IT was a few years ago when Suresh Unnikrishnan realised something was amiss about his son, Lohitth Suresh Nair.
At three years old, Lohitth thumped his head on the ground, scratched his arms and threw tantrums whenever he was by himself.
“We’d hold onto him tightly so that he wouldn’t hurt himself. It didn’t occur to us that these were signs of autism,” Suresh told theSun.
Little was done by teachers when he was enrolled into a kindergarten at four.
Suresh recounted the times when Lohitth would just stare blankly when he was told to pick up his toys at home.
“He would be looking directly at me but he would stare into space. There was very little reaction
from him. Being the youngest of three children, he’s quieter in class. It came to a point we felt that he had not shown much progress even though the teachers had given us monthly report cards saying that he had improved,” said Suresh.
However, at a meeting, the teachers admitted that he had not progressed much.
“I was surprised and asked: ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’”
Lohitth was then referred to a doctor, who said he was a slow learner and Suresh was given a referral letter for Lohitth to be assessed by a professional.
That was in 2018. And at four years old, Lohitth’s parents were finally told he was autistic.
“We were sad and depressed that he wasn’t fully normal, unlike our two older children. But we needed to do something.
“We started to learn as much as possible about autism and were encouraged to enrol him in a National Autism Society of Malaysia (Nasom) centre in Gombak,” he said.
Lohitth was put in the care of a therapist, who worked for two years on extending his attention span and improving eye contact.
Soon, Lohitth learned to look people in the eye and even started to play with children who were
not autistic.
At seven years old today, Lohitth’s battles are far from over. But Suresh said he has made significant progress.
In the years since his son was diagnosed as requiring special needs, Suresh has become Nasom’s assistant honorary secretary.
“The thing that will ensure the child follows their growth track is for the parents to work closely with the teachers. We shared how he is at home and using that knowledge, the teachers were able to work with him,” he said.
Since then, Lohitth’s achievements have been progressing remarkably well.
Autism advocate Judy Chong agreed with Suresh and stressed that parents need to be equipped with the right knowledge.
“They may join programmes that advocate and support parents,”
she said.
Single parent Nur Adibah Mohd Sayuti, 39, expressed hope that parents with autistic children would connect with the right support groups.
“As parents, we need to equip ourselves with knowledge to help our children grow.”
As the world celebrated World Autism Awareness Day on April 2, which was also Lohitth’s birthday, it is hoped that his story would encourage other parents to seek early intervention for their autistic children.
