December Holiday Bliss and Random Happiness

The last Purple Parade was the beginning of more great blissfulness to the long school holidays, but before we know we are just days away from putting 2014 behind and welcome another brand New Year 2015 with the opening of new school term.

This school holidays had been great to him, he had some play time with cousins from my sisters's children playing bowling and learning new turn taking game on UNO Stacko. He enjoys so much playing it that I bought him one to let him engage us at home during his play time.

I scheduled him to complete his homework in between play, silent reading, shopping for grocery and his stationary items for his new school term.

During one of his revision, I was marveled at his special thinking when I mark one of his work book question, it left me with mix feeling of tears and laughter.

His first 2 weeks of December was engaged with 2 enrichment program namely Magical Beach Dance Camp and Speech and Drama. The first program allowed him to build up his stamina, train his eye body co-ordination and follow leader on the dance steps taught, we also had a chance to see what he learned through a dance performance and learn simple dance steps to dance with him after the last day program, we were glad he enjoyed himself. The second program taught him value & joy of sharing, what it means to share and how one feels to be able to share with others be it things or food. and that no one has become poor from giving.

During weekend, I will try to arrange time and encourage him to go for exercise on his trikke while I jog along. he is getting better to his movement with more practice.

We brought him for an outing at Garden By The Bay, his second time since last visit in 2012, we took more pictures this time with him as he posed at will and freely.

We also visited the Alive Museum to let him experience and explore his imagination.

On the social front, he is blessed to have make several new friends and rejoiced with them in simple party or celebration of Birthday and Christmas during his weekly play dates.

During the holiday, he had also learn to make Agar agar as part of his Discovery homework assignment.

Christmas day was another great moment to practice our spirit of gratitude and bonding among family members.  It started with simple home cook lunch with my sister's family, thanks to my mum.  He enjoyed playing WII game Super Smash Bros with his cousin, we had log cake for tea break and steamboat for dinner. We had gift exchanged right after group photo taking.

We headed to Sentosa for our first ever family staycation during Boxing Day, he was reluctant to go at first but we managed to convince him to step out of his comfort zone to go with us. Once there, he was delighted with the hotel, elevator, room layout and its comfort from bed to toilet to its wireless connection. He now knows what it means to stay in hotel and readily rejected my offer to send him  home to sleep when I teased him jokingly that night after our dinner. We visited the USS during the afternoon, his first since its opening years back. The rain did not dampen our spirit as we managed to took some pictures, he had a ride at the merry-go-round and enjoyed dancing in the rain. He had his first great experience bathing in the hotel bath tub. We had breakfast buffet in the next morning, packed our stuff and spent some more time together in the room before checked out at noon.

These year end holidays had been a blessing for him and the family, profitted from several new experience, no wonder when mum asked him to make few different emotional expression after the staycation, we cannot see any negative side effect, guess he is still in state Flow and seems so happy at the moment.  He will be looking forward to his first day of school reporting as we awaits for more challenges unfold to grow and progress his journey further in the NEW Year 2015 partnership with his special educators.

Winner's Statement

Journey Recall & Moving Forward

6 years ago, when I first started with him in this leaning journey, it was more of teacher focus and less parent conscious, counting on the teachers to improve my little angel, not having the knowledge and experience to deal with it.  6 year now today, I am feeling normal and naturally enjoying the best of both his world and our world.  Connected to many people and know more people who have inspired me along the way by their unique stories. I have come to realize Love embodies not in how much one tried, sacrificed or suffer but in excepting the child for who he is inspite of his unique profile.

As I recall my early EIP journey with him, they can be best summarized into the 5 blocks from my own experience. The workshops I attended in the first year of EIP helped me a lot into teach, manage, prevent cycle, understand the child better and tweak to his level of understanding to maximize his learning from functional communication to work habit to self regulation. The partnership with the special educators was crucial especially towards last stretch of his EIP journey/ He progressed inch stone from own agenda to requestor and gradually could string more words together verbally to form sentence as he elevate into early communicator before he transit out from EIP to his next lap of learning journey. Work habits, choice making and learning to transit from one focus area to another are some strength he developed that benefit him greatly in his next learning transition.

It was not smooth going especially when social, communication and task demand went up. More discretionary effort were expended through social rules and stories to manage via 1-1 teaching.

Through out the journey, I had learned from teachers and my little Star to developed positive resilience very essential to carry us to the many races ahead. 3 Ps in Patience, Persistence and Perseverence were more useful in the first year. As more challenges unfold, 3Es were added for Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy to reduce effort to manage positive outcome. 3Cs were then recruited to provide Courage and Consideration in decision making on what best suitable for his next learning phrase and to have a compassionate heart in discharging our best effort and except whatever that comes along without giving up. In the midst, I supplement it with rituals like hugging him or hi-5 whenever I return from work, Always doing our best having the "so what if" mindset focusing more on the effort in the process over results and end with a winner statement in every sharing. Happiness is then appreciating and liking what we have and not what we do not have, constantly adjusting goals according to him and calibrating our expectation from him. I have also learned to acknowledge his challenges more readily and praise for his effort to encourage and motivate him going forward.  With the right teaching and support, he CAN learn better and more.

Day to day discretionary effort to bridge daily gaps is continuous work in progress as we learn with him and teachers to maximize his potential.

With all hard work come celebration, We celebrate and rejoice with him from every little success whether achieving his IEP goals, or improvement made over previous or even exploring an opportunity to improve in the future. I wanted to honour and thank the teachers who had crossed path with him and family believing in him and supporting his progress in our hardest fight.

My little Star has progressed into my little Hero and we are happy for him to have come this far, he has recently also put on spec in another baby step of growing up,

The journey in 2014 has been fulfilling and purposeful for him and family as we see him developed further into partner communicator with lots more potential awaiting in the coming days.  I had signed up 2 holiday programs in Dec for him to seek opportunity to engage and learn to have fun aside of academic subjects.

The ley highlight of November was The Purple Parade

Glad to see the annual event was successfully completed and looking forward to more great happerning as the movement lives on!

Winners Statement:

Happy 9 Years Old

It has been quite a while since my last post, we are now in the month of Sep, where the Term 4 just kick starts, also a month of celebration.

Had some great moment in August, one being attended A Very Special Concert to raise fund and was glad to know it had been successful exceeding target amount.

Then we have the National Day Celebration, worked with him to write a jounal over that weekend.

Our whole family went to visit Science Center on National Day, he had a of of fun in the human body exhibit.

He is able to drive and play independently on the Mario Kart racing game in Time Zone and enjoyed winning the race against daddy and sister, others such as basket ball game is also one of his favourite, he really CAN! He has become my Superhero just like the Superman character with great strength, courage and compasion heart.

Another memorable event was the family day at his mommy's work place, all of us get to visit the plant, played some games, eat yummy food and of course took several photos

Term 3 had been another great learning journey for him, perfecting the imperfects on his work habits, strengthening his social interaction skill, always proud of his little inch stone progress and achievement. Just before the end of Term, get him to prepare some thanks giving to teachers who have been impactful in his growing up years in ARC.

He is my great teacher too, through him I have come to learnt that some days, your life is all about dreams, hopes and vision for the future. But there are also some days where life is just about putting one foot in front of the other...and that's okay.

The whole family had a 4 nights getaway to "Po po" house during the recent school 1 week holidays, my mother-in-law home town in Tanjung Sepat, near  South Western coast area of Malaysia. We love the openness, the nature surrounding, the sea, the people and the food especially, it has become a famous tourist attraction among Singaporean and their local from across several states.  We enjoyed the holidays.

Sep is a month of many celebration, not only we have many friends, babies having born on that month, his birthday also falls on Sep too.  We never have any plan to celebrate in a big way but decided to break into smaller modular activities. The weekend before he turns 9, we had a simple cake cutting to commemorate this occasion within family.

It was Superman all over, up up all the way.
Over the years, slowly but surely he has persevered, learn and grown into a fine young boy, into his 9 cycles, wishing him Happy Birthday and all the best in this journey less travel. He is my personal trainer or coach, to make me better than what I use to be in each day of my living. The night prior to his birthday, I told him before he went to bed "Fabian, I love you", he then looked me in my eye and replied "I love you daddy". Such literal response melted my heart, he is indeed my motivation & passion in living, Jia you my super boy!

On the actual day, we prepared small little gift for him to give to his classmates and some teachers, sharing his joy, happiness and love with them as he turned 9. we were thankful for the teachers to facilitate him with this giving. Glad to hear from his form teachers that all his friends were excited and happy in receiving his gift. All of them had in return, written him a birthday day card to bring home, a great meaningful Birthday celebration outcome filled with joy in return.

In the same evening, we enjoyed Penang Buffet at Causeway Point with him together with my sister's family.  Thankful to my sister and family for their love and support to him, not forgeting also to all the well wishers and shower of presents he had received.  He is indeed very blessed. I wrote on his birthday card "Always do your best and never give up!" inspired by quote from Stephen Wiltshire. And wish him many more happy return growing up and learning to maximize his own potential.

We shall continue to love him and embrace his living, only then all of us can have beautiful life.

Some days, hope is what we have. Other days hope is what we need. The Hope that each will be transformed through a Path towards the Light to shine upon them providing the opportunity to contribute or serve the people and the society in the way they CAN.  With right support and training, this Hope is very Possible.

Continue to work hard by design, look forward to a strong finish for his Term 4 and not forgetting an important event that is taking place in this mid Nov;-

Winner's Statement:-

Visit To Butterfly Park & Insect Kingdom Jul '14

We are now half way of learning journey through Term 3, there have been great happenings for him.

Family never fail to capture some memorable photos where they matter to exercise our gratitude of each moment being captured. Beside these, he has made several new friends in his social group class, attended a friend birthday party.

Every moment I have with him is a moment I learn from him, selfie is one excuse I use to engage him and exercise joint attention to maximize our moment together and it certainly works for us as we true enjoy it.

A feeling of growth very often requires constant rallying with him and encouraging him to follow good work habits and social rules, teach him with right support whenever a hidden agenda unfolds, so he can maximize his potential where it matters, kudos to his teachers in this on going collaborative effort. I am just thankful that he has come this far but also balance with some play times or even get him to help granny or mum with simple house work when opportunity arises.

Yesterday, we brought him to the butterfly park & insect kingdom at Sentosa to let him explore nature and also in conjunction to his coming show and tell activity in school on the theme "Insect".  He was delighted to have gained some real life experience with the live butterflies.

 It was cooling & beautiful Sunday morning, adult butterflies have large and brightly colored wings. They grow from caterpillars.

We also get to see the insects and butterflies of the world exhibits on display.

He likes butterflies because they have beautiful wings

Out in the nature, he had a chance to feed the parrots and Iguana too.

The butterflies are popular among collectors as an object for art and jewlry, we bought home 1 toy butterfly model and 2 other butterfly souvenirs for him.

At the end of the visit, the joy over the ROCK top it all for an enriching outing.

We left the place for lunch and return home, we will love to bring him around the island for further experience but it was clearly not in his agenda, and we have learnt to be like water and go with the flow to conclude another successful trip.

For 5 days in July, people in our community got to know him and how his deficit means more to others when everyone celebrate his ability to show case what he CAN.

Very soon we shall celebrate Nation 49th birthday, is time to hang out the flat and rejoice in our independence, our only hope is for a more gracious and inclusive society where Love and Peace can be amplify every where within this little red dot.

Come 2nd August, we also look forward to A Very Special Concert to raise fund for a good cause to help benefit more people in this special communities.

We look forward to a positive finish to his remaining Term 3 learning journey.

Winner's Statement:

Term 2 Highlights

It is time to share some updates on my little super hero.

There was this instant happened just few days back, where I called home from work place and my mum picked up the phone, I asked for him. He took over the handset and we start conversing:-

He: Hello daddy
Me: Hi Fabian
He: Whats the matter, daddy?
Me: Oh daddy just call to check if you have done your home work assignment?
He: Yes, its done.
Me: Good for you, what are you doing now?
He: I am playing minecraft
Me: Alright, see you later.
He: Ok, bye..
Me: Daddy love you, bye.

Yes, he has come this far, really happy to see him transform gradually in his learning journey, sure there are more challenges to come as the demand increases from language, social, and communication. aspect of learning when he progresses up the educational ladder.

Sometimes, when I try to remind him or redirect him on certain behavior which yield unexpected results, he will reply "yes I know...the problem is...I don't know how / it is difficult"

Really his reply often gives me a mix feeling of whether to laugh it off thinking that he actually knows but just that he chooses to switch off his thinking brain or I may get emotionally upset that he can meet some of the minimum expectation to our world but does not seems to mind being out of the game. After reflection, then it is another cycle of re-calibration from a new perspective taking, with hope of doing better next time to encourage him to do it right with praise or token of reward if he does well..

Main highlight for April was the 7th World Autism Awareness Day, we attended the road show with him at ION Orchard to celebrate and embrace their special abilities, Light It Up Blue was spread across various part of the island creating an ocean of amazing sight seeing view for many around.

We enjoyed the various joint attention opportunity with him, and I occasionally will play selfie with him too with my smart phone.  Many times, we are our own worst enemy. Happiness is really dependent on perspective. If you think something is a problem, then your thoughts and emotions will be negative. But if you think it’s something you can learn from, then suddenly, it’s not a problem anymore. Inner peace starts from self, once you have inner peace and be thankful, happiness will find you, he taught me so in my journey with him.

When he is by himself, he enjoys his me time watching youtube video clips of MRT, Minecraft, Disney Channel programs. 

During playtime, we let him choose what he feels like to play at that moment, I enjoy playing WII games and mini table soccer with him where the joint attention is maximize. His WII games skill to some of  sports has improved over the years but playing minecraft game on PC is still his main passion. I will remind him to play calmly, quietly and tell him that it is just a game to reduce his obsession of being immerse himself too deep into the game, glad that he has been able to regulate as instructed and rest himself when it is time to stop.

As the saying goes "All play without work make him a Dull person", he still need to work hard to complete his work books or work sheets where it matters from time to time. At night, I will schedule him to read story book with me and review grammar or vocab to comprehend the story to improve his English.  One can be happy if one chooses not to be angry and see every darkness as an opportunity to glow bright again and thinking others in positive light. It is gratefulness that make us happy...every moment is a given moment to be grateful, be thankful of the present moment, a gift of happy opportunity.

We had registered him for 3 programs during his June school holidays and hopeful that he will find them useful in strengthening his deficit in term of follow instruction, social and functional communication.

It is a joy to see him grow and improve inch by inch, looking forward to more challenges and cheers in the 2nd half of the journey 2014. We must always remind ourselves to be vigilant and be constant resilience to make him enjoy learning with positive stamina and focusing on his CAN instead of what he cannot.

Winner's Statement: