YESSS... Today is the day. He has never done this before. He initiated a game - Finding the missing number. He started by arranging the blocks and asking Hubby and I, "What is the missing number?" This calls for a celebration! Yes! A Celebration *Jump Up and Down*... IT IS JUST SO EXCITING!
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| J was arranging the blocks and asking Hubby and I, "What is the missing number?" |
His idea came from his motivation - LIFT. In some shopping malls, there were missing buttons. That is how he has gotten this idea.
However, this significant milestone "Game Initiation" has come a long, long way....
I remembered back in May 2015 (It was 1 month before he turned 3). He was not receptive to any new learning at all. While other children his age were already into ABCs and 123s, for him, other than the ABC Song, he was totally not interested in "A for Apple, B for Boy", he was only interested in, just looking at lift when we were in any shopping mall or playing "Open and Close lift door" with his 4 red long and 8 blue short megablocks. At that point in time, I was feeling very discouraged. Like any new parent, I was in fact, very worried or rather kiasu, with his academics. In my mind, I was thinking, only the word "DEAD" and "He don't know how to read ABCs and 123s. What if he continued this way when he is 6, 7 or even 10 years old"? Of course, that was before reading the book Autism Breakthrough by Raun K. Kaufman.
I had always read about Montessori Education, which also believe in Child-led learning (Still, I was not totally child-led as you can see from my thoughts above) and after my friend introduced me to the book Autism Breakthrough, my belief in Child-led learning became stronger. I finally understood what his isms meant to J. I changed my belief and perspectives - Be child-led. J will surely not be like this forever. Since he loves lift, let's join him and go into his world - That was my turning point.
Indeed, the knowledge that J has - letters, numbers, counting, colours, signs, vocabulary (types of lifts, panel doors, buttons, etc), language development (he is now into 1 loop conversation from just 2-3 words back in May 2015), interaction when we talked about lifts, eye contact, safety when using lift, taking turns to go in and out of lift - all comes from the one motivation he has - LIFT. And he did not go through any formal learning, e.g. sitting down to learn in a classroom or doing table learning, because he could not sit still due to some sensory issues. He learnt all these through looking at lifts in shopping malls or during our playroom sessions.
The one thing that never fail to amaze me is when we are child-led, let the child be your teacher, let him teach you, learning becomes unlimited. The sky is the limit.
Before I know J's condition, I never know that there are so many things to learn from a lift. The lift is definitely one of the greatest inventions in all mankind. Very soon, this little man will surely learn about history and science (pulleys and axles) of lift. Woohoo! And the tears that I have today is, the tears of Joy...
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