‘DO NOT BLINDLY TRUST EVERY DIAGNOSIS’
For Priyanka Goswami too, help came after sharing her problem with those around her. Her son Pratham, who turns four this November, was premature and had to undergo surgery to release his tongue from the floor of his mouth.
“He couldn’t speak at all until the surgery. After it was done, last December, I taught him the English alphabet at home,” Priyanka says. Four months later, he was repeating everything she said, so she took him to a doctor.
“Pratham had had a long day and was cranky, so the doctor diagnosed him with autism. My husband and I were shocked. After some online research, we concluded there was need for further assessment,” she says.
Pratham turned out to not be autistic; being unable to communicate had made him weepy and asocial.
“He hit his five-year-old cousin once, in a fit of anger, when she did not understand what he was saying,” says Priyanka, who quit her job as a teacher after his birth. “He could understand and follow instructions, but couldn’t speak.”
A few months of joining a new therapy centre, there was marked improvement. Pratham has since joined a playschool, brushes his teeth on his own, forms sentences and communicates.
“Earlier he’d barely notice his dad; now he immediately tells me he’s home,” says Priyanka, with a smile. Pratham attends therapy sessions three times a week, and will continue to do so for 18 months.
Priyanka’s advice to other parents of children with special needs is simple:
“Try not to look at it as a problem; the more you do that, the more it will upset you and the child.”