Navi Mumbai: For all practical purposes, Ayush Nandy was a regular two-year-old: he would cheerfully run around, and had just begun to speak. All of a sudden, though, he stopped speaking and turned restless. This alarmed his parents, and after a series of tests, he was identified as autistic. The next major challenge was sending Ayush to school. Although a regular school assured him help with a special instructor, things did not go as planned. That is when a friend referred Ayush’s parents to the La Casa School at Belpaur village. Today, eight-year-old Ayush has shown some improvement: he has started speaking a little.
Second home
Ayush is among the 10 children at La Casa — The School for Autism and Special Needs, which Sheena Rath began in 2009. La Casa, in Spanish, means the home, and Ms. Rath has dedicated her life to helping children with special needs live a fuller life.
The school was the result of Ms. Rath’s experience. “When my only child, Rahul, was diagnosed with autism, I was shocked and uncertain about the future.” Like any other mother, Ms. Rath wanted to help her child, and that lead her to courses in special education. At the same time, she wished to help other children and parents in a similar situation who did not know what to do.
‘A sanctuary’
La Casa aims to create a sanctuary for the emotional, social, and psychological growth of children who are differently-abled. With support from her husband, she funds the school, and has two special educators, a therapist and eight volunteers who help educate and nurture the special children. Apart from basic academic training depending on the child’s ability, the volunteers use occupational therapy, music therapy, gardening, art and craft activities.
But beyond teaching, Ms. Rath believes it is important to create awareness on autism, as inclusion and acceptance are still a challenge. Further, it is still not easy to find special educators in the regular school set-up: “Very few choose special education as a career.”
Every month, La Casa conducts a newspaper drive, wherein volunteers collect newspapers from homes in a pre-decided locality, and use them for art and craft. Through this, the volunteers also educate the residents on autism. Besides this, La Casa conducts art exhibitions every quarter. “Art is something our children relate to. Every piece displayed during the exhibition has the touch of a special child,” says Ms. Rath. The funds raised are used for the school. Ms. Rath had even conducted a food festival February, wherein volunteers and well-wishers brought home-cooked food and spoke to visitors about autism. “The turnout was good. More than that, we are happy we could reach out to more people,” she says.
Her experience of working with autistic children has taught her that she must never give up; opportunities will always open up. And when she sees the slightest hint of growth in them, it gives her the greatest satisfaction. Recently, when she went back to class after a two-day gap, one of the children she has been working with signalled to her to close the door and sat in his chair; a way to tell her to take the class. For a child with autism to communicate in this way is no mean achievement. The children, she says, “are just waiting for you to enter into their world.”
