Special Children Testimonials

Physician: Dr Praful Barvalia  |  Special educator: Mrs Sudha Shetty, Deepa

DIAGNOSIS : Severe autism with moderate mental retardation

Mother’s Speech:

 “ Jinay was premature & there was a delay of all his milestones, he never responded when we used to call him by name & never gave an eye to eye contact. He was quite restless & always crying & shrieking. He will go on repeating a meaningless word. He was violent”

“I had lot of difficulties in bringing him.  We had taken him to Ali yavar Jung institute.  Over there they diagnosed him to be suffering from autism spectrum disorder & moderate mental retardation.”

“We were extremely upset. Therapies & whatever other things we could do was not helping. People from Ali Yaver Jung institute referred us to M.B.Barvalia foundation. Within one year, we could see a tremendous change. His speech improved & restlessness reduced by almost 90%, his bladder/bowel control has also improved substantially.”

“Over a period of time, he has become quite comfortable & has been receiving good vocational training.”

“5 years back I lost my husband, the school helped me immensely. In fact, I would say: 

tum hi ho mata, pita tum hi ho, tum hi ho bandhu, sakha tum hi ho !

तुम्हीहोमाता, पितातुम्हीहो, तुमीहोबंधु, सखा तुम्हीहो!

Thank you so much to this institute for making our life comfortable “

Physician: Dr. Praful Barvalia & Dr. Rahul Suryavanshi
DIAGNOSIS: Autism with Mental Retardation

English rendering of Parents sharing in Marathi “When we first came for treatment of our son ARYAN, he was into himself. He will not answer our call. Or not he would sit at one place. He used to go from here to there. We always had to keep watch. He used to bable the words at random and used to drag us to give him things like cloth toys. He was 3 year old but couldn’t tell about urine and stool . Food items would directly take food or be used to drag us toward food. He was very possessive for his things . Had habit of constantly keeping hands over eyes and covering ears, was afraid of loud noise like whistle, cracker was afraid of height.He used to get angry when not allowed to run in house toy is kept away from him or when forced to stay at one place and then he would hit himself or bite himself in fit of anger. He also had a habit of flapping and rolling his hands, used to rotate things kept around on table, was very restless so we were scared to take him anywhere. He had also the habit of touching private parts, used to scream suddenly, repeating the words when spoken to him without looking at the person. When we visited Spandan, he was evaluated by Clinical psychologist and Homoeopathic Doctors Dr. Nitin, Dr. Nrupen & Dr.Rahul, And all details we told them all details. After evaluation Dr. Nitin & Dr.Rahul guided us about our role during Aryans treatment. Dr. Nrupen told us that his behavioral problems like eye closing, ear covering & touching of private parts are due to sensory processing problems. We were told to regularly give follow up for homoeopathic treatment and start occupational therapy as well as speech therapy. After starting Homoeopathic treatment we saw rapid improvement in his hyperactivity in his fear of noise. Within a six month we could see his eye contact, mixing with others improving and he started responding to people, responding to questions. He became independent for the toilet, his flapping spinning reduced. His anger lessened and self-biting and hitting reduced significantly. Now he is going to regular school. Sits for the studies on his own. answers to teachers more confidently. Mixes well with peers. Has won certificates in drawing competition,coloring also got one medal in fancy dress competition. There has been no violent behavior since last one year. No genital handling for one and a half years. Now our occupational therapist has suggested we stop coming. We feel that without the help of Spandans Doctors we couldn’t have this change.

Physician: Dr. Praful Barvalia & Dr. Rahul Suryavanshi

DIAGNOSIS: Spastic CP Quadriplegia With Delayed Development

Testimony by parents: English rendering of Parents sharing in Hindi, “When we came to SPANDAN to start Homoeopathic treatment for our son, he was late in all his milestones, we were already going under occupational therapy & speech therapy. In spite of all therapies going on regularly our son was not even able to hold his neck, He constantly requires support, He could not sit on his own, could not stand even with support, there was severe squint in his eyes, he used to constantly drool saliva & we had to wipe it now and then. All his muscles were stiff & hard, due to this movement of hand/legs were improper, even if we tried to make him stand by holding he was unable to stand properly & if we tried to make him walk, he would walk criss crossed what doctors called scissor pattern. He used to suffer from recurrent cold & cough. He was very cranky & irritable. As he could not tell what he wanted he used to pull hair of himself or bystander in frustration. He was very demanding & obstinate for his wants. He was very weak at birth with weight being 1.2 kg & also did not cry at that time, he also had convulsion when he was around 2 & ½ yrs age. At SPANDAN, Dr. Nrupen Bhutkar & Dr.Rahul Suryavanshi sir examined him & asked details about his milestones, his daily activities/habits/nature etc. They then asked us to do psychological evaluation before starting homoeopathy medicine. After the evaluation we met Dr. Praful Barvalia Sir, he also examined our son & started homoeopathic medicine & told us to maintain regular follow ups with Dr.Nrupen & Dr.Rahul sir. We were advised to continue occupational therapy & speech therapy regularly. After a couple of months of start of Homoeopathic treatment, we noticed significant relief in his cold & cough frequency as well as almost 40 % reduction in his anger pattern, he stopped pulling hairs, he also was less obstinate. After 6 month of Hom. Treatment he could speak words though slowly, his head holding became good & could sit with support, Also his saliva drooling reduced as well. He could wipe his saliva & used to ask for a handkerchief. His nature improved & started mixing very well with all family members esp. his grandpa. After a year of homoeopathic treatment, our son is now able to sit on his own, He can walk with support, There is no salivation, His squint has reduced 40 to 50%. He has developed liking for travelling by car, He eats on his own with spoon, As he doesn’t get cranky or irritable our occupation therapist can take longer therapist & we have now started dental treatment for root canal of his carries, we have also started physiotherapy for his hip & knee stiffness on advice of Dr.Rahul & Dr.Nrupen sir. SPANDAN’s Orthopedic surgeon after examining his hip & knees, has told us to carry on with homoeopathy & therapies as he won’t need surgery at present considering his progress. We are very happy to see our child is slowly becoming independent as well as being developed as nice child who can socialize with other kids, can go to garden, & gives flying kisses to known person showing his affection. I sure that with ongoing homoeopathic treatment & guidance at SPANDAN our child will develop new abilities ”

Physician: Dr. Praful Barvalia & Dr. Piyush Oza

DIAGNOSIS: Moderate Autism with moderate Mental retardation

English rendering of Fathers sharing in Hindi: When Nikita was in Spain, she was not talking at all. If somebody teaches her any word, say hello she will keep repeating the word hello. Once we took her out for diwali function, whomever we met, she would say to them today is diwali – today is Diwali. So she repeated almost 100 times. She would believe that the entire year is diwali. No meaning full talk at all. She was extremely hyperactive. To give you an example of her restlessness, I will share this incident. Once in Spain, she came with me to the shop. On that day, I had no assistant and there were many clients who had come to shop. Within 2 minutes, I do not know till now, how she ran away. I had to leave the shop to get her back. This took 30 minutes. I’m staying in Spain. I had put her in normal school. They taught 3 languages. She did not understand any of the languages .We speak Hindi at home. She was interested in Hindi and music. My wife consulted some people and decided to take her to India, because even after spending 6 years in normal school in spain Nikita did not show any sign of the improvement. School people told me that you can continue in the school but I thought it’s a question of her entire life. So finally I made a decision, let us go to India and let us try. I had gone to Hinduja and other neurologists, but no help. I came to know about Dr. Praful Barvalia and the spandan organization. I consulted him, started his treatment. I decided to stay in India with her, while my wife stayed back in Spain to look after others. Now she is here for more than 2 years. Nikita’s restlessness and mischief has stopped. Now she has become quiet and she does not disturb any one . I travel from Kalyan to Ghatkopar and bring her to Spandan. She is quite cooperative. Earlier while travelling, she used to be extremely restless. She will not allow anyone to sit. she will say get up –get up. This was the situation when she came from spain to India. Now she is so quiet and mature, does not disturb any one, will quietly stand in the compartment and never say get up to any one. These are some plus points. In fact now she has entered social life. She watches television, understands programs, she will properly switch on and off television. She listens to music. She wakes up in the morning in time and she goes to sleep in time. She follows a proper routine. She can clearly say A to Z and 1 to 10. She is much better and I am very happy. She does not scream, she does not yell and she will relate to you properly. I will share a recent experience, we were waiting on the platform for the train. I fell asleep. When the train was coming, a gentleman sitting next to me woke me up. I woke up with anxiety that Nikita might have ran away. But to my utter surprise, she was quietly sitting.

Physician: Dr. Praful Barvalia | Occupational Therapist: Khyati

DIAGNOSIS: Moderate, Mild Mental retardation

Achievements: In 3 years his core autistic features reduced by 90% he has achieved brilliance awards & certificates from the mainstream school. CARS score reduced to 19 from 34 I.Q. jumped to 111 from 60 in 5 years He has cleared the S S C exam. Excerpts from Father’s Interview(video): “When he was 2½ years old, he was diagnosed as Autistic. He was hyperactive. He would not look nor respond when spoken to. I met Dr. Barvalia and spoke to him about this problem. He said that he would have to be diagnosed in the Foundation. A Psychologist diagnosed his problem as Pronounced Autistic. In fifteen days of starting the medication his hyperactivity went down and he started reacting, addressing, reacting to certain commands/inputs. That was a very crucial time, a very happy moment as he was reacting now. Medicines were working on him. His eye contact also improved as the medication started. As far as we are concerned, Dr. Barvalia is God for us. He was able to diagnose him properly. In fact, his mother went to J. J. Hospital for IQ test, where he was found to be pronounced mentally retarded. That was the shocking moment at that time for me. Over a period of two years, he has improved like anything. I can!t say that he was the same child as he was two years back. Earlier, a famous paediatrician of big Hospital, in the report said the child is Autistic. Then we went to the same doctor in January, this year and she could not believe her eyes nor her ears. She was absolutely stunned to see the improvement and remarked that Suraj was the first child with so many changes, with so much improvement and I believe Dr. Praful Barvalia has had a very major part to play in this improvement which S has made. We are thankful for the cooperation and the sensibility the Foundation has shown for Suraj. Also Suraj had many fears. He had fear of height and darkness. He was hypersensitive. All these things have reduced to almost NIL. Now he is not afraid of heights. Now, if he goes to the Park, he can play with all kinds of ladders and behaves as normal. In school, his teachers are telling him that he is almost normal. He has almost lost his autism and here also, Dr. Vijaya has told the same thing. We are quite happy about it. Once upon a time, Suraj used to speak one or two words and he used to show by gestures, whatever he wanted. Now, we are able to speak to him and understand everything. 95% of the time, he can answer. He has become humorous. He can play games, even naughty games. Verbally, he can communicate things and now he can almost communicate everything, whatever his feelings are, whatever he is thinking, whatever his actions are. All these things he can communicate. At home, tremendous changes have taken place. Interacting with me, his mother, his grandparents, his cousin sisters. He loves people. He wants everybody to be in his house. Now he can feel these emotional things which were not there before. If his cousin’s sister comes home, he does not go away. He wants her to stay so that he can play with her. He hugs and kisses her. This interaction he never had before. There was a time when he was aloof. If the person says “Hi”, he would not look at him. Now, he talks to everybody. He will go and say “Hi, how are you?” and his name, which school he is going to. He started going to normal school in Junior K.G., last year. During that period, what happened, he had a training session (swimming lesson). They used to tie him and push him in the pool. He was happy to go to the school and used to love it. After that, when they pushed him to the pool, he started getting scared of it. He took a very long time to get out of that fear. We spoke to the School Administration and we told them that he is refusing to go to school because of the swimming lesson. So they gave permission not to go to Swimming Pool. Now he is promoted to Sr. K. G. and happily goes to school. Now he has lots of friends. He is very happy. There are certain small things which are lacking and I believe that it will become normal. Grandfather and he are very good friends now.”

Physician: Dr. Praful Barvalia | Special Educator: Mrs. Sudha Shetty & Deepa

DIAGNOSIS: Severe autism with moderate mental retardation

Mother’s Speech:

“There were constant fights in the house because of this child many times. I thought why I did give birth to this child? Good thing we did was, I came to India & I came to this school. Inputs Stalin received in this school helped him immensely. His hyperactivity really reduced, he started speaking in 6 months. For 7 year he was not saying anything. 50% Features came to normal in 2 years. “When Stalin was around 2 years old I could find some abnormal behavior in him: like crying without reason, very very hyper, screaming, cranky etc. Since Stalin was not speaking, I went to Doctor to know why he is not talking and why this abnormal behavior which has also come side by side like he was not looking in to eyes & playing with same toy again & again. He was also very very hyperactive.” “we were at Kuwait. My husband worked in the private firm. My elder son went abroad for higher studies. I was not happy with whatever treatment & therapy Stalin was receiving in Kuwait. Hence we decided to come to India for better treatment. My husband stayed back in Kuwait for his work. I came here with my daughter & Stalin.” “I met Dr Praful Barvalia. He was very kind. Initially I was to stay here and then I decided to remain here it’s 7 years now. Now Stalin is much better; he relates well with everyone. This school has given me a lot of things. Homeopathic treatment has helped him a lot. Sometime back sad event happened & Stalin lost his father. This had deep impact on him, he had withdrawn in shell. I went to Dr. Praful Barvalia. He could understand Stalin’s grief. He counseled all of us on how to deal with it. His wonderful homeopathic medicines brought him out of this painful phase. I am extremely happy with M. B. Barvalia foundation’ s child care centre & spandan hospital. We go regularly to hospital for regular homoeopathic treatment and periodic evaluation.” “I am happy to coordinate between parents & teachers in the school. Based on my experience, I help all the parents to handle their children. This is the only school which gives a lot of importance to parents and involves them in the functioning of the school too.”

Physician: Dr. Praful Barvalia & Dr. Piyush Oza | Clinical Psychologist: Miss Vinita Aggarval

DIAGNOSIS: Severe autism with moderate mental retardation

Master F C, Male, 9 years and 6 months, belonging to Roman Catholic family, consulted us on 27.4.07. He was referred by the parents of an autistic child. He was specifically referred for extreme hyperactive behavior. When he came in he was unmanageably restless. He just could not sit at one place even for a second and kept jumping. He was extremely destructive, irritable with self-injurious behaviour. He would bite himself, throw objects, and hit his own head with his hands. When stopped from doing something, he would tear things. He kept pulling his hair and struck himself on the wall. He had poor eye contact, no socialization, no speech and minimal non-verbal communication with his mother. He didn’t mix with peers at all. He also showed sensory disturbances like fear of noise, lightening, crackers, darkness etc. On being scared he would cling to those nearby. He loved to write and would calm down on being given a pen and a paper. He could draw very well with his memory. He sketched various logos like ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ (TV serial) very well just from his memory. Patients also had complaints of recurrent upper respiratory tract infection. During pregnancy, the mother used to remain tense and anxious due to her husband’s alcohol habit. She had a feeling that her husband didn’t like her. Her delivery was a full-term caesarean section. After birth, the child had normal developmental milestones until 1 ½ year of age. Mother felt the possibility of regression of speech and mental milestones after vaccination. Autistic savant: This boy had a gifted ability to sketch. He would draw figures, logos of different brands without seeing them, just from his memory. He would go on writing and drawing and almost went into a frenzy. He can only be calmed if he was allowed to write or draw and he went on filling pages after pages. He also liked music and liked to play the piano. On investigating his BERA, EEG and Karyotype were found to be normal. On evaluation by Clinical Psychologist, THE CHILDHOOD AUTISM RATING SCALE (CARS) was found to be 32 which showed mild Autism. AUTISM TREATMENT EVALUATION CHECKLIST (ATEC) was 73. AUTISTIC HYPERACTIVITY SCORE WAS 52. VINELAND SOCIAL MATURITY SCALE (V.S.M.S.) was 60-65 which showed Mild retardation in Social Functioning. Based on his history and totality of symptoms, indicated Homoeopathic remedy was administered. Within 1 month after medicine, he started showing improvement in Self injurious behavior and hyperactivity. These were reduced by 40-50%. He started visiting a school for Autistic children. Parents reported that he was very cooperative with the teacher and adjusted well to the new environment. This was most unusual as earlier he would get very disturbed in a new environment. His concentration improved and he could attend to tabletop activities on one to one basis with his teacher. He also started responding to commands. He made an effort to communicate. He dragged people to the things he wanted. He could sit in one place. Shrieking and jumping reduced. He started repeating words. Within 6 months of treatment, child showed significant improvement in Hyperactivity. Shrieking and self-injurious behaviour totally disappeared. Violence, tearing things totally stopped. His sensory disturbances like Fear noise and clinging reduced considerably. He started following commands. Father remarked that “earlier was very restless in church and created a ruckus when they took him for mass, now he knows that he has to maintain discipline. He is able to attend mass and sit peacefully for 3-4 hours. More than us parents, its others who have been telling us that they see a remarkable change in the child.”

Physician: Dr. Praful Barvalia | Educator: Mrs. Ajanta Iyer

DIAGNOSIS: Cerebral Palsy with Mild Mental Retardation

BEHAVIOUR: She was very friendly, talkative and with an open nature which endeared her to everyone. Her personal behaviour was often not socially appropriate in initial years in our school. She has gradually overcome this and her personal behavior is acceptable now. PHYSICAL ABILITIES: She had a very unsteady gait and would lose her balance and fall every half an hour. She had to wear a jacket with sandbags to prevent injuries. With great difficulty she could get up on her own which was part of her therapy. Someone had to help her while moving from one class to another. She would try her best to follow the exercise-yoga (standing and sitting) but could not do so. She could not play ball games or even simple games. She would only watch. This continued for two years and she lost interest in even watching others play. She remained seated in her class. She had a mild attack of fits between and was hospitalized. She is better after the treatment. After 2 years of treatment, she started taking an interest in at least watching the games, dance, rehearsals etc. Her gait had improved and she wouldn’t fall down. She could climb steps- one foot at a time. Initially, she did not want or try climbing steps, but later started doing so. Later she started doing exercises in yoga/PT with her classmates as per her capacity. She also participates in simple sports activities. She can now hold and throw a large ball. Her gait is still unsteady but she is able to walk faster now. EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES: Her MUSICAL skills are the best. She can sing very well and participated in group songs for the first time in the Annual Function. She also participated in a Dance Competition in the same year. Since 201, she has been singing solo. Since the last four years she also has been participating in dance performances as per her capacity. EDUCATION (READING): From simple alphabets, she can now read full paragraphs. This has been a very big task for her because of her perception problems. She was unable to understand the space between letters, words, end of the sentence to the next sentence, left to right page and from one page to the next. Initially, she had to be finger prompted with each letter, word, sentence. Later, she learnt to read by pointing with her own finger and with the help of the teacher. Now she is 80 % independent in her reading. WRITING: Due to a perception problem, she has taken a very long time to write in an appropriate manner. This is also because of her weak muscle tone. Earlier, she would write three alphabets all over the page without any semblance of order. Gradually, she started with 3-4 letter words in the same manner. From 2008 till date she has slowly but steadily improved her writing, spacing, size of letters, small and capital letters, without any help writes in a straight line with proper spacing and writes the second line after leaving 2 lines. There is uniformity in her writing now and WITHOUT ANY HELP. ART: Earlier, she was only scribbling, in 3 years, she has gradually learnt to colour easily within a given picture. She can now join dots and draw a picture. She can stick pictures but not on the appropriate shapes. She can do simple folds and make simple paper objects like a boat, fish, cup etc. MEMORY: Short term and long term memory is fairly good. She remembers events which have occurred and can relate them. RECEPTIVE/EXPRESSIVE Language is fairly good. She now answers questions to the point. She always takes a very keen interest in the regular class/ lessons unlike five years back when she used to lose interest very quickly and fall asleep. She takes interest in household work and cooking. She is fairly independent in her grooming/ADL skills. Since the last three years, she has developed skills in painting Diyas, making rachis, torans and threading beads with help. She takes a keen interest in all extra-curricular activities. She is very well mannered, wishes guests when they come, offers a chair to them and speaks to visitors. ACADEMICALLY, in the last five years, she has made tremendous improvement in spite of her physical challenges. She has successfully passed PRATHAM OPEN SCHOOL EXAMS with good grades in APRIL 2013. She is currently preparing for her last two papers in NIOS Xth BOARD EXAMS after passing in three papers. She has made teaching such a challenge and pleasure. Wishing her the very best in all her future endeavours. COMMENTS: She requires adequate therapy/exercise at home on a regular basis. She requires tutoring on a one-to-one basis. She also got good exposure to vocational. She sings fluently. She has been encouraged for music which helped to overcome behavioural issues. She passed the pratham based exam and finally, cleared SSC through NIOS.

Physician: Dr. Praful Barvalia | Educator: Mrs. Ratnamal & Mrs. Ajanta Iyer

DIAGNOSIS: Mild mental Retardation with epilepsy, other neurological problems and behavioural Issues

English rendering of Fathers sharing in Marathi KEDAR TIRAVDEKAR, quite young, shy, the child came to us with epilepsy, other neurological problems with Mild Mental Retardation, Hyperactivity and scholastic backwardness. He could not continue in various schools and finally came to Spandan at the age of 11. He was quite an insecure, shy and awkward child lacking in confidence. He opened up with the help of Homoeopathy. Within 1 year, we saw a tremendous change in behavior and communication. Attention span improved. His speech was unclear and has problems articulating clearly, Stress and intonation patterns were lacking in his speech. Now, his speech/language has improved substantially. Father said “In childhood, he was hospitalized for several days and was in bad shape for months together. Finally, we consulted Dr Praful Barvalia at SPANDAN and from day one with the healing touch of Spandan he started getting transformed. After two years he participated in stage function.” “He successfully passed S.S.C. and then did MSCIT where he obtained 75% marks!. This was out of our imagination. Now he has joined Ratnam College. Dr. Praful Barvalia was a god sent to us. Ratnamala teacher and Ajanta mam have helped a lot” After two years of basic training in all academic subjects, he successfully passed PRATHAM OPEN SCHOOL’S LEVEL A & BOARD EXAMS (equivalent to Std.VI) in April 2013. He has now successfully passed in NIOS Xth BOARD EXAMS in April 2015, within a span of two years preparation which is a very good achievement. He is doing well in SYJC. He has enrolled for graduation for YCMOU. Considering the poor socio-economic class of the family, the entire teaching was subsidized by M.B.Barvalia Foundation.

Mother’s Speech:

“My son Krupakar Mani Kashyap was born in 1987. Right from the beginning, he was very cranky and he used to get frequent attacks of cold and cough.

At the age of 3½ when he was put in Junior K.G. in Pune, I found that his understanding of power and pick up was very slow. He was extremely Hyperactive with very poor attention span. I brought this to the knowledge of our family Doctor. She recommended we visit M. B. Barvalia Foundation for opinion stating that Homoeopathy helps a lot for the children for physical and psychological problems. After making a thorough analysis Dr P. M. Barvalia and his team explained that he is a slow learner and he also has behavioural problem known as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Within six months of homoeopathic treatment, Krupakar’s physical problem of frequent asthmatic attacks and his hyperactivity reduced a lot. He was recommended for occupational therapy. Krupakar was a repeater in I to III std. In Spite of explaining his problems and integrated treatment at the Foundation, the School pressurized us to remove the child from the school. With the help of Dr Praful Barvalia, he got admission in another School in Mumbai. Here we got very good cooperation from the Headmistress and the teachers. He had to discontinue the school after passing VI std., and then we took admission in Barvalia Foundation’s Slow Learner’s School.

I took voluntary retirement from my Bank job in December 2000 and I also joined the foundation as an honorary teacher, teaching Economics for the children.

Many times when we lose our heart, out of frustration and grief, we always get Dr Barvalia’s supportive hand to us like a friend, philosopher and guide. Krupakar also had 100% hopes in his treatment.

Krupakar has passed S.S.C. in National Institute of Open School (NIOS), New Delhi with 50% with Science, Maths, Economics, Home Science, English and Word processing. Now he has joined SITI, Pune for Diploma in Automobile Engineering Refrigeration and Air Conditioning. He has registered for Higher Secondary from NIOS.

I really thank all teachers, Doctors and therapists who gave their helping hand for the upliftment of Krupakar.

I am really thankful and appreciate the work of the Barvalia Foundation’s team who always encourage not only children but also parents like us. I am giving my opinion in the capacity of a parent as well as a teacher. I am very happy to announce that our Foundation has produced many successful candidates who have passed S.S.C. Apart from this, it has channelized many special children to normal routine school after giving treatment.

Thank you very much for all that you have done for my child.”

Mother’s Speech:

“My son Neil has had a lot of problems since childhood. He was tremendously restless and would keep running in the house. He would not look us in the eye when we tried to speak to him nor did he show any interest in any conversation or any type of communication. He would only repeat words that he heard from others or keep on repeating the same word again and again. At times he would have episodes of intense fear. He had such intense fear of noise that he would force us to close all the doors and windows and remain inside the house. We were not able to enroll him in any school. He was diagnosed to be Autistic and we started his therapy, which he received regularly. Even then, to our despair, he did not show significant improvement.

We consulted the doctors at the Spandan and also saw their advanced school for Autistic children. We were impressed by their multidisciplinary approach and decided to keep Neil at his Nani’s (Maternal GrandMother) place at Ghatkopar in order to enroll him in the school. In school, he received multidisciplinary care. He would stay there 5 days a week and stay with us on the weekends.

Now his hyperactivity has reduced significantly. He has started giving good eye contact when he is spoken to. His speech has improved and his fear of noise has gone down to a great extent. He participated in the school’s annual functions without any problems. With an improvement in his condition, he was transferred to the school for slow learners and even further we have now been able to integrate him in normal mainstream school. We could have never even dreamt that he would make such progress. He is still receiving homeopathic medicines and benefiting from them.”

Master Hardik consulted us in the early nineties. He was a spastic child and slow learner. His parents faced a lot of difficulties in giving him a mainstream school education. We started with homoeopathy and neurodevelopment therapy. He started improving but no one accepted him in a mainstream school despite our best efforts. Hence, he spent his initial years with us and he was given all special inputs by our multidisciplinary team.Then, He did his 5th, 6th and 7th from north Mumbai welfare society. After that he did his SSC and HSC through NIOS. Later, he did courses in computer applications. Now he is well settled working in one organization as office assistant.He projected his pillar of strength to Dr PMB and with the same motivation and strength he said, “I will do all my best to compete”. He was felicitated by the chief guest.

Nidhi faced severe educational problems in her school. She also had extremely poor self confidence and severe emotional disturbance. She was a highly fearful child who would easily give in to tears. She hardly had any friends in school. Her advocate father and educated sister attempted to help her, but finally she was removed from her school due to repeated failures.

She was referred to our institute for her problem. When she visited our centre with her parents, she witnessed some disabled children in the waiting room. She got terribly scared and ran away from the place. She simply refused to be brought back to the centre. Parents could not find a suitable school for a whole year and she remained at home. After receiving strong references from some acquaintances, they approached us again. She was examined by our panel and was diagnosed as a slow learner. We started with homoeopathic treatment and counseling. She was admitted to our special school for slow learners. We also worked to build her personality and self esteem. Gradually, she started improving in all aspects. She confidently performed on stage in front of an audience of 500 people. An emotional father who could never have imagined such a day in his daughter’s life was in tears.

Nidhi also showed a lot of progress in her education. She has appeared for her SSC through NIOS and has passed out with flying colours. Nidhi today is not only a better student but a more mature, confident and emotionally stronger person.

Ajay was brought to Spandan 10 years ago as a school drop-out. He was rejected from many institutes and parents were running from pillars to post in order to enroll their son in a school. Finally, they came to Spandan and Spandan’s special school looked after Ajay well. After 6 years of intensive multidisciplinary inputs, Ajay cleared his S.S.C. through N.I.O.S. and took up a Vocational Course. Today, Ajay is a sports teacher as well as computer teacher, not only at our school, but also at other schools. Ajay prepared a wonderful 6 minutes’ movie about his alma mater. He worked hard day and night for 3 weeks and prepared the movie, displaying the past and present of M.B.Barvalia Founation’s Holistic Child Care Centre and Special School. Everyone was amazed to see the Movie and applauded his efforts. He is a role model for our existing students. He is an example of strength, patience, hard work and faith in oneself.

Miss Ishita came to us in 2000 with significant scholastic backwardness. After a repeated failure in her mainstream school, teachers and principal insisted on drastic steps. Her distressed parents approached us. They were counseled and the behavior, attitude, and academic difficulties of the child were tackled through a holistic approach. Ishita received homoeopathic medicines, counseling, remedial teaching. Earlier, Ishita’s future seemed bleak. After a few ups and downs, there was a significant change. Gradually students started covering milestones. She has cleared her S.S.C. She possesses tremendous artistic talent which was always encouraged. Now that she has shown such improvement, it is possible to see a ray of hope for her. Currently, she is at Bangalore shaping her career in mass media. She hopes to be a journalist.

Baby S was born into an extremely poor family of a schizophrenic mother and an alcoholic father who had attempted suicide. The mother abandoned her child on the 10th day after birth so it was her even poorer grandparents in Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar, who brought her up. Some years later her grandmother died suddenly of cardiac arrest. These extremely traumatic experiences from such an early stage of childhood lead to severe autism and profound retardation. After 3 years of treatment with Spandan, Baby S is able to lead a comfortable life. She even performed at a cultural show, for a large audience of about 500 people.

Sathwik is an extraordinary child who has all the features of autism but proves the fact that an autistic child is not disabled. Although he has no speech and makes no eye contact, he has certain unusual abilities. He is able to comprehend complex passages within a few seconds ranging from the Upanishads and epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata to passages by John Milton and cartoons by R.K. Laxman. He shows mathematical understanding without being taught. He displays fine gross motor skills and can skate and bicycle on his own. He even received a national award from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. 

Child with Dyslexia:

Rahul faced great difficulty with his education and his parents were unable to understand his failure in exams despite being an intelligent boy. He looked emotionally disturbed and was a restless and impulsive child. Once he even chopped off his eyebrow and hid in the water tank. He was given psychological help with counseling and remedial education, which did not prove beneficial and he was removed from his school. Rahul’s parents then brought him to Spandan where he was diagnosed with dyslexia and it was found that he was emotionally disturbed due to familial conflicts. He was admitted to the special learner’s school and given homeopathic treatment. He improved considerably in his behaviour as well as proved himself academically by clearing the SSC exams

Sushmita: Living in the Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar slum area, she was referred to Spandan by a family friend. She was a hyperactive child and would not follow commands. Her father, a police constable, works in shifts and had enormous difficulty managing his child. He spent sleepless nights and once, out of sheer frustration, he almost threw his child down from their terrace. Sushmita’s mother had an extremely difficult time managing her husband and child. After visiting the Barvalia foundation, Sushmita has become less hyperactive and irritable and has even started speaking. She does not display any signs of behavioural disorder any longer.

Anish was referred to Spandan as a 3-year-old child with complaints of delayed speech and poor socialization skills. He did not have a spontaneous speech but he was able to repeat advertisements when he saw them on television. He did not understand simple commands and had poor eye-to-eye contact. He had a habit of lining up things in a row and pushing them around like a train. These were some of the typical behavioural characteristics of autism that had been diagnosed by Hinduja Hospital. At Spandan he was treated with occupational therapy, psychotherapy and homeopathic medication. Within a year of treatment, he showed improvement in communication skills and understanding and reduction in irritability. After a further treatment period of 9 months, he tested as non-autistic in a CARS test. He has been able to score 80% marks in the 3rd standard at Powai English High School.

Aarti is a 5th standard student who was thought to be very restless. She was really talkative and she could not concentrate on any work but now she is a little bit quiet. Initially, her basic mathematical skills were very poor and she always made a mistake. After treatment she has become less talkative, is better at solving simple math problems and can read and write well. She has shown considerable overall improvement.

At 12 years of age, Rakesh was referred to Spandan by his school teacher for exhibiting abusive and anti-social behaviour. Rakesh had a squint in both eyes, he was obstinate, difficult to manage, aggressive, and often got embroiled in fights for which he landed up in jail three times. He was also afraid of ghosts and the dark, harboured a marked fear of rejection, and often expressed guilt and dejection. Rakesh was diagnosed with depressive symptoms coupled with behavioural problems. 

Channelling Spandan’s characteristic multidisciplinary management techniques, Rakesh was administered homeopathic medicine and given individual counselling, behavioural modification therapy, social skills training, and alternate modes of education. His parents were also counselled. 

Rakesh also underwent the anger management protocol, followed by counselling sessions targeted towards the development of self-esteem. Through the course of these various therapies, Rakesh’s aggressive and violent tendencies have reduced drastically, and he channels his physical energy into more productive avenues. He’s doing better at his studies, participates in school sports, and even helps his mother with housework. He won second prize at a debate competition in school. He has also started earning and contributing to family finances and plans to pursue higher education.