point at things, instead, he would get your hand and direct it to anything he wants.
The boy for whom a plant was built.We were convinced something was terribly wrong. We were scared of the unknown. But we were more scared of the consequences of not doing anything. It was time to see a psychiatrist.
We went to Dr. Gensaya, who gave Cid blocks, puzzles and lego to play with while she observed. She told us to be back and Cid went to the same routine. Then she told us that our son was suffering from a form of autism, ‘pervasive developmental disorder‘ she aptly called it.
Cid was 4-1/2 years old.
Our child was autistic? Sadly and poignantly, the answer is yes. And he will always be.
I felt the clouds darken in the horizon and loomed at us with the speed of a rushing locomotive and hit us with the force of a thunderbolt. It seemed as if heaven closed its doors and its walls caved in on us.
“Lord”, I prayed, ‘please tell us this is not true”.
My nightmare was broken by the voice of the good doctor advising us to go to Emmanuel School for Special Children, then in Quezon St., Iloilo City.
Back home I herded his Manong Toto, then about 12, and his Manang Inday,10, and told them that their kid brother is sick. That when we, their parents, are gone, Toto will provide financially and Inday will take care of Cid.
To this day, both love their brother so.
As instructed, we were to submit Cidboy to an EKG, I’m not sure if I’m correct. This is a procedure where several wires will be placed on his head for some readings. This requires the boy to sleep, so they gave him a full dose of benadryl to induce sleep. It was about 8:30 a.m.
The boy roamed and ran around the hospital. About 10 a.m. They gave him another dose of benadryl.
11:00 a.m. The boy still ran around the hospital.
At 11:30 we decided to go home. Maybe he’ll be drowsy after lunch and we can go back.
We went back to the hospital about 2 p.m. Straight away he ran around the hospital.
At about 3 p.m., they gave him a shot of tranquilizer. He ran around the hospital.
At 4, another shot. He still ran around.
I scooped him up, brought him to the car for a drive. But when I slammed the car door closed, I heard an “ouch”. It was his feet!
I pitied my son and felt awful about myself. I was so sorry.
But that was it. He did not cry. He did not complain.
We drove around for less than 15 minutes at ‘high cool’ and I heard his soft snoring.
I drove back to the hospital, gently got him out, and carried him inside.
It was 4:30 p.m.
THE BOY FOR WHOM A PLANT WAS BUILT
I was then working in a plant in Cebu but after that diagnosis, I immediately wrote our company president to allow me to work in Iloilo in whatever capacity as long as I could be with the boy as he grows up. I remember that I just sent a handwritten letter in yellow pad.
About a week after, my direct boss called me to ask what autism is, how Cid behaves, and all sorts of curiosity questions. The same day our vice chairman called to ask the same questions.
We were perplexed ourselves. Nobody is an expert in autism. How do you define one’s mental prison, may I ask?
Finally, our president called. First he asked me how my boy was, then he asked me what my plan was. God bless these kindhearted men.
“Sir”, I said, “please let me go home. You can demote me; just give me a job close to home”.
“No”, he said. “What you can do is study the feasibility of a plant in Iloilo, then you can go home and build it. Then you run it.”
That’s exactly what I did, and on August of 1994, with about four score in attendance listening to a thanksgiving hymn his Sister Manang Inday, 11, was singing:
“I thank Thee for the morning light,
For rest and shelter through the night;
For health and food, for love and friends,
For all, Thy goodness, sends.” ...
Cid Henry Ericson, all of 5 years old, cut the ribbon inaugurating a catsup plant in Iloilo City.
The boy for whom a plant was built.
Because of him, about 60 souls had jobs.
