June Holidays Random Happiness

The one month school holidays is almost over as I write this post, it was a great 4 weeks that we find inner peace in making our little STAR live to his fullest in this path less travel, more like a holiday camp to us working with him, revising his skill, practising his work book and work sheet on topic he learnt in the first half of this year and engaging with varous therapist.

There have been many great memories to share once again in this new blog post.

Immediately after the school holiday started, his sister went away on a learning journey trip to China for a week, it was an opportunity to let him know that she will not be back until another week and we told him that she went to airport and took a plane to China.  We share with him photos and video clips of his sister during sending her off.  When his sister returned, it seems to us that he is much attached to his sister now, everything he does, he will invite her to join him, seeking more bonding and holding her hand when going out together. But there are challenges too when this attachment become too much of a demand from him when he thinks that he can have her by his side everytime he demands it. We have to share with him that, sometime sister is busy or wish to sleep later and so could not join him for breakfast or meal together as he thinks or wishes, it is OK, we can do it next time.  He enjoys listening to The family Song in the youtube



Little STAR hard at work, joy of learning.

We had a family get together with my sister family in mid June where the kids can catch up and have circle time playing Wii games and eating meals together.

Random happiness eating out, his favourite food is Sushi & Pepper rice.

Random snap of him

He is able to shop with us these days more objectively, we make him carry the basket, look for the items we need and sometimes I will just let him decide what he want to buy and go with his flow to elevate this empowerment to him, not forgetting to practise some communication exchange at the counter and money values.

Random play time can range from snake and ladder, aeroplane chess game with family members, or self play with his faourite toy cars/trains, he also indulge in his siser Sylvanian Family house model to exercise his imaginative play. We also let him fix puzzle to recall & exercise his motor planning skill.

I had also conveyed to my mum and wife the need for him to learn & try to do some house work like keeping clothes or fold clothes, wash the bowl and cup after supper/breakfast on top tidying his bed after wake up. 

One of the favourite outing we enjoy going together as family is the Pasir Ris Park, even though it may be just over an hours of play time each visit but is a great joy to see him engage the environment & nature happily and positively in our world.

This was taken outside Sime Darby Centre after finishing his OT session, make me feel both very jealous and happy as well, he is so blessed with love and support where it matters most.

Usual rountine to bring him for a hair cut just before the new term kick starts tomorrow, wish him many joy and happiness as he continues his learning journey.  He is aware of the date to return school and has been counting down for the day to come so he can meet his classmates and teachers he misses during the holiday breaks.

Winning Statement:-

When the elevator of success is out of order, you have to use the stairs.  One step at a time.

Term 2 Random Happiness

One of the great learning experience in term 2 were speaker corner in school where Fabian shared his family photo and talk about them to his class mate, it was also from here that we let him use microphone to practise & generalize his voice projection skill at home during journal reading, singing song or sending greeting.

He is able to make phone call and converse simple sentence with familiar party in distant end to ask and answer some questions with it, part of the DLS teaching of recalling parent and home's phone number had helped to reinforce his confidence in using the telephone.

Having breakfast together at home during Saturday weekend is a joyful routine which we seeked opportunities to do so knowing that during normal circumstance his sister is always out early in the morning and come home late from school during normal day and he will also has his own therapy engagements to catch.

Having fun in Pasir Ris Park, we also hope to make it more regularly over weekend once he is more free from therapies from June onwards.

Term 2 also see him reading more books with more pages, the school has helped to develop his reading interest via reading mastery lessons.  He also frequent more visit to the library to borrow books to read & now also being able to sustain reading early beginner books up to 48 pages at one go before he goes to bed.  I will explore & buy more suitable books to maximize his potential in this focus area, reading and understanding the different context and generalizing them in other context.

His art has always been room for improvement and work in progress, so when he suddenly request for painting, the whole family went with his flow to do painting without hesitation, the outcome was abundance in peace and joy.  We will try to do more of such activities during holidays as well to elevate his skill in painting.

Another of the skill he picks up is that of IT subject in typing the keyboard.  We are also thankful for his achievement in Maths and English during the last SA1 results and positive comments by teachers on the other subject skill sets he had learnt in the first half of the year.  I always believe in him that he has the potential of doing better, with the right support, teaching and applying them in real life to make him understand more & practise frequent in exercise worksheets or work books.

Our time of togetherness revolve most often when taking a meal and doing small retail therapy together as a family.

There are times he will voluntarily wear a cap, when he thinks he is a waiter/chef, because that is how he thinks about the job he saw and conclude that he must wear a cap too when he becomes a waiter/chef at home during pretend play. He had told us that his dream job is to be a chef.  And hence we had submitted a doodle drawing of a chef in preparation for upcoming annual fund raising event for AVSW 2012

Look forward to bring more cheers & positive outcomes in every small little steps of progress he makes.

Winner Statement:-

Happy Mother's Day

It has been 6 weeks since my last blog post, taking this occasion to pay tribute to great mothers who have been a critical parts of my family and growing up.

Special Gratitude to the mothers namely:

1) My Mother

2) My Wife

3) My Mother in-law

4) My Sister

5) My Sister's Mother in-law

May all and other mothers world wide be blessed with abundance of good health, joy & happiness.

Greeting from my little STAR:-

http://youtu.be/Ilg3e8mJoQ4

Winner's Statement:-

Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but theit hearts forever.

5th WAAD

The short holiday in Mar was enjoyed with home work, computer & play time on top of his usual engagement on OT, ST & Social Group weekly session.

With Mar nearing its end comes another celebration for the 5th WAAD in Apr, I had prepared a montage to give thanks & share with friends, parents, SpEd, therapists who we have crossed path over the last 3 years in our journey together with Him and more as the networking builds on. This montage also marks the end to his journey with early intervention program as he now embarks on another transformational journey toward the next lap of learning. I wish Him all the best as we continue to provide him with whatever support he needs to maximize his potential, he has been so blessed to have come this far of the journey and we look forward to many more cheers to come.

http://animoto.com/play/pgh862ZaCXR9dpucguD2jw

The Light It Up Blue was held to mark the 5th WAAD for the first time in Singapore, so thankful that we can now be part of this initiative to raise the awareness for Autism in our local scene with the growing prevalence.

On the day of the Light It Up Blue event, my little STAR was having his speech social group session at Delphi Orchard and will have finish at 6pm before heading home via MRT with mummy. The little STAR was surprised to have meet up with his teacher in EIP on the way back as they walked towards Orchard MRT. She was the teacher who had sowed his first seed of learning and successfuly see him graduate through to the next lab, one to whom we are very grateful until these days for her contribution to our little STAR's progress, this was a truely divine moment, we were so happy and thankful for the magical moment. We light up our our living hall blue too, look so blissful and peaceful.

My sister was there to witness the Light It Up Blue event after work and she too, also had her divine moment of taking photos with people without realising that some of them were actually teachers of her nephew, my little STAR. She is most proud to have taken a photo with Mdm Denise Phua who all of us have very high regards on her in this special communities of Singapore including the people with hearing impairment where my sister belongs. Thanks to all for making the moment count.

We arranged the next day evening for a dinner together at Ion Orchard to recollect the event again there after and took some more photos for our collection.

With great understanding, good training & right support, I am always hopeful that "deficits" demonstrated in Autism are actually trade-offs. What seems, at first glance, like a straight forward liability may turn out to be a complex mixture of blessings and burdens, so it is critical that we continue to understand, accept & include them in our society, treat them with respect and dignity. Autism according to some research evidence, represents an alternate way of making sense of the world, a cognitive difference that, in many instances, comes with unexpected benefits, we need to intrude to explore with them to find out the various possibilties to manage best outcome. I am only 3 years plus old in this learning journey, I have still got a long way to learn and look forward to more knowledge & peace in this joy of living.

March Delights - Conclusion of Term 1 2012

Term 1 had just passed by, it has been great 10 weeks for the little STAR in his new learning experience. One week of school holidays will be an opportunity to bridge his gap and lack in some area of his weakness. Taking stock and ready to work with him on the bulk of home works given by teacher to follow through daily progressively. It is learning, practise, try and retry in progress until he manages consistent success with reasonable understanding. His memory has been recognized as one of his strength, able to watch TV and appreciate the content on disney junior channel and even singing songs with them. I had also manage to know who his classmates are, how many are in his class etc...from him. He even mentioned some teachers which has crossed path during any school activities when he pretend or enact out the routine to us at home.

He has also picked up some useful skill in digital literacy and able to manipulate, click, scroll to response. He is motivated to work on the computer, this will reduce effort further as he work on the various links provided by teachers to revise what was been taught in Term 1 ranging from English to Math to Daily Living Skill and Social Emotional Management, to align & develop his learning competencies in the 21st Century.

Look forward to Term 2 with the IEP firmed up and ready to start another small race.

I had attended the end of Term parent communication night and found it enriching and useful. One of which are the 7 essential skills vital for our 21st century learning & development competencies to achieve a good outcome as a confident and responsible person, which include Work Independence, Emotional Management, Communication Skill, Physical Health, Social Safety, Vocational & Community skill. Teachers gave an update on various tracks and students were given chance to present their work, kuodos to educators.

When we teach, always remind ourselves to apply "I Do, We Do, You Do"

Always believe that every child is teachable, and all of the adults/caregivers can teach, make each moment count.

I had also picked up some tips to be a better advocate for my little STAR:-

1) Get Updated on the landscape

2) Think of the outcome you want to achieve

3) Stay balance between courage & consideration. Whatever we advocate, be constructive to promote good collaborative effort betwen parties concern for the betterment of our child

4) Acknowledge the good effort and show appreciation to one another in this walk together

The PCN ended with an inspiring video of "Don't give up!" from the 92 Barcelona game, the race of a life time is about how one manages his finish inspite of great challenges ahead.

http://youtu.be/kZlXWp6vFdE

Finish Strong is more than a statement, it's an attitude. It's an attitude of believing you can do something and having the courage and determination to see it through.

It was another memorable session, learning journey continues...

5th World Autism Awareness Day is around the corner 2 Apr to be exact, looking forward to sharing another montage release of my little STAR learning journey with many professionals who had walked with him & family together, this will be 3rd montages in 3 years & truely a very rewarding & frutiful journey with our beautiful seed.

Winners Statement:

February 2012 - Discovery

There is a saying that happiness with a reason can be a form of misery as the reason may soon be taken away, to be happy without any reason is the ultimate experience that one can then find sustainable peace & abundance of joy. How true! If I have a reason to be happy, then it will be for this life long journey of Autism that I have travelled this far with my little STAR, there are many great values to learn from him in life which I have benefitted in the past 3 years plus walking with him, he is my joy of living. Blue has gradually become another of my favourite colour aside from RED(YNWA). Learning has been great and school is fun, claimed my little STAR. Practise makes perfect!

Do work on my own on recalling daily living skill Home work on colour patterrn

Exploring nature - purple flower

Discovery - walking around the neighbourhood trail 1, good exercise routine with him over weekendLife is blissful! Smiles to inspire others This is a house, the house is behind me, the clouds are blue, it is a Sunny day, I feel happy! Discovery - walking around the neighbourhood trail 2There is a rainbow in the sky, rainbow has seven colours, I like playing lego blocks, it is fun playing with friends. The climb may be hard & difficult but the scenery on top is beautiful! Random happiness shots at home Yummy in my tummy! I bought him a soft toy monkey and named it after Faith during last Christmas season, while walking with him around the neighbourhood blocks, saw a flea market and this new soft toy elephant caught my attention, ask my little STAR if he likes it, he said yes! So bought for him for $4 and named it after Hope. So now he has Faith & Hope by his side to cheer him on! I was chilling out with him during Valentines' Day at Ya Kun Cafe, after eating we went up to level 3 library, my little STAR suddenly stop near the library entrance & looking down from afar to the place where we were seated in the cafe, waiting for auntie to keep the plate and cup away to clear the table before he proceed into library, he always give thanks & have great joy in paying such attention to details, because he is special boy.
Random happiness within the community

Winners Statement:-