Achievements of Advaith
Achievements of Advaith
Challenges faced:
Advaith was diagnosed with ADHD and Autism when he was 2.3 years old. We started early intervention programs when he was 2.4 years old.Initially he responded well to intervention programs. He was completely nonverbal. After 7 months he started crying throughout the session and was denied enrolment by most of the popular early intervention centers in Bangalore. Then I( Addu's mother)decided to do special education training myself. At that time, Bubbles center for autism ( a special school in Bangalore ) gave admission to Advaith. I completed special education training in the same school. Advaith was crying loudly and not cooperating with his teachers. He was not able to sit and focus on activities. He was not able to perform pre-reading and pre-number activities. He was unable to communicate for his needs. All teachers pointed to what Advaith couldn't do. He was a difficult child at school. He was not able to identity alphabets or numbers. Advaith had severe sensory processing difficulties and because of that he was very hyperactive and restless. He was not toilet trained. I ( mother of Advaith) started working as a cotherapist for him in the home environment.
After completing my( Advaith's mother) special education course, I created a structured environment at home with visual schedules and a proper communication device. Initially I introduced PECS at object level, then moved to picture level. After that I introduced an app called Avaz as a communication system to him. When I started teaching him in the home environment with the same techniques that school followed, Advaith started improving at school too. I (mother of Advaith) was able to teach him all pre- reading and pre- number activities in the home environment. Then slowly he started performing the same activities at school also. At present, Advaith can read and type CVC stories and all sight words. He can create sentences. He can perform counting, number value, place values, addition and subtraction. He can communicate using Avaz for his needs and to express his feelings. His sensory issues settled a lot and hyperactivity and restlessness are no longer present. He attends online classess at school.
Advaith was hyperactive and so I (Advaith's mother) decided to focus on sports. We taught him cycling, skating, swimming, badminton and basketball in the home environment without any trainer. We took him to participate at the State Level skating competition conducted by Karnataka Disability Department in 2017 and Advaith won his first gold medal. That was a turning point in his life. His confidence level improved and he started doing well in all areas of learning. Then we made him participate in the Skating competition conducted by State level Special Olympics Bharat and Advaith won the Silver medal. After that, Special Olympics felicitated him as a special athlete. He participated at the state level for three consecutive years in competitions conducted by Karnataka Disability department and won many gold and silver medals. With these achievements, Advaith is spreading the message that everyone is good at something and that the sky is the limit for anyone. Advaith was always stimming with a long thread and so I ( mother of Advaith) introduced jewellery making to him. Now Advaith makes jewellery sets and has customers across the globe. He is spreading awareness about autism by sharing his work and videos to society. At present he is a productive member of society!
Advaith learned Skating and jewellery making in the home environment with the help of parents and sibling. Before lockdown, Advaith was doing skating with typical children for inclusion. Using that as a forum, he was spreading awareness about autism. Advaith has a Facebook page and WhatsApp group for exhibiting his creations - 'Addus Little Creations'. He interacts with his customers with my ( Advaith's mother) help. Advaith types addresses of his customers, makes and packs jewellery items according to orders and goes to the post office to send items to his customers, with minimal help from his parents.
Advaith was rejected by most of the famous early intervention centers in Bangalore and diagnosed with severe autism. By focusing on his strengths, we were able to build confidence and skills. We created a YouTube channel, blog and Facebook page to spread how a child can learn all these skills in the home environment. In this way, Advaith is connected with many families and his videos are helping many children learn various skills related to English, Maths, language and communication, various sports activities, jewellery making and embroidery. Advaith's story is an inspiration to many families. Advaith showed that non verbal kids can also read and type, perform calculations and become productive members of society. He has 1.8 k followers across the globe. One day 'Advaith will represent India in Special Olympics, that is our Dream!!
A documentary about my Son Adhithya and Advaith(Addu) in a French channel.A French Reporter Mr. Jean barrere came to meet us and spent one day with us. He did a great job. They did this story as a part of Autism awareness in their country. I am sharing this proud moment of our's with all of you!!
They were featured in Brut India also
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=333545827126563
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