Life is like a drama and the unexpected can lie just around any corner. To be thankful for or to be frightened of what will happen, will depend largely on your attitude.Mrs. Lam, who already has raised 2 healthy and energetic daughters, did not expect that her third daughter Hengyu would succumb to ASD. She felt distressed and blamed herself, questioning if it was the diet she had during pregnancy, or her neglect of Hengyu’s needs, was the cause of this disorder.
Fortunately, Hengyu’s special needs were identified in early phase and received timely effective treatment from Autism Partnership Foundation (APF). Hengyu’s mother express gratefully:
“At first, I didn’t expect much from the service, and I’ve never expected Hengyu could achieve such leap-forward development in APF. I am thankful to APF of their helping hands. I hope children who are facing the same problem as Hengyu can also receive this effective therapy.”Let’s see our interview with Hengyu’s mother below:
01) When did you notice the “differences” in Hengyu?
Actually I didn’t notice her “differences” straightaway, since Hengyu is the third child in our family, the focus I put on her was fairly little. When she was at 7 months old, she could say “Dad” and “Mom”. It seemed all fine for us.It was when she was at 14 months old, she did not respond to our interactions, worse still, she was looking off elsewhere when I was talking to her. Once, my second daughter broke out in a rash, I had no choice but to ask my mom to take care of Hengyu for a certain period of time. Then, my mom started noticing her “difference” and suspected that Hengyu may have language delay or hearing problem since she did not give any response to her. She urged us to have a checkup or an accessment for Hengyu.
02) When was she diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and started receiving treatment?
We then went to a health center to seek medical consultation. The nurse said that we were fortunate enough to discover her special needs at an early age. The nurse then arranged us for the assessment and we have waited for a year, by the time Hengyu was confirmed to be diagnosed with ASD, she was 2 years and 3 months old. At that time, I felt helpless and did not know what the next step should be.03) Did the doctor provide any suggestion to you? What treatment did she receive?
The doctor introduced us to several kinds of therapies. I wanted to emphasize her language skill the most so I consulted different speech therapies. Sadly, the treatments were either too expensive or the waiting lists were too long.Meanwhile, I’ve consulted the services from Heep Hong Society, and I enrolled Hengyu to a pre-nursery class, a parent-child playgroup, a sensory integration therapy class as well as a music therapy class. In fact, I had no knowledge about the treatments I enrolled, I just wanted to try all of them to see the outcome.
During those months, we received different treatments from several centers but I felt like the outcome was not evident. She still exhibited behavioral problems during class. She cried when the lessons started, and I needed to bring her out to calm down. Hardly could she go through the whole lesson.
04)How did you know about the service of APF?
After having completed the various therapy classes, Hengyu needed to ready for kindergarten. To be frank, I was afraid that our applications to schools would be rejected. However, the social worker encouraged me to speak frankly about Hengyu’s condition to schools. If the school was able to provide on-site services, Hengyu could be trained at school. And I am truly grateful that the school accepted our application and Hengyu was also offered with training at school.It was around that time my friend introduced me the free ABA training service of APF and I gave it a try. Very soon a staff from APF contacted me about Hengyu’s situation. Then APF arranged the first service for her in October.
05)From noticing Hengyu’s differences, accessing her condition and receiving treatment to entering school, how these experiences affected you?
In large extent, my emotion was strongly influenced because I felt sad and kept asking myself why my third kid has to suffer and whether I have eaten any inappropriate food during pregnancy as Hengyu’s sisters do not have ASD. I was stressed out and frustrated. The treatments are expensive and I was worried that her condition would not be ameliorated. Fortunately, we figured out her needs in earlier phase so she is more likely to catch up with peers.06)Can you share explicitly which aspect of Hengyu was most worrying? And, what was improvement after she received treatment from APF?
I was really worried about her language development because she did not know how to speak before coming to APF. I have heard from other parents and teachers that some kids still cannot speak at 4 or 5 years old. I was concerned that she would not have language ability after growing up. The principal did not agree that we should suspend her study to have one-month training in APF because the effectiveness may be insignificant.However, I persisted. Surprisingly, HengYu said “bread” to me after the third day of training. Before that, she could only speak baby-words which I did not even understand. After one week training, when we went to the park, she came over and told me that she wanted to have some bread and water. Not only with those single words would she proactively start conversation. She was proactive and responsive when she played with her sisters. Her social interaction improved a lot, of example, she understood more about sister’s instruction and teaching, had more eye contact and learnt how to use gestures to express her thought. In the last lesson, we were informed by teacher that her cognitive skill has greatly improved. She learnt different vocabularies and could use them.
On the first few days of returning school, teachers were excited to see her improvement and she was able to name different objects at school as well as had meal by herself without teacher’s help. After one month training, her self-care skills were improved a lot and she could greet others under my guidance. I think that training from APF is effective and I am glad because not only I noticed her improvements, even the school teachers also praised her progress.
07)Given Hengyu’s improvement, can you share how it positively affects the communication among family members?
Of course, all of us are happy because she interacts with us more. We are living with grandma, and grandma is so excited that Hengyu can address her. She can also address her sisters and they enjoy fmgfteaching her and going to school with her.08)Is there anything that you would like to say to APF’s teachers?
I am thankful to Quincy and Joanna because they were patient to teach Hengyu. They designed many activities and games to teach her so that she could have such improvement. I am also grateful to all APF’s staff and this organisation. If there was no APF’s training, she would not have achieved so much. I am greatly grateful for the help APF has provided. My friends could also notice Hengyu’s improvement and I shared APF’s service to them as well.I wish other kids who are in need can receive this treatment too. Through my experience and sharing, I hope more kind-hearted people are willing to donate money in order to let more kids to receive proper treatment. As we know, the resource of government is not enough, one may probably wait for 2 years to access the service. As parents, we are definitely devastated because we know this is the prime period which children cannot miss.
09)Lastly, as you previously shared that you held the idea of “Giving a try” so as to let Hengyu receive APF’s training. After one month’s training, what is your feeling and feedback regarding our service?
Your service is excellent, and the treatment is effective. Not only did you train the kids but also held difference activities for parents and kids, and talks for parents in order to mollify our stress. After one month training, there is also follow-up service. I hope there will be more chance for kids to interact with peers in future group activities.Info provided by Samantha Mak, Senior Behavioral Therapist
Ms Samantha Mak obtained her Degree and Honor Degree in University of Southern Queensland, major in psychology. She has joined AP since 2010 as a behavioral therapist(one-on-one and Jumpstarts program) and a shadow teacher in the mainstream school. Moreover, she has over 5 years of experiences in working in social group and providing parent training. Aside designing and planning learning phases and activities for students, she is also experience in providing training to junior staffs in AP and interns from university under supervision. She receives direct training with Dr. Angel Au, Clinical Psychologist.
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人生有如一台戲，往往在我們意想不到的時刻，出現驚喜，是驚是喜視乎當事人用怎樣的態度面對。
已育2名健康活潑女兒的媽媽沒有想過第3名女兒倖如患上自閉症，當時她感覺很徬徨自責，不知是否她在懷孕時吃了不該吃的食物，或者是她忽略了倖如的需要而使她患有自閉症。 但困難中，上天沒有撇下她們，幸運的是，倖如在較早期已被發現學習上的需要，接受了愛培自閉症基金(愛培基金)所提供的治療服務，倖如媽媽感動地表達:
「我都是本著不妨一試的心態，沒想過她能有這樣的進步。我真是很感激愛培基金對我們的幫助，很希望好像倖如一樣的小朋友可以接受有效的治療。」以下是倖如媽媽接受訪問的分享：
1.你從何時開始留意到倖如的不同?
因為倖如是第三個小朋友，所以我放在她身上的注意力比較少，並沒有留意她的不同。她7個月時便能叫爸爸媽媽，所以當時我們亦不擔心。直到她1歲2個月時，她對我們的互動沒有反應，甚至當我跟她說話時，她眼睛也是四處望的。有一次我的二女兒出疹子，我讓倖如在我媽媽家留宿，我的媽媽便留意到倖如的不同，他們猜測可能是語言發展遲緩或聽力問題，所以催促我帶她做檢查。
2. 你她在何時確診患有自閉症及開始接受治療?
後來，我帶她到健康院看醫生，護士說幸好能及早發現她的需要，並安排我們預約評估。後來等了差不多一年，倖如才接受評估，當時倖如是2歲3個月。評估報告證實倖如患有自閉症，我當時真的感到很徬徨，不知道可以怎樣做。3. 當時醫生有否給予你們一些建議？她之後接受了甚麼治療?
醫生給我們不同的治療方案，而我當時很希望她能在言語方面有所進步，所以都查詢了不同的言語治療，可是服務的收費很貴，又或是輪候時間太長。同時我也有查詢過協康會的服務，我為倖如報讀學前班，親子PLAYGROUP，感統治療及音樂治療。我其實也不太清楚哪種治療最為有效，心想甚麼也試一試。在那幾個月我帶她到不同中心接受不同的治療，可惜成效不太大。她在那些課堂時都有行為問題，一上課就哭了，不停要到外面休息，也不能完成課堂。
4. 你如何得知愛培基金的服務?
上完了那些課程倖如就開始讀幼稚園，當時我很擔心學校不接受倖如的申請，但社工鼓勵我要向學校坦白，若學校能有到校服務，倖如就可以在學校接受訓練。我很感恩學校的校長接受倖如的申請，而她也在學校接受訓練。就在那段時間我的朋友給我介紹愛培基金的免費ABA治療服務，我就試一試。當時有位工作人員聯絡我，查問倖如的情況。之後，十月就開始治療了。
5. 由你發現倖如的不同，到她接受評估和接受不同治療，直到她能入讀學校，這些對妳造成了什麼影響?
自己的心情最受影響，因為我感到很傷心，為甚麼生了一個有問題的小孩？是否自己吃了甚麼不該吃的食物，因為她的姊姊們都沒有自閉症，壓力很大，覺得很徬徨。治療也很有負擔，也擔心她將來沒有得到改善。幸好我們在早期已發現她的需要，有多些機會追趕同齡的程度。6. 你可否具體分享一下你之前最擔心倖如哪一方面的發展？以及倖如在愛培基金接受治療後有甚麼進步呢?
我真是很擔心她語言方面的發展，她到愛培前一句說話都不懂說。我也聽過一些家長及老師的分享，有些小孩子到四五歲時也未學懂說話，那時我真的擔心她成長後沒有語言能力。其實學校的校長並不太支持我們停學一個月到愛培訓練，因為覺得一個月的成效不會太大，但我也想給她試一試。很奇妙的是，在愛培訓練第3天，她已在放學時跟我說「麵包」，她之前只會說BB話，而我也聽不懂她在說甚麼。在愛培上課一星期後，她和我去公園玩時，她會走來對我說要麵包和水。不但懂得運用詞彙，還會主動溝通。她和姊姊玩耍時更主動和反應也快了，在社交互動上進步了，例如，姊姊教她時她明白姊姊的指令，以及眼神接觸多了，也教了她如何用手勢表達自己想要的東西。在最後的課堂老師也讓我們了解到倖如在認知上也進步了，我看見她學會了不同詞彙，也能說出來。
倖如回到學校上課時，老師也因倖如的進步而感到興奮，她能在學校說出不同的物件，也能自己吃午膳及去排洗不再需要老師的幫忙。在這一個月的訓練後，她在家的自理能力也改善了很多，以及在我的引導下她能跟街上的姨姨打招呼。我覺得愛培的訓練很有成效，真的很開心，因為不單止我留意到她的進步，甚至連學校的老師也讚揚她的成長。
7. 倖如的進步對家人的溝通上有甚麼正面影響?
當然全家人都很開心，因為她和家人的互動多了。我們是和奶奶一起住，她能叫「奶奶」，奶奶很是高興。她也會叫兩位姊姊，姊姊也很享受教她東西和她一起去上課。8. 你有甚麼說話想和愛培的老師說嗎?
我很感謝Quincy 和Joanna，她們真的很用心教導倖如，用不同活動和遊戲教她，她才會有這般大的進步。我很感激所有愛培職員和這機構，若沒有這訓練，她不會有這些進步，我也很感恩愛培給了我女兒這個機會。我很希望有其他有需要的小朋友也能接受這種治療，就連我身邊的朋友也留意到倖如的進步，我也分享了愛培的服務給他們。我希望我的故事，能讓更多善心人仕願意捐助，令更多小朋友能接受治療。政府的資源不足，一等可能已要等上2年，作為家長真的會很心灰意冷，只因我們都知道小朋友不能錯過黃金期。
9. 最後，你之前提及過你是本著不防一試的心態來讓倖如接受愛培的訓練，現在一個月的訓練完成了，你對我們的服務有何感受或評價?
你們的服務很好和治療很有效，你們不但訓練孩子，也為我們舉辦了不少的親子活動，也有家長講座，讓我們能舒緩壓力。完成一個月的治療後也有跟進服務，希望將來的小組活動能讓小朋友彼此有多些機會互動。資訊提供: 麥心明 (Autism Partnership資深行為治療師)
麥心明小姐擁有澳洲南昆士蘭大學學士及榮譽學士學位(University of Southern Queensland)，主修心理學。她於2010加入AP，負責一對一治療、躍進課程及提供影子老師服務及參與家長培訓工作坊。除了在社交小組提供治療及參與家長培訓，她亦會為學生計劃及編寫訓練學習階段，提供有效學習。 她亦會設計課堂活動和協助培訓治療師及實習生。她現時為高級行為治療師，並接受臨床心理學家Dr. Angel Au的培訓。
請分享，讓更多人了解自閉症及學習更多應用行為分析（ABA）的治療技巧。
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