SINGAPORE: It was a Friday four years ago, and Singapore’s national football team captain Hariss Harun and his son were seated in the middle of a crowded mosque.
The father sensed that Naufal Hariss was getting restless, and handed him his phone to watch videos on mute. But Naufal, who was diagnosed with moderate autism at age seven, turned the volume up enough to disturb others.
Shortly after, a fellow worshipper approached Mr Hariss and angrily asked why his son was playing with a phone in a mosque.
“He just kept going on and on. I felt so down. I didn’t feel defensive, I just felt helpless,” the footballer, 34, told CNA.
“As a Muslim, it’s important that I expose my kids to the faith from a young age. Although things didn’t go as planned, it’s important that we don’t give up.”
Now 11 years old, Naufal typically struggles to get through other events like football matches, birthday parties and wedding dinners, which can leave him overwhelmed and overstimulated.
It can lead to situations such as a meltdown in public – which, in turn, can be daunting and overwhelming for parents, said Mr Hariss.
“The fact that autism is an invisible disability makes it harder to go out there and explain the same thing every single time. It gets a bit exhausting after a while,” his wife, 33-year-old Syahirah Mohamad, added.
During the interview, both parents would pause mid-sentence now and then, to remind Naufal to take deep breaths to calm down.
These techniques, coupled with years of early intervention, have helped the boy feel more comfortable in social settings.
Yet some difficulties remain.
