Coping with a special child
Angelo Jardeleza, now 20 years old and coping.Editha and Angelo’s story
EDITHA Jardeleza, president of the Autism Society of the Philippines – Iloilo Chapter, discovered that her son Angelo had autism when he was just five years old. “During kinder school, I discover that he did not listen to the teacher. Instead, he roamed around the classroom and sometimes he would lift the chair he is sitting on, put it on his head and kept on going around while his younger sister listened and did the activities the teacher assigned to the whole class,” she said.
Angelo was brought to a development behavioral pediatrician, who diagnosed him to have severe autism spectrum disorder. “After the doctor explained to us about autism, my husband and I agreed to give Angelo our best, to educate him and make him the best person God wanted him to be,” Editha said.
“What actions did you take to care for Angelo? Were there difficulties encountered along the way?” I asked.
“First I had to find a school where special kids are accepted and at that time schools are limited or only about 4 of them. And the tuition was expensive. But we chose one. At home we have a five-minute rule. Every five minutes, we check on what Angelo is doing because he can do so many things so fast. One time, he got lost and we searched everywhere and later I saw him a few meters away rolling his small toy car back and forth in the inclined cemented driveway. One time, while my husband was busy repairing our electrical connections at home, we heard our neighbor calling us. Angelo was beside him because he saw my son in the middle of the street in front of a ten-wheeler truck causing traffic in the street. We have learned the greatest lesson that the five-minute rule must be strictly observed,” Editha said.
“Were there improvements in Angelo?” I asked.
“My son celebrated his 20th birthday last June 7. He can read well, he likes to sing and copy the lyrics of his songs from You Tube by himself and download it to his I Shuffle. He plays computer games. He has collections of zoids, transformers and gundams because he knows how to assemble them by himself even though it takes almost four hours to do it. He can cook his favorite milk pastillas by himself and most important is, he can do his personal things without our help,” Editha answered with pride.
The Jardeleza Family. Editha is seated at the left while Angelo is standing at the right.ADVICE TO PARENTS
With her successful rearing of Angelo, Editha has this advice for parents: “God has given us our special children because He knows that we are special parents. Our kids have a special place in God’s heart so I know that no what trials come our way, we are strong and wise enough to bring up our special children to be better persons, to be sociable and productive persons in our society.”
She added, “Enjoy every minute with your special kids. Be more patient, understanding and caring to their special needs but treat them like normal kids.”
Editha hopes that other people would continue to understand and accept children with autism and that these kids are just like any other child, only with special needs.
