Paras became a part of Ashadeep Day Care & Rehabilitation Centre on 27th April, 2015 at the age of 18 years. Second child to a family of 4, Paras has been diagnosed with Moderate Intellectual Disability with Autism that includes chief observations of global developmental delay, impaired socialization, stereotyped behavior and seizures.

Understanding the realities of Intellectual Disability and Autism, Paras parents immediately enrolled him in special school whereby his occupational therapy and speech therapy was started. Though his self-help skills were moderate, his speech was highly limited. He was able to speak a word or two, but couldn’t continue further, and neither could he initiate conversations. In Ashadeep, Paras all-round behavioral enhancement was focused, and with continual assessment and planning, focused objectives were set and worked upon. Academically, he can put in effort to read in a slow pace and is also able to calculate with the help of a calculator, and though his concepts of time and money aren’t refined, he is able to identify the two accurately. In terms of music, he has been able to sing the basic musical notes and that comes to his parents as a source of immense joy.The turning point came when Paras was inducted in Job oriented computer training program at Ashadeep in March 2016.Very quickly he learnt Ms Paint. When the teachers told his parents about the development, they did not believe it.However after seeing Paras typing letters in a laptop they could not hide their happiness and the very next day they bought a laptop for Paras.

Now Paras is working hard to complete his training thus his sense of joy and the cheer of his laugh keeps the candle of hope burning- for him, his parents and also for Ashadeep.

Rima Doley was admitted to Ashadeep Day Care & Rehabilitation Centre on 7th August, 2012. The only child of her parents, she was diagnosed as having Severe Intellectual Disability with Down’s Syndrome.

When Rima dances, her ecstasy will probably not reveal any of her daily fights or that of her parents. She was born through normal vaginal delivery and there were no prenatal or postnatal complications. Early motor milestones of head control, sitting and standing were on time, but walking was delayed. And though she started babbling on time, her speech was unclear. Her parents enrolled her in a regular school at the age of 5 years, but as gradually the severity of her problems came into light and the diagnosis revealed, she was enrolled to special school.

At the time of admission, Rima was moderately able to take care of herself but was often negligent about them, and similar was her case of communicating with or responding to others. So along with scholastic focuses, the socialization aspects were also roped in- beginning from initiating greetings and responding to them, to expressing needs and engaging in social conversations. Positive reinforcement schedule in terms of verbal praise was used to enhance her self-care habits, with continuous training in the same. She was taught the academic ideas of language (English and Assamese) and mathematics, as well as involved in drama to augment facial and verbal expression. Rima has a challenge in speaking with clarity, therefore speech therapy through music classes were introduced whereby she was trained to repeatedly practice various phonemes and musical notes Her love however resides in dance, and she never holds back from enjoying every beat of the music or song she is dancing to.

Rima often requires verbal prompts to go ahead and participate, but once in the game, she never gives up. For her parents, she is the one their world revolves around. There are days when her mood swings give them the tough calls, but it is her very existence that brings in the sunshine to their lives.

Another truly inspiring story is that of Rohan Ho who became a part of Ashadeep Day Rehabilitation Centre in 2012 at the age of 12 years. Rohan was diagnosed with Moderate Intellectual Disability with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Though his self-help skills were moderate, his speech was highly limited. He was able to utter one or two sounds but couldn’t continue further, and neither could he initiate conversations, Rohan’s all-round behavioral enhancement was focused, and with continual assessment and planning, focused objectives were set and worked upon. It was seen that Rohan was a born sports man and was addicted to it. In fact, his behavioral problems were reduced to a great extent through sports. His journey in the field of competitive sports started with his inclusion in Special Olympics Bharat where he was given training in various sports to further enhance his skills. From that point he had won numerous medals in state and national level. Recently his talent was noticed by
everyone at Special Olympics‘s National Football championship where he had taken his team Assam to first position by striking some key goals.

Rohan Ho being felicitated by Hon’ble CM of Assam Shri Sarbananda Sonowal

However with so much talent and dreams Rohan was a victim of abuse and stigma from the society. The turning point came when Rohan was a part of Indian subcontinent in World Winter Games 2017 of Special Olympics at Austria. On 25th March 2017, he along with his team won a gold medal in Floor Ball for India by defeating China. Now, Rohan with his gold medal has become an inspiration for individuals like him thus keeping the candle of hope burning- for him, his parents and also for Ashadeep.