Continuing my conversations with parents coming in for therapy at Genius Lane Development Centre, I came across another great story of struggle and conquer. Mrs. ‘M’ is the mother of a 7-year-old R . Her daughter was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder when she was about 30 months old. The first struggle she mentioned was acceptance. The parents could not understand how their daughter could have any problems. Having inadequate awareness about the disorder and not having a good information source, Mr ‘N’& Mrs ‘M’ blindly followed what the doctors said.
Multiple doctors and therapies later, she came across Dr Rahul Bharat and that is what made the difference in her daughter’s life.
Ever since the age of 30 months, Mrs ‘M’ took her across cities and towns, trying to find the best possible therapies to help her daughter develop eye contact, say some meaningful words and finally get some friends. Much to her dismay, even after 3+ years of individual therapies; occupational therapy, speech therapy, etc; her daughter was not showing much improvement on the graph.
This naturally dejected the parents and started taking a toll on their mental health. In order to give her daughter full-time attention, Mrs ‘M’ who is a doctor by profession, left her practice and started living as a homemaker. However, she doesn’t regret one bit of it. ‘Leaving my practice in order to provide proper care for my daughter is not a sacrifice, it’s my duty as a mother’. Recalling her special moments with her daughter, Mrs ‘M’ mentioned, ‘I share a special bond with her and now that she has started understanding facial expressions, she gets to know that I’m upset even before I know myself!’ When asked if there is one thing she missed the most, her instant response was ‘my social gatherings’. Mrs ‘M’ mentioned that it’s very difficult to make people understand that my daughter is a special child and she’s doing what she’s doing due to a reason. Such less awareness of different disorders and the lack of sensitivity in our society is now accounted for as a big struggle for the parents. Mrs ‘M’ mentioned that had she known better, she would have enrolled her daughter in the right facilities at the right time and not waste her important initial years just blindly following what one person said. She has taken it upon herself now, to educate as many people as possible about some disorders and their treatments.
Awareness is the key for early diagnosis and early diagnosis is the best for an effective intervention!
- By Ms. R. Mehra
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