Comments on: Rajarshi "Tito" Mukhopadhyay

By: stacey

stacey — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:51:58 +0000

Rachel, To get a message to Tito you can send an email to HALO(Helping Autism through Learning & Outreach)Soma’s clinic in Austin,TX and it will be forwarded on to Tito.

information@halo-soma.org

By: Rachel Eversole

Rachel Eversole — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:46:38 +0000

I teach students with autism and they have read Tito's latest book: How can I talk if my lips don't move? They are very interested in writing him a letter but, I am having a hard time finding a way to contact him. If anyone can help with this it would be greatly appreciated

Rachel

By: stacey

stacey — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:00:53 +0000

If you bother to read what Tito himself has said about his mothers discipline you’d have a better perspective. As for left or right hand.Soma sits to the right and initially encourages her students (tito being her first one)to use their right hand to respond independently.It has nothing to do with their indian culture.If you study RPM,the method Soma created to teach Tito,you would understand that she is activating the left brain by sitting to the right side and using that as a channel for learning/communication.to learn more about rpm, http://www.halo-soma.org

By: Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay

Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay — Thu, 17 May 2007 02:28:37 +0000

I am Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay.

Mother spanked me, Loved me, Educated me. I have no problem with that. Why and why and why, I wonder Others feel so bad?

I am proud that parents in India, when I grew up, had the freedom to raise their children without any fear of criticisms. Mother remains my teacher and friend. And I am proud the way mother raised me. I 'fondly' remember every moment of her pains by which she educated me and spanked me. She never thought that I was a 'delicate darling', too fragile to survive, just like the way any child grew up in India, when I grew up. Mother taught me Calculus, Game theory, History, Geography, Chemistry and every possible subject children my age learnt. She is my critique when I write. I was not accepted in any school. She took pains to read and understand Spinoza and Saussure because I wanted to learn Philosophy.

And would I endorse spanking? Of course, if the parent judges it. A child's future is a parent's responsibility. The easy part is to criticise.

Regards to one and all... Tito Rajarshi Mukhopadhyay

By: Ballastexistenz

Ballastexistenz — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 08:07:43 +0000

Before you criticize autistic people for criticizing beatings and food deprivation, you might want to try our shoes. We are the people who have experienced all of those sorts of things and worse, and it is always uniquely justified when it happens to us somehow, because of what our very existence is said to drive those around us to doing. I mean, think about it, if you were the one being hit, would you want it excused as "we can't judge the people who are hitting you?"

By: hotyogini

hotyogini — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 19:06:15 +0000

I have read Tito’s book Beyond the Silence and found it exceptionally moving. As for the mother’s methods, before being critical of her, one has to be in the shoes of the parent(s) before judging.

On a personal note, close friends of mine have autistic twins and its just heartbreaking to witness the kind of things they have to go through on a daily basis and how bravely they combat them. For those in and around Toronto, I encourage you to check this out:

http://www.taaproject.com/

By: Sandy

Sandy — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 06:49:18 +0000

Several people have mentioned the reasons for lefty people being forced by their parents to use their right hand for certain activities. Even though this prejudice existed all over the world since ancient times, my observation has been that it is very widely prevalent in middle class, mainstream Indian families… something I have only rarely observed in the mainstream american families. Here I am talking about current times – say 1960 onwards.

By: Pardesi Gori

Pardesi Gori — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 00:31:46 +0000

I do know of someone who was forced to convert from being a leftie, through humuliation and beating. sometimes, this can cause stammering to emerge. The practise is based in stark ignorance of how the brain functions and is detrimental to the growth of the child, in areas of speech.

Sumiti,

I've known quite a few stammerers and they say they stammer or stammered in the past because of issues with parental rejection in early childhood. I guess if one's mom or dad is forcing one to use the right instead of left hand, the child could take that as some sort of "rejection" of who they are and maybe that is why they stammer?

But I know several kids who were trained to use their right over left hand early in life and they don't think anything of it, nor do they have stammering or other issues.

So maybe it's the WAY in which the kid is trained?

By: musical

musical — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 00:31:03 +0000

Kassiane and Natalia, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I am glad you emphasize that people who have autism also want companions, friends and interaction.

Withholding food and tying a pencil to a kid's hand is flat out wrong,

so true. There is nothing better than being oneself to help a child communicate. Use whatever technique for teaching, but forcing is never good.

and whats the meaning of 'normal' anyway.....as i always think, every brain is different.

By: Mr Kobayashi

Mr Kobayashi — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 00:30:09 +0000

I’m an autistic person. Not Asperger’s. Not particularly high functioning. I run a blog and a website, am a competitive gymnast, and hated the Mark Haddon book because it was built on STEREOTYPES. Kind of like a lot of the discussion in this blog thread. And RainMan.

Fantastic. Thanks for your comment, Kassiane, it’s a real eye-opener.

And I welcome fellow cranky people. Makes me feel I’m not alone.