Our Story

  

Background

Our son, Sathi, was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at 2.5 years old.
At 18 months, he went into a rapid regression of attention, verbal communication, and social interaction. It was devastating for my husband and family. As his Mum and his primary caregiver, I too felt distraught, devastated and devoid of hope. Our many dreams seemed insignificant and all we had dreamt for him: his future, his sterling achievements and the numerous activities we had imagined for him not only in our heads but in our heart of hearts, crumbled, collapsed and were crushed in a matter of months.

 

Acceptance

But looking at him, our world, our love, our everything, we realized we could not stay in our state of self- pity.                                                                                   

Our son not only needed us. We needed him now more than ever.
He taught us to see the world around us anew.
He taught us his languages of love.
Our child is still the beautiful gift we had yearned for and we are blessed with.
As such, we reshaped the dreams we held for him and now directed by his needs, inspired by his necessitates, and motivated by other parents in a similar situation, we have chartered a new direction.
Not only for him but for all of us.

 

The Journey

So What’s next, you may ask?
Well, in a word, we see our purpose as a journey of celebrating his and other children’s AUTISM universe.

We sought advice from therapists, enrolled him in numerous therapies and engaged Early Intervention Teachers for more perspectives so we could do more for him, for ourselves and for those in autism families.

We shared, we solved, we cried, we laughed, we celebrated each and every little achievement; we began to model his intervention Teachers and with their professional advice and appropriate equipment, we started to appreciate Sakthi’s beauty, honesty and genuinity. The him who had been shielded from us by his spectrum. The real him. We were re-introduced to our beloved child for who he is. Slowly, step-by-step, but surely.

We transformed our home into a suitable home, into an autism friendly, parent-helpful, autism-family appropriate home.
Soon every one of his screams was recognized as his plea for engagement, his acts of non-compliance a yearning to be communicated with, his meltdowns an opportunity for a reassessment. This was only possible because we had knowledge of, access to and usage of the appropriate tools, strategies, and equipment.
We’ve as such come to appreciate that
LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL AS IT IS.
We just could not acknowledge it as we were trapped by our limitations. Not his.

 

Reaching out

I still recall my frustrations when hunting for the professionally crafted tools to soothe his sensory needs as well as feed his academic needs. However, we were stunned to only locate overpriced special needs items or having to jump from one website to another without any meaningful purchase. It was also not only heart-breaking, financially draining but also simply took too much of my precious time away from our son.

It was then that I decided that I needed to be part of the answer and not just accept the problem.
I set up my own online one-stop resource and store.
Here at iGavel, parents will find a sympathetic ear, have access to resources and be able find what their special people need. In one convenient, cost-conscious, compassionate community. 

Our store is a conversation in progress as we realize that we need to engage in on-going discussions with teachers, therapists, and observations from parents in various autism groups.
We have sourced, checked, and consolidated products that we found success with our loved ones with ASD.
Some of the products listed here are not conventionally approved for Autism.
But as a mum of a child with special, specific needs, I have become mighty creative with mainstream products to adapt to my son’s needs.

Below is a link of some of my “Work with Mum” sessions with my son using some of these products.

https://www.facebook.com/AutismCelebration


We will continue to review our suppliers to supply you with quality services and products.

At the same time, we will add on new products that are useful in our beautiful world of AUTISM.

Let’s celebrate AUTISM!
Cheers!

TC.