TALKING POINT: A special mom's crusade, a cause of motherhood

Greater Noida: Mothers are always special. When a woman enters motherhood, all that she wishes is the well-being and happiness of her child. But, mental, physical and learning disabilities, psychological and developmental issues in a child prove a parenting challenge for any mother.

Parenting has never been an easy task. Being the world’s best jugglers who could manage work, home, kids, family with relative ease, mothers are the best bet to ensure hassle-free parenting. However, all this juggling leaves a woman stressed torn and apart. And if any mother has a special need child, the stress level is bound to increase manifold.

Kreeti Mitra Bhatia, mother of nine-year-old Arnav and founder of the 'Special Mom' strived hard to reach out to the mothers who are undergoing stress as a part-and-parcel of raising a child with special needs. Her son was diagnosed with regressive autism while he was 18 months old.

Special Mom is a women’s club formed in March last to give such mothers time to unwind, take care of themselves, speak up, connect and de-stress. 

Talking to CitySpidey, Kreeti said the motivation to start the club came from two pieces of news she had read. One, a Bangalore mother administered poison to her special need child before drinking it herself. Two, a Hyderabad father moved a court demanding euthanasia for his son. 

Both the news had an immense impact on her life. She kept asking herself what she could do with such mothers who she knew were going through a lot of stress and no matter what others might think, blame themselves for their child’s condition.

“I never lost hope... I knew this is my child... I will do anything for him... Though extra cautious about my second-born, Abhinav, I watched his every step even if it means to enjoy his childhood as an unknown fear kept haunting me,” said Kreeti.

It’s a given that parenting is not an easy task. But when a mother is raising a child with special needs, the level of care that she needs is not just higher, it shifts the foundations of families and adds unimaginable complexities for everyone involved. But transcending all these difficulties is what makes a mother, a special mom.

A piece of advice: Approach a developmental paediatrician if you notice a slightest of discrepancy in your child's growth. Start closely monitoring your child's movements, don't be complacent thinking everything will be alright when he/she grows up. 

What's autism: Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterised by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviours, speech and nonverbal communication. Regressive autism occurs when a child appears to develop typically but then starts to lose speech and social skills, typically between the ages of 15 and 30 months.