Giving the pottery edge to autistic children to aid focus

: When eight-year-old Srivats, an autistic child, could not sustain his focus on anything, -symbolised by a flung ball and strewn books- his parents though worried, were optimistic.

Apart from regular therapies, they decided to try out something new to help their son sustain his attention and that was when they heard of pottery.

"To make him sit for 45 minutes and execute 'pitting', which involved rotating clay, was certainly an uphill task. But gradually through hand-building exercises in pottery, he has improved," says Veena Srivat's mother.

In the beginning, though Srivats enjoyed pottery as clay is cool to feel and touch, he continued to be restless and had always wanted to go home no sooner than the class commenced.

"Lack of attention, poor eye-hand co-ordination and repetitiveness are among the challenges faced by autistic children," says Dr Sankar T S R Mohanaselvan, who treats autistic children.

Asked how Srivats has improved, his teacher Malini says she used to ask him to "count just 20 and make 20 small balls of clay."