Nina is 29 and she has an infectious smile and loves talking about her family. We’re chatting in one of the offices at The Wish’s Centre in Calarasi, which her son Liviu attends. He’s here too, a bit wary of strangers, though he sneaks a few glances at us. Since he obviously doesn’t like having his photo taken, it is Nina you can see here.
Liviu and Nina’s experiences expose just how little understanding there is about how to support autistic people in Moldova. Thank goodness Nina found The Wish, where Liviu could get the support he needed.
“My Liviu cried a lot as a baby,” Nina says. “People told me, ‘He’ll grow out of it.’ But he didn’t, so I turned to specialists—a neurologist, a therapist—each giving a different diagnosis, but none mentioned autism. I first noticed the signs when he was three or four. Eventually, I saw a private paediatrician, and that’s when I finally heard the word: autism”.
The help Nina received for her son mainly consisted of some medications and vitamins. The final diagnosis was made at the neuropsychiatric hospital in Codru, but they said a lot of time had already been lost.
Nina and Liviu (6 years old) live in Sadova village, where there are no services for children with this diagnosis—all the organisations Nina contacted are based in the capital. Liviu attends a regular kindergarten, but Nina brings some sedatives prescribed by a neurologist. A mobile medical team visits the village occasionally, but they aren’t able to provide much help for a case like his.
Nina found the Centre in Calarasi herself, and for the past two years, Liviu has been attending sessions with a speech therapist, psychologist, and other specialists. He has started pronouncing words, and his behaviour has stabilised. He now understands and can express when he’s hungry and how he wants to dress. He loves playing with water, building sets and sorting fruits as well as putting toys and things in order. Not surprisingly, with the ability to express his needs and adults in his life who recognise and can meet them, his behaviour has stabilised.
The local kindergarten has started offering support in sharing information about autism. The biggest challenge, Nina admits, is taking public transport—many people still don’t understand and react unkindly to Liviu’s differences.
We still have a long way to go to make sure that autistic children in Moldova are given the support they need rather than inappropriate medication. At present the number of children The Wish serves has had to be reduced from 30 to 21 because of lack of funds. Any contribution you can make would be very warmly welcomed.
