DR RADICA MAHASE
Jivan Chaitoo is already making his mark on this world. Last month, he received an award for personal achievement at the Autism Superhero Awards 2021 organised by Support Autism T&T.
He is a well-rounded, eight-year-old boy who embraces life, has a passion for learning and enjoys participating in a variety of activities. Chaitoo loves outdoor adventurous sports; plays cricket and football and loves outdoor activities like flying a kite, picnic at the park, hiking, camping or simply just exercising on the cricket fields. He excels at swimming and dancing and he loves to garden.
He also likes magic tricks; spending time with his cousins (who adore him) and playing board games. He reads extensively and loves to bake cookies and cupcakes, play board games and to watch sci-fi shows and those about wild and dangerous animals. He spends time taking care of his pet dog and birds and wants be a vet when he grows up, so he can help animals and make people happy.
Chaitoo is a standard one pupil at Cunjal Government Primary School, Barrackpore. The road to getting him enrolled into a primary school was not exactly an easy one.
His father, Joel, noted, “We visited two schools without him and in both cases the principals were not aware of what autism spectrum disorder entailed. We were turned away without them seeing or evaluating our child.
"Today, he is an exceptional reader at school and progressing great with online classes and is currently at the top of his class.”
Like many other children on the autism spectrum, Chaitoo faced various challenges. He was very sensitive to long-sleeved clothing and to touching his head and hair. In social situations, when he was with children, he would tend to play by himself or with the older children or the adults. Sometimes, he would get angry and emotional. He dislikes loud noises and loud speaking.
[caption id="attachment_937272" align="alignnone" width="642"] Jivan Chaitoo was diagnosed with autism at age three. - Courtesy Joel Chaitoo[/caption]
Today, he struggles with communication. Owing to covid19, he cannot interact physically and play with his classmates, which makes it even more difficult for him to develop his communication skills.
One of his bigger problems is getting people to understand him when he is trying to explain things. Sometimes he has trouble with using proper sentences to articulate a point.
Also, the fact that many people do not understand autism and the challenges associated with it makes different situations difficult for Chaitoo.
These challenges haven’t stopped Chaitoo from developing his talents and from participating in a wide range of activities. He spends most of his time drawing flags and researching the countries and their territories, and wants to travel the world one day. He plays the piano and listens to all types of music in his spare time. Chaitoo recently completed an online tech camp course where he learned to build websites and design apps and he is now enrolled in Microsoft Word and Excel courses.
