Captain Norbert F. Rebello’s just released book ‘Autism: A Guide for Parents’, stems from his own personal experience of parenting an autistic child coupled with years of research
KALYANI JHA | NT KURIOCITY
Captain Norbert F. Rebello’s son was diagnosed with autism at the age of five after many delays. “At that time there were not many centres to check on children with developmental issues,” he recalls.
Along his parenting journey, he realised that neurodivergent kids are often misunderstood. This led Rebello, who has a Masters in Psychology and Counselling to found The Healing Centre, Margao, which provides early intervention to children with developmental issues.
“I didn’t want other parents to suffer because their child didn’t get the necessary therapy and backing on time,” he says. The centre, which began operations in 2023, provides a number of services like speech therapy, special education, occupational therapy, child counselling, behaviour therapy, and paediatric assessment.
To further aid parents in understanding their child, Rebello has now come up with a book ‘Autism: A Guide for Parents’.
“Each child is different. They behave and react differently. Some have issues with speech, others with motor skills or behaviour. The way to handle them is just to love them,” explains the seafarer. However, he states, most parents want to hide these children as they don’t know what to do with them. “I realised that if parents are aware of how their children think, it will be easier for them to handle their child. So I thought of writing a book that they can refer to in times of need,” says Rebello, who as part of his book research consulted with doctors and therapists. In fact the book took three years to come together. “The book will help parents to aid their child to have a normal life and be independent,” says the author, who emphasises that early intervention and acceptance is important in parenting autistic children.
“We all expect our child to be normal. When they start missing milestones, it’s easy to ignore and not pay attention and excuse it on premature delivery or anything else,” he says, adding that detection takes time. “The neuroplasty in a person is between zero to four years. After four years, it’s very difficult for that to change. So early intervention is necessary. The earlier a child misses a milestone, the earlier it can be detected and the earlier it can be brought to mainstream therapies.”
He admits that it can be very challenging for parents to accept that their child is neurodivergent, but ignoring it will only make it more difficult.
Sharing more about the components of his book, Rebello states that the first part focuses on autism and ways to help the child. The second part focuses on other mental health problems, and the therapies required. “The third part looks at other significant health issues and mental health issues, which could happen to anyone. It can be depression or substance abuse,” he says.
Rebello has been doing outreach with regards to autism awareness in small towns but states that no one wants to come for these. “People ask me what difference will coming for these sessions make. But knowledge is important. If they are aware about autism, they can help other parents realise that something could be wrong with their child,” he says.
