Amrith was in deep trouble until Dad and Mom came to the rescue

Baby Amrith

Amrith was born at 40 weeks gestational age. He was delivered following an emergency C-section and was treated with antibiotics in neonatal care due to a bacterial infection. Right from birth, he was a colicky and unsettled baby. He always had poor and disturbed sleep.

However, he was meeting all milestones properly but at 8 months, after he had a vaccination for measles, his eye contact dropped significantly and he stopped responding anymore when we called his name.

At 8 months his eye contact dropped

 Grandmother comforts an anxious little boy

He always played by himself in isolation and he liked spinning the wheels of toy cars. When he was 15 months old, we consulted a child development pediatrician and he was formally diagnosed with “Autism Spectrum Disorder”.

At 18 months, we eliminated gluten and dairy from his diet. We started Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy at home. After intensive therapy, he had a few trained words by the time he was 3 years of age.

Noise and crowded places caused meltdowns

Amrith had difficulty in tolerating more than three people, also he was very sensitive to sounds. His anxiety when we would take him shopping or to public places would cause severe meltdowns. His health was also poor. He had frequent asthmatic attacks. In one year’s time he was admitted to the hospital three times for difficulty in breathing.

Amrith hospitalized for respiratory distress 

When Amrith was 2.5 years old, among various interventions, we tried Auditory Integration Therapy for a period of ten days. Fortunately, our therapist recommended The Institutes to us. She had actually attended the What To Do bout Your Brain-injured Child course in Philadelphia many years before.

We started to believe that Amrith could improve significantly

We then attended the same course when Amrith was 3 years and 7 months old. During the course, it was very motivational for us to hear about the real-life experiences of other children and parents from the staff of The Institutes. This reinforced our belief that Amrith would also improve significantly, if we were to do the intensive program.

It was also very lovely to meet other parents, children and their siblings during the visit. Meeting families from various parts of the world and from diverse backgrounds was a memorable experience. Amrith and we (the parents) always looked forward to meeting the children, the parents and the staff during our revisits

Amrith with his friends at The Institutes

At his first visit, his understanding and speech were poor he had only a few words. He had no reaction to hot or cold and a delayed response to pain. He was hyperactive and had no bimanual function.

We were very positive after our first visit, Dad took a one year sabbatical so he could stay home and do the program fulltime. We took Amrith out of nursery school and started a home program with him.

Amrith’s Dad was the chief programmer

After 3 months of program: Better sleep, understanding, speech, manual competence and reading

After three months of intensive program, he started showing improvements. His sleep started getting better and he started sleeping throughout the night. His diet was getting better and he started trying a variety of healthy food. We started noticing significant improvements in his receptive and expressive speech. His cognitive functions and fine motor skills improved. Amrith’s greatest strengths would be his intellectual capability. He benefitted a lot from the Encyclopedic Knowledge program and the reading program.

Amrith’s grandmother was also actively helping with his program, she used to accompany mom, dad and Amrith during the visits to The Institutes. She prepared bits, and made many books for him. She still helps to make these books. Every time Amrith wants to know something about a new topic he calls his grandmother on the phone and asks for a new book on that topic. She emails the content and we print and bind the materials.

Father and son enjoy at day with dinosaurs and whales

Now his health is good and no more meltdowns

Now Amrith’s overall health was good, he had no recurrence of asthma or other illness. He was  no longer bothered about noise or being in crowds. Now he enjoys visiting malls and attending birthday parties with his friends.

Amrith enjoys an outing at the Mall

By the time his was five years old he was reading science books well above his age level, he was able to solve math equations using fractions and he ran 3.5 km daily. Just after his sixth birthday he could write in full sentences.

Two years after beginning his program Amrith started mainstream school. He loves going to school and he is right up with his peers.

In regular school now and doing well – in fact, he loves it.

Out on the town and dressed for business

Even though Amrith is fulltime in school now and no longer on his home program, he still enjoys reading books, brachiating, running and doing gymnastics.

In gymnastics he is already making his mark

Team Amrith triumphant

Update from Father

“I am more than happy to share my thoughts and experience of The Institute.”

“Amrith is doing well, he has started to learn karate as a hobby and he is enjoying it.

He is also doing well academically at school.”

“Amrith earned his yellow belt in Karate, it’s the first belt a person learning Karate gets, and it requires the person to demonstrate the basic level of fitness, ability and concentration required to meet that level.”

“He earned a gold cup after participating in a Talent-show Competition in his school. He was awarded the cup for his ability in singing.”

“We are very confident that Amrith can lead an independent life of his own in the future and he can achieve his ambitions and dreams.”