Breaks are good!! Children were waiting for me to come back : )

I went on a 10 day break. It was relaxing and rejuvenating in every way. Surprisingly, I was looking forward to come back to my daily life. As I joined work, my little toddlers overtly expressed their joy seeing me.

One child, who has a diagnosis of mild autism, started clapping when he saw me and said 'Kanica didi.' He let me hug him, which he resists on usual days.

Another child with Mild Mental Retardation and Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis walked up to my room and seeing me, he approached me and hugged me tightly. I was overwhelmed the way this 5 year old child held me tight.

A child with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder started flapping his hands and laughed seeing me. I was so happy to see the way the children noticed me, and embraced me with their love and joy. 

I was refreshed to see my lovely kids love for me. Happy to see the bonds with my little tingles have become strong. It’s a Wow!! Feeling to notice how expressive they have become and are seeking interaction and togetherness.

Yahooooooo!!!    : ))

Occupational Therapy calms down a toddler- Bringing him Joy : )

I had a heart warming experience yesterday which I want to share with all of you.

A child, 2.4 years, was referred to my clinic for an intake and therapies. A formal assessment hasn't been done for him, but the signs very clearly indicate Autism.

The child had excessive proprioceptive and vestibular needs. For example the child runs about the house the whole day. He jumps from heights without fearing that he might hurt himself. He seeks auditory and visual stimulation from the environment. He bangs his toys and other things that he has access to, so that he can fulfil his auditory needs. If he has access to nothing, he can produce squeaking sounds from his mouth the whole day. The mother reported he is only quiet in front of the TV.

Arun avoids interaction and prefers being alone. His joint attention and play skills are latent as of now and language milestones are delayed as well.

The first therapy session on his first day at our centre was of occupational therapy. The therapist sat with him on the swing and taped his fingers. As the occupational therapist  gave him pressure, pressing his head- the child became so relaxed that he had tears in his eyes. The 2 years 4 month old Arun was smiling with tear in his eyes. I was observing him from a distance, sitting right opposite him. My heart was overwhelmed to see such a beautiful sight.

The child must have been so uncomfortable in his own body because of his Sensory needs. He felt light, and laughed and enjoyed in that some time when he got sufficient sensory diet through therapy.

Why is the child hitting? Escape Behavior or a result of child's dominant emotional state? WHY?

Yesterday was an eventful day. I will share about an incident that left me with a number of thoughts. 

I began taking a child named 'Kunal' (4.5 years, verbal child with diagnosis of Autism) in for therapy. Parents came in with the concern of expanding Kunal's language and his social communication skills. Another big concern was that he shows a lot of negative behaviors at his other classes and school. When asked to elaborate- They labeled his behaviors as resistance towards the therapist or teacher, crying or disrupting the activity.

We have had 8 sessions together till now, 2 sessions in a week for 45 min each.

I could see bite marks on child's hand and so asked about his self harming behaviors. The parents shared that he would engage in self harming behaviors earlier which has stopped for a couple of months now. I even asked for any hitting or biting behaviors with others since I could sense it with his body language. In the 8 sessions I have had with him, He reached out to bite me twice but I was quick to respond.

I engaged the parents thrice in a discussion of my observations about Kunal. I wanted to filter my observations and also wanted a clear picture about the child from his natural environment. I tried asking about his hitting and biting behaviors indirectly and directly a number of times. None of the discussions revealed the true picture of Kunal.

Yesterday, Kunal came in happy along with his mother. We sat and began playing some tickle games and sang a rhyme together. He enjoyed and I could see the smile that clearly indicated his enjoyment in the game. The child has low sustenance and doesn't know how to exit a game. He tried getting up and I didn't physically restrain him, I used my strategies to elongate the game adding one element more to it. It didn't take a fraction of a second and Kunal poked my eye with his finger. I could feel his finger in my eye.

It pained so badly. My eye turned blood red And I couldn't open it. I kept sitting for a few minutes at the same place. Then got up and washed my eyes. As I came back to my room my friends and colleagues became protective and asked me to suspend the session and carry it forward some other day.

The mother then began saying that Kunal is a terror at home. He bit her yesterday on her back while she was cooking. I couldn't get into a discussion with the mother at that point because of the pain.

I am only wondering what was stopping the parents of revealing their child's natural self to a behavior therapist. Are they ashamed of their child's behaviors since they have not been able to handle them till now. Are the parents fearing that the child will be looked down upon? The child will be treating like an animal and kept at a distance if their therapists know about the issues of the child. They might have had a bad experience in the past?

Now I can recall one thing both parents reiterated with the child is that he dislikes doing any and everything. If any work is given to him he rejects it and wants to escape. Mother confirmed with a yes when I asked that 'Kunal doesn't like doing anything? He doesn't enjoy anything apart from stimming with things from his sensory box?' The child's affect is negative most of the times. 

Imagine a day or many day or months where I don't enjoy doing anything. I am only provided with tasks to do which I am bored of. I run from one class to another without having 'My Time' in the day. And if I reject something, my family and teachers call it escape behavior. I listen to this so often that "I don't like doing anything."

I will write more on this. Still wondering about the dominant emotional state of the child when he can't express it clearly for anyone to understand.

Boys Brigade Celebrates Together- Joy of being Together

Hey all, yesterday we had a birthday party of a little one who turned 4. The tinny Minnie's who got together to party were a group of 4 children, 3 boys all age 4years with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, and a 4 year old Girl with Global Developmental Delay. For the boys brigade it was the first ever exposure of a birthday party.

Such social exposures are so important for children to display the skills they have learnt through therapy. Such interactions if viewed an analysed with a clear focus can help us know our next plan of action in therapy with children. I have been taking therapeutic play groups for the three boys in pairs.

One of the children showed great skills of observing peers, identifying them, taking their names and even taking them in the room by holding their hand. Another child showed delayed imitation, trying to blow the whistle or saying yeyeye to express his excitement after observing his peers. With another child I noticed that though he imitates in a one on one individual therapy session, he couldn't become a part of the group of three children and imitate his peers whom he is otherwise comfortable with. I haves list of things that I have noticed for these children and I am ready to update my plans and strategies for them in the coming months.

I always encourage parents to expose their children to natural setting and social gatherings. These places can become wonderful training grounds for our children.

If you feel inhibited to take your child out to a social setting, please break through your inhibitions. Human Beings can't grow in isolation. Like we find our nurturance amongst others like us, the same stands true for our children. Please go all out for your child and give him the experience of being around an with friends and playing there. Please plan a play date for him/ her with one cousin, friend, and neighbor and give him the joy of play. A child must play. Please go all out to gift your child the Joy of play.

For consultation please email at Kanica2011@gmail.com

A TRIBUTE TO THE MOTHERS - THE UNSUNG HEROS :)

Mothers are ones we are the closest to. They bring us to life, then love us and cherish us; they do everything possible so that we become happy. Mothers have two broad tasks to accomplish. They are the very mission of each mother.

Two tasks every mother has are

1. To make sure her children are happy.

2. To ensure they become very capable individuals

A mother will go all out to ensure the child is fine, his needs and wants our fulfilled to the best of her ability and he becomes the most capable individual.

I work with children with developmental delays, language delays, Autism, Asperger's, Down's syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, GDD, ADHD, etc. Most of the children come in for therapy with their mothers. Mothers are the ones who come in asking their concerns, sharing a vision they have for their child, challenges they face each day. A supportive family and an understanding father only makes things easier.

These wonderful Mothers are the Unsung Heros. Thanks to all of them for taking complete responsibility of their children. If the parenting goes right today, the love and affection is in perfect balance, I am over joyed to visualize what wonderful individuals will arise taking lead in 2030.

Thank you mummy for being my mother, loving me so much and always being there when I fall, loving me despite my mistakes, hugging me and reassuring me ‘I am there for you’ when there was no one else at my side, listening to me blabber when you really didn’t want to hear, cooking the yummiest food when you yourself were tired, getting me the best things and cutting down on yours. This list is endless.

I love you Mom for helping me to become the. best version of me : )

I promise to make you proud each day

Being Fun Therapist is Fun: Working with a 11 year old boy with Asperger's Syndrome

I am working with a child, 11 years, diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. He loves football and plays for his school. We talk about everything under the sky. We do crazy experiments like putting Mentos in Coke to see the effect. We blow bubbles with straw and make mountains of it, we sit in a pool of balls and have ball juggling competitions. We dance on songs and even tried ball dance with each other. Lots of laughs!! He dared to do it. Our present interest is Musical Instruments. He Is learning tabla, and I am learning mouth organ using you tube. It's not easy to learn something new, but it's fun. So why not try!! He asks me what kind of a therapist am I? I say I am a fun therapist. 

One of the therapy sessions, we were playing Truth and Dare. So I got to ask him a question in Truth, where in I asked him "Do you like coming to me for this class? If Yes, why? "

There was a long silence. So I redirected after a while saying, I asked Do you like coming to me? The answer can be a yes or a no. Feel free to say what you feel. He said, "I like talking to you.”

Another session, he said something and I said, "you can share anything that comes to your heart with me. We have become friends. I like it." And he said, yes Ma'am, you are my diary." I felt so overwhelmed when he said it. I told him I feel so happy you said that.

Co-creating Joy together through Play and increasing positive experiences together is the foundation. A dialogue, without judgments and with opinions and suggestions works well in therapy also. Thank you Ikeda Sensei for helping me learn this.