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May 13, 2011

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It’s always touching when celebrities show a different side of themselves and reveal those things, people or issues that are close to their hearts.

Singer Bilal recently shared about raising an autistic son in which he dedicated his recent video, “Little One” to.

His oldest son, Bashir was diagnosed with Autism some over four years ago and with the video he hopes to raise awareness about the illness.

“I just wanted to do a song for the fathers,” Bilal comments.

“People always write songs from a mom’s perspective or to their moms. This is something I did for my children.”

Autism is a developmental disorder that typically appears in the first three years of a child’s life. The effects vary and can be from minimal to severe, affecting communication and social behavior.

“My son is high functioning so he deals with a lot of sensory overload and high energy,” says Bilal. “I do a lot of things to calm him down. I changed his diet. He’s on an all-gluten free diet. I’ve also introduced different exercises and music to help him. I have him playing the drums so it allows him to get out a lot of his energy. It also teaches him focus and rhythm.”

The singer also participated in the National Mall in D.C. for Autism walk last year and performed his song “Little One” for the audience of family members and supporters.

“It was also cool to talk to other parents and see their methods and what they go through with their child,” he says. “For us to share…it was an inspiring type of thing that was needed for all of us.”

The video for “Little One” follows a family that has recently found out their son is autistic and follows their reaction to it.

“A lot of it is their initial reaction to how it affects a family,” he explains. “I think it starts out as a grieving period but then you start to understand the child and figure out ways to help them and then it’s very rewarding.”

@Identity: Thanks for posting.

Little One is one of my favorites off the album.

One of the most beautiful tunes about parents-to-children and vice versa.

Wishing him and his family the best~

I never knew that about Bilal's son. I really liked "Little One" & I'm happy you posted this. It's never good to hear stuff like this for anybody....