Schools for autistic kids in Bangalore

Recently, I have had a couple of requests from readers of this blog for info regarding schools for autistic kids in Bangalore. This is such a co-incidence mostly because for the past few months, I have had an opportunity to meet and interact with a few autistic kids, and the experience has been quite touching, to say the least!

So, when I got the request for special schools, I set out on this task of finding the most recommended school for special kids, here in Bangalore. I discovered that Academy for Severe Handicap and Autism or ASHA for short, comes with very good recommendation. One of the special education teachers that I know speaks very highly of this school and its founder, Ms. Jayashree Ramesh. And when I spoke with KPAMRC*, they too recommended ASHA highly.

1) Academy for Severe Handicap and Autism (ASHA)
L-76/A, (Opposite to L-50) Kirloskar colony,
HBCS 3rd Stage, 4th Block, Basaveswarnagar,
Bangalore - 560079

Phone: +91 80 23225279 / 23230357
Fax: +91 80 22258103
Email: info@ashaforautism.com


On talking to the nice people at ASHA, I have 2 more special schools for autistic kids, recommended by the people at ASHA.

2) Sunshine Autism Trust
280, 6th Cross, Domlur Layout,
Bangalore - 560071

Phone: +91 80 65360892
Email: rao_vanitha@yahoo.com, Sunshineautism@vsnl.net


3) Apoorva Centre for Autism
c/o Lions Club of Sarakki,
21st main, 1st cross, Marenahalli,
J P Nagar Phase-2,
Bangalore - 560078

Phone: +91 80 65710445 / 9243195154 / 9845076140
Email: apoorva@SAIautismcenter.org

If any of you know of other good special schools, please email me or leave info in the comments section and I will add it to this post. I do not want to add schools that I get off of the Internet to this list. If you have a personal recommendation, that will be wonderful. Thanks!

* KPAMRC (Karnataka Parents’ Association for Mentally Retarded Citizens)
Phone: + 91 80 26564608
Email: jpkpamrc@vsnl.net

R2I - Together time

Since R2Iing, my husband and I have been able to get some time to ourselves, here in Bangalore. In the US, after the arrival of our second one, we hardly got any time for ourselves. It was one chore after another. I had my hands way too full. And I didn't feel comfortable hiring baby sitters for the kids just so that hub and I could step out. That meant that we had to take the kids along wherever we went, and can you imagine the torment that was for the two of us and the kids! Sigh! It was alright when it was just one child, we did manage to get away on road trips, and even on a cruise once. But, with the second one coming into the household, it was almost impossible for the two of us to actually have time for ourselves. If the kids were older, I am sure any of our wonderful bay area neighbors would have been glad to keep the kids for a while when we stepped out. But, the kids were young and we were really not sure if they would have been on their own with anybody else. But here, things are quite different. Since we have my parents near by, and since they are ever so willing to watch the kids, it is so easy to get a little 'together time'. A dinner or a drive or even a movie together! Especially a dinner, it was such a joke trying to step out with the 2 young'uns. It was so much of work to get the kids fed, that we would hardly even be left with an appetite.

Yesterday, for instance, I decided to go, meet my husband at the end of his work day. His office is half way across town. Given that we have a driver now, (I had mentioned here about hiring one) I did not have to worry about getting to the place in peak traffic. Mid-way, it began to rain. And boy, what a downpour that was!? Nothing was even visible and the roads were almost flooded. See pic below to get an idea.
But, I had no worry in the world. The kids were home with my parents and the wheel was in the driver's hands. All I had to do was sit back and enjoy the rains! Such carefree joy! And then, when I met my hub, we went out to this nice Italian place that my husband has been insisting on taking me to. This restaurant, 'Little Italy', was really nice. And through the entire dinner, I was neither worried nor feeling obligated about the kids being with my parents! Here's a pic of the dessert, only because it was lovely!

Brownie, Vanilla ice cream, with sizzling hot chocolate sauce. Who knew brownie was available in India?!

It is also this same 'together time' that we enjoyed in the initial years of our marriage in Calif .... that which I will always cherish. Those were some of the best years of our lives, with travels, on-the-spur-of-the-moment road trips, drives, movies, dinners etc., and to get some of that back is wonderful! Yes, the traffic is crazy, the place ... noisy, and yes the roads have tons of potholes, but if you do get a little time to yourselves with a dash of romance, the rest shouldn't matter too much. ;) What say?

PS: To my readers who are looking for core R2I info, those posts are coming as well! :)