Story of Nicholas Liu Jichin (a 16-year-old young man with ASD)
from South China Morning Post
A confident and gregarious youth, 16-year-old Nicholas Liu Jichin had an audience of several hundred people at Chinese University enthralled last November. His 30-minute talk at an autism conference turned into a two-hour session, as parents plied him with questions about his experience.
At the age of three, Nicholas was diagnosed as having high-functioning autism. But today, no one meeting the Hong Kong International School student would realise it.
He undertook a long and arduous journey to overcome his condition. Kindergarten and primary school were lonely times.
“I didn’t know exactly what was wrong with me. I didn’t know what was deterring people from making friends with me … I felt lost” Nicholas says.
“When a teacher read a book in class, I was not aware there was an environment around me, and I would sing my favourite song and disrupt the class. I did things that were unintentionally offensive. I had a really short attention span for things that I didn’t like. My classmates used to tell me I was a bit weird. As a result, I didn’t have many friends in primary school.”
Nicholas’ parents, former banker Willy Liu Ke-wei and his wife Linda, became anxious when specialists at Matilda Hospital diagnosed him with autism.
“At the age of one, he ate everything. But from one to three, his diet started to narrow, and he only ate things with the same colour as bread and butter,” Liu recalls. Nicholas was examined by the Autism Partnership in Hong Kong, as well as the New York University Child Study Centre, both of which confirmed the diagnosis.
“Around that time, we found out he also had hearing loss, delayed speech, and motor issues. We were worried. Could he be independent [when he grew up], we wondered.”
The couple devoted their energy to helping Nicholas improve his condition.
From the age of three to six, he had applied behavioural analysis therapy. Professionals from the Autism Partnership spent 30 hours each week with Nicholas for the first two years. That was reduced to 20 hours per week later.
“He had speech and occupational therapy every week. He was very unco-ordinated with his hands, so we encouraged him to play piano and swim to improve his motor skills,” his father says.
Nicholas has vivid memories of those childhood therapy sessions. “A lot of it involved positive reinforcement. Whenever I did the right thing, they would let me do the thing I liked for three minutes. My parents described it as tutoring, so I had a good attitude towards it. I thought everybody had the same thing.”
To his parents’ delight, the intensive therapy achieved remarkable results: “We had him evaluated every two years. Every time, his IQ score went up. Therapists later said he didn’t quite qualify for autism, although he still has some symptoms.”
Two years ago, the Lius decided it was time to tell Nicholas about his condition.
Nicholas says he took the news in his stride. “I was proud of myself for being able to put up with it. At the time, I knew about autism but didn’t fully understand the details.”
Nicholas has since taken on the role of autism educator, and gives talks at his school and to staff at the Yaumatei Child Psychiatric Centre. Last summer, he became a volunteer at the Autism Partnership.
“Lots of people who grow out of autism might not want to talk about it. I want to help more people who have the same condition as me,” he says.
Original post (published on 15 Mar, 2013): https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-education/article/1190732/youngster-becomes-autism-educator-after-overcoming
It’s delighted to have Nicholas as one of the lovely kid in Autism Partnership. We all feel very impressed to see his amazing progress and grateful that he’s willing to share with others his encouraging journey!
This December, he will be a guest speaker in the International Virtual Conference 2020 organized by Autism Partnership and Autism Partnership Foundation US. To hear more from him, RSVP NOW!
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[:zh]一名16歲自閉症人士的成長故事
來自《南華早報》的特刊
去年11月， 16歲的Nicholas在中文大學進行演講，他自信而愛交際，當場有幾百名聽眾參與了講座。他的自閉症主題講座由原定的30分鐘變成了2小時的演講，因為家長們無間斷地問了很多關於他個人經歷的問題。
三歲時，Nicholas被診斷為患有高功能自閉症（又名「亞斯柏格症」）。但如今，當您在香港國際學校見到這位學生，沒有人會意識到這一點。
他進行了一段非常漫長而艱苦的旅程來改善他的狀況，而他整個幼兒園和小學階段均是孤獨的。
「我不知道自己到底出了什麼問題？我不知道是什麼阻止了人們和我交朋友……我感到很失落。」 Nicholas說。
「當老師在課堂上朗讀課本時，我沒有意識到自己身處其中，所以我會唱自己喜歡的歌，以至擾亂了課堂。另外我無意中會做些冒犯到別人的事，對於我不喜歡的事情，我的持續專注時間很短。過往，我的同學常說我有點怪，因此我在小學的時候沒有很多朋友。」
當馬蒂爾達醫院（Matilda Hospital）的專家診斷出Nicholas患有自閉症的時侯，他的父母（前銀行家Willy 劉生和他的妻子Linda）都變得焦慮不安。
「在他一歲的時候，他什麼東西都吃，但從1至3歲，他進食的份量越來越少，而且他只吃像麵包和牛油一樣顏色的東西。」 劉爸爸憶述。Nicholas分別在Autism Partnership的香港中心及紐約大學的兒童研究中心進行過診斷，結果均證實他患有自閉症。
「大約在那個時候，我們發現他還有聽力下降、言語遲緩和大小肌肉（運動）障礙。我們非常擔心，他（長大後）能獨立嗎？我們非常疑惑。」
這對夫婦全心一致地幫助Nicholas去改善他的情況。
由三歲到六歲，他進行了應用行為分析治療（早期干預訓練）。在起初的兩年裡，Autism Partnership的專業人員每週花30小時和Nicholas進行訓練，其後，訓練續漸減至每週20小時。
「他每週都要接受語言和職業治療。另外，他的手很不協調，所以我們鼓勵他彈鋼琴和游泳來提高他的肌肉運動技能」 他父親說。
Nicholas對童年時期的治療有著清晰的記憶： 「其中很多都是正面強化。每當我做了正確的事，他們就會給我三分鐘做自己喜歡的事情。我的父母把它描述為輔導，所以我對它有良好的態度，我以為所有人都是這樣。」
令他父母欣慰的是，這種治療法取得了顯著的效果！ 「我們每兩年帶他進行一次評估，每一次，他的智商分數都有上升。治療師後來告訴我們，雖然他仍有一些自閉症傾向，但已不完全符合自閉症的標準了。」
兩年前，劉爸媽決定是時候告訴Nicholas他的病情了。
Nicholas說，他對這個消息處之泰然： 「我為自己能承受這一切而感到自豪。當時，我知道自閉症，但並不完全了解其中的細節。」
Nicholas自此開始擔任自閉症倡導者的角色，並在他的學校和油麻地兒童精神病中心為職員們進行演講。去年夏天，他更成為了Autism Partnership香港中心的一名志願者。
「很多經歷過自閉症的人都可能不想再談論它，但我希望幫助更多和我有相同情況的人」 Nicholas說。
原文（2013年3月15日的報導）: https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-education/article/1190732/youngster-becomes-autism-educator-after-overcoming
我們很高興曾經陪伴Nicholas這可愛及勇敢的孩子一同成長！看到他快速的大躍進，我們都非常感動，亦很感激他願意與別人分享他鼓舞人心的經歷！
今年12月，他將參與到由美國Autism Partnership及Autism Partnership Foundation舉辦的2020年遠程國際峰會，成為其中一位演講嘉賓。想了解他的更多分享，立即報名！
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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