Happy Thanksgiving!

We have been enjoying our Thanksgiving holidays, and hope you are too!

This Thanksgiving, we thank our children, our volunteers, and the Son Rise program founders, teachers, and child facilitators who have taught us to choose love, hope, and happiness as a way to motivate ourselves ( as opposed to hatred, anger, or discontent)!

Inky Pinky

For a child with autism, it is considered a challenge to be able to think spontaneously... as opposed to literally. For example, in a game of "Knock knock... who is it?" a typical child has fun coming up with new answers for "who is it", and then anticipating the other player do something similar yet unexpected. For a child with autism, the "unexpected" `next move by the other player can be a stressor, and the child himself would rather repeat the same thing over and over again as an answer to "who is it?"

Spontaneity is also one of the 3 important goals we currently have for Aditya in his Son Rise program.

Over the last few days, we have witnessed Aditya's spontaneity improve by leaps and bounds. The highlight of this came on the weekend, when we were all in our car, with Daddy driving and his favorite Bollywood music all set to play in the music player. (By the way, this is our smaller car, and there is no way to play Aditya's favorite CDs here. It plays only tapes.)

"Can I listen to some music?" says Aditya.
"No... please no music" says sister.
"Let's do Inky Pinky Ponky" comes the reply from our son, who is supposed to have autism, and not supposed to like the unpredictability associated with "Inky Pinky..."

We, of course, are very glad, and let the two figure out the outcome, which is to play the music.

A few minutes later, looking out the window (it's dark already)..
"It is 5:30 in the night"
"It is regular..... (waits..then..) it is NORMALLY 5:30 in the evening, but it's 5:30 in the night today."

And then a little later... out of nowhere....
"IF I START A FAMILY THEN WILL YOU GUYS COME VISIT ME?"

Of course... we were thrilled to hear something like this, and celebrated the question, and replied positively and enthusiastically.

By the way... about a month ago, he had said the following:
"I am always going to stay with Mom and Dad. Sister and her family can rent the house next door."

A moment to be treasured

This happened when Aditya and his sister were having their evening snack today:

Sister: I wish I could have one of those Gluten Free goodies mom made for you.

Aditya: There are only last two left.

Sister: Maybe next time when mommy makes them, you can share one with me.

Aditya: You can have one now and I'll have one tomorrow.

Sister: Thank you! (She chomped on one before he could change his mind)

Aditya: I shared because I wanted to.

Sister and Mom: That is awesome, Aditya! You are such a nice and caring brother! Three cheers for you! Hip Hip Hurray! (And tons of celebrations)

Aditya: I wanted to really really share with you.

Sister: What can I do for you, Aditya? Tell me something you like, so I can do it for you.

Aditya: How about you give me a hug? I like that!

This interaction really made my day!

Happy Diwali (The festival of lights)!

In our team meeting yesterday, we realized we began our Son Rise journey exactly a year ago. I still remember the days of Diwali in 2009, and the eager, enthusiastic, optimistic Michel, Brenda and Krishna who helped us to a great start.

We are grateful to each and every one of the following amazing volunteers and team members we have had over the last year. Some of you have taken a break, and some could not continue for not being able to commit at least 4 hours a week. Nevertheless, we are honoured to have found people like you who loved Aditya unconditionally and helped him pull off a new miracle almost every week!

Tanuja
Michel
Brenda
Krishna
Akshay
Gowri
Sarah
Meena
Meenal
Mohana
Julia
Stephanie
Adin
Jennifer
Don


A very Happy Diwali to all of you out there, who support us so much by reading our blog, and by praying for us!

Are you getting more friends for me?

Aditya loves to ask this question, and of course, he is referring to his grown up friends who play with him as part of our Son Rise program.

(Did we tell you that we think he would love to be in the Son Rise playroom all his waking hours... if we could find and train so many volunteers!)

After our intensive in September 2010, we have had a tremendous response to our search for volunteers. Before that wonderful week, we mostly believed volunteers do not exist, at least in the relatively "expensive" region where we live.

In that one week, as much as Aditya changed, WE CHANGED because we began believing in miracles that we humans create by simply make-believing things, and then finding ways to make them happen!

Thus, within a month of returning from our Intensive, we found a wonderful volunteer in "Adin". Another volunteer is about to join us... she is currently in training. And then... a 65 year old gentleman showed interest as well and may be joining us a few months later. A few other people showed interest as well. Overall, the number of people calling us about our program in the last 2 months has now surpassed the number of people who called in the 12 months before our intensive.

What has changed that this is happening? Most likely, the only thing that has changed between then and now, is the attitude with which we are approaching our search.

So when our son asks "Are you getting more friends for me?" we enthusiastically say, "we are trying our best" and continue to believe that we are going to find even more amazing volunteers!

Not just a plane or a car!

Tonight, A's sister wanted a henna tattoo on her hand for Diwali. She had been planning this for a long time and Aditya had been silently listening in on our conversations. As we both sat down to draw, she asked to choose a design from some Google images.
When she was done, Aditya asked for a Henna tattoo on each hand. He has been doing this since he was about 2 year old. But he had always asked me to draw airplanes, cars, trucks or fans on his hands. But not today! He asked me to go find a few images on Google and zeroed down on one. I was amused when he chose an intricate traditional design. He really wanted this one, with his name on the side:) But when told how time consuming it would be, he agreed to a simple one, but no vehicles.. again a simple one with traditional motifs!