Asperger's syndrome did not stop Manav from excelling in Boards

Manav Bhinder

, who is a

special child

, diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome at 9 years of age was one of the first documented cases in

PGI

and Dr

Prabjyot Malhi

presented a paper on his case. Now, at 18, Manav, a science student, has scored 91.5 in best of four subjects, and 87.5 in best of five in his Class XII board result this year. "He gets extra one hour but still he could not complete his Physics and Chemistry paper and left questions for 20 plus and 15 plus marks. Yet he scored so well though we were expecting over 95%," says

Sharmita Bhinder

, his mother.
However, Manav's journey to this stage has been a tough one. His issues began to surface at four months of age when he had not much movement in the lower area, below the hips, and he never crawled and was not stable till nine months. Initially diagnosed with gross motor slow development a minor squint, doctors advised the parents to wait and watch. "But very early on I realised that Manav has a very high IQ and the tendency to catch things fast," says Sharmita, adding, "My focus was on soft skills, reading, storytelling and alternative healing methods like Homeopathy, and added lot of curricular activities like music, art, karate, dance so that connectivity could be built."
Manav was fascinated by animation and he remembered dialogues and scenes of movies like, 'Lion King', 'Finding Nemo', 'Cars' etc.
"He was stubborn and the school was having trouble though gross motor improved, so he joined

Vivek High

, Chandigarh and the school was really supportive, even though nobody was able to pin point the issues." After a battery of tests, MRI brain scans, audio tests etc., at 9 he was diagnosed with Asperger's.
Asperger's has symptoms like, repetitive behaviour, obsessive interests, and disinterest in normal world and relationships, unable to communicate and lack of emotional connection. "Manav has no friends he had no interest in the outside world. Academics was not issue but friends and communications, following instructions, making school copies was almost impossible. My focus was socialization routine and extra curricular activities. I did not cut him socially, he did get irritated and would have meltdowns in public. But I took him for movie, parties and entertainment, even though it would be difficult, but we carried on."
Socially some friends and people were understanding but at many places he was bullied in school and among friends. The mid school level was emotionally upsetting where he would be ignored and nobody turned up at his birthday, he would not be invited in school breaks and nobody would play with him.
"But we focused on strength building which was his knowledge computers and soon he became popular for projects and was wanted for his knowledge. Counseling and learning special education and reading about cognitive behaviour sciences helped me improve him and myself as well. He began reading and studying the brain a lot as well and trying to find solutions. I moved to higher alternative methods ayurveda Reiki, Pranic healing and spiritual healing. That I felt a lot of windows opened and that is where eye contact concentration as well as energy balance happened."
Manav began participating in many MUNs and won high recommendations and special mentions. In class X, he scored about 75 percent and did not like History. "He wanted to take up sciences and I discouraged him knowing the routine. But he convinced me that in Science his brain works and he will be happy and maybe still get 70-75%. He chose non-medical with Computers and Psychology as additional.
The two years were difficult with anxiety sensory issues and he has the habit of studying between 11 to 3 am, that too while watching videos. I had no choice but to stay up, monitor and accept his way of studying. He would get aggressive, hyper and angry as he could not manage. But slowly I began to accept that he will do things his way and to allow support and be there."
Hereafter, Manav plans to go to Stanford in the US and has begun preparing for SAT and CAT. He wants to pursue animation and wants to study in Japan too.


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