Category: Success Story

Mr and Mrs Mehra (names changed) live in a tier-2 town in India. They have two sons, Vikram and Soham (names changed). When Soham was a year old, and Vikram three, the parents noticed some differences between the siblings. Vikram could talk but he seemed more interested in talking only when he wanted something. He loved puzzles, books and listening to music, but did not have many other interests. He also didn’t like change and threw major tantrums when things didn’t go according to his wishes. But he was also a quick learner.

When he turned four, Vikram’s parents consulted a child psychiatrist, who diagnosed him as mildly Autistic. Vikram was recommended speech therapy, special education, occupational therapy etc., and soon, his parents saw certain improvements.

Over time, Mr and Mrs Mehra observed that although Vikram was doing well in academics and could also manage some basic tasks independently, he remained quite inflexible, threw major temper tantrums from time to time, and didn’t seem interested in interacting with people around him. He was close to his mother, but he didn’t engage with his father, brother and other relatives. He also didn’t interact with the other children at school.

Vikram’s parents approached me when he was six. After observing him and his interaction with his parents, I developed an RDI program for Vikram, which Mr and Mrs Mehra adopted into their daily lives and activities at home.

One of the first things I observed about Vikram was that he did not seem to enjoy whatever he was doing, rarely smiled and interacted with people only on need basis. I decided to start working on those areas first.

I advised the Mehras to take their focus away from skill and academic development and consciously try and have more fun in their interactions with Vikram. We designed specific activities in which they would engage with their child – with a healthy dose of “fun”. The goal was to have more fulfilling and fruitful interactions.

The second thing we worked upon was Vikram’s flexibility. I advised Vikram’s parents to address this by exposing him to very small, incremental amounts of changes at a time. We also worked on the concept of give-and-take and willingness to make adjustments. All this was done in a very mindful way, and Mr and Mrs Mehra were given specific strategies to work upon.

Vikram is now eight and has made excellent progress over the last two years. His relationship with his brother and parents has improved significantly. He actively interacts with his classmates and has some close friends among them. He is more adaptable to changes in his schedule and accepts new things in his life more easily. He is more open to suggestions of others. His emotional growth over the last two years has been tremendous.

Vikram’s parents say, “we are happy with the way things have shaped up with Vikram. We enjoy spending time with him. He seems to be a happy child.” Vikram and his parents continue to be on the RDI program. They understand that there are more changes and improvements that need to be achieved. But looking at the development curve of the last two years they know that with continued efforts these targets will be achieved too.

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.”