We had breakfast at a fastfood restaurant today - at Enysh's request. Ewah budak kecik ni, baru 4 tahun dah pandai pilih tempat makan!
Anyway, as we were getting our food, Angah & Kojiq went to get the chili/tomato sauce at the sauce counter. Yeah, it's one of those restaurants with the pump sauce dispenser. Kojiq was making a fuss about pressing the pump, and then ran off to our table on the other side of the restaurant, with Angah following suit.
Just as they passed by one of the restaurant staff, he said to Angah "Can I give your child a spanking?"
That stopped Angah in her tracks. The insolence! Angah responded with "Mind your own business and never interfere with my family!" They exchanged a few more words, during which Angah realized his speech sounded a little peculiar, slurry. So she just shrugged it off and we sat down for our meal.
The restaurant Manager happened to pass by our table, so we mentioned what her staff had said to Angah. We weren't upset or complaining, but rather Angah said "I hope he doesn't go around saying that to more customers." Guess what she told us then? "Oh, please don't mind him, he is autistic."
Well.
Our guess was, he was used to hearing people say that about & to him. That's why he repeated it to us. A person with autism doesn't really have the "mean" streak, but rather is incapable of identifying whether his conduct is socially acceptable or not. But he will remember what people do to him, and will repeat it to other people. He doesn't know that by suggesting to give Kojiq a spanking, he has offended us. But he probably associated Kojiq's making a fuss with his own experience when he used to make a fuss in the past.
The lesson? Do not treat an autistic child with violence (verbal included), because he may grow up to accept that violence is normal, and so he in turn will unwittingly act violent to other people.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
An Update On Kojiq
Wow, couldn't believe my eyes when I opened this blog. Dah setahun rupanya takde apdet. Teruk la, kan? Huuhuu! I'd like to say that I've been too busy, which actually is true. But the real culprit is.... Facebook! Must release myself from the evil claws of Facebook, so that I'll have more time for blogging!
Anyway, much progress has been achieved by Kojiq for the past few months, largely due to a home therapy programme we've signed up for, called the ABA Home Programme. More about this program and the wonderful therapists conducting it, later.
In my last post, Kojiq was spelling 3 and 4 letter words, but the letters were pronounced phonetically. Hence "G" is pronounced "gi", "C" is pronounced "keh" etc. But now, he pronounces the alphabets correctly, and can spell letters endlessly. However, we are not sure how well he is really reading.
Angah seems to think he is sight-reading. As in, he will pronounce a group of letters like a word that he knows which closest resembles it. For example, he knows "mouse". So if he is asked to read out the word "house" or "mouth", he would probably read both those words as "mouse".
So we test him all the time. While on a drive, we ask him to spell and read billboards. At the mall, it's signages. Even while waiting for food orders, we ask him to go through the menu. He doesn't get it all right, of course. His speech is still not 'solid'. But AlhamduliLlah, I think he actually is reading, not merely sight-reading. How else was he able to read "Dolce Gabana", "delivery" and "Taiwan" correctly (almost)? Not in one sentence, of course (lest anyone thinks I'm talking about cheap imitation of designer goods made in Taiwan... hehehe!)
He is also communicating more, and will actually call out to the person he is talking to. He is also using simple sentences, and not just utter single words. For example, he used to say "water!" if he wants a drink. But now if he sees me drinking something interesting, he will say "Ayong, I want Pepsi/kopi/teh susu". Hmmphh, kalu aku minum air kosong, takde plak dia mintak :-P
TV is of course, any kid's favourite. He watches Playhouse Disney with his lil bro most of the time, fav show being Word World. Hey, aku pun suka Word World! It's amazing how they manage to shape any word into the object it represents. He can spell simple words from the show from memory, like "sheep", "duck", "slide" etc. Other favs are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Agent Oso, Dibo, Dive Oly Dive and Chuggington. But for some reason, he will always flip channels to catch Mr Bean (live) on other channels. Methinks it's because aside from Mr Bean being funny, he is also learning facial expressions from the show. Adeeehhh....
He loves music! Cuba teka, what's his fav? Everytime masuk kereta, he will insist on putting on this CD, sometimes dok repeat a particular song that he likes, sampai naik juling mata kitorang dengar. Tak dapat teka? No kiddies music CD. His current fav is Rihanna's "Good Girl Gone Bad" CD, and he tries to sing along jugak, even if just a few odd words here and there.
Counting, already into hundreds. He can count upwards, downwards and in tens. He can read numbers, of course. And recognizes colours. His vocabulary has expanded a great deal too! He is able to communicate his wants and don't-wants.
Me : "Do you want rice?"
Kojiq : "I dowan!"
Me : "Do you want to eat?"
Kojiq : "Yes!"
Me : "What do you want to eat?"
Kojiq : "I want eat hotdog!"
And that's how we always end up at fast-food joints during weekends *sigh*.
Oh well, any achievement deserves some kind of reward, eh? :-) Tapi takleh selalu, detrimental to both his health and my pocket mah!
Anyway, much progress has been achieved by Kojiq for the past few months, largely due to a home therapy programme we've signed up for, called the ABA Home Programme. More about this program and the wonderful therapists conducting it, later.
In my last post, Kojiq was spelling 3 and 4 letter words, but the letters were pronounced phonetically. Hence "G" is pronounced "gi", "C" is pronounced "keh" etc. But now, he pronounces the alphabets correctly, and can spell letters endlessly. However, we are not sure how well he is really reading.
Angah seems to think he is sight-reading. As in, he will pronounce a group of letters like a word that he knows which closest resembles it. For example, he knows "mouse". So if he is asked to read out the word "house" or "mouth", he would probably read both those words as "mouse".
So we test him all the time. While on a drive, we ask him to spell and read billboards. At the mall, it's signages. Even while waiting for food orders, we ask him to go through the menu. He doesn't get it all right, of course. His speech is still not 'solid'. But AlhamduliLlah, I think he actually is reading, not merely sight-reading. How else was he able to read "Dolce Gabana", "delivery" and "Taiwan" correctly (almost)? Not in one sentence, of course (lest anyone thinks I'm talking about cheap imitation of designer goods made in Taiwan... hehehe!)
He is also communicating more, and will actually call out to the person he is talking to. He is also using simple sentences, and not just utter single words. For example, he used to say "water!" if he wants a drink. But now if he sees me drinking something interesting, he will say "Ayong, I want Pepsi/kopi/teh susu". Hmmphh, kalu aku minum air kosong, takde plak dia mintak :-P
TV is of course, any kid's favourite. He watches Playhouse Disney with his lil bro most of the time, fav show being Word World. Hey, aku pun suka Word World! It's amazing how they manage to shape any word into the object it represents. He can spell simple words from the show from memory, like "sheep", "duck", "slide" etc. Other favs are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Agent Oso, Dibo, Dive Oly Dive and Chuggington. But for some reason, he will always flip channels to catch Mr Bean (live) on other channels. Methinks it's because aside from Mr Bean being funny, he is also learning facial expressions from the show. Adeeehhh....
He loves music! Cuba teka, what's his fav? Everytime masuk kereta, he will insist on putting on this CD, sometimes dok repeat a particular song that he likes, sampai naik juling mata kitorang dengar. Tak dapat teka? No kiddies music CD. His current fav is Rihanna's "Good Girl Gone Bad" CD, and he tries to sing along jugak, even if just a few odd words here and there.
Counting, already into hundreds. He can count upwards, downwards and in tens. He can read numbers, of course. And recognizes colours. His vocabulary has expanded a great deal too! He is able to communicate his wants and don't-wants.
Me : "Do you want rice?"
Kojiq : "I dowan!"
Me : "Do you want to eat?"
Kojiq : "Yes!"
Me : "What do you want to eat?"
Kojiq : "I want eat hotdog!"
And that's how we always end up at fast-food joints during weekends *sigh*.
Oh well, any achievement deserves some kind of reward, eh? :-) Tapi takleh selalu, detrimental to both his health and my pocket mah!
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