Making Progress!

Another day started bright and early!

Today we have been at the centre for the whole day and managed brainstorming about the children and their programs and the direction we’d like to see things going which has been amazing. Emily has brought up some amazing points and provided lots of guidance on what direction we can take things next.

We met with Mary’s mum today who was has always been incredibly pleased with everything Melissa has accomplished to date that she never expected her to… but now even more thrilled knowing that there’s still so much more to come. In fact she was saying that she’d love to be a candidate for any research and participate in any possible way!

We also went through Max’s programs in detail, who is a fairly new student and broke down each program and the procedure we’re going to teach every single thing in. We did all this with Molly, Emily and myself over skype. It’s been really amazing as well how the 3 of us are talking even twice a day over skype and keeping updated on everything.

It’s been a really exciting day and I’m feeling more and more confident with everything we’re running here as the days are going by, and we’re only on day 3 so far yayyyy!! 

- Pooja

Pictures Autism Awareness Month events in Ghana...

Artwork, done on Thursday's at AACT, being sold at the parents meeting



Concert in Osu by Joyful Way Incorporated




AACT field trip to the Legon Botanical Gardens



Thank you Milo for your sponsorship!



Auntie Serwah up at the podem during the seminar at the British Council



Excited caregivers during our community awareness walk



The awareness walk, escorted by the local police




This picture speaks for itself!



Dear readers,

April was sure busy, wow! It is amazing to think of all the events that were organized, the people who connected and the awareness that was inspired by the 2010 Autism Awareness Month in Ghana. Starting from the huge benefit concert at the National Conference Center, to the community walk and field trip, to the radio shows and press conference, all in all... it was a success.

My personal favorite was the field trip to the Legon Botanical Gardens with all of the students and caregivers. Metro Mass Transit very kindly gave AACT a bus at a discounted price for the day and so we all could ride together. The bus ride to the gardens was filled with singing, dancing, and drumming (This seems to be a theme here in Ghana. No matter what you are doing, there will always be drumming and dancing. Amazing!). Once there, we played all morning on the playground, drank cups of cold Milo thanks to a donation from Nestle, ate mounds of Jolof rice thanks to a parent donation, took a walk around the lake and then had another bus ride filled with singing. Needless to say, everyone was exhausted at the end of the day.

The second best event of this past month, I think, was the last event: the parents' meeting. Upon arrival, I was skeptical about the turn out. But as the time passed about 10 parents showed up, a few caregivers and then the administration from both AACT and Awaawaa2. The agenda for the meeting was to recap all of the Awareness events, thank those involved, and discuss the future of the students who are now starting to out grow the center. Unbelievably, a parent of one of the older boys arrived to the meeting prepared to start a parents organization. This organization will be responsible for creating an assisted living & vocational training center for young adults with autism. This one parent facilitated the meeting, took down names of dedicated parents, and even planned the date and time for the next meeting! Motivation and initiation, its about time. As Auntie Serwah herself even said, “A new facility for the older children should have been done yesterday.”



As the month of April comes to an end, sadly so does my time here in Ghana. In three weeks, I will be returning to the US. Its hard to believe. This will not be the end of my work with the Global Autism Project though, I am excited to say that I will be co-hosting the Paddle for Autism Awareness this summer with Molly! What a better way to recap my work here than to talk about it cities all over the USA.

I am thankful to have been a part of Autism Awareness Month in Ghana this year and hope that it was just as successful in all other parts of the world. Only 11 more months until Autism Awareness Month 2011... lets start planning to make it even more powerful! Together we can make a difference.

Casey

After a few weeks of attempting to conduct caregiver trainings, finally I was granted the time. As I have mentioned before, lecture style trainings have not been the most successful so the teaching style had to be adapted. First, we set up “class” outside. This not only created more physical space, it also was much cooler temperature wise and tended to decrease the probability of people falling asleep (yes, this is a valid concern, no matter how entertaining your presentation). Secondly, I have started each training with a 5 minute Brian Gym. Brain Gym is a technique that I learned through Multikids, the other school that I am working at here. It involves deep breathing and body moment (similar to yoga) to get the brain awake and stimulated.

The beginning week I asked, “What is behavior?” To be able to teach or model good behavior, it only make sense to first know what exactly this means. Thanks to the STAR Autism Program, we identified the ABCs of Behavior: the antecedent, the behavior, and the consequence. Then brainstormed examples of this three part series in our daily lives. While discussing, I wrote key points on a white board. Due to the outcomes of past trainings, I felt it was best if I let the caregivers take the initiative to copy down what was being discussed if the desire was there. I, by no means, will force an education on anyone. Although will also be the first to say that with education comes empowerment. Without my prompting, 4 out of the 12 caregivers present came prepared with notebooks and pencils. It was a step in the right direction.

The following weeks we have focused on positive behavior reinforcement, the idea of extinction, and Discrete Trial Training. As some of you know, these are not new concepts at AACT. The caregivers have been taught these ideas over and over again, with little degree of change. Partially due to cultural differences, but also coming back to the teacher. I feel that I have a bit of an advantage conducting trainings at AACT now versus back in July '09. I have spent many months working along side the caregivers and helping with the students. Compared to someone coming in new to Ghana and new to AACT, I have somewhat of a greater understanding of this environment as well as knowing the caregivers on a much more personal level. Therefore, I rely heavily on their participation in these trainings. I pose questions to them, let them role play, and together we brainstorm ideas of how to make concepts, such as positive behavior reinforcement, a regular routine at AACT. Conducted in this way, I feel and hope the information being given is more sustainable.

On top of Brain Gym and the more educational based lessons, I have started to introduce team building games. Stemming off of charades, we have done other activities that involved non-verbal communication, trust, memory and cooperative skills. It is amazing to see people who generally do not show very much emotion and many times are quite “relaxed” by Friday, becoming active, lively, and full of character. Creating an environment that is enjoyable makes learning more conducive. So last Friday we were told that the caregivers must clean the center instead of receiving training and literally one caregiver said to me, “I am disappointed. This is the only place where I can receive an education and today they have taken it away from me,” I was crushed. Yet it also meant that the trainings were having a positive impact.

World Autism Awareness Month events are also coming along well. This week AACT will start its awareness campaign at the Accra Mall. Other events have been added, such as a craft fair on April 10th. This idea came about from an artist that has been recently volunteering on Thursdays. This man not only donates his time to teaching the children once a week, he has also donated many of his beautiful pieces of art for the center to sell.

On a separate note, there was a wonderful thunderstorm last night. So for the first day in months, we did not see the sunshine. It was a nice change from sweating.

Sincerely,
Casey

(My apologies for the lack of pictures in this entry, I promise more next time.)