What's up with life?

So far, Life has been pretty interesting.

In the past 5 months or so, I have been working as a behavioural therapist, helping children with Autism make a difference in their lives. What is Autism? It is a very common question among my relatives and friends, and sometimes I find it hard explaining to them. I usually would translate the term "Autism" into Mandarin first (as most of my relatives are Chinese ed), 自闭症, in hopes of them knowing what it is. Most of them would replied saying, "oh, are they the type that do not like to socialise with others?"; I guess they must have direct translated the Chinese term, but that's just a small tiny part of the definition, there's more to it than that!

I would explain to them that people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may experienced a range of difficulties, however, the degree to which they are affected by these difficulties may be different from one another. E.g. some of them may be able to live normal lives, whereas, some of them would need the tons of support in order to live their lives. I would then explained to them the three core deficits of Autism, they are (i) social interaction; (ii) communication; and (iii) restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests, and activities. I really should take my colleague's advice the next time someone ask me about it, "dude, GOOGLE IT!" (NOTE: please let me know if I explained it wrongly, wouldn't want to explain the wrong thing to others!)    

It is very rewarding to see the little changes that these children have made, as you know that the hard work that you put in every single week actually pays off! There's this little girl that I am working with together with my colleague, she's non-verbal and was also diagnosed with Epilepsy. When I was first assigned to her, she could only request for tangibles by providing delayed eye contact and making random sounds. After a few months of our hard work, she could finally use the power of "pointing" to communicate what she need/ want! It was something that my colleague and I were really proud of; it's not really easy to teach her how to point as most of the time she is not really aware of her surroundings. 

At the moment, I am helping three children! I sayang them so so much! Hoping in the upcoming months, I would be able to see significant changes in these children! Note to self: keep realistic expectations! 

That's how life has been for me, will update more interesting events in my next post!

Hugs and Kisses,

Flo