MUMBAI/PUNE: Despite having been through several therapy sessions, seven-year-old Pramodini, an autistic child, had never spoken a word until she met Bruno, a Golden Retriever, who handed her a paw in greeting during their first meeting.

Ten ball-throwing sessions with Bruno later, therapists had managed to teach Pramodini her first word — ball.

Fourteen-year-old Aruna was a poor student with low self-esteem. Her most positive emotion was her passion for animals, noted Nair Hospital psychiatrist Henal Shah. She wrote out a different prescription for Aruna — a few hours of voluntary work once a week at a dog-training school in the American city the girl came from. The sessions will boost her self-esteem, the doctor said. Read more…

Zen and the art of everyday life

Today’s profile on John Seniff concludes our yearlong, monthly series, Extraordinary People, about Twin Tiers residents who appear ordinary to most of us but have done extraordinary things.

In 2008, the Star-Gazette will launch a new monthly series in Twin Tiers Life. Stay tuned for details and for your opportunity to nominate subjects to be profiled in the series.

When John Seniff first visited Mount Saviour Monastery about 30 years ago, he never imagined that he’d eventually be living nearby. Read more…