What We Do

【Blowing fans】

One day, there was a loud noise from a fan in the playground. Kiu was sitting still and looking at a fan on a computer screen intently. Her therapist revealed that Kiu did not like fans and hair dryers and would scream when she heard the sound of a blowing fan. The therapist was helping Kiu get used to fans and the sounds. At the end of her training, Kiu was able to keep calm even when a fan blew on her very closely!

【Playing together】

Yeung used to play with adults or by himself. During the training, our therapist purposely put Yeung’s favourite toy on another kid’s table and encouraged him to ask for the toy from that kid. Through continuous practice, Yeung has gradually become more interactive with other kids and also played together happily.

【Happy, Sad, Angry......】

One day, our therapist was teaching Yeung Yeung to identify emotions. In the beginning, the therapist taught Yeung Yeung to understand happy, sad and angry by different pictures. Yeung Yeung gradually recognised these emotions. Then the therapist simulated a situation to test Yeung if he understood emotions thoroughly. Yeung Yeung was a little hesitant, so the therapist gave him a hint by showing a happy face. Yeung Yeung immediately smiled and answered “Happy!”

【Imitation】

Some children with autism exhibit deficits in imitation skills which affect their development in different areas. Our therapist noticed that Kwan was weak at imitation. He could not imitate simple actions like clapping hands. The therapist therefore did imitation exercises with Kwan frequently. After a series of training, Kwan was able to imitate more and more actions, such as clapping hands, pushing toy cars and even pointing to his cheeks where he could not see. His improvement was really amazing.

“I want to eat an apple!”

Many children with autism are picky eaters. Sum hated eating fruits and always avoided them, which made her mother worried. In order to help Sum solve this problem, our therapist first gave her a small slice of fruit together with the biscuits that she liked very much. Sum has started to be able to try different fruits such as blueberry and dragon fruit, and even asked for an apple!

Kiu, Yeung, Yeung Yeung, Kwan and Sum were invited to present their experience in receiving ABA services with Autism Partnership Foundation (operating in Hong Kong) (APF, HK). Kiu, Yeung, Yeung Yeung, Kwan and Sum are past beneficiaries of APF, HK.