Thank God for the Autism responsibility

Amazed by my son’s journey 

When my son, Priyank Deep, was born, he acted and behaved like every other child. He was a very happy soul, always laughing and giggling over the smallest of things.

He was 8 months old when we went to the USA. There he had an ear infection twice followed by a severe asthma attack. It was so bad that he had to be hospitalized in the emergency ward. The year following the attack we noticed that he became very closed-off. He didn’t talk to anyone, always wanting to stay alone and often cried.

When he was 3 years old, he started going to playschool. The teachers over there were the ones who noticed that Priyank seemed to be different from his peers. That’s when we discovered he had autism.

The following time was very tough for us but we accepted God’s challenge. We started to search for what we could do for him as parents.

First, we worked on his speech delay. We learnt soon enough that he is a better visual learner. So, we started working on his vocabulary by bringing home some video cassettes that taught him simple words. We also started giving him Occupational Therapy.

We decided he needed to have a bigger family circle he could depend on so we moved back to India. Priyank is very lucky to have such a supportive family.

He studied in Step By Step School from 1st-7th grade before moving to Somerville International School. Both schools were very understanding of his disorder. When his board exams arrived, we made sure to choose subjects for him that he was genuinely interested in. This paid off when he passed 10th and 12th with flying colours, securing 87 per cent and 89 per cent respectively.

Along with his formal education, we also made sure he found time to explore his skills and areas of interest. He loves to play the tabla, guitar and keyboard and has a talent for art, computer and cooking. He’s also recently formed an interest in animation.

Some of his habits have been hard to handle, like his aggressive mood swings, his many phobias, his tendency to think negative thoughts, etc. But we always make sure to get him the appropriate counselling and ease him into any new environment.

We are always amazed to see how Priyank’s journey and growth has been. For us, he is like every other kid just with his own set of strengths and weaknesses.

A piece of advice for the parents who may be going through something similar- never lose hope. See your children’s positive side and provide them with whatever resources they need. After all, they are our children and need our support and care above all. Thank God for trusting us with such an important responsibility.

Currently, Priyank is studying BCA from IGNOU. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for him.