When Kabir Singh Suryavanshi was diagnosed with autism at the age of two, doctors told his mother that they should not expect him to learn, as most children do, remembers Molly Sooryavanshi, the day her The son had topped the first class board examination of CBSE Class 10.
On March 12, 2022, when the Central Board of Secondary Education declared its Class 10th Class 1 results, Kabir was among the highest scorers with 96 per cent marks.
He took the exam under the general category and studied at a mainstream school, Ridge Valley. But Kabir’s education journey was supported by a counsellor, therapist and his mother, who gave up his career as a Chartered Accountant (CA) to take care of him. In the process, Mollie educated herself as well and is now an autism specialist and a behavior therapist.
Recalling his journey, he told News18.com, “More than a moment of pride, it is a moment of gratitude for me. I remember being told to give up all hope but how could I? I nurtured hope in my journey with Kabir. I have tried to be result-oriented rather than problem-oriented. I have taken a very clinical approach with them.”
Kabir deals with gross motor issues, had speech delays, his mother said. He also worked with Kabir on developing techniques to help him understand things better, his attachment style, among other behavior patterns.
“It’s important to understand that he’s not doing what he’s doing purposefully and working toward each goal we want to achieve,” Molly said. Kabir’s father heads the dermatology department at Dr Reddy’s.
Kabir also says that it was the mantra taught by his mother, “Keep calm, work hard”, that helped him during his exams. Whereas it was difficult for them to navigate through the changed pattern as CBSE conducted Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs). For the first time in a )-style test, Kabir says that he went into the exam hall with the idea of focusing only on things whose answers he knew as stress can easily affect his performance.
Kabir said that while he was expecting a good score, he did not expect to top his school and was certainly not among the top scorers of the board.
Teens still face problems in socialization, and communication, among other behavioral issues. He also told News18.com that he could not sit and study for long hours like most of his peers and instead took breaks after every two hours.
“I tried to practice as much as I could to familiarize myself with the exam pattern. I took mock papers before the exam and during the last few days focused on the areas where I was lagging,” said Kabir, who is now preparing for the Term 2 test, which will start from April 26.
Confident to clear class 10th with good marks, Kabir aims to pursue class 11th and 12th with Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Economics, Computer Science and English as subjects. However, he is yet to decide which course to pursue in the college. , “There are so many things I can do”, he said.
He says the journey started earlier for him than his peers because he had to focus on behavior and communication skills before going to school. Talking about his family, Kabir said, it was “difficult for all of us”. He says that he has had to change schools several times. Kabir is a native of Bhubaneswar, but had moved to Mumbai in 2008 for better treatment. The family shifted to Gurugram in 2013 and Kabir has been at Ridge Valley School since then, which he says is the longest he has spent in any school. He also has a younger sister.
“I worked very hard but I could achieve it with my luck and the determination of my parents,” he said.
Kabir advised his colleagues to keep it simple, study properly, do homework and work hard. “Practicals are easy marks and can help one to score high marks but do not focus much on practical exams like theory exams,” he said.
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