More often than not, individuals with Autism are non-verbal. So when people hear my son has Autism and is verbal, the assumption is we have it easy, maybe some minor challenges, after all he is speaking right, so what’s the problem? I experienced this a lot and it used to hurt, especially during the initial years as my son’s challenges used to be brushed off. Once I sadly spoke about this to another parent and a dear friend who said,” Well Suja… you make it look easy!”

Her words were like an eye opener. Our lives are not easy as Autism by nature comes with challenges. Now it is the simplest thing in the world to be pessimistic, get sucked into a dark abyss and cry “why me” ! If we indeed had it that easy, I would not be poring over the internet, reading and buying books on Autism, attending workshops and having sleepless nights wondering what more can we do for Dhruv. I try to look at the silver lining just to maintain my sanity and my posts are precisely that, an attempt to look at the little joys in life amidst a sea of challenges.      

Autism is a social communication disorder. So majority of individuals with Autism struggle with communication regardless of them being verbal or non-verbal. Communication is not restricted to speech and human beings communicate a lot through body language, gestures, facial expressions and much more. A smile could vary from a warm and sunny smile ( think Julia Roberts or Madhuri Dixit ) to a sad smile or a smirk. Technically they are all smiles but they all convey different emotions which could be lost on someone with Autism.

An incident sticks in my memory, Dhruv was all of 5.5 year’s old and had just joined a new school. While waiting for the school bus, he suddenly started crying saying, “light, light”. I could see he was upset but had no clue why. Then he said,” Doctor uncle ! ” It took me time to piece the jigsaw. His throat was paining and he wanted to meet “Doctor uncle” who would shine a light aka torch in his mouth!  I immediately took him to his regular Doctor, who prescribed medicines after doing a thorough check up including shining the torch in his mouth much to Dhruv’s satisfaction 🙂 So though he could speak, he struggled to communicate and let us know his pain.

When I think of that time ,I realise we have come a long way. I am sharing some strategies that helped in building communication in Dhruv, we still use them.

1. Be specific – Instead of asking what did you do in school, try asking what did you do in recess or English period? What did you do in school is very vague. Are you asking if he played with his friend or about the Math test ? Unlike regular kids who may share everything, kids with Autism need direct questions else they get confused.
2. Keep it simple – Children with Autism take time to process so make sure you give short, precise instructions and use simple language. Something like,” Get me the Blue bottle from the table.”
3. Play the sharing game – This is a fun game where we take turns to share something about the day. It teaches turn taking, helps in building language, vocabulary and most importantly communication.
4. Journaling – I give a topic and he either types or I write down while he shares his thoughts. It could be about a visit to meet someone, travel to some place or sometimes just listing what happened day wise in a particular month! It is a great way to discuss feelings or get the child to plan his birthday.
5. Reading – Dhruv has severe comprehension issues, which have improved considerably due to reading. We got books according to his level of comprehension and we would read together. Now he enjoys reading on his own and it is a nightly ritual as he is slowly picking up nuances of the written word.

Language development and learning to communicate is a slow process for individuals with Autism. They are out of the box thinkers so appreciate your child for even the slightest insight into his mind and enjoy the journey 😊

Disclaimer: The views expressed are my personal thoughts and are not meant to offend anyone’s beliefs and sensibilities.

Parenting…one of the toughest jobs in the world.

Parenting a neurotypical child is tough enough and when you add Autism to the mix, it is like trying to scale the impenetrable wall in ‘The Game of Thrones’ with new challenges on a regular basis ! With neurotypical children you teach them some stuff and the rest they pick up on their own. With an Autistic child you have to teach them well, just about everything ! I realised even simple things that I took for granted were challenging for Dhruv.

Metro trains have always fascinated Dhruv and even today he loves watching videos on metros. He loves listening to the announcement when the metro train is approaching a station or when it has stopped and asks the commuters to use a particular exit. Be it Delhi or Bangalore, travelling by metro is like a treat for him 🙂

When we were in Delhi, we used to go to “Children First” for therapy. We lived in Dwarka and it was 25kms away from our place. As Dhruv loved travelling by metro, some days instead of a cab we would take the metro. Another reason for taking the metro was to ensure he got exposure to public transport as well.

This incident happened in April 2017. It was a day we were travelling by the Airport Express metro to go for therapy. Now the Airport Express has a system which lets you know which station is approaching. There is a small panel with stations marked on it and tiny blue dots which keep increasing as you inch closer to a station. Each time we travelled by metro, I had been trying to teach him what the blue dots meant but without any success.

That day we boarded the train at Dwarka and within a matter of minutes he said, “Airport”. I looked quizzically at him and said, “What?” He repeated, “Airport” very nonchalantly and as I looked up I saw the blue dot on airport ! I got super excited and tried it at the next station and asked him, “Dhruv where have we reached?” He looked thoughtfully and said,”Aerocity”! I almost felt my heart explode and wanted to jump up and down with joy. Instead I just hugged him with misty eyes as my baby had finally connected the dots literally and figuratively!

This incident may seem very normal and ordinary for a regular parent, but try parenting a child with Autism, with severe processing and comprehension issues and you would know just how big a deal it was for him and us.

Living with Autism I have learnt miracles do happen, you just need to be positive and aware, so that you don’t miss out on them when they actually happen !

Dhruv has achieved many milestones after this incident and each one came with a lot of effort on his part and we make it a point to let him know we appreciate his efforts. This particular milestone somehow is very special to me and I keep awaiting the next miracle and milestone 😊

Ps : After this incident I too love the metro 😍

Disclaimer: The views expressed are my personal thoughts and are not meant to offend anyone’s beliefs and sensibilities.

“So called mild Autism doesn’t mean one experiences Autism mildly…It means YOU experience their Autism mildly. You may not know how hard they’ve had to work to get to the level they are.”

Adam Walton

Ever since I came out in the open about Dhruv’s Autism, and started writing about it, I have had many Autism parents call me for advice and counselling. The other day a parent called up and said, “My child has mild Autism, will she be normal?“

Her question got me thinking and these are some thoughts that came to my mind.

Autism is not a ‘medical condition’ but a ‘disorder’, where the brain is wired differently. There are no medicines to “treat” Autism. The human brain is still a mystery, Autism or not. In the context of ASD, this mystery deepens; and we really don’t know what all our children can accomplish!!! Then, why do we limit them by slotting them into categories of Autism like ‘mild’, ‘moderate’, ‘severe’? As parents, we know our child has developmental challenges due to Autism. So, isn’t it enough to just work with them instead of dissecting what kind of Autism the child has ?

Majority of parents cling to the hope that someday their child will miraculously be “normal” and recover from Autism (after all one does hear stories). By chance, if they have been told their kid has ‘mild autism’, the hope is even stronger; after all, if it is is mild autism, how bad can it be?

Many a time, Autism is accompanied by other co-morbid conditions like Dyspraxia, ADHD, SPD, Anxiety, Epilepsy, to name just a few. You could have a child with Autism who is verbal and yet have severe anxiety, motor and comprehension challenges, and another child who is non-verbal with no challenges in these areas but maybe has epilepsy. Both these children bravely deal with their challenges on a minute-by-minute basis, no matter what degree of Autism they have. So, never judge another child.

When we say a child is ‘high-functioning’ or has ‘mild Autism’, we assume he is highly capable and doesn’t have to struggle much. That is a misconception, as Autism is Autism!!! It comes with its own set of challenges, regardless of the labelling of ‘mild’, ‘moderate’, ‘severe’, ‘verbal’, ‘non-verbal‘. To an outsider, he may seem very ‘sorted’, while inside he may have severe anxiety and maybe trying very hard to keep it all together. By just saying so and so child is ‘high-functioning’, we are kind of putting expectations on him and somewhere ignoring the efforts taken by him to overcome his challenges. 

As parents this is how we can help them: – 

1. The sooner you accept your child’s Autism, the better it is for the child.
2. Once you get a diagnosis, start early intervention and therapies essential for your child.
3. Start understanding Autism so spend time with your child, read books, attend workshops, do a course if possible, anything to help you get to know your child better.
4. Don’t get caught up in the label and assume things about your child’s abilities, remember even the best doctors in the field are still learning about Autism and there’s no way to gauge your child’s potential, so work hard and your child will progress.      
5. Develop the art of patience as your child will progress, but sometimes the pace can be really slow and frustrating for you and the child.
6. Work on your child’s strengths and challenges and focus on making them self-reliant.
7. Learn to be positive and see the silver lining in every life-situation. Do remember that you are in for the long haul and staying positive and committed will help you tremendously.
8. Appreciate your beautiful child, he has come to give you a different perspective of life and will end up being your biggest teacher.     

Disclaimer:- This is a personal blog and the views expressed are my personal thoughts and are not meant to offend anyone’s beliefs and sensibilities.

” Teachers can change lives with the right mix of chalk and challenges ” Author Unknown

Sometime last year I went for a social-do and was chatting with someone who happens to be a teacher in a prestigious school. She had been a subject teacher for many years and had just been made a class teacher. I asked her how was it going and she promptly answered, “You know I have a good class…no naughty kids, no special-needs kids, only studious kids !!!”

I was stunned, livid and taken aback!!!

I wanted to sock it to her👿

She knew that I had a child with Autism, so she could have been a little more sensitive, I thought. What made it worse was that she did not even realise her faux pas…so, I did not even get an apology !

I could have created a scene and called her out, but sometimes one has to preserve social niceties! So, I acted all mature, smiled politely and moved on. Life has taught me to choose my battles, so I let the matter be.

Her comment made me introspect, and it struck me that, this is probably the harsh reality. Teaching as a profession is not respected enough; majority of the teachers view it as a mundane job. Very few are passionate about the craft of teaching !!! So, these teachers view children who are struggling with things in school as irritants because they have to put in much more efforts than usual.

In my opinion, a good teacher is someone who can make a subject come alive, not only for the the toppers, but also for the kids who probably are struggling with it. Motivating a child who is scoring 80% in Math to score 90% is easy. A good teacher’s craft comes into play when he/she can motivate a child who is scoring 50% to score a 60% by making him/her fall in love with the subject.

Growing up, I had an English teacher, Mrs Dinshaw, who taught us Julius Caesar. It was not easy for me, all of just 13 years, to understand Shakespearean language yet. Mrs Dinshaw made it come alive with role plays and movies till the entire class knew Julius Caesar like the back of their hand. I could probably recite passages from it in my sleep. Even today, I recollect bits of Mark Antony’s famous speech! That was some kickass teaching, and sadly it has become a rarity today.

When we lived in Delhi, Dhruv was blessed to have wonderful teachers. They all were genuine and cared for him, and did their best to teach him in a way he understood. When we were leaving Delhi, some hugged me and cried when I went to say bye; some gave him gifts.

The incident that I narrated in the beginning happened shortly after we moved to Bengaluru last year, and Dhruv had just joined a new school. The lady made me wonder, is this how his new teachers would view him? How many would be sensitive and try to understand him ? I looked at Dhruv and realised the world is cruel, and I can only hope to make him resilient enough to survive in this society.

If you are a teacher, please be sensitive to and appreciative of all children, not just the ones who win competitions and bring home the trophies.

Lastly, have the sensitivity not to tell a mom with a special-needs child who is anyways worried that you are happy you don’t have special-needs kids in your class !

Disclaimer:- This is a personal blog and the views expressed are my personal thoughts and are not meant to offend anyone’s beliefs and sensibilities.

This incident happened about two years back. We were on a road-trip from Delhi to Nainital and enroute we stopped to have chai at a small tea stall. While we had chai, the tea stall owner asked Gopan if Dhruv had any issues!

Gopan very candidly said yes; the tea stall owner sighed and said that his 12 year old daughter too had some issues!! He had taken her to many doctors, but sadly nothing had worked. She was going to school yet kept getting distracted and forgetting things a lot.  

I heard him speak but said nothing as there was no way I could help him. I sensed his sadness and realised in that moment he was actually unburdening and connecting with Gopan, one parent to another.

I looked at Dhruv sitting peacefully on a chair and thought, yes, he has Autism but he is lucky we can provide him with therapy and the support he needs vis-à-vis that poor man’s daughter who would flounder through life as she would never get a diagnosis or the therapy/ intervention she obviously required.

The tea stall owner reiterated some important lessons.

First, however much you try to hide your child’s disability, people will observe it and there is no denying it. The tea stall owner was a simple villager, so he cut right to the chase and asked about it point blank, others would perhaps be more politically correct.

Second, despite being poor, the tea stall owner was quite progressive in his ideas and thoughts than many other parents I had met. He was actually trying his best to figure out how to help his daughter.

The most important thing for any child with a disability is acceptance by the parents that there is an issue and getting the right intervention for the child. Life is super tough for a child with any kind of disability and as parents, the best gift one can give such a child is unconditional love, positivity and acceptance, this goes a long way in building the child’s self-esteem and preparing him for the future.

I have friends in my social circle whose kids need intervention but the parents are either ignorant or turn a blind eye. Some do get an assessment for their child but then refuse to accept the diagnosis and live in denial, thus making it next to impossible for the child to progress while others try their best to hide their child’s Autism from friends and family, after all, one has to live in society, right? Another friend once attended a symposium on mental health and then was worried her social circle would find out and hence tried her level best to hide the fact.

I hope this post touches some of you and if something about your child does not seem right, you would deem it fit to get an assessment rather than ignore or hide it. I also hope that we accept our child just the way he is and work towards making him independent. Also, society is pretty much irrelevant, the people who really care will be there for you, no matter what!!! So, why bother with the people who don’t.

Disclaimer:- This is a personal blog and the views expressed are my personal thoughts and are not meant to offend anyone’s beliefs and sensibilities.

One of the challenges faced by Dhruv is language comprehension!

Being a bookworm myself, I introduced Dhruv to books when he was just a toddler. He was extremely good with spellings and I was thrilled he could read by himself. Hence, it was only natural for me to assume that he would soon be lost in a world of books, like me😊😊😊. However, I was sad when I realised that he was neither reading any books nor even looking in their direction. I was puzzled and that’s when it hit me that, as he was not understanding what he read, he was not motivated to read. Language comprehension was the key to reading .

For the last few years, our focus has been on building Dhruv’s language comprehension. We have been working on all aspects of comprehension, including reading comprehension. The progress has been extremely slow and at times frustrating. However, now he can understand simple stories and has developed a habit of reading a different story every night before sleeping.

Sometime back I had picked up this lovely book named “Simon in Space”. It is about a little boy, Simon’s journey through space to see the Solar System along with his alien friend Toby. I loved the story and thought it would be a fun way to introduce Dhruv to the Solar System.

We read the story multiple times and I also showed him a video called the “Planet Song”. As Dhruv loves music, a musical video about the planets was the perfect tool to catch his interest and teach him. The Planet Song soon became a favorite and he started creating his version of the song too, even including Pluto among the planets (though now, Pluto is no longer considered a planet). He then went a step further and added two new planets making ‘Simon’ and ‘Toby’ a part of the Solar System 😎 . He was learning and having fun too ! I tested his knowledge and was thrilled he could name the planets in the chronological order from the Sun.

Now we come to the interesting part. A few days back, he told me that we stay on ‘Earth’ floor!!! Puzzled, I looked at him and he said, “3rd floor” and then it hit me ‘Earth’ is the “3rd planet” from the Sun. Next he mentioned two of his favorite people and said, “Seema Veliamma stays on ‘Mercury’ floor (1^st floor) and Vasundhara Aunty on ‘Venus’ floor ( 2^nd floor ) 😊”

People with Autism have brains that are wired differently, and I was amazed at the way his mind was working. He is joining the dots and making connections between what he knows and what he learns new. It is his way of making sense of the world. The other day he had pears for the first time and he said, “It is like an apple!” Then he looked at this replica of the Eiffel Tower at our home and said,” it is like Qutub Minar 😊.”

Yes Dhruv, you are exploring the world in your own unique way and you are passing on that joy of discovery to us too 😊.

Incidentally, “Third Rock from the Sun”, is one of my favorite series 🙂

Disclaimer:- This is a personal blog and the views expressed are my personal thoughts and are not meant to offend anyone’s beliefs and sensibilities.

Human beings are born with an inherent capability to lie. Now, before you go all moralistic on me and say,” What nonsense, I never lie” I can show you a zillion instances where we lie….we don’t call it lying, we call it being diplomatic or politically correct.

Your best friend gives you a top which is horrendous and she talks of how after a lot of searching she found that top and felt it was the perfect gift for you. What do you do ? The poor woman has obviously taken a lot of efforts !!! So, yes you muster your best fake smile and say it’s gorgeous 😊.

You are called for dinner and the main course is horribly salty; apparently no one else seems to notice, yet you thank your hostess for a wonderful meal, perhaps even praising the wonderful main course!😊

People with ASD find it very difficult to lie. For them, things are either Black or White. However, in everyday life we seldom deal with Black or White situations; life’s challenges come more often than not in various shades of grey!!

I remember taking Dhruv to meet this well known Psychiatrist who apart from being a brilliant Doctor is also a well-known singer with a band of his own. After seeing Dhruv’s musicality, he shared a music video of his own and asked if Dhruv liked it and to my horror the kid goes No!!! The Doctor thankfully did not take any offence as he understood Autism well and with his experience had seen a whole lot of people on the spectrum.

Now we come to the subject matter of this post. It happened sometime in January this year, much before the pandemic struck; when we could still go out without fear. We had gone for one of his favourite outings, the Drum Circle at the Community Drumjam. He loves going there, listening to all the drumming and absorbing the music and the rhythm around. On the way back home, he told me in a very matter of fact manner, “Tomorrow Dhruv not well, not going to school.” A bit concerned I checked him for fever but did not find any.

That night, after dinner he was most insistent that I send a message to his class teacher that he would be absent. I put him to bed, but not before he happily watched one of his music reality shows. 😊

I had a restless night as I kept waking up to check if he were sick; and waiting for that dreaded sentence of his, “I want to throw up” which typically happened if he was indeed sick. Thankfully, he slept peacefully through the night !!

In the morning when I woke him up, he said, “No school, Dhruvy not going.” I realised he probably was ok, but like typical kids he was also trying to bunk school. Unlike other neurotypical parents his desire to bunk school did not upset me but gladdened my heart.

My son was learning to manipulate! I saw it as a huge milestone wherein he was slowly learning the ways of the world and trying to manipulate me.

It reminded me of the last scene in the Hindi movie “PK” where Anushka Sharma says ,”PK chala gaya lekin jhoot bholna seekh gaya” or some such words to that effect.😊

Disclaimer:- This is a personal blog and the views expressed are my personal thoughts and are not meant to offend anyone’s beliefs and sensibilities.

Dhruv started reading very early on in life, yet comprehension is one of the challenges he faces. He loves music reality shows (Rising Star is his favourite!!) and had got into the habit of watching “Indian Idol” on Sony Television. The show had talented singers from all over India, vying to be the next “Indian Idol”.  We would record the episodes and watch them later, fast forwarding all the advertisements. Usually after he had watched an episode to his heart’s content, we would delete it from the Set Top Box.

The series got over, but many episodes had not been deleted as he had some favourites which he liked to watch over and over. There were twenty such episodes and I wanted to delete them to free up space on the Set Top Box. In order to achieve this, I needed to convince Dhruv and told him that he could keep five episodes and I would delete the rest. I told him he could choose the episodes he wanted, however, due to the challenges he faces with language comprehension, he just wasn’t understanding what I was verbally telling him to do, and he eventually ended up choosing all the twenty.😊

So I chose a different method. I wrote the serial number of each episode on the blackboard and told him he could circle the five episodes he wanted to keep. He finally understood it and circled them. I wanted to make sure he had understood what I meant so I switched on the television, went to each episode, showed him the episode serial number and asked him should we keep or delete? He was pretty clear on what he wanted and chose the same five ! What was amazing was, he knew exactly who was the celebrity guest who had appeared in a particular episode, what was the episode theme and the songs sung by each contestant in each episode!

Over time we realised that Dhruv understood what was being conveyed better when it was written in short simple sentences ( it probably gave his mind the time to process the information while reading it.) So I used a multi prong approach by using his love of music reality shows as well as writing on the board to teach him comprehension and simplified it according to his level of understanding. As a parent one needs to take cues from the child and work with his strengths and interests and try innovative ways to teach him. Dhruv is teaching us to think out of the box and we were both super thrilled that he got the concept. I am sharing this in the hope it helps some child and parent.

There is a side story to this.😊

By mistake I ended up deleting his precious five episodes a few days after this elaborate exercise. He was upset at first but got over it pretty fast and I was amazed at how stoic he was, I would have sulked much more in his place ! He is teaching us that you can love something a lot and still be pretty detached about it.

Disclaimer:- This is a personal blog and the views expressed are my personal thoughts and are not meant to offend anyone’s beliefs and sensibilities.

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out” – Dr Seuss

I remember this incident which happened a few years back…..

I had taken Dhruv to the park and while he was playing, this little girl came running and asked me in Hindi, “Aunty kya Dhruv pagal hai (meaning – Is Dhruv mad)?” …..

I felt like someone had punched me in the solar plexus and I looked at her in shock. She must have been about 5-6 years, and I guess she had heard someone talk about him. I don’t remember what I told her but I remember feeling sick and crushed to the core…..totally dejected!!!!

Our society at large does not understand Autism!! They assume that every Autistic person is “pagal” (mad), without knowing anything about his condition. The harsh reality is people assume that they have the right to judge you and your child whether they know about your child or not.

I realised that while I had been open about Dhruv’s Autism to the world, I hadn’t told the person it affected the most, namely Dhruv himself. This was a sensitive topic and it was important that the child was old enough and ready to understand it as you cannot tell a two year old he has Autism. Dhruv knew the word “Autism”. He had been in therapy long enough to hear the word spoken umpteen times and he saw it in the many books on Autism which we have at home. He heard the word when Gopan and I had conversations revolving around Autism. He even heard it being used during telephonic conversations, and of course he read it a zillion times on his favorite gadget…my mobile phone, given that I am part of many Autism support groups. For all I know, may have even been bullied by other kids (in school) because he was not like “them”. He already knew he was “different” from other children, as he struggled with a lot of things most children his age took for granted.

Autism is a part of Dhruv. So, for me, it was important he learnt about it in a way that made him feel positive about his condition and himself. I believe in the magic of books, so I picked up a book called “Autism Is…?”. This brilliant book is written by a lady whose grandson has Autism, as she wanted to explain Autism to him. It is written in a very simple way so that a child with Autism can understand it.

Last July I sat down with him while teaching him and we started reading the book. I read two pages and asked him,” Who has Autism?”. I expected him to say Logan, the name of the child in the book. However, he surprised me by saying ,” Dhruv has Autism”!! I was shocked, but kept quiet. We read another page, and I asked him “What does Autism mean? “. He was quiet for a moment and then he said, “Vandana didi, therapy!” (We had just started therapy with a new Occupational Therapist, Vandana). I looked at him, trying to fight back tears, wanting to hug him. He, however, was very matter of fact and had moved on to the next part of his schedule. There are moments in your life which stay on forever in your memory and this was definitely one of them…Even without us telling him about his condition he had understood the essence of Autism in his own way !

Then we read the book together and I explained the positives of his being which came from Autism, like his love for music and spellings, or how he had the sharpest ear in our house and could hear even the slightest of sounds. The boy in the story too liked to read, spin and jump like him, it was a relatable story. Then I explained that Autism was also the reason he found it “difficult” to do certain things. I don’t know how much he absorbed but that day we started the dialogue on Autism and hopefully as he is growing up we will have more discussions on this.  

Does Dhruv really understand Autism and how it truly affects his life? Not really. Autism is a lifelong condition and he needs to know about it so that he is comfortable with himself and has a good sense of self- esteem despite his many challenges. We cannot change the society, and he will still meet ignorant people who judge him. Hopefully, we will be able to make him confident about himself, so that he knows, he is loved for who he is, and that Autism is nothing to be apologetic about.     

Disclaimer:- This is a personal blog and the views expressed are my personal thoughts and are not meant to offend anyone’s beliefs and sensibilities.

Apart from music, Dhruv is super fascinated by buildings and each time we meet someone, he wants to know the name of their apartment and house number. He loves to google property sites and check out various housing projects, and in one such exploration he learnt rooms can be labelled as ‘Master Bedroom’, ‘Children’s Bedroom’ and ‘Guest Bedroom’. He then proceeded to promptly label all the rooms and bathrooms in our house. So, apart from the various rooms having specific names like Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen “Room” 😊 and the bedrooms named as such, now we also have Master Bathroom, Children’s Bathroom and Guest Bathroom. We also heard the term “mock up flat” from him!

A few months back we picked up a single bed for Dhruv in an attempt to make him sleep independently. We tried to make the “Children’s Bedroom” as he calls it warm, cosy and comfortable so that he would be tempted to sleep there. However, it has been met with firm resistance from his side. He insists on sleeping in the “Master Bedroom” (how grand that sounds) with us. He is pretty clear that his room is fine for playing, but ultimately in the night he wants to sleep with us.

This ‘battle of wills’ about where to sleep has been going on for a while now. Last week he had enough of my nagging, I guess. We were all set to sleep in our room when he looks at me with a twinkle in his eye and said, “This is Children’s Bedroom”. Then, instantly pointing to his room he said, “And that is Master Bedroom so Amma, Achan and Dhruv are sleeping in Children’s Bedroom 😊” We just stared at the brat and started laughing. It was like he had thought in his mind, ” You want me to sleep in Children’s Bedroom? Fair enough, I have changed their names and now the Master Bedroom is the Children’s Bedroom. So, technically I am sleeping in Children’s Bedroom 😊, as you wanted”

I looked at him and thought no way could I have thought of such an ingenious devious idea as a kid or even now as an adult. Many a time we underestimate individuals with disabilities and Dhruv is teaching me he has a mind that can listen and think differently. Here’s to Dhruv and others like him who follow the beat of a different drummer and think out of the box 😊

Disclaimer:- This is a personal blog and the views expressed are my personal thoughts and are not meant to offend anyone’s beliefs and sensibilities.