This is era of technology. World is changed into the electronic world. Today, you will find electronic gadgets that fulfill your everyday needs. These gadgets can be anything from a grinder to a camcorder to a laptop to an IPad / IPhone. World is connected electronically through internet. It has become very easy to communicate to the people who are very far from you.
All electronic communication devices (Computer, laptop, IPhone, IPad etc.) are great help to Autism world too. The autistic kids and adults are now able to communicate through typing without looking at the person. It was a great help for them to open up and feel connected. So many apps are also developed for them to learn new skills (Academic, Language, Social etc.).
Examples of such people for whom the world is changed after learning the electronic communication devices are - Peyton Goddard and Carly Fleischmann. After starting communication through these devices, even they were able to tell their experiences they had in their childhood life.
Nothing is perfect in this world. Everything has its uses and misuses like people who have talents and shortcomings both. Same is the case with these electronic devices. It also depends on the people how are they using these devices. And mostly autistic kids are used to do things inappropriately. My son is one in those kids.
I have read few similar stories through blogs, I got to know that I am not alone. Few other parents are also facing the same problem. One example is here - Be A Good Mom (Stims oh boy the stims). I thought that I should also share my story. It's a very long story, so I am writing in parts. -
Before coming to US
My son Tanishk was born in India. When he was a toddler, he was cute and enjoyable kid. He used to cry very little. On his 1st birthday, he was not interested in people but their cell phones. We were very amazed to see that how he has learnt to start music himself. He didn't respond to his name when he was 18 months old, but he used to respond when he hears phone ringing or music on TV. He loved to watch Indian ads on TV and few ads were his favorite ones. He liked to watch Bollywood actors Shahrukh Khan and Urmila Matondkar in ads. We were sure that he doesn't have hearing issues as when the ads started, he was used to come so fast even from another room. But, we were very much concerned that why he is not responding to us.
All electronic communication devices (Computer, laptop, IPhone, IPad etc.) are great help to Autism world too. The autistic kids and adults are now able to communicate through typing without looking at the person. It was a great help for them to open up and feel connected. So many apps are also developed for them to learn new skills (Academic, Language, Social etc.).
Examples of such people for whom the world is changed after learning the electronic communication devices are - Peyton Goddard and Carly Fleischmann. After starting communication through these devices, even they were able to tell their experiences they had in their childhood life.
Nothing is perfect in this world. Everything has its uses and misuses like people who have talents and shortcomings both. Same is the case with these electronic devices. It also depends on the people how are they using these devices. And mostly autistic kids are used to do things inappropriately. My son is one in those kids.
I have read few similar stories through blogs, I got to know that I am not alone. Few other parents are also facing the same problem. One example is here - Be A Good Mom (Stims oh boy the stims). I thought that I should also share my story. It's a very long story, so I am writing in parts. -
Before coming to US
My son Tanishk was born in India. When he was a toddler, he was cute and enjoyable kid. He used to cry very little. On his 1st birthday, he was not interested in people but their cell phones. We were very amazed to see that how he has learnt to start music himself. He didn't respond to his name when he was 18 months old, but he used to respond when he hears phone ringing or music on TV. He loved to watch Indian ads on TV and few ads were his favorite ones. He liked to watch Bollywood actors Shahrukh Khan and Urmila Matondkar in ads. We were sure that he doesn't have hearing issues as when the ads started, he was used to come so fast even from another room. But, we were very much concerned that why he is not responding to us.
My husband used to work from home those days. Tanishk was so much fascinated by his laptop like all the kids. He used to press buttons to explore how it works. One day, we saw that he was sitting on the laptop. My husband had to work in closed room and he had to put off the computer when he was not there.
We used to make different sounds and calling him in hope that he will respond to us. But no, he never respond to any noise except TV or phone. He used to respond only one word - "Orange". Orange was his first favorite fruit and still he loves it.
We used to make different sounds and calling him in hope that he will respond to us. But no, he never respond to any noise except TV or phone. He used to respond only one word - "Orange". Orange was his first favorite fruit and still he loves it.
After coming to US
At early age, Tanishk was interested in all the electronic gadgets like all the kids. So, we didn't give much thought about it. We came to US when he was 2 years old. As time passed, Tanishk kept exploring the electronic gadgets. He had learnt how to operate Phone, TV, DVD player, Computer. We were very happy that he used to watch videos and also liked to listen to the music.But problem started when we realize that he wants to watch the particular video / particular part of the video or to listen to the particular song. He wanted to repeat videos and music again & again. We couldn't leave him alone as he kept pressing buttons on the DVD player or computer.
He learnt to operate the computer, and also learnt to start YouTube. Earlier, he was used to ask us for particular video or songs on YouTube. He learnt himself to type and started to watch the videos on YouTube. Once more, we were amazed to see that. He used to listen to appropriate songs. Everything was going fine.
One day, I realized that he has started to stim on the computer too. It happened gradually. He used to enjoy and we were happy that he is enjoying. He started to ask for the computer every time, he gets it when no one is there, he started to play windows media player and see patterns (visual), he started to watch inappropriate (not appropriate for his age) videos, he plays the videos and gets excited (jumps, shakes hands, runs here & there), doesn't want to leave the computer, melt-downs (jumping, banging, stomping) started when computer is taken away.
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