How Butterfly Learnings is bridging the therapy gap for neurodiverse children in India

According to a 2021 study published in the Indian Journal of Pediatrics, the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in India is approximately 1 in 68 children, indicating that about 1.47% of Indian children are diagnosed with autism each year.

In a world where neurodiversity (such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia, etc.) is increasingly recognised and understood, the search for effective therapy options, tailored to each child’s unique needs, often leads to a frustrating maze of limited resources and inadequate solutions. 

This is where Butterfly Learnings comes in--a platform that bridges this gap with a holistic approach to paediatric behavioural health. 

Founded in 2021 by the husband-wife duo Abhishek Sen and Dr Sonam Kothari, a paediatric neurologist trained at NIMHANS, Bengaluru, the startup aims to address the deficiencies in children’s mental health and developmental support. 

"After research in 2016, we recognised a pressing issue: a severe shortage of qualified therapists and an overwhelming demand for paediatric behavioural health services,” Sen tells YourStory.

“With only 10,000 therapists in the entire country and one in eight children needing therapy, the demand far exceeded the supply.” 

“Furthermore, therapy in India lacked an evidence-based approach, unlike in countries such as the US, where Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) is common,” he adds.

Sen and Kothari invested around Rs 2 crore to bootstrap the startup. Currently, it has a team of over 300 members, including over 250 therapists.

Personalised therapy for every child

Mumbai-based Butterfly Learnings offers a range of therapies tailored to each child’s needs, including Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), occupational therapy, speech therapy, oral placement therapy, and sensory integration. 

It employs three types of therapists, including behaviour therapists, who usually come from psychology or education backgrounds and undergo an in-house training and certification process lasting six to eight weeks, followed by a gating process before being assigned to a child. Meanwhile, speech and occupational therapists work with Butterfly Learnings on a consulting basis. 

Each therapist typically manages four children, with each child attending three sessions per week, and each session lasting one hour and 45 minutes. All therapists are full-time employees.

The monthly fee for 12 sessions for children aged 2-14 years is Rs 15,000, with a typical enrollment duration of about 15-18 months for each child.

“Around 50% of our families earn less than Rs 6 lakh per year. Our pricing is competitive compared to the market, where a typical 45-minute session costs between Rs 700 and Rs 900,” Sen states.

Butterfly Learnings operates 52 centres, with 50 located in Maharashtra and 2]two in Rajasthan, employing over 400 therapists and serving more than 3,000 families. It is opening three new centres in Ahmedabad, Surat, and Baroda by next month.

The startup claims to generate over Rs 1 crore in monthly revenue, with a growth rate of 10-12% month-on-month. 

The startup’s proprietary technology stack allows for detailed monitoring and analysis of therapy outcomes, ensuring that each child receives individualised attention and care.

Its application not only helps therapists track progress but also empowers parents to actively participate in their child’s development. “Every piece of data is captured on an application, used by all our therapists. The same data is shown to parents, so they can actually see how the child is progressing,” Sen explains. 

Building the infrastructure

In 2009, Sen completed his MBBS at Nine Hospital in Mumbai. As he approached the end of his medical education, he confronted a pivotal moment of clarity. “It was very clear that I would be a very bad doctor,” Sen admits. This realisation prompted a shift from medicine to engineering at IIT Bombay, focusing on sensors and technology. 

His entrepreneurial journey took flight with the founding of a medical equipment manufacturing startup Biosense, which was later acquired by PerkinElmer in 2019.

“After the exit from Biosense in 2019, we had the financial resources to pursue our long-held desire to address this issue,” Sen says.

Soon after, Butterfly Learnings’ first centre was established in Thane, Mumbai, in 2021. “In the first year, we focused on protocolising various therapies and building our technology platform to deliver therapy at scale. Although we experimented with online therapy, we found that offline therapy was far more effective,” Sen recounted. 

The initial phase involved developing a technology-driven platform to support their therapy services including creating an application for both parents and therapists to document and track progress, ensuring transparency and data-driven decisions.

As the startup expanded, Sen explains maintaining high standards of quality became a crucial focus. “The largest bottleneck is ensuring that clinical outcomes for children are not hampered as you scale. To address this, it invests in extensive training and quality assurance, supported by a dedicated data science team that continuously monitors and improves therapy outcomes.”

Beyond traditional therapy

The Census report 2011 revealed that over 1 billion people globally, including over 21 million people in India, are living with visible or invisible disabilities.

Additionally, a Deloitte study estimates that approximately 20% of the global population is neurodiverse.

Recognising the challenges faced by neurodiverse children in mainstream education, Butterfly Learnings has launched the Butterfly Learning Inclusive Schooling System (BLISS) program. Two inclusive schools in Thane and Dombivli have been established, providing a specialised curriculum for specific neurodivergent conditions like dyslexia.

This initiative focuses on creating an inclusive and nurturing educational environment tailored to children with developmental challenges, offering specialised educational programs that accommodate their unique needs.

“Around 40-50% of our kids struggle in regular schools, either failing to secure admission in neurotypical schools or facing significant challenges once admitted. To support them, we're creating alternative inclusive education pathways, including an inclusive schooling program for preschoolers,” Sen highlights.

For sixth grade and beyond, the company has partnered with GO School, which is affiliated with the IGCSE board and offers a flexible schooling curriculum designed to provide tailored educational support to neurodiverse children, particularly those on the autism spectrum with high IQs and unique needs.

In 2022, Butterfly Learnings raised a seed round of $2 million, led by Insitor Fund, a long-time investor in Biosense. It plans to expand its operations to 300 centres within the next two to three years, with a goal of 2.5 to 3x year-on-year growth.

The startup, which competes with players such as Gurugram-based Moms Belief and Lissun, stands out from competitors for its comprehensive approach to neurodiverse children. 

Sen explains, “Our tech-enabled, empathetic therapists ensure initial improvement, followed by collaboration with the child's family and school for appropriate academic integration and advancement.”

“We aim to provide evidence-based therapy to over 4 crore neurodiverse children in India, focusing on clinical outcomes and transparent measurement metrics,” he concludes.