Autism and Parenting

Parents dream of seeing their children accomplish success in all endeavors, but little do they realize that every child has a different growth story. It is quite a prevalent practice for parents to make every possible effort to bolster their child's performance. They feel that this will enhance children’s learning and skills, but on the contrary, it affects their confidence level negatively. A...

In simple words, joint attention is the act of making eye contact with someone as you share an experience. Joint attention is important in helping people communicate with each other all through life. Children with autism have a hard time with this kind of communication., Tips to improve: - Talk to your child often and comment on things around you. Use gestures like pointing as you talk. Try taking...

The parents and caregivers get mentally exhausted, stressed, drained, and need emotional support. My physical and mental health is needed to sustain things around my child. I make sure to take my breaks during this lifelong marathon, for this, I developed atomic habits like – Cooking, Baking, Painting, Resin Crafts, Gardening, Poetry, Aqua-scaping, taking small indoor walks, going to the gym for f...

Self-hygiene training is an important aspect when it comes to human life. While training kids, it is important to have patience since the process could take longer. Moreover, the process is not a quick one and has multiple steps involved. Before you start toilet training, you can prepare your child for this big step. Start teaching your child, some words for going to the toilet - ‘wee’, ‘poo’, ‘su...

Pointing gestures play an important role in early development. Hand leading and lack of pointing with the index finger are core deficits often associated with early autism. The assessment of pointing is used in many autism screenings and is considered a big red flag. Now, I want to say lack of pointing is not a definite sign. One could point to and could still have autism. One could point and coul...

A word from Dr. Darshan (Orthopaedic Surgeon, Bangalore)

People get fascinated with the idea of ‘Single Parent’. It gives them a feeling of happy moments with the baby without any other partner, but single parenting is not a piece of cake. Life is not just about the happy moments, it is about taking care of the kid’s needs round the clock, food, milk, hygiene, medicines, vaccinations, mood swings, etc. Raising a baby, taking care of all their needs, and...

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Autism (ASD) may look a lot like each other. Children with either condition can have problems focusing. Although they share many of the same symptoms, the two are distinct conditions. Autism spectrum disorders are a series of related developmental disorders that can affect language skills, behavior, socializing, and the ability to learn. ADHD is...

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often find it difficult to look others in the eyes. This avoidance has typically been interpreted as a sign of social and personal indifference but reports from people with autism suggest otherwise. A team of investigators based at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging has shed light on the brain mechanisms involved in this behavior...

Autistic people have attention to detail and an inability to generalize makes them more objective toward their perception of the world and less prone to forming a bias. However, it also makes all sorts of new experiences incredibly complex, therefore they love to follow a rigid daily routine to limit their sensory input. They have a fascination with logic. They naturally look for patterns that bri...

Schools play an essential role in a child’s life and growth. School is the first avenue of socializing for a child. With schools, children are exposed not only to new ideas but also to same-aged compatriots. This instills sociable practices such as empathy, friendship, participation, and assistance which turn out to be important in their adulthood. My Son’s play school – Amogh, played a significan...

The normal we call is also a range of behavior patterns and hence is a spectrum. In fact, two kids with 100% shared DNA may look very different when it comes to their behaviors and abilities. There are inconsistencies in human behavior. There are kids who behave differently in a social setup and in school, there are kids who like to stay alone in their own company, etc. Autistic kids are not Abnor...

Two people bound together in one relationship called wedlock will have expectations but what if they have different preferences, expectations, and priorities? They may try to sustain for a while under social pressure but if nothing works out then can’t they decide to get parted maturely? The big question is what if they have a child involved? When we decided to get parted, we looked at all aspects...

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is complicated. It refers to a host of complex neurodevelopment disorders, all of which are characterized by repetitive patterns of behavior and difficulties with social connection and interaction. These symptoms, such as the inability to make eye contact or to talk about feelings, repeated phrases, or overly focused attention to certain objects or subjects, begin ea...

To understand the sensory issues of the child it is important as parents to become more educated about the different senses: The five basic senses are Sight, Smell, Touch, Taste and Hearing. In addition, we have 3 more senses: Tactile system - It includes nerves under the skin’s surface that send information to the brain. This information includes light touch, pain, temperature, and pressure. Vest...

Rewansh goes to school where a shadow is assigned to take care of and focus on him. He also goes to Occupational therapy sessions. The OT recommendations and interventions are also repeated at home. You must devote time at home to observe the benefits. During his learning cycle, we receive surprises every now and then. Indeed, the therapies work but you need to be consistent and have patience. It...

This was my first incident when someone asked me something about Rewansh. I went to a child physician for a check-up once. My son feels uncomfortable in social places, so he wanted to go out of the clinic. The receptionist observed us for a few minutes and then asked - “Isko koi mental problem hai kya?” (If he has any mental issues?). For a few seconds, I was speechless then I took a deep breath,...

The parents and caregivers get mentally exhausted, stressed, drained, and need emotional support. They fight within themselves and outside. In such a situation, accepting where we are and planning the next step is imperative. One needs to come to terms with the fact that “The child needs help”, but one must not sit back home thinking – the child has autism, and nothing can be done. The need is to...

In a patriarchal society, usually, women are expected to take care of the house chores. In my case, things were a little different, I was supposed to play the dual role to take care of my elderly parents and my son, along with the house. The kid was diagnosed to be on the spectrum. Wasn’t this enough for the breakdown? Yes, it was. My brain and heart were acting differently, the brain was collecti...

Rewansh’s assessment at the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development took approx. 4 months and by then I was sure that he needs help. During this time duration, I took online resources, read about the signs and symptoms, and took expert help to find out good therapy centers nearby. As soon as the reports were out, I could get his occupational therapy and speech therapy starte...

Rewansh is my 6-year-old son (born 2016). He was born full-time, and through natural normal delivery. When he turned 2.5 years, till then I could observe that the kid lacks in social skills, would avoid loud noises, resist to some textures in clothing and likes only semi-solid food. He would also avoid eye contact and in fact his left eye started to show lazy movement. Rewansh could understand sim...

Autism is a spectrum disorder which means autistic people can have varying support needs. One-third of autistic people also have a learning disability. The autism spectrum isn't linear, and many people talk about the 'spikey profile.' This means an autistic person could be a leading expert on nuclear physics but unable to remember to brush their teeth or clean their clothes, also calle...

Current treatments for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) seek to reduce symptoms that interfere with daily functioning and quality of life. ASD affects each person differently, meaning that people with ASD have unique strengths and challenges and different treatment needs. Therefore, treatment plans usually involve multiple professionals and are catered toward the individual. There are no medications...

Diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (asd) can be difficult because there is no medical test, like a blood test, to diagnose the disorder. Doctors look at the child’s developmental history and behavior to make a diagnosis. Diagnosing children with ASD as early as possible is important to make sure children receive the services and supports, they need to reach their full potential. There are differe...

We process sensory information using our senses – sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Everyone has a different level of tolerance/acceptability towards these. For example, few like too spicy food some might not, some like strong fragrances others might not and even are allergic to them, some people are sensitive towards touch that they might not like the sensation of labels on the inside of c...