World Autism Awareness Day is on 2 April. Khurshid Guffar spoke to Sheraine Reddy, mother to an autistic child and principal of Incredible Minds.
“Our journey as a family with an autistic daughter has been nothing short of life-changing,” says Sheraine. “At 35, Paris was my “laatlammetjie” so when she was still not talking at age three, I assumed she would when she was ready. Her “tantrums” we put down to the fact that she was the spoilt-rotten last born.”
Paris was diagnosed as autistic with severe mental impairment after her playschool teacher suggested she be assessed.
“Paris had no speech and her tactile sensitivities led to her rejecting both children and adults. She had no means to communicate her needs, her pain or the trauma she experienced from major sensory overload, and this led to violent meltdowns,” explains Sheraine.
“Due to tactile defensiveness, she remained naked for many months and went for 72 hours at a time without sleep.” Paris was then put on medication to help stop her self-injurious behaviour. “We believe that this decision helped her become more self-aware and use what we taught her to self-regulate.”
“And so started our journey of learning how to help our child live her best life. We researched and worked tirelessly at home with her, getting her to trust us enough to eventually engage with us. Seven months later she became the first pupil at the Action in Autism Early Intervention Centre where, under the love and guidance of Kirsten Miller, (author of Children on the Bridge and The Hum of the Sun, both books autism-related) she spoke her first words. The next step was finding school that offered Paris an academic education, which was a challenge!
“In 2014, after many tears and failed attempts at getting people to believe that my child could be taught, my partner Yugen Subraya resigned from the metal industry and homeschooled Paris. Fourteen months later we opened Incredible Minds Adaptive Learning Centre for our child.”
For her eighth birthday, Paris received an art set and canvases from her former teacher Kirsten Miller. “The paintings that followed were nothing short of mind-blowing! She has since had three exhibitions of her artwork at ArtSPACE Durban Gallery. A reporter once said ‘Inspite of her autism…’ but we believe Paris’s autistic brain is what gives her this amazing talent.”
In 2016, at age 10, she was offered a scholarship at a tertiary institution where she is studying Fine Art, Animation and Design. She holds her own artistically and received 3rd place for Animation in 2017 amongst 40 adult students.