Dev (name changed) is a boy of eight. His parents came to me when he was five years old, and had already been diagnosed being on the Autism Spectrum. He did not talk at all. His receptive language was also poor i.e., he did not understand many things that were said to him. He didn’t look at people and had to be helped in most of his daily living activities.
His parents spent hours teaching him the alphabet, numbers, basic shapes and colours etc. He struggled to grasp these concepts. He would do what he was told or guided to do. He did not seem to want to do anything of his own accord or initiative. He did not seem to be interested in anything and was quite passive.
After I assessed Dev’s emotional development stage, I decided to target his communication and also to get him to take more interest in things around him. I advised his parents to speak with him in not more than one or two words at a time and scaffold the talking with simple gestures. We also built activities which would induce him to look and observe more. In due course of time we also worked on his cognitive abilities and executive functioning.
Dev has made steady progress over the last three years. He can comprehend a lot of things around him now. His parents communicate with him using regular structured sentences. He can also respond using two to three-word sentences. He has developed a strong bond with his parents and likes spending time with them. He takes a lot of interest in things around him and observes his environment and people around him carefully. His parents are happy with his progress, and say, “three years ago we were not sure if our son would be able to learn anything or manage to do things independently. But now we see him talking, making steady progress in academics and managing his daily routine by himself.”
Autism Conversations with Rashmi 