When Mayuri Ramdasi first stepped into the world of child development as a speech-language therapist in 2012, she believed she understood autism. She had worked across clinics in Pune and Bengaluru, watched families cycle in and out of therapy rooms, and seen children attend sessions week after week in the hope of progress. But nothing prepared her for what she felt when the journey suddenly became personal.

It was only after discovering that her daughter Devahuti was on the autism spectrum that her understanding of development — and the gaps in India’s therapy system — sharpened irreversibly.

As a trained speech-language therapist and a mother of two, Mayuri knew the milestones to watch for — the social smiles, the cooing, the giggling in response to the world. But her daughter Devahuti’s profound silence was the first sign.

She experienced firsthand the helplessness parents feel when a maze of medical terminology, contradictory advice, and limited accessibility leaves them overwhelmed. She witnessed how deeply therapy can influence a home, how fragile family confidence can be, and how much of a child’s progress depends not on the therapist, but on the environment they return to every day.

That awakening became the seed of Arula, a parent-led therapy intervention.

“I realised that most children were being rushed into speech before their listening skills were ready,” she tells The Better India. “Listening comes before speaking. If the foundation isn’t strong, everything else collapses.”

Arula grew out of a mother’s lived experience, a therapist’s insight, and a conviction that transformation is possible when parents become the centre of intervention.

In 2023, when Arula was launched, Mayuri was helping a small group of parents understand what she wished someone had explained to her. Over time, her approach deepened: every behavioural concern, every communication delay, every sensory difficulty had to be viewed through the lens of how well a child listens, engages, regulates and bonds.

The more she watched children move through the traditional system, the more she noticed its limitations. Weekly sessions were too spaced out. Techniques did not consider a child’s sensory profile. Parents were often treated as silent observers — waiting outside therapy rooms while crucial breakthroughs happened inside.

Arula was formed........

© The Better India