Initial sources of information

Where did your knowledge of autism and how to work with it come from initially? Was it helpful? When and where did you find the most useful knowledge?

S-Ish- My knowledge of autism came from the readings I did online. I would watch youtube videos of ABA to work with him at home. What I found particularly helpful was videos made by Chrys Vawnik and Temple Grandin’s Thousand ideas book. My sister would also send articles or videos of autistics doing well in society, to encourage me.

HM - Initially our knowledge of autism came from whatever the professionals were saying, whatever my husband was reading online and whatever I was hearing from fellow parents at the different therapy centers. After joining this therapy center and as I was training to be a therapist, I gained a lot of insight from the theories. ABA Goals gave me an understanding of what I can expect out of my child or any child I am working with. The Verbal Behavior Approach book by Barbara, was helpful for me.

SS - The doctor didn’t give us any clear information. We did our own reading and we would hear from our friends or my husband’s colleagues from the US. We also heard from the therapy centers. I would say nothing was helpful. We didn’t gain any clarity. The readings were mostly from the US websites and it included the US way of looking at children, which didn’t really suit our ideas of children. Colleagues and friends believed it would get better with age. The most useful knowledge I would say came from some readings that my husband did, like looking for alternatives. I would say most of my knowledge of autism came from this therapy center. That is where I got a real picture of my son.

SG - The first knowledge I got was from the center at Mysore where I took G for a detailed assessment. At AISHA, they gave us detailed information. Other sources of my knowledge also included friends who also have autistic kids, other parents I met anywhere in the public. They were helpful. I did not hide my kid. He would come with us everywhere. That opened new conversations and new ideas. That way I also was learning to handle G in different environments and that also let me know what I can expect out of my child. I think I can say that I relied more on the knowledge I gained from real experiences of people than textual or theoretical knowledge. Apart from that, I also gained more understanding when I did my RBT course and training and while I worked with other kids. The RBT theory really helped me understand things from the kid’s perspective.