Page 14 - Community Living Magazine 35-1

Life after ATU
From Accra and London with love

Hannah Otoo worked with hospital nurses to get her son Rex sense that he wants to destroy things, but
home quickly, reports Isabelle Garnett. She also set up a school he can’t communicate as he is non-verbal.
He is not able to express his frustration, so
for children with autism and learning disabilities in Ghana this is how he shows it.
“That’s when they used medication to
suppress him.”
aving lived in the UK for more than Hannah jumped on a plane back to
20 years, one summer Hannah London. When she arrived, Rex had been
HOtoo and her young family went moved to a secure inpatient unit. Knowing
back to Ghana so her parents could meet what helped her son when he was feeling
their grandchildren. distressed, Hannah dashed home to pick
Rex, her autistic son with a learning up her crisis resources (sensory and visual
disability, was nine at the time. Having supports), cooked his favourite meal and
battled with the special educational needs drove straight to the hospital.
and disabilities (SEND) system at home to When she got there, it was as if her
get her son’s needs assessed and met, Opening Reyo Paddock school in 2011: Ghana son and his family had entered a
Hannah was shocked by the apparent lack lacked provision for children with special needs different world.
of understanding and the paucity of She explains: “So many things come into
specialist learning disability or autism Back in London, as Rex transitioned to play when you are 18. You have to look at
education and support in her native land. specialist secondary school, his behaviour capacity. The law changes. Child and
“I saw all that need, and I thought ‘oh my became more challenging for teachers adolescent mental health services cease
gosh!’ It was the first time I realised that and family. Hannah, like many parents of at 18. There just wasn’t that transition for
Africa didn’t have anything. My parents children with SEND, was finding respite him... He entered into an adult zone and it
didn’t understand anything,” she says. support impossible to get. was the weekend as well. Information was
Hannah soon met other desperate It became particularly difficult to keep not being transferred.”
parents of children with similar needs Rex safe and happy during school holidays Thankfully, Hannah had brought the
who were struggling. It was then that an so, every summer, Hannah took him to thick file she had kept with Rex’s reports
extraordinary thought came to her: to Ghana so that he could benefit from the and shared it with staff. They watched her
turn a house they owned in Ghana into a structure of Reyo Paddock and spend time putting in place the calming strategies
school for autistic children. with his Ghanaian family. that helped him – a combination of
These were precious moments for him: communication support, his favourite
“He loved the music, he loved the food, food, water, music, aromatherapy and
The school was moving he loved the environment – and so he saw other calming activities – and saw they
his culture.”
were working.
accommodation and shipped Back in the UK, Hannah began setting Rex uses Makaton signs to communicate
all their old stuff, the sensory up a small charity, SEN Parenting (www. and was signing “toilet” but the ward
room, everything… to Ghana senparenting.org), to support families in nurses did not recognise this so were not
responding. Hannah therefore found
similar situations. Her aim was to help
schools and families to work together to herself training the nurses in Rex’s most
create consistency between home and frequently used signs.
She immediately set about converting school approaches, with simple support She also explained how running around
the house and, when she came back to systems at home. and standing under a shower (15–20
London, mentioned her ambition to the times a day) would support his recovery.
headteacher of her son’s specialist Hospital after an ‘incident’ “There was a good ward manager who
primary school – Paddock School in One year, just after she had returned to allowed it, who wasn’t somebody who
Wandsworth, London. Ghana, Hannah received a call from Rex’s thought, ‘Oh you don’t know much’…
The headteacher’s reaction was school. There had been an “incident” and They listened and we worked together,”
equally extraordinary: “She was fantastic they had taken him to the accident and she says.
and so excited. They were moving emergency department, where he was After a few days, with Hannah coming in
accommodation, so they shipped all their sectioned. It was Rex’s 18th birthday. to support him daily, the multidisciplinary
old stuff, the sensory room, everything… “I left on Saturday and the next day team saw Rex improve dramatically.
to Ghana.” Sunday that’s when they took him,” By the end of the first week, the
Hannah employed staff locally and Hannah recalls. psychiatrist said Rex had stabilised,
arranged for teachers from London to “He spent one or two nights in the A&E, was responding well to medication
come to Ghana to train them. and they saw they couldn’t contain him and was ready for discharge. The
Reyo Paddock School Ghana first there. And this is an autistic boy who hospital’s proactive ward manager
opened its doors in May 2011 (www. needs to run. escalated Rex’s case within the NHS and
reyopaddock.com). Hannah would run the “When he gets confused, he rips his the London lead, Adanna Williams,
school for the next 10 years. clothes and destroys things – not in the became involved.

14 Vol 35 No 1 | Autumn 2021 Community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk