He was the first baby in our family and was born through caesarian delivery with a birth weight of 3.7kg. He was kept in NICU for 1 day. After 1.5 yr of his birth, we noticed that he was not communicating and expressing his needs like other kids. He was also not keeping eye contact with us, did not respond to his name, showed some behaviors like jumping, running, crying while brushing, nail cutting, and hair cutting. One day I happened to watch one tv program which was about Autistic children and I came to know about Jewel Autism centre, Kottayam
When I came to centre, a detailed assessment of the child was taken and professionals counseled regarding my child’s condition. I realized the importance of talking therapy. From the month of May, we started therapy. Our main concern was to improve his eye contact and quality of life.
CLINICAL FINDING AND OBSERVATION BY THERAPIST
The child was attending Occupational therapy for 3 days a week for 1 hr. He came to the centre with his grandmother on the first day and he hesitated to attend therapy. So I took him to our sensory room. My concern was to improve his eye contact and for that, I introduce more play-based therapy programs such as blowing bubbles, peek a boo games for the first week then I made him sit on the flat swing and I gave rhythmic back and forth linear movement with a sudden stop. While the swing stop I called his name aloud and showed a colorful ring in front of my face after few tries he started to look at me, then took the ring and put it on the ring stand. After 4-5 sessions he started to give eye contact. To my surprise, I found that it was really working for him. By using several other therapy techniques like this, I was able to improve his eye contact. During the time of discharge, the child was capable enough to be mainstreamed as he had excellent eye contact, name-call response, communication, and social skills.
