Parent Perspectives: Early Intervention
The following are the perspectives gathered from parents of four children between the ages 5 to 8 years. All the children are in early intervention through ABA and/or Occupation Therapy (OT) and speech therapy. The children are not in formal school and the mothers typically spend their entire time taking care of the children. These perspectives were gathered through in-person interviews in August 2024.
Profiles
S-Am
S is a housewife who loves spending time with children and cooking for them. She says she would think of dishes her children would like and try out new items all the time. As a mother of 2 children, her day usually goes by in taking care of and spending time with the children. Am is the 2nd child, currently 6 years old, loves to play and arrange things in a linear fashion. Am enjoys fruits, and food, especially spicy chicken. Am is taking ABA sessions for 2 hours a day.
P-M
P loves stitching and was doing it for a living until she got married. 2 children later, she has dedicated her time to taking care of them. M, the older son is 7 years old and was diagnosed when he was 3 years old. He would want a new toy everyday and the interest with a toy wouldn’t last for more than 10-15 minutes. He has always loved going to the park, and recently he has also started asking for going to the shop, understanding that we buy things from a shop. Now, he also senses that when the mother says she is going out, it means she won’t be there for sometime, so he asks to go along. M challenges everyone working with him with his head banging behavior. M takes ABA sessions along with OT currently.
Y-An
Y has a masters degree in Electronics and Communication and worked as a lecturer and HR consultant until she had a child. Y enjoys watching devotional material on her mobile when she is free. She is currently a housewife who is focusing on her children. Y and her 2 children relocated from Barcelona recently to seek ABA therapy for her 5 year old son, An. An is pre-verbal as of now and gets excited when he sees spinning objects. He also seems to enjoy traveling in any vehicle, and playing with water. An has just started ABA sessions and Y is looking forward to seeing how this pans out for An.
J-S
J completed her MA in history and B.ed. She is a government school teacher and has been on leave for the last 3 years to take care of children. Her 1st born, S who is 8 years old now, was diagnosed when he was around 3 years old. S says he loves reading books related to history and enjoys fine arts but there has not been any time for them recently. S is attending ABA sessions now for 1.5 years and J also actively participates in his sessions. S has started to communicate his feelings, started to know appropriate actions in appropriate places (for example, he knows park is for playing and temple is for praying.) S has also started to choose his dress and dress himself up. Recently he has also started to flush the toilet and clean his hands after that, all by himself. J was gleaming as she expressed all of this. They are also able to take him to functions and manage him. That way, there has been a lot of social learning in the last 1.5 years.