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We are very excited to present this fantastic interview with Bhavani Singh. She is an exceptional mother of Mananjay and an amazing homemaker. Bhavani shares her life experience with her son Mananjay who is a cochlear implantee, dealing with hearing loss. Hearing loss can have a significant impact on a child’s life, including delayed speech and language development, social isolation, academic difficulties, and emotional and psychological challenges. Early intervention and support can help minimize these effects and improve a child’s overall quality of life. World Health Organization predicts that by 2050 nearly 2.5 billion people may have some degree of hearing loss. Further, over 1 billion people are at risk for permeant hearing loss. Especially due to unsafe listening practices. Therefore, this statistic is alarming and one should be concerned. So, hearing health should be given importance. Hence, via this interview, we bring you this story of  Little Miracle– Mananjay  in his mother’s own words. Q1. अपने बारे में बताइये। Mera naam bhavani hai. me ek House wife hu, me proper Rajasthan se hu or abhi 2 saal se  mere Bete ki speech therapy ke liye Karnataka ayi hu. Q2. यह सब कैसे शुरू हुआ? Mera baccha IVF treatment ke jariye conceive hua hai.or mere first trimester me mujhe chickenpox hue uska asar mere bete par hua.fir mera baccha 32 week’s (premature) birth hua. 29 day’s NICU me struggle Kiya jisme usko small PDA bhi tha(jo naturally close hogaya), jaundice bhi hua. Q3. अपने बच्चे के बारे में कुछ बताइए। Mere bete ka naam Mananjay hai or wo bohot active, hamesha khush rehne wala, acchi soch samajh wala(uski umar k hisab se)hai.sports, padhai, extra curricular activities me bhi accha hai.sabka laadla hai. Q4. आपको क्या प्रेरित किया? Muje sabse jyada jo cheez prerit karti hai wo hai Manan ka chehra, jab bhi me isse dekhati hu to lagta hai meri vajah se (rubella infection) isko ye problem Hui hai to jab tak jinda hu isko itana sikhau k ye jab bada ho to bole ki haa meri mamma ne muje is kabil banaya k aaj me is mukam par khada hu.(jo bhi iske Naseeb mein likha hai). Q5. जीवन का कोई कथन। Mere jivan ka yahi “kathan” hai k bas haar mat mano, koshish karte raho. Ek do din men safalta nahi milegi. Mere jivan men bohot ese mode aaye ki me haar k baith sakti thi, lekin nahi mene bas than liya ki koshish karne valon ki kabhi har nahi hoti. Q6. आपकी कुल में सफलता की कहानी। Manan shuru se hi bohot active hai.2.5 year tak hame pata hi nahi chala k isko koi sunane me problem ho Rahi hai. Thode waqt baad sabse pehle meri maa ko dought hua k kuch problem ho sakti h, fir sab Ghar Wale uspar jyada dhyan dena shuru kiya pichhe se aawaj karna us naam bolna to wo response nhi karaha tha. Baad me ENT specialist k pass Gaye to unhone bera test k liye bola or reports me aaya k uska 100% loss k dono ears.waha se shuru hua ek or sangharsh, bohot doctor’s ko dikhaya to finalize hua k isko cochlear implant surgery hi karwana padega.fir humne ek (right) ear me isko cochlear implant karwaya. us din se uski life ne Naya mode liya,bohot sari taklif,test, surgery recovery ki pida sab sehane k baad dhire dhire adjust hone laga processor k sath.sunane laga,uski khushi chehre par saf najar aane lagi.speech therapy shuru ho gayi or jese hi usane progress karna shuru kiya tha k  “corona virus” aagaya or speech therapy ruk gayi lagbhag 1 saal tak fir delay hogaya, online classes k liye bethta nhi tha. Thoda bohot me hi kuch sikhaya karti thi. Corona virus Jane k baad jab humne wapas speech therapy shuru kiya or hum 6th mapping k liye Gaye or iske audiology test Kiya  to pata chala k iska cochlear implant mild failure ho chuka hai.bohot bada Sadma laga sabko.fir uthe or decide Kiya k wapas surgery karwayenge us beech bohot health issues aaye (1 month full virus fever,cold, cough).ye sab thik hone k baad uska re-implantation hua fir se mapping shuru ,fir se speech therapy shuru kiya or abhi bhi chal rahi hai.1 bohot acche school me admission hua or class me good behaviour, good in all activities or padai  me bhi acha chal Raha hai.or  hamesha koshish karenge ki uski or humari mehnat ka 100% results aaye. Thank you. About Speech therapy A Speech Language Therapist is trained to assess an individual holistically and understand the skill level. This can lead to a diagnosis and thereafter writing a plan of intervention. Speech therapists will provide essential referrals to other allied health professionals or medical professionals, as the client requires. Therapy is not just about improving Speech, it also includes language therapy. Many have a misconception that Speech Therapy is just about teaching Speech, but it is more than that. It improves overall communication, enhances social skills, to cope better with society, and helps in day to day functioning. About Cochlear Implants Cochlear implants can improve communication and quality of life for people with severe hearing loss who receive little benefit from hearing aids. Increasingly, cochlear implants in both ears (bilateral) are accepted as standard care for the treatment of severe hearing loss, especially for infants and children who are learning to speak and to process language. Not everyone performs at the same level with this device. The decision to receive an implant should involve discussions with medical specialists, including an experienced cochlear-implant surgeon. The process can be expensive. In some cases person’s health insurance may cover the expense, but not always. Some individuals may choose not to have a cochlear implant for a variety of personal reasons. #cochlearimplantee #hearingloss #LittleMiracle #Speechlanguagetherapist

We are very excited to present this fantastic interview with Mudita Bagla. She is an amazing single mother of an angel who struggles with genetic conditions that act as barriers to growth and development. Hence, via this interview, we bring you this story of Success story of Mudita in his mother’s own words. Tell us something about you Hello my name is Mudita Bagla from Kolkata. I am a single mom to an angel who is fighting with genetic issues which are acting as obstacles in growth and development. I am sure she will defeat them with time and stand out as a winner. There were some complications during my pregnancy. Got many tests done in Delhi but nothing was really helpful. After 2 weeks of my delivery, we again went to Delhi to consult the best doctors and then soon we got to know that there will be certain issues with her growth and development. Tell us something about your daughter Well since my daughter is down syndromic so she cant speak like other kids but the way she explains whatever she wants to say me by her expressions or gestures is way more precious to me as a mom. I am happy the way she makes each day blissful and cheerful for me and I try more and more towards her improvement and development. Down Syndrome is a common disorder. It is due to the presence of an extra band of chromosome 21. In other words, it is very common and occurs in 1 in every 830 births in India. Initially I used to often think how she will communicate wid me or explain if she needs anything when she will grow up with time but trust me, she does it very well and has made things easy for me. Infact at times she is a full on drama queen too. If she doesn’t want to study or colour, no one on earth can make her do that. Myra  starts doing all kind of drama to escape from it. She loves being outdoors, feeding pigeons and meeting new people. She makes friends with everyone. Your overall experience Now I am used to understanding her gestures and few words which she tries to speak. More importantly she uses her eyes too while communicating about few things which she wants. At times even if I am not able to understand she holds my hand and explains me or take me to the stuff which she requires. She has simplified the communication herself and I am grateful to God and her too for this or else it would have been lot more tough for me to raise her being a single mother. She is the reason why I work so hard day and night so that I can give her a good life and every happiness. I don’t want to be the world’s best mom or something, I just want to be the mother she actually needs and deserves. I had shifted to Kolkata after my divorce. There were reasons why I wasn’t able to continue her speech therapy, occupational therapy and special education classes. I wish to become so much successful in life so that I can resume her therapy sessions and give her the best life. I do have plans to relocate for her therapies if required in future. #ChildrenwithDownSyndrome #downsyndrome #occupationaltherapy #speechtherapy

“Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery.” -J.K.Rowling This is an inspiring story of Appu the ‘warrior’ as his father rightly describes him! What makes this child special is not being on the Autism Spectrum disorder , but his uncompromising fighting spirit against all odds and unleashing his unique gifts and talent. Through this interview, Mr.Sanjay and Dr.Rema describe their unique and special journey of parenting their special son Appu who is the source of inspiration for everything they do. 1. Please introduce yourself and your son to our readers. My name is Sanjay and I am CTO of Vigyanlabs Innovations, a successful start-up in Energy management space. My wife Dr. Rema is a Post Graduate faculty in Oral radiology and medicine. Appu was born as the second most premature kid in medical history of Apollo hospitals in 2009. He was only 700gms, less than a palm in length with totally collapsed right lungs and high premature organs. But even at this level of prematurity with almost no lungs – he cried when he was born and had an APGAR score of 9!! That was only the first of a long series of surprises as a warrior he was going to give his doctors and the world. He spent 75 long days in Neonatal ICU at Apollo. This struggle took away hearing from one of his ears. It also left him with severe developmental delays coupled with moderate Autism and severe sensory issues. He only had 10% chance of survival as per our neonatologist when this journey was starting. However, he was surprising the battery of doctors every day with his extreme fighting spirit. At every point they were giving up, he fought his ways through it which his doctors still claim as miracle beyond medical science. Lung collapse and revival episodes were common every day for weeks together. One day in our usual routine of day long waiting outside NICU to hear any news – we overheard a group of doctors talking about him in cafeteria saying that the kid is a warrior from whom they should all learn. And that is when we realized how much we miss to notice the warrior spirit in our kids in spite of all adversities relentlessly thrown at them. They don’t get depressed, they don’t give up, they never ever lose the fighting spirit even an iota of it. Our journey transformed since then. The fighter came out after 75 long days almost unscathed excepting losing an ear in the long lonely battle – but hey, that is a small loss for the ferocious battle that took place in that NICU against all odds by someone who hardly had any physical body. And now after 7 years, he still has a long, long way to go. He is still nonverbal, but can communicate better than most of us for his needs. But he is cracking day in and out almost every physical, sensory, cognitive and motor challenge that is thrown at him teaching people around him repeatedly that money, power, health and favourable physical body and all those things we consider important for happiness and fighting spirit are meaningless. Now at 7, he displays his potential in alphabets and numbers and phonetics by writing spellings of SAXOPHONE and XYLOPHONE without any help (which probably I wrote correctly at 13 years’ age). His sensory issues and motor execution issues are immense still – he still can’t hold a pencil and write without support, but he will crack them for sure. Letters and numbers excite him so much that it is a sensory ocean on any outside travel because roads are all filled with alphabets and numbers in various billboards and posters. 2. When did you discover that your child has Autism? Appu is a combination of severe developmental delays coupled with moderate autism and loads of sensory issues. Appu’s struggles started at birth itself and there was no specific event when we noticed there was something coming up. Every step of his journey was a fighting spirit of a warrior. 3. What was your perception of Autism at that time? Tell us about how your perception has changed over the years? Our greatest teacher in this journey of last 8 years was Appu himself. Physical body and health, supporting sensory system, money, power and knowledge and all those we consider important for giving us strength and happiness – he showed us that – none of these are pre-requisites for fighting day in and out, the fight goes on in pure joy derived from the fight alone. That is life you see all around in plants, animals, birds and all around, which adult homo sapiens forgot somewhere on the way to becoming modern humans. If a tiny little human of 700 gms with hardly any physical body could fight all such odds and come out fairly unscathed overturning all predictions by doctors about his survival – what is it that we cannot achieve with all such supporting systems, physical body and strength? Autism was an unknown word to us till he was born. Years and years of study and intense interactions in Autism related groups and parent forums followed. But very soon we realized that parents are the best therapists and Appu himself is the best teacher on what is Autism. 4. How important are therapy services for your child? Has it helped him and your family? The biggest therapy for Appu was unconditional love and his best therapists were his parents . Rest everything was supporting system making that happen. Appu was under therapies from birth. He had very early intervention on his Oro-motor issues, physical issues, muscular tone issues, speech development, cognitive development and so on. He also went through horse riding as therapy , music therapy , listening program , Auditory Integration, ABA (for a short duration), play therapy which all helped him in minute steps for his progress. Nutritional and dietary interventions also played a big role in Appu’s journey so far. 5. Tell us about some of the positive lifestyle changes you have made that has helped your family cope with the challenges of bringing up a child with Autism? As a family, meditation was a constant companion to us – as we were used to it for long. Being cantered in ‘YOU’ and not on the physical body imparted all positive energy Appu needed for his growth. We strongly believe that health (both physical and mental) of parents play the biggest role in helping the child. This helps undertake every bold step and new therapy for the joy of the journey and every subtle progress rather than with a violent attachment to results comparing him to other kids and how he should be. Physically our lifestyles were always healthy and Appu imbibed those. It was perhaps two decades ago that we took sugary drinks and so on. Appu is on a Gluten and Casein free Satvik diet which we feel has helped him immensely in controlling his hyperactivity. Sugar and table salt are out of our plates for a long time. Refined flour also has no place in our house for several years. Most of our preventive and curative medicines are natural herbs and Ayurveda , which helped us and him immensely. It would be surprising that Appu cured himself of Dengue last year with no allopathy medicines but with natural herbs and high dose vitamin C. It would also be important to state that we have not given him or we have not taken for ourselves any anti biotics for a decade now. Our experience (not belief) says that nature, nutrition and Ayurveda has cure for every problem we ever had in last decade or more. 6. Tell us about some areas where your child has made progress over the years? Appu is still nonverbal but has started showing tremendous potential with alphabets and numbers over last year. He can write any word listening to it with phonetics with 100% accuracy. The first time he heard the word “naughty” – he wrote the correct spelling. He is a surprise to us and therapists on his alphanumeric skills. He can type multiplication tables like 12×17 without blinking an eye. Below is his own understanding watching news channel when our Prime minister was visiting Israel and meeting Nethanyahu. This information was gathered from news channel himself. He understands concepts of cubes and square roots himself. Almost all of this was self-taught by him, he says (He writes “SELF” as answer to when we ask who taught him). He is also very good at typing on ipad after couple of months training now. Appu still has severe disability to hold a pencil and write by himself. Appu needs support in his elbow by someone and letters don’t restrict into areas we want him to. Following is his idea of how to distinguish a BOY (moustache, beard and short hair) from a girl (bangle, long hair, ear ring) Following is his description of his visit to Mysore. What is to be noted is the first and foremost thing he saw in Brindavan garden. It is all about “crowd” ? He is also improving on his physical skills. Below is Appu, climbing 25 feet long pillar climb and jumping. You can also see his rock climbing and rope climbing. You can watch Appu doing the 25 feet pillar climb here –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2_z8UFxbu4  7. Can you share some strategies or techniques that has helped your son communicate better? Breakthrough in his communication was realizing that we should not push the child for verbal communication and speech and all the time and waste precious efforts. His ability to write anywhere with his fingers and on iPad touch screen helped us communicate better with him. He is also slowly using this method with his therapists now. The #1 strategy we adopted was not to focus everything on verbal communication and speech while working on it in parallel. We also tried to find out what is the easiest and quickest way to make him communicate with an open mind keeping traditional approaches at bay. We realized writing with his fingers was fastest. A lot of iPad applications also helped us in this journey. 8. Can you share one behavioural strategy that has helped reduce his problem behaviours? Diet was #1 in modifying his behaviour. Strict Gluten Casein free Satvik diet helped him overcome most of his behaviour issues. Second best behavioural intervention is unconditional love and affection . 9. What is the best thing about your child you want the others to notice? We want him to be noticed as a human being among all of us and variety of living species we have. Every human has uniqueness and acceptance is core to humanity . We lose humanity the moment we lose acceptance and inclusion. Inclusion is not a certification or graduation school topic, it is simple humanity in action on every step. We also want the world to notice his skills on alphabets and spelling and numbers which are hard for him to be expressed in usual evaluation methods – but it is clear the immense ocean of skill is coming out via several other expression modes as you can see. There is a lot of hype these days around the words Special Education and Inclusion. In fact, our experience says that the underpinning for both of these is humanity and common sense. Applying both of these abundantly helps the child immensely. 10. Your advice to other parents who have children with Autism Spectrum Conditions? Achieve acceptance as quickly as you can. The more you waste time brooding over it, and delay acceptance – positive action can never take place. Mind-set is critical for any positive outcome – and it does not matter how many interventions you do – until the mind-set and acceptance is right they will fail to product results Health and financial planning of parents is most critical. Wear your breathing mask first before helping the child wear his. Change your lifestyle to completely natural and as close to nature as possible. You will see yourself growing younger and energetic year after year. And this will reflect in the child too. Avoid allopathic medicines at all costs. As any great medical doctor will tell you (and we have too many of them still around and we are proud of them) handling prevention and immunity and life style diseases by natural choices is the #1 best thing. Ensure your financial planning never takes a back seat. Set realistic goals . Keep the goal as how I make next week better than this week rather than comparing with other children and setting far-fetched goals. Set goals which your child shows inclination to and not goals which you are inclined to . Opt out of rat race for both yourself and your family and child. You will see things happening amazingly well. People may say all these are good to say, but difficult to implement. Every day that passes with good things which remain as ideas, is a day wasted . Any amount of effort and struggle to achieve these will be worth every bit of it. We thank Mr.Sanjay and Dr.Rema for sharing their story and some wonderful insights they have gained from their journey and wish Appu a joyous and a fulfilling journey ahead! “The higher we reach the more we get tested” “The only regret we don’t want to have is the regret of not trying” “We need to grow through our challenges, smile in the face of hardship and become strong enough to live our heart song!” Please spread the hope and inspiration by sharing the article! We would love to hear your thoughts on this! Recommend someone who you think is a Little Miracle and we will feature them! Mail us at   info@1specialplace.com #Autism #autismspectrumdisorder #communicate #playtherapy

Life doesn’t come with an instruction manual, it comes with a mother A mother shares her story of raising her son, Advaith, with autism, how her own mighty spirit coupled with her husband’s support has helped identify the strengths of her son. Q. Please introduce yourself and your son to our readers. My name is Smrithy. I completed my PG in Mathematics and was working as a lecturer in Kerala. After marriage, I shifted to Bangalore with my husband. My younger son Advaith, who is 9 years old now was diagnosed with Autism when he was 2.3 years old. He is studying at Bubbles Center for Autism. I did a course in Special Education in Autism and now work as a Special Educator to assist children with Autism. I have created a Blog  and a Youtube channel for helping other kids and families touched by Autism Q. When did you discover that your child has Autism? Advaith was a good looking chubby boy who enjoyed playing with his brother. All his motor milestones were on time and he started babbling at the age of 9 months. When he was one and a half years old, I noticed a change in his behaviour and he seemed to have lost eye contact and attention. Advaith was not responding to name call and did not bother about people around him. Advaith was engaged in his own way of playing unlike his peers. He played repetitive games like lining up toys and showed specific interest to certain parts of the toys. His speech was not developing and he was communicating using my hand for his needs. But my paediatrician said that there is nothing unusual about him and asked us to send him to a play school. We enrolled him into Euro kids when he was 2 years old. After a month, the school informed us that Advaith is different from other kids and suggested that we take him for an evaluation. At NIMHANS, Advaith was diagnosed with ADHD and AUTISM, when he was 2.3 years old. Q. What was your perception of Autism at that time? Tell us about how your perception has changed over the years? When my son was diagnosed with Autism, I felt depressed and found it difficult to accept it. I was not aware of Autism and everyone was pointing to his odd behaviours. Everyone tried to find fault with me, even accusing me of bad parenting and ascribing his behaviour to it. That was the biggest challenge I faced in my life. I myself wasn’t aware of Autism and no one tried to understand me. Comparison to his peers were being constantly made and everyone pointed to the oddity in his behaviours. After some counselling sessions from professionals, my husband gave me all the moral support and encouraged me to learn about Autism. I began to slowly accept reality and was able to understand the importance of Early Intervention. I learnt driving and started taking him to therapy sessions. Under the able guidance of Dr. Preeja from Octave, I enrolled myself into a one-year course in Special Education. That really helped me to understand my son and I realised that ,” autism is not a disease, it is a disorder” . Now I don’t try to “cure” Autism, I accept him and try to identify his strengths . Advaith is excellent in sports like cycling, swimming, horse-riding, basketball and roller skating. He won two gold medals for Roller skating conducted by Karnataka Disability Department in 2016 and in 2017. He participated in the Roller skating Competition conducted by SPECIAL OLYMPICS BHARAT, KARNATAKA and won the silver medal . This young bo likes to make jewellery and we created a page in Facebook for displaying his products, ”Addu’s Little Creations”. Advaith is learning data entry programs and other computer skill training programs. In all the above areas he is showing great interest and social anxiety is a challenge for him. We are working on that step by step with the help of his communication device. Q. How important are therapy services for your child? Has it helped him and your family? Parent-professional partnership is very important. I always worked as a co-therapist for my son. A proper Early Intervention programme is very important and we should focus on the communication, imitation, social skills, language skills and prerequisites of learning. Different therapies and therapists helped me and Advaith in this journey and I am always thankful to them. Q. Tell us about some of the positive lifestyle changes you have made that has helped your family cope with the challenges of bringing up a child with Autism? My family is my world and we always enjoy our time together with lots of outings, long drives, visits to Resorts, malls, amusement parks, various restaurants and indulging in many outdoor activities. I try to maintain a distance from all the negative people who tried to create lots of problems in my life. Q. Can you share some strategies or techniques that has helped your son communicate better? Autism primarily affects a person’s ability to communicate and in the early stages, Advaith was completely nonverbal and was communicating using my hand. We started with sign language, but after a year I realised that not everyone understands his signs and so we moved to PECS and then to an app called AVAZ INDIA . Now Advaith is able to communicate for his needs, initiates interactions and feels more included in society. This has considerably reduced his anxiety levels and we were able to understand more about his strengths and difficulties. Our journey with Advaith has only started, we have a long way to go and now the path is clear. AAC like PECS and AVAZ helped my son with communication. Now he is able to use words meaningfully to communicate. I trained him step by step with PECS at home and created a stimulating environment for communication. Then I moved to an app called AVAZ INDIA and customised it according to his understanding level. Now he is able to communicate for his needs, initiates interactions, is able to work on academics and expresses his feelings using AVAZ. Q. Can you share one behavioural strategy that has helped reduce his problem behaviours? Sports activities like cycling, swimming, horse riding, basketball and Roller skating helped him to reduce his hyperactivity. Consistency is the key to success and that’s what I have learnt from my experience. Q. How fully structured environment helped him? A fully structured environment and a full day schedule at home helped him to calm down and to reduce problem behaviours.Also, he became more confident about his skills, when he got appreciation for Roller skating. Q. What is the best thing about your child you want the others to notice? Advaith is a sweet child, who loves people unconditionally. He is a gold and silver medalist in Roller skating. He was felicitated by SPECIAL OLYMPICS BHARAT, KARNATAKA for his achievements in Roller skating. Advaith is making jewellery and learning data entry programs and other computer skill training programs. He is excellent in sports like cycling, swimming, horse riding and basketball. Pictures below (Left to right): Special Olympics felicitation, Silver Medal at State Level, Gold Medal for roller skating competition by Karnataka Disability Dept, 2016 & 2017. Q. Your advice to other parents who have children with Autism? Mothers are the best therapists and love is the best method for children with Autism. It is very important to empower ourselves and to advocate for our kids. Please accept these children the way they are. Give them different kinds of exposure and different experiences. Then we can find out their strengths. Each child is different and has his or her own strengths and difficulties. Provide more focus to their strengths and at the same time work step by step on their difficulties too. Work consistently with proper planning. A structured environment will help the child to reduce anxiety and to calm down. Include sensory breaks in their daily schedule and give lots of physical activities. Art, craft and turn taking games are also very important for our kids. Academics is only one part and we need to give equal importance to self-help skills. It is very important to provide tools for communication like AAC, music or art. Both nonverbal and verbal kids with Autism are struggling to communicate and the resultantly show problematic behaviours. So, we should give primary focus to communication skills and then automatically other areas will develop. We wish your family great success, love and happiness! Thank you for sharing your story with us. If this story has inspired you, please share it with others and help us in making it a better place for everyone. Recommend someone who you think is a Little Miracle and we will feature them! Mail us at   info@1specialplace.com With our exclusive Online Speech therapy exercises and best therapist in India, receive cutting-edge treatment from the comfort of your own home. At 1SpecialPlace you have the right to be confident in your communication and to learn from the finest. #ADHD #Autism #Earlyintervention #SpecialEducation

Do you want to know how to get the best out of waste? Creativity is not just in creating beautiful pieces from an assortment of pretty colors and materials, its also in creating something of value from seemingly useless things. During our regular chit-chat call the other day when my friend VC mentioned that she doesn’t buy craft supplies for her 2 year old twins, I was intrigued. I knew that she does daily art projects with her kids and was curious to see how she does that without the paraphernalia that I can’t seem to work without. I didn’t need to wait too long. Next day she sent me video of a car she made using an empty carton. It was not fancy but it served the purpose as I saw the twins happily play with the car in the video clip. I filed it in my memory to use later and soon got the opportunity too. Hubby was traveling for work again and VMJ being Daddy’s girl was not happy about it. To keep her from sulking I suggested why don’t we make an aeroplane and go meet Papa! She was only too excited to cooperate. Read a blog on Speech Therapy Activities to Teach Questions here I got a sturdy carton and cut windows and holes for VMJ’s legs. She then painted the outside and once the paint dried she decorated it with stars, pompoms and made eyes. For the wings we added 2 balloons on the sides. The result was a pretty funny looking plane but hey… it kept her busy for good 2 hours and later both VMJ and baby VSJ had fun playing with it. It was a brilliant idea and all thanks to VC for showing me the ropes! One can make it for school Best-out-of-waste craft competitions, or as a cheap and entertaining toy for your child. Happy crafting, Written by Aparna originally on FiftyShadesOfaMom #Bestoutofwaste #cardboardaeroplane #DIY #speechtherapyactivities

Having a baby and a toddler in the house is no less than a daily adventure. They are an inseparable duo – always wanting to be around each other, play with each other and fight with each other. While I give a high five to myself everytime they are busy together, there is a time everyday when I want them to stay apart and quietly so. Yea… Nap time!! My younger one is 9 months and needs his afternoon naps. He’s also at a stage when he is easily distracted even by a fly in the room. Keeping my daughter away and quiet while I try and put the baby to bed has been my greatest challenge lately. Then there are times one just needs the house to be quiet – when hubby is taking an official call from home or one of us needs a nap or I am catching up with a friend and need uninterrupted time on phone. Read a blog on Toys to Promote Imagination in Kids here So I racked my brains for some quiet games for toddlers that she can play by herself and came up with the following list: Blocks: One of the most evergreen games ever! We have a few sets of building blocks and Legos which my daughter enjoys on most days. There’s a special set which has blocks of several colors and is also the biggest set we have at home. Whenever I need some quiet time I take those out and ask VMJ to make the tallest tower she can. She happily obliges and since the tower ends up much taller than her it falls and breaks often in the process, keeping her busy for a LONG time.   Puzzles: Off late VMJ has started showing much interest in puzzles and we have more than a few at home. They are also a great way to keep her out of my hair for a while. Easel: Forget toddlers, even grown ups   an spend a good time doodling and drawing on an easel without getting bored. Colorful chalks will keep them there longer. Teddy bear tea party: VMJ’S most favorite game these days…. She arranges a table cloth, sets cushions around it, places her teddies and then has a tea party. The meticulous arrangement, the conversations with the teddies, tea…. They all keep her engaged for a long time. Sorting: Any kind of sorting is fun for toddlers, be it sorting objects by color or shapes. We sometimes use colorful beads or pompoms. Beading and lacing: It says fun all the way while also aiding gross motor development. Making necklaces matching her dress, beading one color at a time, making patterns with colors…. And if you have beads of different shapes as well you have multiple play options. Rice box/sand box: It’s a great sensory play tool for toddlers. They can go hours pouring, filling, squeezing, making hills etc. You can make colorful rice by adding a little food color and letting it dry before giving to the child. Throw in old plastic bottles, cutlery, random plastic toys that can be filled for extra punch. Figurines – dolls, teddy bears, soldiers, animals, cars…: If your kid is crazy about something chances are you will have more than a few figurines of it in the house. Your child can go a fairly long time playing with the bear family, fighting wars with soldiers, racing the cars. You can make the play time last longer if you give a special touch to his games… Like racing flags for the cars (can be made by sticking paper triangles on a toothpick), swords/bombs for the soldiers (toothpick or beads), some dry snacks for the dolls and teddy bears Read a blog of play therapy here Balls:  VMJ has been crazy for balls ever since she was a baby so I have a fairly decent collection of them in various sizes and textures. Sometimes when we are not playing the traditional ball games, I ask her to throw them one by one in a box from a distance. Not only its fun it also helps with hand eye coordination. Play dough: When we bought the first box of play dough for VMJ I was more excited to play with it. There is something very therapeutic about rolling and kneading the dough and creating different shapes with it. It also qualifies as a great sensory activity. Scissors: Its a great idea to buy a pair of child safe scissors and give them old newspapers and magazines to cut. You can draw straight, curved and zig-zag lines on the paper to give them a more complex activity. Art & Craft activities: Most toddlers love art and craft activities and VMJ is no different. I usually keep a stock craft supplies at home and sometimes let her play with it to keep her busy. Today itself I gave her strips of rhinestone stickers and drew shapes on a plain paper. You can see in the picture below how she kept herself busy for the next half an hour. Not only is this activity creatively satisfying, it aids in development of fine motor skills as well.  Eating her fav snack: Sometimes I and VMJ make a fruity garden…. it makes her happy and ensures that she finishes her fruit plate. The quiet time comes as a bonus!   Do share the quiet play ideas that work for your toddlers. Happy playing! Written by Aparna originally on FiftyShadesOfaMom Quiet Games For Toddlers Book your sessions now For more ideas check out our other blogs #GamesForToddlers #Kidsactivity #playtherapy

This interview was conducted by Proeves and posted on their website here  with Pratiksha Gupta This Mom has created India’s first online speech therapy platform Pratiksha Gupta started her online venture 1specialplace, to help all those families who are based in areas where there is no speech therapy service available. How did you get into the field of speech therapy? I have been hugely inspired by my close family members who are deaf and use sign language to communicate. I have witnessed the struggle my family faced to find a speech therapist and a special school. Hence choosing this profession came naturally. I received my undergrad degree from AIISH, Mysore, and did my PG from University of London. You were successfully running a clinic specializing in speech and hearing. Then what motivated you to start 1specialplace online? After a successful work tenure in NHS in UK, I started my Speech Therapy Centre – ‘Hear n Speak’ in Noida. My husband is a fighter pilot in the Indian Air force and we move often. I had to close down Hear n Speak when we moved to another city. Since I had a huge following of clients from my work, I kept getting requests to return as my clients couldn’t find any other speech therapist who they liked. This encouraged me to start my online work. It all began in 2011. At that time, I did very basic email programs backed with phone calls. With time I graduated to more structured Online Therapy with interactive, secure & engaging Audio Video sessions. I founded 1SpecialPlace in 2014. We have come a long way from taking Skype Sessions to now using a more sophisticated Online Therapy Platform. We have emerged as India’s first Online private organisation with an interdisciplinary team. Our consultants work from home, look after their kids and are able to pursue their career at the same time.  We have a global team, with professionals based in UK, Singapore and Oman. How parents can identify that a child may need Speech-Language Therapy? Speech & Language develops in stages. There are some top red flags which indicate the need for Speech Therapy. The top 5 are- Child not socializing/engaging with you by 1 year. Child not producing many speech sounds by 18 months Child not joining two words together  by 2 years Child’s speech not clear/intelligible to strangers by 2.6 years Child has difficulty imitating or producing different speech sounds by 2.6 – 4 years. How do you manage multiple roles of being a mother, a wife, and an entrepreneur? I have been brought up with colossal affection,love and discipline. My parents are successful working individuals. I have seen how well my mom could balance work, home and family. As a Mother and Wife – I have been stretched through daily challenges and joys. And each day I am learning the perfect dance and the correct moves that make each relationship work together. The truth of entrepreneurial life is a tornado of long hours, high risk and uncertainty. My husband is the backbone of my work life. If it was not for his unending support, I would have missed out on realising my dreams. He auto corrects me to strive at work and together we celebrate the magic moments of running  a business. My daughters know that mummy loves them, but also likes to work. So its a happy mix of being my true self and keeping my priorities sorted. My mantra is, Do what you love, and you will never work a day in your life! Recommend someone you know for the 1SpecialPlace Success Stories ! Mail us Proeves Interviews Pratiksha Gupta #OnlineSpeechTherapy #OnlineTherapyPlatform #SpeechTherapyCentre #speechtherapyservice

Janani Jeyaraman’s Stellar Contribution – I feel I have the best job in the world because I get to meet the finest people in my profession. I recently got talking with my classmate from college, Janani Jeyaraman and I couldn’t help but admire her success and inspirational achievements. I take this opportunity on SLP Day, to introduce to you a wondrous lady as we recognise Janani Jeyaraman’s stellar contribution to Speech-Language Pathology. Meet the star of the day Janani Jeyaraman. A Speech Language Pathologist, a Clinical Manager, an Author, a Researcher and an Entrepreneur, all rolled in one pack! Janani is a seasoned professional with 8 years of experience in working with Cochlear Implant Programs powered by MED -EL in India, Nepal, Bangladesh & Sri lanka. She is the first Speech Pathologist with LSLS Cert AVT certification. Janani has some research work to her credit and has also published a Book titled MED-EL Rehabilitation Academy: Desk Reference for CI Rehabilitation Professionals. She founded her NGO, Athreya Foundation with her sister to help underprivileged children with special needs. Here is an excerpt from our riveting conversation. Q. What is your typical day at work?  I don’t have typical work schedule at work as I have to visit different centres and that’s the best part about my job.  Some days begin as early as 3.00am and some end as late as 11.00pm. When I visit a centre I interact with professionals and parents and try to support them in whatever way I can to help them achieve better outcomes with a cochlear implant Q. You work very closely helping people on a daily basis. Are there any challenges you come across when trying to encourage people to move forward? We wish that every family we work with follows our recommendations to word, which is not always the case. I observe that when relevance of chosen goals are explained thoroughly and plans are made in agreement with the family, the chances for success and cooperation are better. Some families need time to cope up with different stress that disability poses. Being patient and being an active listener is important for such families. Q. You travel extensively for work. Does it affect your personal life? I have been asked this specific question several times. Traveling profile does causes some minor inconveniences but I have opted to overlook those. As I get to interact with different types of people while travelling, it has made me wiser and has changed my perspective about life greatly. Q. You run an NGO for children, tell us how that idea germinated and does being an SLP help you manage your NGO. I strongly believe that every child deserves qualitative and creative learning opportunities. Unfortunately children with complex needs (disabilities) and specially those from an underprivileged background do not have access to similar and nurturing learning environments that might be available to, lets say my nephew. My sister and I felt that providing access to such opportunities to those who deserve it, needed to be our primary focus and thus our trust, the Athreya Foundation was born. It is still at its infancy and we hope to grow and support more children as we move forward. Q. What according to you are the growth prospects of being an SLP in India? When I was getting my Master’s in Speech-Language Pathology , I was under the assumption that an SLP’s area of practise was either in a private clinic, a hospital, or in academia. I was the first SLP to work as rehabilitation specialist with a hearing implant manufacturer. It was uncharted territory and I was sceptical about the path my career would take but I took a leap of faith and have not regretted that decision till date. Q.Your advice for young people pursuing Speech Language Pathology/Audiology as a career. Advice is a big word. I would rather share my guiding philosophy at practice: every family that we support should leave our session with a sense of confidence and success. This interview was conducted by our founder  Pratiksha Gupta . Our personalized Online speech therapy works for people of all ages and ailments, and it’s also convenient and fun. In fact, our customers tell us that they don’t feel like they’re doing “therapy work” throughout their sessions. Recommend someone you know for the 1SpecialPlace Wall Of Fame! Mail us at  info@1specialplace.com Book your session now For more ideas check out our other blogs #cochlearimplant #hearingimplant #OnlineSpeechTherapy #speechlanguagepathologist

Articulation of speech sounds is a symptom of a developmental articulation issue.Children learn the different sounds of their language gradually over the first 8 years of life. They learn to combine words according to the rules or patterns they hear from adults in their environment. You might be surprised to know that children learn the sounds of their native language by nine months of age! But this doesn’t mean they must be producing these sounds correctly by nine months of age. As they develop, their brain learns to organize the speech sounds they hear in the environment and produce them as and when their oral motor structures support them to produce more variety of speech sounds. How can parents help their child with articulation difficulties? When children are under age three, we can expect them to make a few articulation errors such as substituting more complex sounds such as ‘r’ with ‘l’. A two-year-old might say ‘thoti’ or’loti’ for ‘roti’ or ‘lellow’ for ‘yellow’. It is typical and acceptable for children under three years to substitute ‘s’, ‘z’, ‘sh’, ‘zh’, ‘ch’ and ‘j’ with earlier acquired sounds such as ‘t’, ‘d’, ‘th’, ‘l’. By age four, most children will produce nearly all speech sounds correctly and will be understood by almost everyone around them. Speech intelligibility refers to the proportion of a speaker’s speech that a listener can easily understand. According to research, here is a general rule of thumb for how intelligible your child should be at the following ages: At 2 years – 50% of the child’s speech should be intelligible At 3 years – 75% of the child’s speech should be intelligible At 4 years – 100% of the child’s speech should be intelligible Children continue to master sounds such as /r/, /sh/, /s/, /ch/, /z/, voiceless /th/ until 8 years of age. By 8 years, 90% of the children master all the speech sounds in conversation. When should parents be concerned about their child’s articulation? If you cannot understand what your child is saying to you By the age of four, your child should be able to communicate with strangers and unfamiliar adults. If you find yourself translating your child’s unclear speech to others. If your child exhibits frustration, refuses to repeat their responses or whispers, shouts or changes his or her voice quality when asked to repeat themselves. If your child refuses to communicate in certain situations fearing that they might be ridiculed or made fun of by friends or strangers. Who can help and what does articulation treatment entail? If you have the above concerns, seek advice and help from a speech-language pathologist who will assess your child’s speech language development and make recommendations accordingly. Articulation treatment will involve demonstrating how to produce the speech sounds correctly focusing on both the placement of lips, tongue etc. and the way the lips, tongue and jaw are moved, airflow and constrictions made to produce a speech sound correctly and practicing them in different words and working up to sentences and conversational speech. Dos and Don’ts: When you do not understand your child’s speech, ask gently to repeat the utterance. You may say, “Oh, I didn’t quite hear what you said’ Can you tell me again?”. Use clues from the environment and if necessary, use pictures or visuals to help yourself and your child during interaction. Do not say ‘You didn’t say that correctly’ or ‘I don’t understand what you say’. Using negative language to correct your child may diminish your child’s confidence and he or she may begin to avoid interacting with you and others. Providing a correct adult model of articulation is important to your child. Praise your child’s attempts to produce correct speech sounds. Do not directly correct your child’s incorrect production as the child may become very conscious of his or her speech. Set aside some time to practice ‘good speech’ every day. Use pictures, toys or videos to label and talk about everyday things. During this time, use more descriptive and positive language to correct sounds, such as “S ssss is such a stretchy sound, I can see your tongue come out of your mouth when you say the s-sound” and so on. Do not drill the child, especially very young child to say and repeat the sounds correctly all the time. Use a variety of strategies such as repeating, modelling, praising what goes well and so on. Use a variety of activities such as labelling, games, reading, watching others talk to reinforce your targets with their articulation. Once your child has learnt to say a sound correctly, you may encourage them to use the sound in words. For example, you may ask them to find a word that has the sound ‘s’ or find objects in the house that begin with a ‘t’. This practice will encourage the child to gain more awareness and confidence in using the speech sounds. Discuss strategies and carry over activities you can do to help your child at home with your speech-language pathologist. #ArticulationDevelopment #ArticulationDevelopmentinChildren #articulationdifficulties #articulationtreatment

“The Handicap of Deafness is not in the ear; it is in the mind“ Deafness certainly doesn’t make a person dumb or weak. We often hear about the challenges children and young people with disabilities face, yet some people find success beyond the barriers with their unstoppable perseverance and excel beyond their anomaly. Differently abled by deafness, Khwaish Gupta has endured her share of challenges caused by her hearing loss. But, that is merely one aspect of her. It doesn’t stop her from realizing her dreams.  Now an 18-year-old girl, Khwaish Gupta is a school captain at Bajaj Institute of Learning. She comes from the picturesque city Dehradun. Khwaish has been brought up with a great deal of love and patience by her parents Colonel Munendra Gupta and Mrs Bhanu Gupta, a special educator and examiner with IGNOU. She shares a lovely bond with her younger brother Harshvardhan. She recounts, “My name is Khwaish because my father wanted a daughter and his desire came true, so he named me Khwaish which means desire”. According to the  World Health Organisation , more than 5 per cent of the world’s population have disabling hearing loss (amounting to 328 million adults and 32 million children). 18 percent of India’s persons with disabilities have a hearing impairment, as per Census. This would mean that India arguably has the largest deaf population in the world. “Understand your abilities and play to your strengths”, demands Khwaish. She credits her parents to have stood by her whenever she felt low and doubted her abilities. “They have taught me to never give up and to keep trying” says a confident Khwaish. She says her parents have taught her to be assertive about her rights in the society. So, she never grew up thinking of herself as disabled; mainly because her parents did not treat her that way. An audiological (hearing) test revealed that she would not benefit from hearing aids or a cochlear implant. However, her parents valued communication in any form. Sign language empowered her to communicate with her parents at home, in school and in their communities. The key message Khwaish wishes to send out to children and persons with deafness is ‘Do not let disability define you’. She takes pride in excelling in many state and interstate art, theatre and sports events. She has won laurels in painting, Rangoli, Quiz, dance, action songs and in sports such as chess, badminton and volleyball. Khwaish enjoys watching English movies, swimming and partying with her friends and can do everything that her hearing peers can do, except hear! But Khwaish’s special abilities succinctly says that she has not been a victim of other people’s assumptions or negative attitudes towards disability. Hold your horses, Khwaish’s laurels do not rest just there. She has performed a massive feat in a Mahesh Bhatt movie called ‘The Silent Heroes’ with twelve other deaf children. She has wowed many with her performance in the movie which is about a mountaineering expedition that accounts for the resilience of human spirit and its ability to triumph over disability. No one achieves success alone. Khwaish is greatly motivated to help and support children and young people with deafness. “I aim to support persons with deafness and motivate them to live a life of pride and dignity and enable them to be useful members of the society.” Khwaish’s heart-warming and remarkable journey in her life so far gives hope to children and adolescents with deafness who are brimming with potential to be unleashed. People like her show us, the society to imagine persons with deafness or other disabilities as useful persons who can lead natural, productive and inspiring lives. Khwaish Gupta, we wish you success in all your endeavours and may the force be with you! If this story has inspired you, share it with others. Little Miracle Series aims to honour and recognize children who have excelled despite their challenges. If you have a story to share, please write us on  info@1specialplace.com Recommend someone who you think is a Little Miracle and we will feature them! Mail us at   info@1specialplace.com #disabilities #peoplewithdisabilities #cochlearimplant #LittleMiracle #personswithdisabilities

Watching a child play is so beautiful! Although it seems so basic, play provides several hidden contributions for the child. The function of play would be quite different for a child when compared to an adult. For instance, I would use play when I want to relax or when I want to socialize with others. On the other hand, for a child, it provides a great platform to further overall development. It becomes a means to build skills, be it motor, cognitive, attention or even language. A child would also be able to learn to be creative and challenge themselves while also learning how to engage and socialize with others. Play consumes almost all the child’s waking hours (especially in the infancy and toddler years). Then it seems logical for a parent or therapist to engage a child through it, thus encouraging children to learn.  Related video: How to play to improve speech How do we play with our child, you ask? One of the many ways to do so is with the use of TOYS! The booming toy industry can surely be of assistance here. There are a vast range of toys available, with items available specific to gender, color, use and even age range or groups. A few personal favorites for different age ranges are: At infancy: Toy mobile (not the phone!), simple action reaction toys, cloth books and toys During toddler years: Stacking cups or rings, textured books, doll and cars, sand and water tables As a preschooler: Microphone, variety of books, pretend play toys, art accessories How to decide what toy to buy? When going out to buy a toy for a child (for learning skills), a few basic thoughts must be borne in mind: This plan may be considered frugal, but it is a working personal guideline. Especially, when I am looking at investing in a new toy and have a huge diversity of them available online or at the local toy store. Special care must be taken when choosing and using toys for a child with delays or who is differently abled. These toys will provide a wonderful scaffolding to build skills one step at a time. While using toys with children with delays (to build skills), a few points that should be kept in mind are: Know which target skill or goal is being aimed at. Don’t always stick to the way a particular toy is to be played. Such as a stacking rings, can be used for stacking of course – but who says we can’t play a musical game of follow the leader with it? Having too many toys at a time is not a good thing.  Remember to be at the child’s level when playing and get the child to move about. Encourage the child to lead play, as often as possible, while you give inputs to engage and learn a new skill! For a child, who is learning to play – play alongside him / her. The child can learn loads through imitation. And most importantly, keep play fun! This is sometimes easier said than done, but is crucial to maintain a child’s interest over a sitting or days. Good luck! And keep learning through play! One is never too old for a little fun! This article was written by  Tanushree Saxena Chandhok , our speech therapy expert Playing With Toys Online Course Learn how to widen thinking and build ideas on how to play with toys with young children #EncouragingChildrentoLearn #howtobuytoysforplay #importanceofplay #toysforachild

RECORD YOUR CHILD’S EVER GROWING VOCABULARY! It is essential to document your child’s ongoing speech progress. Here is a great tool which is bound to help you! Open an excel sheet and make a chart of your child’s vocabulary.You can call it your child’s Speech Journal. Note the date when you start filling the sheet and review it at the end of every month. You can also mention any special observations that you make as your child continues to surprise you with his emerging expressive vocabulary. Note – Find an example attached. Read a blog on Activities to Teach Pronouns to Children here Categories that you can use – ( examples along) People – Mumma Food – Chapati, Juice, water Body Parts – eyes Animals – Doggie Objects – Cup, bag, book Colours – Yellow, Blue Toys – Ball Vehicles – Car, Aeroplane Numbers – 1 Alphabets- A Greetings- Hi Action Words – Sit Places- School Characters- Peppa Pronouns- I, me Adjectives- big Environmental Sounds – bow bow, kooo chuk chuk Functional Words- was, went Gestures – Hand/body gestures like- come, bye, no, go,sit. There is a special mention of ‘Gestures’ in the category list. Gestures used by your child make up a chunk of his expressive vocabulary and are a must to note. Some kids start using gestures before they come out with words. Be honest and get started! Your child may not be speaking all the words clearly, but here we aim to record the number of words he can say and use, not how well he pronounces them. Enter only those words which you think your child has spoken at least 2 -3 times in a meaningful context. If you wish to know more about Speech Therapy, kindly contact us Book your sessions For more ideas check out our other blogs #childsSpeechJournal #DevelopmentSpeech #speechandlanguage #SpeechJournal