Part 9: Therapies, Choices, and the Long Road Between
Our son Krishna was diagnosed as autistic about six years ago at NIMHANS.
What happened next?
Shock, devastation, grief, fear.
To be honest, as parents, we didn’t want our child to struggle lifelong just to survive in this world. We were scared witless about his future.
We still are.
There are moments, even today, when a tsunami of these emotions threatens to wash us away.
But things are what they are, and no amount of wishful thinking will change anything.
Acceptance was easy—and continues to be easy.
Perhaps we are privileged, or perhaps we are simply thick-skinned: social stigma and opinions about Krishna rank below zero in our list of priorities.
We are very open about this.
Our precious little boy is different, and he needs different care.
But what was that care?
At the time, doctors told us he needed speech therapy sessions and a shadow teacher to help him through classes.
Thus began our research—and our search—for therapy centres and therapies.
Speech therapy was fairly straightforward.
Finding a school was a different story.
The CBSE board mandates that children with special needs have a shadow teacher.
But practically, we couldn’t find a good school with that facility.
The search became moot after a while.
Krishna has Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, now classified under Autism Spectrum Disorder.
As he grows, he loses skills he has already learnt—toilet training, speech, writing.
And so, at every stage, we scrambled to find suitable therapies.
Here is what we’ve gathered.
Speech therapy:
If your child struggles with words and communication, repeats your questions back to you instead of answering them, or talks mainly to themselves.
Occupational therapy:
If your child has sensory issues, struggles with motor skills, does not scan or track objects well, has poor sitting tolerance, weak core strength, or posture issues.
Physiotherapy:
If your child has low muscle tone, poor coordination or balance, or trouble walking or running.
(There is sometimes overlap with occupational therapy. Music, dance, swimming, skating, and cycling can all help too.)
Special education:
If your child needs extra support with learning and cannot cope in a traditional classroom.
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA):
If your child needs help learning life skills.
ABA has a controversial reputation.
Some believe it focuses on making the child mask autistic traits and appear “normal.”
Some feel it can produce rote responses rather than helping autistic children genuinely communicate.
I experienced exactly this at the first ABA centre I took Krishna to.
However, ABA is a tool. Like a knife. Whether a knife is used to dice vegetables or slice a finger depends entirely on who wields it—and how.
Today, Krishna goes to a centre that has helped him tolerate haircuts, but does not curb his harmless stimming.
He is learning to walk safely on the road, but is free to jump and clap his hands if he wants.
We are still learning, researching, and adapting…
Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC):
If your child struggles to communicate verbally or consistently. Communication need not always be through speech; it can happen through pictures, sign language, communication boards, writing, or speech-generating devices.
Parent coaching / caregiver training:
Therapy is usually only a few hours a week. Parents and caregivers shape the child’s daily environment, routines, communication, emotional regulation, and sense of safety. Sometimes, helping the parent helps the child most.
Medical support:
Sometimes what looks like “behavior” is pain, poor sleep, gut distress, constipation, reflux, allergies, migraines, seizures, inflammation, or nutritional deficiencies. Always investigate health issues thoroughly.
Play-based developmental therapy:
Some children learn best through connection, play, movement, and relationship-based interaction rather than structured tasks.
No therapy is magic.
Every therapy is a tool.
The challenge is choosing the right tool, at the right time, for your child.
