Recognizing Smrithy Rajesh’s Timeless Efforts

Recognizing Smrithy Rajesh’s Timeless Efforts

“The Art of Mothering is to Teach the Art of Living to Children”

-Elaine Heffner

A devoted and a hard-working mother, an enigmatic and enthusiastic role model for parents and a charming human- words fall short in glorifying this beautiful lady, Mrs. Smrithy Rajesh. She is mother to Advaith, a beautiful child with Autism, and her ‘special journey with Advaith’ is a truly inspiring read to all of us.

“I empowered myself and started working with my son. Addu’s smile is a great motivation for me. Advaith made me a better person and he is my teacher. He taught me that nothing is impossible. His diagnosis made me a strong independent woman who believes in her child.”

At the outset, her road has not been an easy one, with umpteen ups and downs, but she is an exemplar of continued perseverance and a strong pillar, with unconditional efforts, in achieving success with her son.

Smrithy recalls, “When Advaith was diagnosed with Autism, like most parents, I was not able to come to terms with it and this was a difficult period in my life. I was not aware of Autism and no one was able to understand me. My family members attributed his condition to bad parenting. I underwent depression at that time.”

But this did not stop her from moving forward. She, with her pillar of support in form of her husband were determined to put in their best for their son.

“I kept a distance from all the negative people who were trying to pull me down.  We decided to move forward with a positive attitude and enrolled Advaith into intervention programmes.  Simultaneously, I started working as his co-therapist. I was part of his sessions and learning from the therapist.  Then I replicated the same programs at home. After some time, I realized that I cannot depend entirely on therapists and decided to do a diploma course in Special Education. That decision really helped to understand Autism and be able to relate to my son better.”

She has been a constant encouragement for her child, in identifying his talents and putting them to purposeful use. On elaborating on her journey with Advaith, she says,

“He was diagnosed with ADHD and Autism. He was too hyper active and so I decided to focus on more physical activities. We taught him cycling, swimming, basketball, badminton and skating. Sports helped him reduce his hyperactivity and we discovered that Advaith is extremely good at Roller Skating. That brought about lots of appreciation which gave him greater confidence about his skills and he started improving in all areas of learning. His obsession with stimming using a thread, helped him to learn a skill, ‘jewellery making’ and he is already earning an income from that. Advaith does simple data entry programs and continues with his computer skill training programs that will help him in achieving an important vocational skill.”

She has created a space for exhibiting and selling his craft products at ‘Addu’s Little Creations. Advaith has also participated and won many laurels at State level sport competitions. He has won two gold medals for Roller skating conducted by Karnataka Disability Department and Silver medal at the Roller Skating competition conducted by Special Olympics Bharat, Karnataka.

Apart from being a doting mother, Smrithy is also pro-actively involved in empowering herself and fellow parents in providing the best care and intervention facilities to children with Autism. Smrithy constantly shares her experiences and thoughts, on creating awareness, spreading positivity and enhancing motivation to fellow parents to children with Autism. Smrithy has created a blog – ‘My Special Journey with Advaith’, which garners immense popularity for its thought-provoking tips on working with children with Autism, and for its positive motivation. You can follow her blog and YouTube channel here.

To being asked on how she keeps herself motivated in doing the best for her children, she says,

When I started working with him consistently, my husband and my elder son also joined me and thereafter we started working as a team. During weekends and holidays, we started doing lots of outings and that helped me to keep calm. I always keep a distance from negative people. Addu’s smile is a great motivation for me. I share everything that I do with my son with other parents. Spending holidays in different places always helps me to get a good break from the daily schedule. I like to go to restaurants for dinner with my family. Advaith made me a better person and he is my teacher. He taught me that nothing is impossible. I was born and brought up in a village and was enjoying my life as a house wife after my marriage. His diagnosis made me a strong independent woman who believes in her child.”

Smrithy signs off by sharing a beautiful message with us. Her words are a great motivational booster, and encourage us to move forward on a positive note.

“Accept and understand Autism. Acceptance starts from us. The mother is the best therapist and love is the best method for our kids. Find their strengths and at the same time train them to handle their difficulties too.  Empower yourself and work as a co-therapist for your child. Ups and downs are bound to be there. Autism is a lifelong disorder, not a disease. Don’t waste your time by trying to cure Autism. A proper early intervention program can help the children to reach their maximum potential. Don’t focus only on Academics -give equal importance to self-help skills and physical activities. Accept them the way they are and shower them with love!”

Hats off to this energetic mom for advocating Autism, lending a helping hand to fellow parents and caregivers and coming up with novel and innovative ideas, in making the learning and therapeutic process easier for kids! We at 1SpecialPlace wish Mrs. Smrithy loads of good luck with her future endeavors!

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