Children of Rainbow colors

The las time I watched a rainbow was one year ago on a cloudy afternoon. There is something special about a rainbow, as it appears occasionally and  short lived.  One can rarely see the entire arc of the rainbow in the sky. Sometimes all the colours cannot be distinctly visible. It captures one's attention and is a visual treat.

I watched this and took photographs after finishing a series of consultation with children and families. One story that I heard from a family was how the family spent five years struggling to help their son who was autistic in behavior. The breakthrough came, when they realized that his screaming and what they thought were 'tantrums' happened to be sensitivity to loud sounds. Since then, they kept the TV at a low volume, protected him with ear plugs while traveling, and encouraged him to use ear phones while listening to music. There was substantial recovery and even attempt to listen and respond to speech sounds after this. When they came to visit , he has been undergoing auditory training to overcome this hypersensitivity. The family narrated apologetically how they misinterpreted their child's irritable behavior. 

As we came out together outside the hospital reception, they spotted this rainbow in the sky, which their son watched intently and shouted, clearly,'Rainbow'. The family was astonished by this. I had always believed that children with autistic behaviour do process language, but may not be verbal. For him to have recognized it as a rainbow, which is a rare sight, he would have retained the memory of a picture he had seen in one of his kindergarten alphabet books. He associated it promptly.

It was a turning point in my own understanding of children with autistic behavior. If we can introduce them to different experiences, they would retain the memory, which would be a foundation for language development. Children with autistic behaviour are sometimes referred to as children of 'rainbow colours' as they have range of abilities, even exceptional,  which are nascent, and not expressed. Their abilities get expressed sporadically and unexpectedly just as it is with the spotting of a rainbow at unexpected times. 

One insight I carry after thirty five years of experience of relating to children with special needs, is that every child can surprise us at any time however developmentally challenged he or she may be. Therefore, give them opportunities.

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)