For most families, pandemic lockdowns meant working from the kitchen table. For families raising autistic children, the disruption cut much deeper. It tore into the daily structure that makes therapy work in the first place, and parents say the regression in their children is still being counted.
Lockdowns across India upended speech, occupational, and behavioral therapy for autistic children, sometimes for years at a time.
Key facts:
- Lockdowns closed autism therapy centers, including a Srinagar center that shut for nearly two years.
- Parents report regression in speech, behavior, and self-care skills.
- Therapists say autistic children struggle with masks, distancing, and unpredictable changes.
- Families improvised strict home routines to fill the gap left by professional support.
What lockdowns actually broke
Autism therapy depends on repetition. A child learns to tolerate a toothbrush, a certain food, or a transition from one room to another by practicing the same steps dozens of times under a trained eye. Lockdowns pulled that scaffolding out from under families.
In Srinagar, the mother of 11-year-old Kamran described a day when she had to lock him in a room for her own safety and his. Her husband was quarantining with COVID-19 in the next room. Kamran knocked on the door for hours, unable to process why the routine had changed. Kulsuma, who runs an autism center in Srinagar that enrolled more than 20 children in 2019, said the center has been closed for nearly two years. Parents were afraid to send their children back, and autistic children often cannot tolerate masks or social distancing.
The clinical language for this is regression. The lived language is simpler: skills a child had last year are gone.
Why autistic children struggle with sudden change
Specialists describe autistic children as having higher sensory sensitivity than the general population. A mask on the face for hours, a thermometer pointed at the forehead, a parent in gloves: each of these is a small disruption that adds up. So is the absence of the bus ride, the therapist's waiting room, the familiar chair.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) published guidance for caregivers during confinement, recommending strict daily routines, role-play for hygiene habits, and small rewards for repeating desired behaviors. Parents like Mona Rai in Hyderabad reported building their own versions of these routines at home: fixed breakfast times, fixed bath times, set chores, and a family walk in the evening where step counts were compared.
These improvised structures worked for some. They could not replace speech therapy, occupational therapy, or sensory integration work that needs trained hands.
Why it matters
The pattern here reveals a policy blind spot that outlasts the pandemic. Most governments classified autism therapy as non-essential during initial lockdowns. That classification made operational sense at the time but ignored the medical reality that interruption causes measurable regression—and that recovery takes longer than the disruption itself.
Who should care
| Group | What's at stake |
|---|---|
| Families of autistic children | Months or years of structured therapy gone; rebuilding skills that took years to develop |
| Therapists and center operators | Backlogs as families return; questions about whether therapy qualifies as essential during future crises |
| Policymakers | Whether "essential service" frameworks should explicitly include disability therapy; pressure to fund catch-up programs |
| Schools and educators | Students returning with increased behavioral challenges and sensory needs; unprepared staffing ratios |
Parents who improvised home routines describe success in maintaining some progress. But those efforts came at a cost—exhaustion, lost income, and the quiet knowledge that they were substituting love for expertise.
What to watch next
Watch for whether governments revise their essential-service classifications to include therapy centers. Watch for strain at centers facing backlogs as families seek to resume interrupted treatment plans.
Bottom line
The lockdowns bought time against a virus and cost autistic children months of progress that families are still trying to rebuild. Any system that depends on rigid routine—a child's therapy plan, a school's structure, a family's daily rhythm—loses ground fast when that routine breaks. The question now is whether the lesson sticks.
Key takeaways
- Autism therapy centers were closed for up to two years during the pandemic in regions covered.
- Parents report measurable regression in speech, behavior, and self-care skills.
- Improvised home routines helped some families, but could not replace professional therapy.
- Disability advocates are pushing for clearer "essential service" classifications for therapy centers during future crises.
Frequently asked questions
Why did lockdowns disrupt autism therapy so severely?
Autism therapy depends on strict routines and trained in-person support, both of which lockdowns removed for extended periods.
How long were therapy centers closed in the regions covered?
The Srinagar center referenced was closed for nearly two years, and many families avoided in-person care even after centers reopened.
What did families do instead of formal therapy?
Parents built strict home routines, used role-play for hygiene habits, and rewarded repeated behaviors, following guidance similar to UNICEF's caregiver recommendations.
Did autistic children regress during the lockdowns?
Yes. Parents and therapists reported regression in speech, behavior, and daily living skills, with some children losing progress that had taken years to build.
Are governments addressing the lost therapy time?
Several jurisdictions are discussing catch-up funding and clearer essential-service classifications for therapy centers, though outcomes vary by region.