F-Words For Autism

Author:  Rebecca Manari | April 18th, 2022

Soon after my son’s intervention began at Sethu, I learned about a particular way that Sethu tracks and monitors the holistic progress of my child.

Called the ‘F-Words’, this model uses six aspects of my child’s life, (all beginning with the letter F- friends, family, functioning, fitness, fun, future) to identify where my child now stands in each area, and the direction in which we’re headed for our next steps in each of these aspects.

When we think of a goal, we usually think of it in terms of something final, beyond which further progress is not possible. Therefore, we end up thinking of a more permanent goal for his adult life.
However, we often overlook the fact that we do achieve smaller targets and goals every few days or weeks in all our lives. Take for example, the target of incorporating a healthy food item into our diet, beginning exercise, or starting to make it to work on time everyday, deciding to meet friends more regularly, Or in the case of our children, minor goals such as learning a new skill like shifting play from a tricycle to a bigger bicycle. Or transitioning from a sippy cup to an open cup. The same way, in each area of my child’s life, I slowly learned to use the 6 F Words as a guide to identify my next move to get closer to my next target.

For someone as structured as I am, who loves lists and guides, this seemed ideal and so effective! I thought, why not use it in my own life to help my productivity and progress in every F – Area of my life!
Here are two goals that have been made for myself.

Friends: Do I meet my friends as often as Ilike to? > No > Make time to call or meet more often.If not possible to meet every week, set aside a time every week to make calls and catch up
Family: I enjoy quality time, but would like to bake more with my daughter > my children like to play board games as a family, but it gets hard due to time limitations. Sometimes, clarity and structure is all you need to help you move ahead. Incorporate the F Words into your child’s life now, and watch them shine!


The Autism Parent Support Group is here to help all parents of children with ASD. Do reach out to our parent co-ordinator for further information. You can connect with me, through Sethu: from Tuesday to Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm on +91-7720013749.