Autistic Child – Aditya Prabhakar

Every year, April is observed as Autism Awareness month. It is during this month that all the important monuments in the city are lighted up as in Blue Campaign. 

But painting the city in blue is not just what is needed, public should be educated on the intense challenges of the diagnosis and the tough aspect of living with disability. It should not be just committed to creating awareness, there should also be critical help given to the autistic persons in the form of social programs, education safety and employment opportunities. 

Many people do not know anything about autism. 

“We discovered it after 3 1/2 years because till then he did not speak.  Then one of our Doctor friend who is a paediatrician guided us to go to UMEED and NIMH for evaluation followed by the therapy and our journey with Autistic child started.” Says Vaishali Prabhakar, mother of 14 years old Aditya Prabhakar. “We were shocked and shattered to know that we have a special child and he has to go to the special school.  Because till then we were not aware about Autism. “

As a child, Aditya Prabhakar did not have eye contact, his speech was limited and he had no social interaction with other children. He was reserved and in his own world. 

Aditya was admitted in Swami Brahmanand School at Navi Mumbai, Belapur, at the age of 6years. Over the nine years in school he has shown marked progress.

His Mom, Vaishali  Prabhakar, is very grateful with the improvement shown by him at school  “We consider ourself lucky to admit our child in SBP.  Thanks to the support of the management, teaching staff and support staff.  They really made him independent, his academic potential was identified and improved upon.  His talent of singing, skating, swimming, table tennis and cricket was motivated encouraged and brought to the competitive level by the entire staff of SBP.  And this is all possible because of the support and guidance of our founder trustee Ms Shirish Poojari ma’am” 

Aditya is very sensitive, understands the pain of others. He is a very good audio leaner, his memory is good, he reads and writes, he is an excellent singer he learns the lyrics through audio, understands the background music and sings perfect karaoke songs without reading the lyrics on the screen.  He is good in numbers.

“Level of awareness of Autism in India is very low that's why society doesn't accept them easily and look at them as an ALIEN.” Says Vaishali, “Society should accept them the way they are and support them and help them to lead a normal life. Wherever we find such children's we tell them our experience and guide them. They should be vigilant about any abnormal changes in the behaviour pattern from day one. “ she continues

Aditya did not go to any other school before joining SBP. He joined school in 2012. He has learnt to perform his day to day activities. He has started talking and mingling with people.  He has won many awards and certificates over the years that include singing, sports, drama, yoga, cooking competition, Aditya had  also participated in a ‘Quizabled Knowledge’ for all in which he won cash prize and a gift

During the pandemic, the online sessions were regular. Due to the perseverance dedication of the management and teacher's he started liking online sessions in academic, sports, art and craft, singing.

“Autistic children's leading a normal life totally depends on the support and acceptance by the society. “ says Vaishali Prabhakar

Autistic Child - Khushi Malve

 April 2nd is the day observed all over the world as ‘World Awareness Day’

It is day to make people understand and accept people with autism. It is the day to spread kindness and autism awareness.

Autism is a neurodevelopment disorder characterised by deficits in social and language communication, as well as repetitive behaviours and restricted interests. Children and adults with autism spectrum disorder have a wide range of abilities. Some people cannot speak at all and many have delayed or limited verbal communication. Some are greatly impaired in their cognitive thinking while others are extremely gifted.  Source:

 

Khushi Malve is an autistic student at Swami Brahmanand Pratisthan, Centre for PWID. She has shown marked progress since she joined the school, (eleven years now). Sports teachers at school have enhanced and recognised her skill in swimming and skating. 

“They supported us in every possible way they could. She participated in swimming competition and made the school proud of their efforts.” Says her mother Geeta Malve 

 Khushi has won several medals and certificates for swimming. She won gold in Thane Samaj Kalyan Swimming competition,  won bronze in  National Swimming competition held in Pune.

Geeta Malve is the mother of 17 years old Khushi. 

Khushi was diagnosed with autism and MR at the age of 9months. It was very difficult for her to accept the truth as she was hearing the word ‘autism’ the first time. 

“When doctor explained what symptoms are and how we could cope up with, we said our child can't be autistic”Says Geeta Malve, 

She felt that doctor had not diagnosed it properly. But as an autistic child, she had clear symptoms. It was observed that  Khushi had no eye contact, no reaction to sound, she was totally in isolation,  had no feeling of pain, no toilet control,  a delay in development milestone was observed, there was no motor coordination. For many months, Geeta couldn’t cope with this situation and went into depression.  

Gradually, day by day , year by year, she accepted the truth and heard many stories of success. She realised that the main motto is to make her child independent in daily life skills and understood that many are leading dignified life. She advises other parents to not underestimate the power of their kids  Consistency and encouragement is the key to success.  Patience is very important. She feels. 

“Initially it was very difficult to make the people to understand,” she says, “ Nobody cooperates. Wherever I would take Khushi along with me, some people showed sympathy, others would  take away their kids, I just wanted to tell everybody that these kids also have the right to education,  right to live independently.  You must see their abilities, focus on what they can, not they cannot.  Give them opportunities.”

Geeta is really proud of her daughter's abilities and proudly shares the certificates and medals collected by Khushi.

Khushi has always loved music since childhood. Even though she is sitting socially isolated as soon as she hears some particular music she brightens up  

Pandemic has been very stressful for parents of special children. With no activity to do at home, many children had behavior problems, but online education was started immediately and the good interaction between the staff members and the parents have shown lot of progress in children. 

“Initially, during pandemic Khushi was asking many questions such as why schools are closed, and why must she wear mask. School shutdown affected a lot, she is in meltdown since 6 months. Lots of behaviours changes have been observed.  Hoping for  the best.” Says Geeta.

Geeta advises the parents to attend empowerment program,  

“Give emotional support to the families sailing in same boat, go for early intervention, meet development paediatric for more clarification. Now-a-days lot of awareness  is there in young parents,  you can join support from support group.”

 You can join Forum for Autism. This is is a parent support group which caters to the needs of families touched by Autism Spectrum Disorder. The primary aim of setting up FFA was to create awareness