In layman's terms, autism means “I want to be alone, in my own world”. Children with this condition, whether high functioning or low functioning, feel happy being by themselves. They make a cocoon around themselves and do not want to come out of it. That is their comfort zone.
Fun all the way
In order to help them come out of their “comfort zone” and expose them as much as possible to the outside world and people around them, Kilikili, Bubbles Centre for Autism and Aata Odanata joined together to organise a Fun Day at the Gayatri Devi Park recently, on the eve of World Autism Awareness Day.
In all, 60 children with autism, other kids, their families and volunteers spent three hours at the park engaging in a variety of fun activities.
The children began the day with free play at a play space made disabled-friendly by the BBMP along with Kilikili, where they played on the safe swings, slides, merry-go-round and basket ball. In Keeping with the Cricket World Cup mania that was on during the period, they also played mini cricket, football and skittles. Later they painted pots and banners.
Kavitha Krishnamurthy of Kilikili said that children were also given the opportunity to perform a few de-stressing physical activities which they hardly get to do otherwise. The circle time allowed them to twist and twirl their bodies, while the drum circle simply made them beat drums at the loudest possible decibels.
Making different sounds to different rhythms, action songs and the 180 people forming a train and moving around the park space, making sounds of the animals they saw along the way.
Play time
Visnu said, “I liked all the games. I bowled and batted and played football with Abhay. I liked the O when the giraffe song and also the drum circle.” Atmaja said that she liked the cotton candy, popcorn, biscuit and juice that were offered to her during the breaks.
According to Parvathy of Bubbles Centre for Autism, the hardest thing for a parent of a child with autism is to “believe” — believe that there will be a day when their child will be independent, and take a few steps to interact with others. “At this event, we saw the “baby steps” they took towards interaction and play (sometimes with help and sometimes on their own). It was so touching and heartening, that I am sure all the parents left with the thought, ‘Yes, my child can',” she added.
