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-   Shifting gears (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/)

-   -   The Autism Thread (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifting-gears/79303-autism-thread-7.html)

Sure, real good idea. Will PM you...

@nilanjanray - I want to say I am sorry, but when I thought about it, there is nothing to be sorry about. But yes, I understand where you are right now, when my son was diagnosed with autism, I could not even spell it right, leave alone understand what it is.

Its been a little under 4 years now, and we are doing all we can to provide him with the tools and therapies, samurai has done a great thing by initiating this thread, at least we can support each other, exchange information.

Godspeed and bless your little angel.

Thanks! With mutual support and updates the journey becomes less daunting and lonely.

Btw, does anyone have contacts in Headstart Koramangala? Montessori seems to be a good option for kids with ASD...

OT: why can't I thank anyone for a post on this thread?

^^The thanks feature has been removed from this section of forum.

Samurai, your son is almost 5 & 1/2 years old now, I would like you to updates the forum with updates from your wife' side.

Kudos to all the parents who are bravely struggling with this issue. Unfortunately, it seems there still limited clairty on many parts of this problem. I remember reading Sridhar Vembu's blog and was struck with the courage and honesty with which he deals with it. Not sure if it is still updated, but there was a lot learning in it.

Has anyone heard about/have any feedback on Behaviour Momentum India, which uses an ABA-based approach? The organization is headed by Smita Awasthi. They have started a centre very close to our house, in Carmelram.

Came across this link, read the article "Autism reversed with virgin coconut oil" and thought of sharing with you folks:

http://www.coconutresearchcenter.com/hwnl_9-2.htm

Not sure if this really works, but the story is quite impresssive. And if it does, I wonder if desi ghee (clarified butter) esp. from cow milk can also help to some extent.

Incidentally, a close relative's child is autistic, and is also allergic, among several other things, to coconut oil!

Update:

My daughter has enrolled at the Carmelram Centre of Behaviour Momentum from this month.

She will also start going to a school nearby - the school has promised to give special attention to her needs. We have decided to go for a more intimate set-up than a brand name school where she will not get adequate attention.

Recently my mom was hospitalized ( and still she has not recovered completely ) and there I could find some donation box for a firm/trust which gives attention to kids with Autism.

I dont know if this can be of any help, but I am just mentioning it here :
02652325250

Its called Disha Charitable Trust. Please note that I am not having any first hand experience of this trust, neither have I visited them. Just thought of mentioning the same if it could be helpful to anyone.

Disha Charitable Trust in Gotri Road, Vadodara - Sulekha

@MODS : If this post is inappropriate, please delete it. I just came across the firm/trust and thought of sharing it.

Not sure if this has been discussed before, but I was reading "blink" by Malcolm Gladwell which referred to a yale study on autism to explain what might happen in a high adrenaline situations. Using FMRI, researchers were able to deduce that autistic brain uses middle part of the brain used for recognizing objects as well as faces while normal brain uses it only for objects, but other sophisticated parts of brain for recognizing faces. This is important because this way autistic brain loses all non verbal cues passed thru the facial expressions. In the study they showed "who is afraid of virginia woolf" to peter (fictional name) and tracked his eye movements. The observations give a very good insight to what's going on in his mind and could be used to channel his energy in right direction.

I tried to find excerpts from this book online but couldn't. Please post if anybody finds results of this study. The name of the researcher is Gary Klein.

Sorry for going Off Topic but wanted to share this:

http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/monta...1/11/id/471073

Saw this story in The Hindu.

Parents who use it can share feedback for others.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper...cle4299980.ece

Thought I will share it here and will be useful for someone. I am not associated with this in any way. Got it in a email though my apartment group. I have not added the full testimonial. You can get in touch with Manas for more details.

Regards,
m8002

Full Testimonial Link : https://groups.google.com/forum/?fro...nt/RDFxqgJKKYI
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



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.........

The Apple iPad is a great tool for autistic kids. My son has been using it since last year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_8b7PgnNQQ

Samurai,

Never knew this thread existed on TBHP. I have more respect for the forum now, more than ever. You and your wife have done a wonderful job for the community by having this thread. clap: Such good information available for someone seeking guidance on Autism.

Background from me is that, my son, who is 4+ years now, was also diagnosed for mild autism about a year ago. I have twin boys and the other one is quite fine. i went through the same pattern as you did with Nimhans (with Dr Sheshadri), Chardrashekar institute and several others. Can't tell you the amount of time I spent on INternet and talking to specialists in the last year. My wife and other family members were in denial and only recently have been coming to terms with it, but i stuck to my observations and research and went ahead with the therapy. Cutting the story short, in the last year, we made the choice of putting them into a montessory (in Jayanagar) and also to speech/ABA therapy (at samvaad in Indiranagar). there have been immense improvement (slow, but steady) in his behaviour and speech skills and we couldn't be more happier for him (touchwood).

Like most of you mentioned, diet plays an important part of a special child and we do our best (with lot of difficulty) to curb their demand towards sugar and diary products. Would like to know more on how to tackle any other ingredients that might improve, like gluten. My son loves eating chapatis and rotis. He may not eat rice, but wants his share of chapatis everyday. maybe we can meet and share some more of our experiences. NOt sure if gluten is having any impact on my son though.

on the schooling front, my opinion is never ever get your kid with autism symptoms to a regular school. We initially got our kids admitted to Kumaran's and just about a week before their preschool started, got a panic attack when we learnt that there would be 50+ kids in a class and our kids hardly had any good communication skills. we made a request to the school adn the management have been very kind to cancel their admission and repay the entire amount back. They even recommended us to the best montessory in this area and we are always thankful to them for that. Didn't want to keep the twins apart and hence got both of them to montessory. I don't regret that decision at all now.

Annual reports for both the kids have been encouraging and i look forward to the next year. I continue with the speech therapy and any other things i learn that might make a positive impact on my kid.

Thanks for pointing to the sutradhar.com website. I will go there tomorrow and do some shopping.

@Nilanjanray and Samurai: Shall PM you my contact number. Would be happy to meet you guys and share my learnings with you and more importantly learn more from you guys. Keep up the good work and I am happy to answer any specific questions on the thread.

Cheers