Sunday, March 30, 2008
31st March World Autism Awarness Day!
Finally, Autism gets its own Day in the year. It's about time too. With Autism reaching epidemic strengths in many parts of the globe this is the right time to make people aware of this condition. In places in India where awareness is very low and quacks and faith healers aplenty this is just what the doctor ordered. Please tune into CNN on this coming week for special programmes on Autism. Don't miss it!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Don't Panic!
Ok, so there are no Real Autism Centers in Pune - Don't Panic! There are other creative ways to deal with the present situation in Pune. Build a support system around your child so that you the parents have the time for yourselves be it for work or play.
Get a daytime nurse for your kid. A full time live in maid to look after the house and a full time driver. With these 3 important areas covered you can and will overcome the fact that there is no one single place where your child could spend the day in a good and productive environment.
Get a daytime nurse for your kid. A full time live in maid to look after the house and a full time driver. With these 3 important areas covered you can and will overcome the fact that there is no one single place where your child could spend the day in a good and productive environment.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Quantity Vs Quality!
The one big learning we have had as parents of an Autistic child is that when it comes to therapies it is the Quality that counts. Just keeping your child in a "Center" for X number of hours a day may not be really productive or effective for the child. Especially if the people around your child there are not properly trained or qualified.
When our daughter started seeing a Clinical Psychologist for her Behavioral Therapy her first sessions lasted only seconds. Slowly but steadily the seconds turned into minutes and after 6 months of one on one sessions she is now close to 45 minutes at a time all in a good mood and with excellent response. Sadly many other parents we have met seem to take a different approach to these private sessions.
As they pay money for the hour they feel that should be the time their child should stay. Whether the child likes it or not. The standard "I should get what I pay for", logic comes into play. In fact over a long term this will be more harmful for the child as the sessions will seem more like a punishment rather than something to look forward to. After all a five minute "happy" session is likely to get more through to the child than a 30 minute "unhappy" one.
For many Autistic children that have strong likes and dislikes the gradual approach will pay higher dividends in the long term. At least in this scenario Quality will always win against quantity.
When our daughter started seeing a Clinical Psychologist for her Behavioral Therapy her first sessions lasted only seconds. Slowly but steadily the seconds turned into minutes and after 6 months of one on one sessions she is now close to 45 minutes at a time all in a good mood and with excellent response. Sadly many other parents we have met seem to take a different approach to these private sessions.
As they pay money for the hour they feel that should be the time their child should stay. Whether the child likes it or not. The standard "I should get what I pay for", logic comes into play. In fact over a long term this will be more harmful for the child as the sessions will seem more like a punishment rather than something to look forward to. After all a five minute "happy" session is likely to get more through to the child than a 30 minute "unhappy" one.
For many Autistic children that have strong likes and dislikes the gradual approach will pay higher dividends in the long term. At least in this scenario Quality will always win against quantity.
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