“I don’t care about your position or about any other pressure. The decision is final – your son can not continue in this school” said the school director. We were shocked, we requested them to continue our son’s schooling, but the director and principal stuck to their decision. The principal said “Your son doesn’t sit at his place, what if he will jump off from the terrace one day? Who will be responsible ? Other children will also start following him.

We cannot afford this! Please take TC from the office.” Both of us were astonished by their exaggerated description. We begged for our son’s future but they didn’t care. This was the end of his journey of attending a normal school at the age of 9 years. We tried to get him an admission in two other schools but nobody took in special child like my son – Suryansh.

His struggle started right from birth. There were many complications in the birthing process. After that almost everything went well. We enjoyed watching him crawl, doodle, giggle, roll and take steps, we enjoyed every moment of his life till the age of 3 years. Almost after three years we realized that Suryansh suddenly stopped making eye-contact.

He did not say mummy or papa – which a child typically starts saying at the age of 18 months. He typically forgot a few skills and words he had learnt earlier. Elderly members of the family consoled us by saying that we need not worry, many kids speak at the age of 5-6 years. However, by that time, our anxieties were skyrocketing. We consulted a doctor and he referred us to a psychologist. After conducting an IQ test, the psychologist referred us to a special educator without sharing any proper diagnosis.

We took him to Mumbai for better treatment. There, Suryansh was diagnosed with mild ASD. Since he was not able to utter a single word, the doctors suggested taking him to a language & speech therapist. We continued with speech therapy for 3 years thereafter. Suryansh had not been able to communicate or speak after tireless efforts of the therapist and family members. But we noticed that Suryansh was still able to sing a full song without any flaw.

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Whenever he heard Hindi songs, he used to enjoy them a lot, gave expressions along with lyrics as if he understood the meaning of each word. We wondered that our child could not communicate with us but could sing as if someone has taught him singing. He was able to fulfil his daily needs by using non-verbal gestures; eating, bathing, dressing, etc. Seeing this, we stopped taking him for speech therapy.

His therapist insisted us to continue his therapy sessions but we realized that he learned a few words, and spoke when prompted only. Also, we felt like a pendulum by that time; running around from home to the special educator to speech therapist and doctors. We were frustrated.

As he grew up he started demonstrating certain socially inappropriate behavior’s. “It was very embarrassing for us and even for the therapist”. We requested everyone who was taking care of Suryansh to help us manage his behavior, but no one (not even his even therapist) could help him regulate his behavior. We were so ashamed that we stopped sending him anywhere.

While at home, Suryansh started paying complete attention to songs and music. He started singing songs as if someone taught him to sing with rhythm. As parents, we too realized that our son had musical intelligence and ability. We encouraged him to listen to music and watch YouTube videos at home. Then, Suryansh got an opportunity to give a stage performance. That day was the biggest day of our lives.

We felt like we conquered a battle. His reaction to music as a 9 month old baby made so much IMG-20200508-WA0007sense now. Suryansh never looked back from that day. In the last 5 years, Suryansh has given so many stage performances on numerous platforms. He even acted in a short film based on autism. He got honorary membership in reputed clubs of the city at the age of 19. Even today, Suryansh does not communicate, remains aloof, and does not make eye contact; but he understands everything.

Our child has truly come a long way. There were many hurdles, and many are yet to come our way. As of NOW and TODAY we are very PROUD of OUR SON. We wish his school was aware and sensitive towards him. We wish they had resources in place for inclusion which is a MANDATE BY THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.

In retrospect we feel if we could better understand that he too was going through a crucial phase of puberty we would have been able to help him rather than feel ashamed of his actions. We wish we all were better aware and educated about his condition! Every child has a different ability, timely recognition and reinforcement can reshape the life of a child with autism!