A dream I wish will come true one day.

So it's the school holidays! And being Little Miss Introvert, I enjoy spending my days just being at home, lying around and doing my own business.

The weather has been really bad this week; the temperature was hanging around 35 - 37 degrees, another words, freaking hot! I feel so sweaty all the time! Sigh, it makes me appreciate winter even more! Well, in this kind of weather, I am very likely to take afternoon naps. This afternoon, I had a wonderful dream. A dream I wish will come true one day.

I dreamt about this little girl who I am currently guiding at the centre. I'll call her "Boo" for the purpose of this blog. She's 5 this year, and could only make random sounds to request for things, help, and etc. In my dream, I was dreaming about my session with Boo. I don't know for what reason I decided to try out verbal imitation program with her.

"Boo, copy xxx (xxx is my team-mate's name, and also Boo's other therapist)" 
"xxx"  

I was shocked that she said it accurately, too shocked that I woke up from that dream. *Note: I was still dreaming at that time as I was dreaming in my dream*. And the dream brought me back to the centre. I couldn't remember what I was doing then but I saw Boo walking towards my direction. She pulled my blouse to seek my attention, and she blurted out "I want water"in a shaky tone. I remember feeling so happy, so happy that she was able to use her language to communicate what she wants. I quickly gave her the bottle and fed her. That was the end of the dream.

The dream was so vivid and seemed very real. So real that I was confused whether it was really happening at the moment or it was just a dream. But I really hope some day she could at least speak a few words to express what she wants. For the past few months, my team mate and I have been focusing on her making the sound 'O' for open. So whenever she wants us to open the door, she will need to make that particular sound in order for us to open it. At the initial stages, we accepted sounds that are close to 'O'. Then, we increase our expectation. Just last week, as I was sending her out to her grandparents, she made a very clear 'O'! I was like OMG! I even turn to my team mate to confirm whether she heard the same! So proud of her!

Can't wait to go back next week to see my kids! Hopefully after the break they'll come back in a good mood as next week is consultation week! Yiks!

Till then!
Flo

Accepting Change

For the past two days, I have been thinking constantly about my kid, "Mickey" (not his real name). As the beginning of April, I will not be taking his case anymore and will be handing it over to another therapist.

I guided Mickey since the day my training ended. I still remember the day when my supervisors announced that I will be taking him, I kept questioning myself, who is Mickey? I have never overlapped this boy's session before and I am taking him (because most therapists have hinted that there will be higher chance of getting the kid you've overlapped before)! I was quite curious and worried at the same time, as I do not know what to expect of this kid. All sorts of questions were running in my mind, e.g. how does he look like? how is his personality like? and etc. But when I first saw him, all questions were halted. He was the sweetest boy I've ever seen! His face is always smiling all the time; whenever you see him, all your problems/ worries would go away! :)

Few weeks ago, my supervisor approached me saying she has an important matter that needed to be discussed. She told me that Little D will be going full day starting April and I will be loosing either Little D or Mickey. I was so upset when she told me the news, what's worst is I had to make a choice as to whom I wanted to continue teaching. I was in dilemma for a few days, not sure who should I choose. But after much consideration, I decided to choose Little D over Mickey. Reason? My centre focuses on ABA therapy (Discrete Trial Training). The approach of teaching Mickey was different as he required less of DTT; this was not the case for Little D as he requires DTT to learn. And so to improve my skill in DTT, I decided to continue with Little D.

Recently, my colleagues realised that I was leaving Mickey's team. One colleague of mine commented that I was "apathetic", showing no feelings towards leaving Mickey. What he doesn't know is that I was upset over the matter weeks ago, plus choosing between the two of them was not easy for me because I sayang them both and will not want to leave anyone of them. I chose not to show my feelings at work because I want to show professionalism; professional in handling the situation by accepting change. Besides, change is good. If we were to stick with the same thing, we'll never get to learn and experience new things. But I will miss teaching this little guy, and I really hope this new therapist would teach and guide him well!

Anyway, looking forward towards the new changes!

Flo

Little D's surprise

In my previous post, I mentioned that one of the best parts of working with children with Autism is that we get to witness the little changes that they've made through our guidance and teachings. Well, I took "little D" today and he did something that made my jaw dropped like literally.

I was carrying out my session by doing some reinforcer development; the target was to promote a Domino video. And that particular video consists of a cartoon character that is widely known to all, the minion from Despicable Me. I was writing the log book(daily report to the parents), while "little D" was watching that video and all of a sudden he looked at me, point towards the computer screen and say the word "minion". I was really shocked at that moment as this boy is non-verbal(but makes random sounds) and he usually would not initiate and maintain eye contact.

My shocked expression turned into happiness as it came to my realization that this boy was gaining my attention to share something that he knows / he likes! This could mean that he trusts me and accepts me as his friend! Ah, What a joy! :)  I hope I get to experienced more of these shocking but wonderful moments!

Thanks for making my day "little D"! *winks*

Love,
Flo

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