Our experiments with Autism - A never ending journey

 Dear readers, today I am sharing Akshat's English teacher, Ms. Ami Desai's journey with him. We are grateful to her that she agreed to teach Akshat. It was a bit challenging for her because for the first time she had to teach any neurodiverse kid and she didn't know anything about autism. But she took the challenge in her stride and supported us. Thankfully, as the class was online, Akshat got use to it. Also, he was attending his one to one communication sessions already and that made him habitual of online medium . The purpose of starting this class was to strengthen his English skills and secondly he could work with another person. It's been a year and the class is going on. Akshat is much settled now. I have to sit with him during the class but small changes are there. Ms. Ami has taught him several concepts and he needs to practice them to improve his language. Ms. Ami Desai has been teaching English since 2000. Currently, she is working as an IELTS faculty in Vad

  The Online World That day you shared something, and made me reflect... It was time you had your friends too. Clever of you to pass me the hint!  Hence with guidance, I introduced you to the world of online learning,  and I feel it's been rewarding Coz since then, I have watched you converse, sit for long and listen,  I often see you extending your comfort zone and be available at different times than you'd prefer I can sense that you are able to open up your mind there. I hope you make bonds that last long, that recharge you time and again, connections...that enrich your life. By, Anagha Jawalekar It was Akshat's 18th birthday last month. It is unsinkable that he is an adult now, and I have grey hair and wear glasses now. Time flies so fast. It seems like yesterday when we went to Mumbai and Delhi for the training and did all other therapies. He had a different childhood altogether. Nevertheless, we have come a long way. It gives me a sense of achievement when he expresse

  Inference He strived to see what the images hid and read the words deliberately left out Tried to decode mood by one's body language Deduce by reason what was not explicitly told yet there remained blanks to be filled... in varying situations, weren't there? I guess he knew that he only had to look for cues to interpret, still, I had to prepare him in complex situations to put him at ease when he'd face them He's logical and applies his knowledge Yet it's some work to create the bigger picture for who pays attention to every small detail And though you see a mature, confident person today For inferring subtle happenings in a scene, to connect the bits of hints and to build on it, Practising situations of gradually increasing complexity helped and made much difference I look back and notice how it reflects in his composure today By, Anagha Jawalekar In the last blog post, I had shared that year 2020 was fruitful for both Akshat and me. Akshat not only honed his typ

  Parallax (Akshat's viewpoint) I know what I want to pick out of all the odd things arranged in front of me... and in front of you. You can see it too as clear as if it shouts out its name "Here I am, just pick me up!" 'Go for it,' you encourage so I pick it up, only except it's not the same thing and it's not even what I intended to pick On your turn though the pointer shifts back to correct place and you pick the very thing As if we are looking at the same set of things from a different space each. By, Anagha Jawlekar 1.     VISUAL PERCEPTION  When I found out that visual perception could improve Akshat's typing skills, I worked on it thoroughly for 4-5 months. I used picture cards, blocks, tangram puzzles, odd-one-out puzzles with pictures and alphabets, etc., to do different activities. Initially, I did simple ones to engage him and gradually increased the complexity. Nowadays, ample resources are available on the internet for visual perception an

  Out of sight (Parent Viewpoint) Found our way n number of times, no matter what, so far, we have How, then, could we be lost this time? I ask myself, as it doesn't make sense it can't be a dead end -no! Perhaps, there's  a path through it, in disguise Shouldn't I retrace our steps once? Or get a better view like from a bird's eye Indeed sometimes one wise step back, does but two steps forwards imply. By, Anagha Jawalekar Hello readers, I hope you had a great time reading the guest post by Ms. Archita Basu.  So, resuming our journey again and sharing  how I worked on Akshat’s typing skills. As I mentioned in the last post, we started facing limitations in the LetMeTalk app, as there was no way to form sentences in that. Therefore, I decided to work on Akshat’s typing once again in May 2018 (I had tried it earlier also around 2013 but left it because he did not pick up at all and I did not know how to work). As he could read and identify words on cards easily, I

  Dear readers, giving a pause to my story, I would like to post a guest post by Ms. Archita Basu. Ms. Archita Basu has been my mentor for the past three years and guiding me with Akshat's language and emotional skills. I   consider myself lucky to get connected with her and thankful to her that she accepted my request to write for my blog. With her constant support and guidance, Akshat and I have evolved as better human beings and learned that, after all, the mind matters.   About Ms. Archita Basu: Ms. Archita Basu is a parent to an adult with ASD. Besides being passionate about autism, she has done Master's in English from Calcutta University. Her core autism education has been in M.Ed in autism from Birmingham University. She has authored a chapter in the book, Lives with Autism(2014), edited by Dr. Steve Mee, Autism Programme Leader at the University of Cumbria, UK. She has worked as a parental co-trainer with the trailblazing Inclusive Solutions, UK, and has certified