From my last blog post I shared a model construction of an MRT station as perceived by my little STAR, back then I was wondering why all the people had to faced inward away from us, now I know why...
The train was missing, he had constructed the platform literally as if he was there and hence the people waiting for the train arrival has to face inward away from our view in the orientation of the model. Today he constructed another model below which he says to me is Orchard Hotel, he probably got that impression after passing by during his weekly journey to Delphi Orchard.
This morning, I had attended another parent classroom participation and in working with teacher, there was this activities to read sentence, find picture & paste on the page of eating out, for the Term Theme learning of Community. This gave me an idea of sharing many of the memorable moments of eating out over the past 3 years we had with the little STAR.
He is not on diet control but still has his preferred choice of food, ranging from fried stuffs like fries/wedges/fish/chicken wing/fish cake, to noodle, sushi rice, fried carrot cake, chicken rice, satay etc. He takes fried rice but mainly with pure egg ingredient, occasionally pineapple rice and also porridge too, he is also ready to explore other new food subject to his preference.
Waiting toys, white board, smart phone or ipad are some of the items we have evolved over the years to regulate his waiting time and some time even give him little packet of seaweed which he likes to eat, when he gets a little hungry while the food takes longer than usual to prepare.
One challenge we face while eating out will be his interest in number on the table, sometimes he will walk around just to check on the number on each table especially in the coffee shop. I still remember when we first brought him to Sakura buffet, he will go around to those tables that has got the number he is interested and will remove them to indugle in his fixation routine, when we refuse he will be upset, now he is more aware & better regulated, glad it has become thing of the past.
There are other occasions where he will insist that you go and buy when the food has not arrived, even though I have told him clearly that an order has been placed, we have to accept that the way he thinks is different, the way we teach him must also be different unlike neuro typical kids. 
Eating out in public can sometimes attracts unwanted attention when our little STAR raises his voice to speak trigger by unforseen circumstances or demand which he either becomes upset or anxious, the whole coffee shop or eating place will become noisy suddenly, other wise it will be very normal and a joy to eat out most of the time for the family.
The one thing predictable I learn through his autistic trait is his unpredictability, once it become predictable, we will then be able to teach him to manage and do better the next time round. It must be continuous work in progress taking small steps & great patience to understand & teach him.
Eating out can also hope to gave him a better exposure to community life and be able to integrate & adapt to the society environment & people around as he grows into adulthood.
Winners Statement:
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