Autism took it's toll....but the three of us are fighting on regardless !!

It's over two and a half years since we detected our son with Autism in September 2006. Things looked bleak and we as parents were shaken up with the fear of the unknown. There was relatively a very low level of awareness about Autism in India and we too were just groping in the dark, on the ways to find our way out. We relocated to New Dehi from Cochin in November 2006, with hopes of finding better attention for Little Aaryaman who was just 2 years old then. Only on reaching New Delhi, did we realise the magnitude of the problem on hand and the limited infrastructure available in the countries capital to cope up with the rampant cases of Autism, which have been on the rise in the past decade or so. We were to put Aaryaman and Suchita (my wife) for the Mother and Child program at the AFA (Action for Autism) and were in for a rude shock...when we were told that there was a waiting period of Nine Months !! We tried putting Aaryaman to a regular play school to help him build on his social skills, and explained the condition to the Principal, who wouldnt believe that Aaryaman had any issue and assured us that they would be able to take care of him....in a months time we were in the midst of no where, yet again.... with the school not being able to cope up with little Aaryaman's need for special attention. We started on one-on-one therapies at the AFA to begin with, till we had to wait till July 2007 for the three month Mother and Child Program at the AFA. Suchita, being a Child Psychologist and Counsellor, found it quiet easy to understand how to handle Aaryaman's different needs and the bonding between Mom and Son got extremely strong, which helped in a very big way. In May 2007 we were on a vacation at Panchkula, visiting our folks and were advised by a family doctor to get an MRI done for Aaryaman. We discovered that the Left part of the brain was badly damaged. We were shattered and now had to cope up with this as well along with Autism.

    We knew that we we were in for a challenging and tough time ahead and Suchita took this on boldly. I had resolved to back things up on the financial part and we decided, that we will give Aaryaman the best....whatever it would take. It was extremely tough on the whole family and it left us emotionally drained out. We finally got to hear of a Inclusion School called Step by Step at Panchscheel through our sister in law - Isha Khanna, to whom we are indebted for having shown us the bleak light at the end of a long tunnel which seemed unending and were extremely lucky to get Aaryaman admitted in to the Play school.

    It is here where we saw Aaryaman making improvement by the leaps and bounds. Backed by great educators, in a span of three months we were glad to hear Aaryaman become marginally communicative and socially intercative. The hard work of the educators and Suchita were begining to bring small yet extremely sweet victories week on week. A special mention goes for my adorable neice's and nephew; Saumya, Ananya, Mridumena and Udit, who were instrumental in a big way in improving Aaryaman's socialising skills. The affection and love they showered upon their little brother indeed helped him out and the bonding between them was clearly visible and one could see Aaryaman's increased levels of confidence and his expression of affection, which was yet another positve sign. Aaryaman, later shifted to the Step by Step World School at Noida, where he went to the Inclusion School in April 2008. He successfully completed his Nursery and went on to the Kinder Garden.

    In April 2009 I moved on to get my career back on track and joined The Chancery Pavilion, Bangalore as General Manager. It was this gap of two and a half months while relocating, when we realised that Aaryaman had developed a great amount of affection towards me as well, and Suchi would tell me, that he would snatch the phone from her hand and would carry on Babbling and trying to communicate with me for long durations, and was actually missing his dad....a great feeling indeed !! Now that Suchi and Aaryaman have joined me in Bangalore, it is pleasing to the heart and the ears to be greeted and addressed by little Aaryaman as Papa and Mama....words, which he did babble meaninglessly over the past few years.....but only this time he has managed to put a meaning to them.....words which we had been longing to hear for four and a half years. 

The fight continues and we are sure we'll see Aaryaman Sharma.....in the years to come as Aaryaman Sahab (Sir)