Dear parents, my name is Geeta Asnani. I am the mother of Prateek Asnani, who is an ex-student of Suniye. I would like to share my personal experiences with you about my son’s upbringing. When Prateek was 6 months old, he was first diagnosed with hearing loss. The doctors informed us that he suffers from profound hearing loss in both the ears. It was a huge shock for our family and it took us nearly 3 months to recover from it. By then, we had realised that therapy was the only solution to make Prateek’s life better. After a while, we came to know about the Ali Yavar Jung Institute where I took him for therapy. During the sessions, we met several existing students of Suniye like Vijay, Sonia and Cheenu. Suniye was the brainchild of Parvathi ma’am. These students were undergoing therapy as well as attending normal schools. We met their parents and took their suggestions and guidance so that we could lead our son along the same path.
Everyone we met, the doctors, audiologists and therapists recommended that we talk to our kid frequently the whole day and communicate in one language only with him. Keeping his future in mind, we decided on the English language for Prateek. However, a major issue was the fact we are living in Delhi where everyone speaks mainly in Hindi. My English was not that good either but we were determined to teach Prateek how to speak and write in English. After witnessing the encouraging progress of the students such as Vijay, Sonia and Cheenu, we decided to join Suniye. At that time, Suniye was in its early stages made up of parents like us. We met several people such as Sachdeva ma’am and Doctor Ved, whose suggestions were extremely useful.
Whenever I felt depressed, I used to visit Suniye to attend their meetings where I would get helpful and good suggestions every time from Parvathi ma’am. She was an extremely positive person who always had a smile on her face. I had always kept in mind that my son should always get the best of everything, hence I started working with him from very first day. I specifically told my all family members to speak only in English with Prateek. In the beginning, the atmosphere
felt artificial and alien as everyone struggled to speak in English with him but slowly, they all adapted and soon we all became comfortable conversing in English.
But speaking only English is not enough. We wanted him to master the language as well. We took the help of one excellent speech therapist named Mr Raghunath who did therapy for 6 months with Prateek and at the same time, taught us how to develop his speech and listening skills. Once his therapy ended for the day, we would carry on the work with Prateek in developing his skills. We were extremely dedicated to the task and often spent hours late into the night teaching him. We did not look back even once and we only looked forward to the future. Our aim was that we should put him in a normal school at the right age of 3-4 years along with all the other kids. We did not want our son to face any hiccups or delay in his education.
When we finally achieved that target, my expectations grew higher and higher. I and my husband Yuvraj did our best with him and he was also a highly cooperative child. He made us proud when he topped the 10th CBSE Board exams with 91% overall in the Special Category. It was an extremely proud moment for me.
After his 10th, we were confused about his subjects. He finally chose Science over Commerce and Humanities. Initially, he faced a lot of problems due to the tough nature of the subjects but with the help of school teachers and post school tuition, he scored well in the 12th CBSE Boards. After that, he cleared AIEEE and gained admission in NSIT, one of the premier engineering colleges in India. He completed his Mechanical Engineering degree within 4 years and worked at a consultancy firm for a few months while preparing for CAT on the side.
Now he is pursuing his MBA from Delhi University, South Campus where he has just completed his first year. Last but not the least, I wish my son plenty of good luck for his future. A piece of advice to all my Suniye friends, is that I request you to work really hard with your kids. Because the day is not far where your kids shall make you proud.
