RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Rais­ing chil­dren is de­scribed as life’s most pro­found joy, yet for Sheri Boodram, it has been an in­tense­ly tu­mul­tuous but re­ward­ing jour­ney, nav­i­gat­ing moth­er­hood with her three sons, two of whom are on the autism spec­trum. 

In an in­ter­view with the Sun­day Guardian, Boodram shared the achieve­ments and chal­lenges she has faced, as well as the lessons she has learned from her in­spir­ing jour­ney. 

She said each of her sons—Vishal, 17, Bee­sham, 15, and Rand­heer, eight—has taught her the pow­er of pa­tience, per­se­ver­ance, and pos­i­tiv­i­ty.

“They have giv­en me con­fi­dence and im­pe­tus to go on, es­pe­cial­ly on dif­fi­cult days,” Boodram re­vealed.

For Boodram, each day be­gins be­fore dawn, as she ris­es at 4 am to pre­pare her chil­dren for school. 

With her sons at­tend­ing dif­fer­ent schools in dif­fer­ent di­rec­tions, Boodram tack­les the morn­ing rou­tine with ef­fi­cien­cy, en­sur­ing that break­fasts are cooked, lunch­es packed, and bags ready be­fore head­ing out to her job as a clerk with the Min­istry of Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment and Rur­al De­vel­op­ment.

“I have trained them to eat the same thing. I make one meal, and they all eat the same thing. I have a rou­tine, and I try to fol­low it, but it does not al­ways go as planned,” Boodram said. 

Her sup­port base, in­clu­sive of her par­ents and in-laws, helps her en­sure that the fam­i­ly is well tak­en care of. How­ev­er, Boodram said she has learned over the years to ig­nore those with ill in­tent.

“Some peo­ple who heard that my sons are on the autism spec­trum have told me to put them in a home. I ig­nored that be­cause I knew my chil­dren would strive if I gave them the love and sup­port they need,” she said. As her chil­dren grow and be­come more in­de­pen­dent, Boodram sees the re­wards of her sac­ri­fice.

“They are achiev­ing every mile­stone that we have set. I am hap­py and proud of all of them, and now they are old enough to help me get things done,” she ex­plained. Each son has spe­cial and unique qual­i­ties.

“Bhee­sham ra­di­ates a unique kind of pa­tience and dili­gence. He will cook, clean, and take care of every­thing. He is re­al­ly in­de­pen­dent,” Boodram shared proud­ly. The el­dest, Vishal, has helped her nav­i­gate tough de­ci­sion-mak­ing.

“Vishal has taught me to make tough de­ci­sions even when I am sec­ond-guess­ing my­self. He is re­al­ly strong, and through every storm, I am thank­ful for his ad­vice,” she said. The youngest, Rand­heer, is the light in the fam­i­ly.

“He has taught me the hap­pi­ness of liv­ing in the mo­ment,” she re­flect­ed. Rand­heer at­tends the Mo­hess Road Hin­du School, and Boodram said he loves to chat and share his views.

“He re­al­ly can­not stop talk­ing. He chats all the time, and even though he is on the spec­trum, it helps that he is in a pub­lic school in­ter­act­ing with oth­er chil­dren all the time,” she said. Each day, Boodram and her sons em­brace their strug­gles with grat­i­tude and de­ter­mi­na­tion, cher­ish­ing the spe­cial mo­ments and over­com­ing the hur­dles with re­silience.

“Be­ing a par­ent brings ful­fil­ment to the soul. You have to deal with every­thing with a smile. You have to take every­thing in stride and keep your head up high be­cause you were grant­ed the ho­n­our of in­ter­act­ing with a spe­cial soul,” Boodram said, her words echo­ing the pro­found ded­i­ca­tion she holds for her chil­dren. She said that while some moth­ers are con­tent with putting them­selves first, she was al­ways mind­ful that her chil­dren’s needs were a pri­or­i­ty.

“Yes, some moth­ers want that time out, and they would leave their chil­dren to go and en­joy them­selves. I en­joy my­self with my chil­dren, and yes, when they go to school, I prac­tice self-love and take a spa day, but every day I live for them,” she said. 

As moth­ers across T&T cel­e­brate their spe­cial day this week­end, Boodram urged moth­ers to re­flect on life and put their pri­or­i­ties in or­der. 

“Life is a re­ward­ing jour­ney. Look at it the way you would love to ex­pe­ri­ence it. Every in­di­vid­ual who comes in­to your life is there to teach you some­thing. So be open to the con­cept of learn­ing,” she added. 

Asked what her Moth­er’s Day gift was, Boodram said the ex­or­bi­tant cost of speech, oc­cu­pa­tion­al, and de­vel­op­men­tal ther­a­py has al­ways been of con­cern to her. One ses­sion could cost be­tween $300 and $450.

“I wish that this could be re­duced so more peo­ple can af­ford care,” she said. She thanked Rahul’s Club­house and the founder of Sup­port Autism TT, Dr Rad­i­ca Ma­hase from the group Sup­port Autism TT, for help­ing her sons ex­cel. More than a week ago, the group ho­n­oured Boodram as a Su­per­hero mom.

Dr Ma­hase al­so laud­ed Boodram for her re­silience.

“Sher­rie is ful­ly com­mit­ted to her sons. She shows up at every ac­tiv­i­ty and event with her boys, and she is al­ways mak­ing sure that her boys take ad­van­tage of every op­por­tu­ni­ty that is out there. She is well re­spect­ed and has made the most of her sit­u­a­tion, break­ing bar­ri­ers, and find­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties for her sons,” Dr Ma­hase said.

She al­so urged oth­er moth­ers to fol­low in Boodram’s foot­steps and raise their chil­dren with love. The way Boodram lives her life and takes her pri­or­i­ties as a moth­er se­ri­ous­ly, can in­deed be an in­flu­ence on oth­ers.

What is Autism?

Autism spec­trum dis­or­der (ASD) is a de­vel­op­men­tal dis­abil­i­ty caused by dif­fer­ences in the brain. Peo­ple with ASD of­ten have prob­lems with so­cial com­mu­ni­ca­tion and in­ter­ac­tion, and re­strict­ed or repet­i­tive be­hav­iours or in­ter­ests. Peo­ple with ASD may al­so have dif­fer­ent ways of learn­ing, mov­ing, or pay­ing at­ten­tion. It is im­por­tant to note that some peo­ple with­out ASD might al­so have some of these symp­toms. But for peo­ple with ASD, these char­ac­ter­is­tics can make life very chal­leng­ing.

(Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion)