WE HAVE a beautiful three-year-old girl who is autistic and non-verbal. She is the sunshine of our lives, she is a happy kid who loves to laugh, cuddle and do many of the same things most little girls her age do.
Ever since we got her diagnosed we have been trying to get her the best treatment possible. This is something of a challenge in Kuwait. Well-known experts in the field of autism as well as our pediatrician in Kuwait have recommended leaving the country with her because there is just no proper treatment for autistic children especially when it comes to early intervention. For the readers who are unaware; in autism it is essential to start treatment as early as possible preferably under the age of 3 with recommended 30-40 hours weekly, needless to say, this can cost a family a fortune if you do not have a health insurance that covers the costs.

So after the diagnosis was confirmed we approached the brand new autism center in West Mishref only to be told that there is a waiting list that was so long that we could not even be put on the list. They could not help us with any kind of therapy; in fact we were told that all over Kuwait there is no speech therapist that has the required training to properly work with this kind of non-verbal autistic child. They also could not help with any other form of therapy like vocational therapy or behavior therapy.

We are western expats without any wasta and therefore were flat out rejected at the only center that looked promising. With lots of luck we found a behavior specialist that agreed to work with our daughter, we also had her at a lovely and caring private nursery. With the combination of both the therapist and the nursery our daughter started coming around. Her eye contact got better, she started engaging in play with other children, got used to a scheduled day at the nursery. She even started repeating occasional words. She got more outgoing and became less afraid of strangers. She loves her teacher, in fact all of the staff were always supportive, we cannot thank them enough for their loving care, their eagerness to learn and help. Whatever therapeutic tasks we used, they fully supported and implemented them into her daily routine. The teachers read books and searched the internet in an attempt to do everything right with our little girl and they did! This child has come a long way in that nursery and in her everyday struggle in her own little world.
Last week we went back to her nursery to enroll her for the fall. Even after a two and a half month break our girl went straight to her teacher and kissed her. Everybody who has ever dealt with an autistic child knows what that means... She was home again! From there she went straight to her favorite toys that at the beginning of the year she didn’t even know existed.

Feeling
That happy feeling didn’t last long. Right when we entered we were told that the Ministry of Social Affairs had given out new guidelines which stated that private nurseries in Kuwait are not allowed to keep special needs children anymore. We have been living in Kuwait for over 4 years but never has our disappointment in this country been greater than this. We could not believe what we were told. There is a nursery with the kindest staff, our child can orientate herself on other kids without handicaps and learn from them, she is finally progressing and we seemed to have found a balance between therapy and regular life with other kids.

In most countries in the western world every effort is made to integrate special needs children into normal society, but this is apparently not the case in Kuwait. It gives the lucky “normal” children a chance to learn that every person is different and we should accept each other for who we are. We all live in the same society some have a short leg, some have a big nose, some have autism, why not learn about it in nursery? It is virtually impossible to find any suitable autism therapy in Kuwait, there are of course some well off Kuwaitis, who are flying in special therapists and put them under exclusive contracts. They are telling us special needs kids must attend government nursery schools. The other option is sending her to private nurseries for special needs children for unbelievable prices, which Kuwaiti families get reimbursed for by the government but we can simply not afford it.

Do government nursery schools have better trained personnel to deal with autism? And do they speak English? A little girl is being denied the only normal life she knows and loves. I guess the doctors were right after all and we just have to leave the country.…
Someone warned me jokingly not to write this because we might get arrested or thrown out of the country. You know what? So be it, maybe we will be transferred to a country that truly cares about special needs children. Our girls is a very happy little kid and we want to keep it that way, that is what matters to every parent, special needs child or not.