This mother from Imus, Cavite couldn’t be any prouder after her son included in the autism spectrum graduated from college!
“Not even once na naisip ko noon nung time na na-diagnose siya na makakatapos siya ng college. I knew as a physical therapist, it will be very difficult. But he did, he has proven me wrong. We didn’t plan on him finishing school. We took it day by day kung ano ang kaya niya,” Mommy Jocelyn Maniago told The Philippine STAR.
Mommy Jocelyn said that she noticed that something was wrong with her son, Jared, when he was two years old.
“Hindi siya nag-develop ng language and hindi pa coordinated ‘yung kaniyang motor skills. He speaks gibberish, he has no eye contact, and we cannot hug him because when you hug him, he will really hurt you, he will punch you. Even though there is no official diagnosis, I already knew that he is special,” she said.
Mommy Jocelyn then brought Jared to a specialist where they found out that he has Pervasive Development Disorder.
“Immediately, we enrolled him in a special school and also enrolled him in therapy, like speech therapy, and occupational therapy,” she said.
When Jared was four years old, he was diagnosed with autism. He has undergone therapy for eight years.
“Continuous ‘yung kanyang therapy ng speech. He was in Grade 1 when his developmental child’s specialist parang recommended that we may enroll him in a normal school. It was really expensive, pero hindi namin binibilang, to be honest,” she shared.
“We enrolled him in a normal school and he did until he graduated in college. Nasa normal school siya. Eventually, because of the intensive therapy, not only that he learned to talk, [but] he also managed to control his autism. ’Yung pananakit niya, nawala even ‘yung tantrums niya rin, nawala,” Mommy Jocelyn added.
Mommy Jocelyn admitted that she was worried about her son’s future due to his condition.
“As a mother syempre merong konting, hindi naman denial but nag-isip kaming mabuti na, ‘how could it happen?’ When it became official, slowly we were able to accept it and then embrace it and right now, we continue embracing it and loving it. ‘Yung discipline talaga and ‘yung repeated talaga na reinforcement ng behavior niya. Kailangan mahaba ang patience mo sakan’ya,” Mommy Jocelyn noted.
“Meron talagang push. Hindi ko siya pinapabayaan. like Ayaw niyang mag-college before, ‘you try, kung hindi mo talaga kaya then we stop.’ I never allowed na ‘pag ayaw niya, ayaw niya. Although hindi ganu’n kataas ang expectations. Ang importante ma-develop niya ang social skills at independence, that’s the purpose bakit pinag-aral,” she added.
Jared graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Information Technology at the National College of Science and Technology this year.
“It finally paid off kasi not only did he managed to fit in sa mainstream ng regular school, nakapag-college pa siya and now he graduated,” she stressed.
“I’m so thankful to my parents for helping me pretty much for everything. I managed to control it and I had a long journey. I couldn’t survive this without them,” Jared said.
