Background

J went through every of his development stages. So it did not occur to my husband and I that he is in the spectrum. It was only when he was 2.5 years old that one of my friend, S, who is a trained speech therapist and another friend, Z, who studied and taught psychology, that they alerted me of the difference that J has by asking me key question, e.g.

• How is his development?
• Did he talk to you?
• Did he look at you when he is talking to you?
• What does he usually talk about?
• Does he play with friends?
• Etc. 

At first, to an unsuspecting mum, these questions meant nothing to me. I mean, he talks to me. He has a group of friends whom he met at the park and play with them. His development were on par with his age. At least, that was what I had felt.

But as they persists asking me those questions, which to me, seems not normal kind of questions. I began to question why they had questioned me what they had questioned. My friend, Z, sent me a video "Early Signs of Autism Video", which is the turning point.

From the video, I began to recall -

• I recalled when J was 1, he flapped his hands.
• He would not respond to his name.
• Sometimes, when we talk to him, he would not look at us.
• When he was with his peers, he was usually quiet and would not talk but when he was with me, he talks a lot. I also realise he did not engage with his peers during play even though he smiled and laughed a lot.
• When J was 2, he started playing with megablock. And this went on, even till now. He was totally obsessed with playing megablock. He used the megablock to mimic opening and closing lift door.
• There were several occasions when he had difficulty regulating himself.
• He could not sit still in classes.
• His play were inappropriate.
• He would stimmed or go into stimming.

These were some of the things that we have found. And there are more.

This was how he played in the 2nd stage. 

He was replicating lifts with 4 panel doors.

The initial 1st stage was just playing with 

either 4 big red megablocks or 4 blue megablocks,

which he did an "Open and Close" door.

This was taken on 3rd Aug 2015. J was replicating lifts with 4 panel doors using train tracks.

J was replicating lifts with 4 panel doors using facial tissue.

J was replicating lifts with 2 panel doors using books with hard cover.
If you notice, there were 2 lifts separated by a wall.

Currently, J is in an EIPIC Program, which he was enrolled in March 2016. Hubby and I are doing Son-Rise Program® with J. I am homeschooling J so he does not go to a preschool.

The homeschooling route allows him:

• to explore and discover subjects at his own pace.
• to minimise distractions and overstimulation which in a typical classroom - the posters on the wall, the shelves full of materials, even paintings of beautiful artwork, mural paintings on wall, the inevitable noises made by other children, the number of children in a class are highly stimulating, which is perhaps good for a neurotypical child but not child on the ASD Spectrum.
• to work on his Social Development in our playroom using the Son-Rise Program®.

J had 2 sessions of ABA Occupational Therapy (OT) in May 2015 but he had been crying in those 2 sessions. Hence, I have stopped the sessions. However, in Oct 2015, he had his first session of OT from KKH-CDU but due to long queues, he only have 2 sessions of OT for a span of 5 months. After which, when his EIPIC Program started, his OT sessions with KKH-CDU ceased.

After attending the Son-Rise Program® Startup in Nov/Dec 2016, I have stopped his once-a-month Speech Therapy (ST), which he attended since May 2015.