What We Do

Yao was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) when she was two to three years old. Yao’s mother felt lost and would like to escape from taking take care of Yao. Fortunately, Yao made significant progress after receiving treatment. Yao’s mother finally experiences the joy of parenting, and has learnt how to use “Applied Behavior Analysis” (ABA) to help Yao improve.

Yao could only say a few single words, “daddy” and “brother” when she was two years old. She seldom obeyed her mother’s instructions and would often lie on the floor and asked for mother’s hug. She also induced vomiting to get what she wanted. Reminiscing about the tough days at that time, Yao’s mother could not help sighing, “I was very afraid of taking Yao to go out, and also worried that others would think that I abused my daughter. My husband was busy with work and often not at home. I had to deal with a lot of trivial things by myself. At that time, I was very depressed and didn’t want to take care of Yao anymore.”

Fortunately, Yao’s mother received information about ASD through a support group and began to arrange training for Yao. Yao gradually learnt to express herself in simple words. After receiving a month of intensive ABA treatment in APF, Yao expressed her needs actively and described things in complete sentences. She would even invite therapists to play with her by saying, “Can we play together?” Yao’s mother shared, “The reward system designed by the therapist successfully encouraged Yao to walk independently. Yao was very shy originally, and now she is more confident in communicating with others. Her voice has become louder. I am really touched.” She remembered Yao’s smiley face every time when she came to the centre. She said, “The treatment was really effective and helped us break through the bottleneck. This service is very worthwhile.”

During the period of training, Not only did Yao make progress, Yao’s mother also learnt effective methods to teach Yao and became more enthusiastic. “I didn’t know how to create a communicative environment in the past. Now I realise that parents’ language input has a great impact on children’s language development. I also learnt to tell my child between appropriate and inappropriate behaviours clearly, and then use rewards to reduce her inappropriate behaviours.” Yao’s mother works very hard to apply ABA techniques in daily life to teach her daughter, helping her grow step by step.

Yao’s mother was invited to share her perspective on ASD and ABA services with Autism Partnership Foundation (operating in Hong Kong) (APF, HK). Yao is a past beneficiary of APF, HK.