“Azrah! Give Zev his iPad back. Now!” Saira said sternly to her four year old daughter, who had taken her patient’s source of comfort away from him, thus making him huddle in a corner of the therapy room she used at the clinic she worked in.
Saira Khan was a psychologist who specialised in treating Autistic children. From before she’d even studied it, she’d met Zev, and was immediately drawn to him because he reminded her so much of her deceased brother, Haider.
Her husband, Aquil Khan, had introduced her to the previous psychologist that worked there while they were still courting and he had made it sort of his own personal mission to get Saira to achieve her dream of working with children on the Autism scale. She would forever be thankful to him for that first introduction, because it had led her to Zev.
Zev was very high up on the scale. He didn’t talk at all. He didn’t interact with anyone, besides his parents - and that was very rare too. That is, until Saira came along. He’d taken an immediate liking to her and vice versa. In no time at all, Saira had brought about a change in him that no one ever thought would happen.
She still remembered their first interaction as if it was yesterday.
*Flashback*
Saira immediately went to Zev. She didn’t say anything, just sat across from him. He looked up once from his iPad and Saira smiled at him. As expected, he ignored her and went back to playing.
Aquil watched the interaction silently as he sat with some of the other kids. Saira peeked over to see what Zev was doing. He was playing Bubble Basher but was only targeting the green bubbles. “Green is my favourite colour too.” Saira said softly.
He looked at her again and a look of recognition passed his face. Most people wouldn’t have taken it much to heart, but Saira knew what that hint of a look had meant.
Slowly, he would start opening up to her. It may take time… lots of time, but she would get through to him. She made a mental note to bring in round shaped sweets for him next week when she came by, because he only ate round shaped foods.
“I’ll see you next week, okay?” she said and got up, not expecting a response.
But what happened next had surprised her. He tugged on her jeans and she looked down at him and smiled, trying to hide her surprise. He tilted the iPad up so that she could see what he was trying to show her. It was Bubble Basher once again, with only green bubbles on screen.
“How did you do that?!” Saira said, her voice full of wonder for the little genius. Zev just shrugged and went back to playing, his attention now completely diverted from Saira.
*End of Flashback*
