Spectrum of Hope – Haresh (The Math Wizard)
Spectrum of Hope – Haresh (The Math Wizard)
Spectrum of Hope – Haresh
Why Fit in When You Were Born to Stand Out?
– Seuss
We are back with yet another story of positivity, conviction, and the indomitable spirit of a father. This is a story of an ingenious child Haresh diagnosed with Autism and his passionate father Mr. Mano.
Q. Please introduce yourself and your son to our readers.
Hi, I am Mano, software is my profession. We are based out of the US. My son Haresh is a 13-year-old boy who is diagnosed with Autism and is non-verbal. He has the cutest, disarming smile in the world. He is doing his 7th grade in a school focussed on kids who are on the spectrum. He is graded level 2 (2nd Grade) for his comprehension skills.
Q. When did you first get the diagnosis and what were your immediate thoughts?
At one month, he had his surgery for Pyloric stenosis at Lucile Packards Hospital (Inside Stanford, California). Not sure if that was the start of his neurodevelopment. Though he was fine till 2 years, then he started showing signs of rotating chairs, hitting his head, poor eye contact, repetitiveness, etc. At that time, we were in India for a few months. Doctors said he is perfectly fine, not much Autism awareness back then, I guess. When we returned to the US, he was diagnosed at about 3 years of age. The playschool he went to, found he is different from other kids. We were so upset, angry and we were in denial for a long time.
Q. Share with us your journey through his diagnosis and intervention.
After the diagnosis, we immediately started ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis) and OT (Occupational Therapy) sessions for him. We kept him completely engaged the whole day between schools and therapies. This continued for some time, after which we introduced Music lessons as well (Piano) and swimming. We also tried Homeopathy medicines for a couple of years to bring down his behavior issues. All these therapies, along with the medicines and of course God’s grace, helped him gradually to improve his behavior issues and he grew into a lovely boy around 7-8 years age.
Q. Share some of Haresh’s unique talents.
Haresh is very fond of numbers, in fact, crazy about numbers. He started writing numbers and in Grade 1, he wrote numbers from 1 – 30,000 in school. He would write numbers every day and would continue from where he left, the next day. Slowly, he was doing mental addition, subtraction, multiplication (2 digits, 3 digits). This has evolved into squares, square roots now. Please check his YouTube channel (Haresh Manokharan https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFqKPoqG1_WNiMd4O3R_fIA/featured?view_as=subscriber). He absolutely loves it and I feel he is increasing in his confidence through his videos and the comments on his channel. He also likes swimming and he likes to do backstroke and freestyle.
Q. What is your favorite part about being his parent?
I have learned a lot from him. First, his smile. He is always smiling and he brings a radiance wherever he goes. Sometimes, I feel, I need to be like him, without any worries. The second is patience. Initially, when he had behavior issues, I was waiting for the time for things to improve through all the therapy sessions and medications.
Q. What are the challenging aspects of being a parent to your child?
Since he is non-verbal, I am not sure what he wants exactly to help him further in his development. I keep on asking him lots of questions to get answers. Next is how to handle meltdowns. It had reduced significantly over the years. Initial years were very frustrating and full of struggles. Spectrum of Hope – Haresh,
Q. What would you wish to tell other parents?
Please have absolute faith in God. Believe that good things will happen and always be positive and don’t lose hope. All these kids have some innate talents in them. Try to identify that, nurture it, provide opportunities for them. They can be the subject matter experts in their areas. Spectrum of Hope – Haresh,
Please spread and share this lovely journey to empower all the parents out there!
If you wish to feature someone who you think is a “Little Miracle”, please write to us at info@1specialplace.com
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