Mother of twins navigating autism with her son

Upon realising that she was going to become a first-time mother, 29-year-old Kerry-Ann Blake was thrilled, albeit weeks later, she got a shock when she learnt she was carrying fraternal twins. Nonetheless, she remained excited as she eagerly waited her baby boy and girl.

However, just months into her pregnancy, Blake found herself facing a difficult situation. She was diagnosed as having a high-risk pregnancy. She weighed only 100 pounds, and her body was not providing adequate nutrients for her twins, which led to her needing a special diet to gain weight, and being placed on bed rest six months into her pregnancy.

Two years after delivering her twins, Blake found herself facing another challenge. Her son Odean, the older of the twins, began rapidly retrogressing in his development.

"When my son was about one, he started doing mathematics. He would literally write equations on the tile in the house ... he could count to 100 before he even became one and he was reading before two, so I realised he was extremely smart and advanced for his age. When he turned two things drastically changed, he was not himself," said Blake.

"He stopped looking people in the eye and his words became limited until he just stopped talking or making sounds altogether. At one point, he even stopped walking and went back to crawling," explained Blake, who noted that, after seeing the various signs, she sought medical attention for him. But due to his age, he could not officially be diagnosed. However, Blake was sure that her son had a developmental disability called autism spectrum disorder (ASD), because he was showing similar signs to a family friend. That friend had died from a seizure at the age of 18 - only weeks after Blake had her twins. Memories of her friend's death caused Blake to fear that her son might die at a young age.

Deciding to give Odean the best chance possible to survive and have as normal a life as possible, Blake enrolled her then one-year-old son into Therapy Plus, a remedial extra lesson centre, five days a week. There he got speech therapy, because he was nonverbal, behavioural therapy, play therapy, as well as occupational therapy, which taught him to walk and use his hands again.

At six years old, Odean was officially diagnosed with autism, and now at eight years old, is considered high functioning on the spectrum. He can fully communicate and is thriving academically at a general private school. Blake is also no longer fearful that her son will die young because he does not suffer from seizures. However, having experienced his diagnosis and dealing with his condition, her roller coaster of emotions still lingers.

"It was still really hard to hear because it was already a rough time for me. First I went through a period of trying to understand my new life, being a new mom and then dealing with the changes. It put me through a period of depression because I was feeling just totally confused," recalled Blake.

However, after understanding the condition and being trained how to care for her autistic child, Blake, who started the foundation Friends of Autism Jamaica, is proud of Odean's development and is on a mission to help other parents with autistic children.

"Now that I'm a mom, every other day I wonder what's going to happen if I'm not around. So for me, accepting and being vocal and being an advocate for my autistic child is important because I want to know that if mommy isn't around, will he and other children like him have a place in society? ... . The only way that will happen is if we start from now," said Blake.