Coping with Autism

New Delhi: Not much is known about autism, but studies over the past few years show that every child with autism faces different challenges.

So, each child's success must be measured differently.

But they have something in common, every child’s family has the same hope, that somehow, some way, their child will succeed in breaking the bonds of autism.

The pike family is one of them, their son Andrew was diagnosed when he was just a toddler.

"Andrew's initial diagnosis was severe. He had no language, no social skills. If he wanted something, he would take me to it. He didn't even point to it," says Andrew’s mother Cindy.

His parents took him to Emory University, for one of the best-known autism therapies called 'applied behavioral analysis' or a-b-a that uses rewards for language and social interactions as simple as smiling, or making eye contact.

And the rewards followed soon for the parents.

"I was putting him in his car seat and just told him how much I loved him and just in a whisper, I heard the first time, ‘I love you’," Andrews father David says.

Andrew was four and a half at the time, his progress continues with the help of a lot of people, including his speech therapist.

When the therapist asks him, "What do we do with a cookie?" "We eat the cookie," pat comes the reply.

Of course, levels of improvement vary but Andrew's very fortunate to have a good support team he's able to go to school with regular kids and play with his friends from his neighborhood.

His mom knows he's far from cured but says she's happy that he's come a long way.

"To go from the level that he was to the happy interactive kid that you see today, that is a success story," she says.