Autism Partnership Foundation
Charitable Organization
Charitable Organization
Together We Create a Better World for People with Autism
Lok is a five-year-old boy with autism. Since Lok was diagnosed with autism, his mother has been working hard to learn training skills from Lok’s teachers and therapists. She was stressed out and once initiated suicidal thoughts. Fortunately, she overcame the hardship and decided to face challenges with a positive and grateful attitude.
Lok could not speak even when he was about two years old and was diagnosed with autism at the age of three. Lok’s mother was shocked, saying that she could not accept it at first. “My mind was completely blank. Lok’s elder brother learnt to talk when he started kindergarten. I thought that Lok was still young and he would improve once he started school, just like his brother.”
Lok’s mother followed the doctor’s and the social worker’s advice to arrange training for him. She always observed Lok’s training sessions to learn training skills from therapists and hoped that she could apply those skills in daily life. However, Lok’s mother told us frankly that she often felt frustrated, “Sometimes Lok cannot understand no matter how hard I have tried. I have also tried to teach him in the same way my parents raised me, which may not be that effective for Lok. I am not a professional. I feel very discouraged when I cannot help him.”
Although Lok’s mother felt tired of taking care of Lok, it was lucky to have Lok by her side to give her warmth. She said, “I was hopeless and painful to see that Lok could not write and was falling behind at school. I had thought about committing suicide. Yet, there’s one time that Lok handed me a piece of tissue paper while I was crying. I couldn’t bear to leave him alone and therefore I gave up such suicide thought.” Fortunately, Lok pulled her out of the hopeless abyss.
The improvement of Lok and the religious belief have backed Lok’s mother up to overcome the hardship. The mother and the son finally met opportunities and positive changes afterwards. She was amazed by knowing the great improvement of Lok’s schoolmate after receiving APF’s ABA treatment, “The child has learnt to greet people. It’s amazing, so I applied for APF’s treatment service.” She was very grateful for the treatment, “Lok could only use one or two words to express himself in the past. He has started to use complete sentences and say ‘I want…’ to show his needs spontaneously.”
Lok’s mother is very positive and continues to learn different training skills to help her son for further improvement. Raising children with autism is not easy. We hope that Lok and Lok’s mother can find motivation and joy in life.
Lok’s mother was invited to share her perspective on ASD and ABA services with Autism Partnership Foundation (operating in Hong Kong) (APF, HK). Lok is a past beneficiary of APF, HK.
