JAMMU & KASHMIR: Young mother, Kulsuma Parvaiz, found her life changed when doctors diagnosed that her son, then aged 4 years, had autism. In the absence of any autism centre in the Valley, Kulsuma decided that her motherhood afforded her enough love to take care of not only her son but also other special children like him. She set up an autism centre ‘Exceptional Minds’ for children with special needs. Kulsuma says in 2011, her son Farmaan, now 16, had developed autism symptoms like failure of normal back-and-forth conversation, regression in speech, crying aloud and showing loud giggles.
“These developments showed up when he was four years old,” says Kulsama, a teacher by profession.
She consulted local doctors, but when the symptoms only intensified, she shifted to Delhi where a doctor in a child development centre told her that her son had autism.
For the next six years, Kulsuma frequently travelled to Delhi for the treatment and better care of her son. She also underwent some crash courses on autism, including occupational and speech therapy and special education to take care of her child at home.
She then moved to Gurugram and participated in some workshops on autism to gain further expertise. She worked at some autism centres like Sunshine Special Centre, Sankalp Special Centre and Mom’s Belief Soch in Gurugram to gain firsthand experience of dealing with autistic children. Kulsuma returned to the Valley in 2019 and used her skills and equipment to take care of her son at home. She also hired a certified professional.
She went on to open an autism centre, starting a school in July 2019. The ‘Exceptional Minds – Centre for Autism & Early Intervention’ came up at Bemina area of Srinagar. “My mission is to empower children with special needs and lead the way towards inclusive education and rehabilitation of children with special needs,” says Kulsuma.
She said every child with special needs can make significant improvement if provided early interventions and handled with special care. Her centre has 20 children, some of them also suffering from other neurological disorders.
The ‘Exceptional Minds’ offers behavioural and occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, oral placement therapy, special education, physiotherapy, physical therapy, music and art therapy, Activity of Daily Living (ADL). It focuses on basic self-care tasks such as bathing, dressing, shifting from bed to chair, toileting, grooming, and feeding oneself.
A lifelong member of Autism Society of India, Kulsuma says the revenue generated from the monthly fees of the children is spent on paying rent of the centre and salary of employees.“I don’t take any money from the school’s earning,” she says. The school, she says, has not received any government or private support. “We stand on our two feet. My husband helps me run the centre.”
She urges parents not to feel stigmatised if their wards are diagnosed with autism. Early intervention can be extremely helpful for the child, she says. “We must create more awareness about autism so that kids with special needs are accepted by society. They are special children and we should give them special care,” she says.