Usaid

by Fatima Shaikh

I am the mother of a lovely 12-year old boy, Usaid. He was diagnosed with Autism when he was 3 1/2 years old. We went through all the regular denials, nightmares, helplessness, and frustrations that all parents of newly diagnosed ASD children go through. As his language started developing with speech therapy, we discovered he was advanced at reading and high-functioning, and so he got admission in mainstream school. The school was very cooperative, and academics were never an issue; but his tantrums, perseveration, and behaviors were becoming huge problems in school. Every day from the time I would drop him off at school until I picked him up, I would be looking at the phone as if it were a sword hanging over my head. Each time the phone rang my heart would miss a few beats. I would dread the calls from school telling me they could not handle his tantrum and requesting me to come to school as soon as possible. This had become a routine at least 2-3 times a week and has been going on for the last 8 years.

In August 2011 I came to know about Simply Smarter online from a friend. I decided to try it for Usaid. I was not very sure if this would work when nothing else had worked for the last 8 years. But I started noticing the positive changes in him from the 2nd week. He was speaking in sentences, had lots of spontaneous speech, started asking a lot of questions and initiating discussions and JOKING too! His violent tantrums at home, which had been a daily affair, were reduced to once a week. By the 3rd week I was convinced that all these changes had to be due to Simply Smarter and there could not be so many coincidences.

I decided to go in for the Targeted Developmental Intervention program for him at NACD. By the next week I had set up an appointment with Prachi Sinha in Gurgaon, India. Prachi set up a very detailed and impressive program for him. (Prachi Sinha is no longer associated with NACD.)

In the following 2 months the changes in my child have been immense. His TANTRUMS have completely gone. PERSEVERATIONS are gone. He has become much more social and friendly. As his digits in sequential processing went on increasing every week, so did his awareness of people, their feelings, his surroundings, and his logical reasoning, understanding and thinking skills.

We are currently in the 3rd week of the TSI program, and his sound sensitivity to noises has reduced considerably, and his listening skills have also improved a great deal.

In the last 2 months I have not received any phone calls from his school. In fact it has been the other way round. I have approached his teachers to ask if there are any issues and they have said–NONE! He has started helping me in household chores and has become much more independent in his skills at school. If 2 1/2 months of NACD has bought such huge changes in my child, then my heart sings and wants to believe that my son will be SYMPTOM FREE very soon!!

Thank you Bob, Prachi & NACD!!!

Regards,
Fatima

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 24 No. 5 2011 ©NACD