A piece of music plays, and participants are asked to imagine a picture using every part of their body as a brush.

Then, another melody begins, with a new instruction to walk as long as the music flows and freeze the moment it stops.

This was a glimpse of a workshop that was hosted on the occasion of World Autism Awareness Day on Monday at the Shishu Mangal Child Development Centre in Siliguri. This centre trains autistic children.

Reema Mukherjee, a facilitator of the caregiver skill training programme (CSTP) of the World Health Organization (WHO) and a psychologist by profession, held the workshop for autistic children and their parents.

“The CSTP is a programme which teaches parents how to use play and home activities with their children with disabilities. Autism is not an illness. Being autistic does not mean you have an illness or disease. It means your brain works differently from other people. With proper techniques and therapies, children do come to the mainstream and lead an independent life,” said Mukherjee.

“We will celebrate the whole month as World Autism Awareness Day and we started it from Cooch Behar on March 30. In Siliguri, we organised the workshop on March 31. We have also lined up similar events in Malda-Raiganj,” she added.

The initiative was taken in collaboration with the West Bengal Academy of Pediatrics and the Indian Academy of Pediatrics. They hosted a workshop on Dance Movement Therapy (DMT). Led by dance therapist Arnab Ghosh, the event was designed to help children on the autism spectrum develop better communication skills, enhance social interactions and express their emotions more freely.

Ghosh demonstrated how movement could become a bridge to self-expression. “DMT is not just about dance, it is about creating a rhythm between the body and emotions. For children with autism, this rhythm fosters connection and confidence,” he said.

Mukherjee said that DMT was gaining acceptance worldwide, including in India. “Therapies like this have long been embraced abroad. Now, we are making an effort to introduce them across north Bengal,” she said.

Nilanjan Mukherjee, a paediatrician, said that while autism is not a disease with a cure, early intervention through specialised training methods can bring significant improvement.

“Parents must be the most aware of their child’s condition. The sooner they recognise and embrace structured therapies like this, the better the child’s progress will be,” the paediatrician said.

On Wednesday, a rally with autistic children and their parents was held in Siliguri.

“We had around 40 children and over 100 adults at the rally. We gathered to raise awareness among people about autism which shows up in some children,” said Malini Chakraborty, a rally attendee. "It was a rewarding experience."