When Varun taught his daughter, Riya, how to bike, he placed his foot on her back tire to keep her from rolling away too soon.
Unsatisfied with the lack of movement, Riya turned to her father and said, “Keep your feet to yourself.”
All Varun and his wife, Shweta, could do was look at each other and laugh.
“Her tone was so passive-aggressive,” laughed Shweta.
“It made us so happy.”
“We didn’t see any of this attitude and communication before we joined Pacekids. All these things give us a lot of happiness.”
Riya was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in 2023 and spent some time bouncing between different daycares and community schools.
“It was pretty bad,” said Shweta. “Every single day there was a complaint about Riya.”
This all changed once Shweta and Varun found Pacekids, and Riya was paired with her caring classroom therapeutic aide, Rizwana.
“I would give Riya choices and make her feel loved and cared for,” said Rizwana. “I also modeled positive behaviors and praised Riya for following those.”
“Riya brought tons of energy along with her every day and passed it on, not only to her peers, but to the adults working with her.”
Given the individualized support and resources to find her unique learning style, Riya committed to every learning opportunity.
This is when Riya found her voice.
“We started noticing that she could say so many words,” said Shweta. “Sometimes we had to tell her to slow down – the whole day she kept on talking.”
Now Riya enjoys learning to read and write, holding conversations with her grandparents, and giving her father earfuls of attitude.
“Riya is so confident, she is so sassy, she can speak for herself, and even ridicule me at times,” laughed Varun. “That’s really a nice thing to see.”
