Please tell a little about yourself and your role with autism in Morocco.

I’m firstly mom of 3 kids including an adolescent with autism Seddik, aged 15 and president founder of an organization “Al Youssra” for the Support and the Integration of children with autism created in 2007, I had also founded another organization in 2005 with the first class for children with autism in Salé (city close to Rabat the capital) . Our organization has adopted 2 approaches the educational (behavioral) approach and the biomedical (DAN Protocol) one. I organized a seminar on these two approaches in March 2008 and an international congress with Great Plains lab in partnership with New Beginning Nutritionals 28 and 29 th of March (see GPL website) we had lecturers from US, France, Egypt, Lebanon and Canada…
We work in a public school (two classes integrated in it).
I also introduced the lab tests related to autism in my country (I coordinate with GPL ) I also coordinate for the DAN Doctor Hossam Badr for consultations of children with autism and with NBN regarding the Nutritional supplements.
I’m Rescue Angel with Generation Rescue….

What is the prevalence of autism in Morocco (if known)?

It is said that there are 500,000 people with autism in Morocco but I’m not sure of this since many doctors here do not know how to diagnose 9+it, we might provide training for these doctors..

Within the general culture of Morocco, how aware are people of autism? How accepting are they of autism?

People here are more and more aware of autism thanks to conferences and organizations of Days for sensitizing, people now accept more and more to talk about their children but there’s still a lot to be done...

What are the largest struggles for people with autism in Morocco? Is there a story you know personally that demonstrates this struggle?

Organizations taking charge of children with autism struggle a lot for funds to be able to pay the educators, training for educators and parents, and medical assistance for children with autism, it’s a big challenge since parents here cannot afford to contribute to all of this and no project is accepted from us when it deals with paying the educators or anyone else who works with our children..

What have been some of the greatest successes in Morocco in regards to autism?

The organization of conferences and seminars mentioned above, our ability to organize consultations by a DAN Doctor, lab tests for autism spectrum and provide our children with supplements from NBN.

We also did training for some of our educators by Eric Lauzon , director of a school for children with autism in Canada (he did the presentation of Educational (behavioral approaches ) on our first seminar.

As you see, we work on the national level and there’s still a lot to be done!!

What types of services and assistance are needed in your country to improve autism awareness and services?

Organizing more conferences, the creation of more classes and workshops for children and adolescents with autism , providing more educators , training in ABA , PECS etc , equipment material for classes and centers, training for our doctors and ….EDUCATION AND BIOMEDIOCAL TREATMENTS FOR ALL CHILDREN WITH AUTISM TO AVOID DISCRIMINATION….

THANKS…

Nafissa Eddnadni