Jou Hui, Parent of Jerald (6 years old, Autism)
We are grateful to have met teacher Yi Zhuang who practise Verbal Behaviour of ABA. I was initially unwilling to explore ABA as I found that it may be too rigid. Jerald started off as a non-verbal child, no other childcare centre will take him other than eipic because it required additional manpower to engage him. When teacher Zhuang first met him, he was already 5yo, not toilet trained and unable to hold a pencil or imitate certain actions like handrolling or touching his nose.
She persevered despite his tantrums and meltdowns. With her help, in three months, he was able to tolerate a two hour session well and learn new things each time, be it following a pattern, simple puzzle, reading two words or even do coloring that comes easily to other neurotypical kids. But it took more work to get jerald to try them. It meant alot to us that he was able to copy certain actions like clapping hands. They built a rapport and teacher Zhuang was able to push him at a suitable pace to achieve more.
I gradually understood that my child require certain structures and routine to help him learn better. I find verbal behaviour a good balance regarding the prompting in his learning journey. With combined help from EIPIC, his private ot and a very good helper, in six months, jerald had moved to being able to prompt us to bring him to the toilet.
Teacher Yi Zhuang is resourceful and dedicated. For instance, Jerald is terrified of haircuts. She was willing to work with us, to first introduce him to a hair cutting app, then letting him touch an electric shaver, before moving to the sound. Next, we approached the putting on the cloth to protect his neck from itchiness, before finally embarking on the cut, from the living room to the shower area. Through minor steps, he is more accepting now. At times, our occupational therapist gets in three snips on a good day while teacher Zhuang got in a few shaves.
Hair cuts are a slow process, so if you see a kid with a funny bowl cut style, just smile. We get a lot of questions from people and the bus auntie that sends him to eipic about who cuts his hair. It is not easy and a constant learning process as we grow with our child in this autism journey. But we are glad to be blessed with good help and teachers along the way.