Wow, is it really the 1st of March? For how slow some things tend to be here in Ghana, my time always goes so quickly!

Friday, the 6 of February was supposed to be the first day of caregiver training at AACT. Even after communicating via email with both Auntie Serwah and Auntie Baaba throughout the week about the training details, there was still a conflict. Upon arrival to AACT, I learned that Auntie Serwah had actually planned to throw herself a belated birthday party. This included music, food and drinks for the entire school day. While it was fun and a kind gesture, it did not create the most effective environment for teaching. Due to this circumstance, the training was rescheduled for the following weeks.

I left AACT that day feeling frustrasted. Frustrated at the lack of communication between administration and volunteers, as well as the lack of attention being given to the students. It was then that it hit me. So many volunteers have come through AACT to do caregivers trainings. So many volunteers have addressed these issues in lecture style classes. Although all of them have some level of positive outcome, the real net gain is small. How do we change this?! It is clear from the long range effect, or lack there of, that these type of teaching may not be the best way to reach everyone. Therefore we, the teachers, must change our teaching style in order to accommodate our “students.”

Instead of a lecture that following Friday we played charades. For anyone who is not familiar, this is a game where you have to act out a specific event, character, or action without using any spoken language. Then your team mates have to guess what you are trying to convey. Not knowing how this was going to turn out, I made about 20 different cards, divided the teams and crossed my fingers. After the first few warm-ups, the caregivers were into it! Not only were they cheering for their teams, they were actually acting with expression.



Once the game was over. The question was posed: “What was the purpose of playing?” Silence. So adapting my question, I asked them to how it felt when their respective teams were unable to guess what the actor was trying to portray. “It was frustrating,” “it was annoying,” “it made them mad not being able to verbally communicate a message.” Exactly.


The majority of the students at AACT have not developed verbal communication skills, nor have they learned any other form of effective communication. It is my hope that the caregivers now have a better understanding of how these children feel everyday of their lives. If nothing else though, the game has now been carried out to an unexpected level. Since that Friday, one specific caregiver has taken it upon himself to set up the game every week. After our lessons, he has run a charades game. Last week he even brought prizes for both the team who won and the team who lost!

Besides charades, there are a few new items to report. First of all, I want to say how proud I am of the caregivers and Auntie Baaba for initiating the use of PECS during their lunch time. Right before the holiday break Auntie Baaba made some pictures of pure water bags, spoons and forks. At first, I was unsure about how effective it was going to be just due to the inconsistency of their use. Although, to my amazement, the caregivers have gotten quite good with this system and the children have really responded. The majority of students will now request these items either verbally or with the pictures! Its a great step towards teaching communication that now needs to be expanded.


Auntie Baaba and Auntie Serwah also decided to change around the classrooms. Where the older students were is now where the primary class is and visa versa. This makes so much difference. It is much less distracting for the young ones and also gives them more space, with direct access to the bathrooms and kitchen.


Planning for Autism Awareness Month is also progressing! The following are the tentative dates and events planned as of last Friday, February 26th with Auntie Baaba and Auntie Serwah:

17th – 19th March - Autism Awareness Table at Accra Mall with Joyful Way Inc.

20th March - Mandatory AACT Parent's Meeting

28th March - Autism Awareness Concert at the National Theater Hosted by Joyful Way Inc.

1st April - Press Conference

2nd April- World Autism Awareness Day

9th April - AACT Community Awareness Walk

17th April - Informational Seminar at British Council

22nd April - Benefit Concert in Osu

24th April - All Parents of Children with Autism Meeting at Multikids

Its going to be a wild month of events!

As always, thank you for reading.
Casey

Day 16: Wenesday July 22, '09

Hi everyone!

The week seems to be flying by here in Ghana. It's hard to believe that it's already halfway over. This morning Alicia went right to work on her desks, adding the last coats of paint and beginning to add the drawers. Lori continued to organize the many PECS picture cards and Brad worked on the training logs. During all of this, I met with Baba to begin planning a professional open house and information session at the centre. The idea behind this is to not only raise awareness about autism, but also introducing them to local services available at AACT. After our meeting, I was able to speak with Dr. Marbell, the head of the Neurological Development Clinic at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, about attending this event with some of the other doctors. She was extremely receptive to this idea.
After a delicious lunch of fresh mango and pineapple, I had the opportunity to sit in on Brad and Lori's second afternoon of training. Once again, they did an excellent job presenting on Functional Behavioral Assessments and using the BI Capture. While the training was happening, the rest of the AACT staff and volunteers successfully ran the new afternoon programs for the second day.
In the evening, we headed to Osu to do some more souvenir shopping and eat dinner. As Lori and Alicia were getting beautiful Ghanaian dresses specially altered, Brad and I enjoyed some great Lebanese food.

Until next time...

Casey

Day 13: Sunday, July 19, 2009

The roosters went off bright and early this morning to ensure that Molly and company were awake to see her off to the airport. Taking back only one plastic tub and her “Ghana Go Home” bag, she assured that she loved us for 10,000 years and bade us farewell. Until next week in New York!

After dropping Molly off at the airport, Brad, Lori and I ventured off to the National Museum. The Museum was small albeit informative, as there is a wealth of history here in Ghana.
Our next stop was the National Theatre. Unfortunately it was closed because there are no shows currently going on, but we were still able to walk around and take photos of the famous male and female drums on display.

We ended our day in Osu with time well spent working and enjoying tasty Chinese food at Tip Top Restaurant. For some reason the stir-fry noodles and vegetables still haven’t gotten old yet.
Back to work we go tomorrow. We are all really excited for our last week in Ghana, and are looking forward to hitting the ground running…there is still plenty of training and desk making to be had!

Stay Classy!

Alicia

Day 12: Saturday July 18, 2009

Greetings and salutations,

Our Saturday began as Lori, Alicia, and myself were awoken at the crack of dawn (we had spent the night in camping in the rain forest) by our park guide in Kumasi National Park. He had arrived to take us on a hike to the park’s skywalk. We reached the skywalk after a short hike up and through the park. The skywalk is a series of bridges and platforms that are suspended across the canopy of the rain forest. The walk was exhilarating, an excellent way to start the day and yes, we all made it across.

After this we began the trip back to Kaneshie Station in Accra. Once we arrived back at Akuma Village we split up, with Molly and Casey heading out to wrap up some loose ends, while the rest of recuperated by doing laundry, napping, and cleaning the bathroom (thanks Lori!).

We sent Molly off in style by having a roof top beverage at the ultra swanky Citizen Kofi in Osu. Molly, who was still recovering from a minor stomach bug, indulged herself by consuming truffle-infused mashed potatoes; according to Casey these potatoes were “incredibly amazing.” After this we headed to Mama Mia for some delicious pasta. We ended the evening early and got some much needed rest, that is until Casey and Molly inadvertently woke me while trying to detain a potentially lethal gecko. Luckily it escaped the pokes from Casey’s mosquito net pole and vanished into someone’s luggage.

Our final week is sure to be a whirlwind...

Respect,

brad herron

Day 7: Monday July 13, 2009

Greetings from Ghana. This is Casey, the new country director for the Global Autism Project. I am thrilled to have come back to Ghana after studying here five years ago. Today, I went to the center for the first time. It was immediately clear, that this place was special. The many staff and volunteers all arrived with smiles and ready to help make a difference in these kids lives.

As Molly introduced me to everyone, Brad and Lori got right to work. Over the past week, they have been organizing training sessions for the staff of AACT. Today they presented the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), as well as facilitated an amazing discussions on the topic of autism.

Later in the morning, Molly and I got the privilege of meeting with Nana Akua Owusu. She is the speech and language pathologist for the center, who also runs a private practice and an NGO. It was exciting to start brainstorming with her about our work together in these coming months.

While all this was happening, Alicia was hard at work designing and building the draws for the center's desks! With this said, it was an incredibly productive day for all of us here. And what a better way to end the day than fresh pineapple and a bag of vanilla fanice (best ice cream in the world).

Casey

Day 4: Friday, July 10th

Friday July 10, 2009
Happy Friday from Africa!

This is Lori again. We had an amazing day at the Centre. Alicia returned to the hardware store (she just cannot get enough of that place!). Her construction continues to amaze the rest of us. She is a talented engineer and carpenter.

Molly and I brainstormed with the wonderful administrators at the Centre to create a new daily schedule that would maximize learning time. A new afternoon schedule was developed where, rather than free play, different structured activities (3 to be exact) would be available to students to participate in. By adding structure and choices, this will increase student’s engagement in appropriate activities (and also create more communication opportunities). Staff members would be assigned to a specific activity for the day. These activities would change daily.

Brad and I worked with the staff on creating language opportunities during motivating activities (such as snack). Some of the students are using the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) to communicate, while others are using verbalizations to communicate. For students using vocals we are teaching the staff to use Pivotal Response Treatments (PRT) to work on social communication. The staff’s previous training in PECS was apparent by their strong teaching skills.

Brad and I also outlined our staff trainings for the visit. We will provide teaching sessions that will include demonstrations of skills with students and practice by staff members. These trainings will focus on PECS, PRT, functional behavior assessments (FBA), functional communication training (FCT), and addressing problem behavior.

Molly worked closely with Baaba, the phenomenal Administrator of AACT to begin to create a volunteer training orientation program. AACT is very fortunate to receive volunteers interested in joining them from all over the world through various organizations. Baaba said she was looking forward to implementing a strong and organized volunteer orientation program, complete with social outings for volunteers and AACT staff to get to know each other!

After our visit at AACT, we took an adventure to Kokrobite Beach (about 30 minutes west of Accra). There we made a vegan dinner from local vegetables with the assistance of friends from the area. In the evening, we were the guests of honor at a bonfire on the beach with African drumming and dancing. Molly, Brad and I participated in the festivities while Alicia was our photographer of the amazingly beautiful event. It was a truly remarkable experience!
Thanks for reading!
Lori

Ghana Day One: July 7, 2009...

Greetings all, Brad here.

I am an ABA therapist from Phoenix, AZ and I have come to Ghana to lend my support to the Global Autism Project and the Autism, Awareness, Care, Training Centre(AACT).



Akwaaba, or greetings in Twi, is what we (Molly, Alicia, not Lori as she was trapped in NY) heard as we pulled into AACT. The staff and students were very gracious in welcoming us to the center. After a tour of the center and introductions to the staff we headed across the street to pick up some rice and satchets of water from the local vendors. We spent the remainder of our time at the center chatting with the staff and getting to know the students.



We headed out from the center, via tro tro (picture a volkswagen van with a few more seats) and made our way to Osu, a part of Accra where many Obruni's (white people) hang out, eat, and shop. Here we picked up some great souvenir's like jewelry and shirts. This inlcuded a shirt with the message "Obama in Ghana" "Africa Unite". I think I know this Obama guy..? According to the signs and billboards posted everywhere he is coming to visit Ghana; this could be exciting.



After shopping we stopped by Mama Mia's Pizzeria and I had some excellent vegetarian cheeseless pizza. We made our home to the Rising Phoenix, our new home for the next three weeks. This place has a fantastic view of the ocean and some really cute kittens that we named using various forms of Obama.

Tomorrow promises to be another exciting day of getting to know the staff and kids, as well as more bartering with cabbies and shop keepers...

Respect,

brad herron

Please, where can I find Press-Ted?

Well, that meeting with Nic went into the wee hours, but we’ve established an excellent schedule to be sure we accomplish plenty as they say here in Ghana. This morning, we were in the centre bright and early ready to get BI Capture software set up and running and hold our business meeting with Auntie Serwah, the Director of AACT.
Nic and Mawusi got started right away with the installation of the BI Capture software, and though we still need to work out some kinks of installation, we expect to have the software up and running by tomorrow so that we can do a few test runs of the upload and comment process before we head back!
Ann and Molly continued observation of the staff and teaching, and Mawusi and Ann began setting up staff training data sheets. It’s so great to see the children and staff again- we are making new friends and reuniting with old ones. In our meeting with Auntie Serwah we got to hear the details of some of the awareness raising that AACT has been doing throughout Ghana. We were reminded of the realities of working within a culture where autism still carries an overwhelming stigma. Although AACT has made tremendous progress in raising awareness of children with autism in Ghana, the cultural beliefs surrounding autism create a large and complex challenge.
One of the difficulties of this stigma is manifested in parents’ hesitance to sign photo releases that would allow their child’s picture to be publicly displayed in any way. This would of course raise visibility and awareness of the condition here in Ghana. Even after signing photo releases, many parents can sometimes have second thoughts when presented with the realities of having their child’s photo used publicly.
Then, we were off to prepare materials for a presentation on PECS-the Picture Exchange Communication System. This system will allow the children to communicate using pictures and give a mode of communication to children who currently have none. These children often rely on inappropriate and even dangerous behaviors to get their needs met. It is these behaviors that cause some children to be ostracized from their communities and sometimes even their families.
After a long search for Velcro (including the discovery that it is called “press-ted” in Ghana) we managed to find time to mail a few postcards. Ann is now about to start writing out the flipcharts for tomorrow’s presentation while Molly prepares the participation certificates and checks Global Autism Project mail from Busy Internet, whilst posting this blog!