What We Do

【Role-playing】

Most children like stories, but not every one of them experienced role-play. The other day, our therapists told a story about filial piety and turned it into a six-box drawing in order to let the buddies follow and act them out. In the picture, the buddies were paying attention to the therapists! During the role-play, the buddies had to recall the story which was a great challenge to their attention and memory!

【Cone game】

Our therapists played a game with the little buddies in this lesson. They prepared several cones and asked the buddies to put the rings on the cones. This game required the buddies to pay attention and follow the instructions. In the middle of the game, our therapists raised the difficulty by giving out conditional instructions such as those who wear a pink coat or those who wear a top with patterns, etc. Thus, the buddies learnt to respond to various kinds of instructions and enjoyed the fun of the game at the same time.

【Hammer game】

One day, our therapists played whack-a-mole game with the buddies. This game was a big challenge to their reaction, memory and comprehension. In the beginning, their reactions were slow that we switched to another person quickly in one round. After a few rounds, they started to catch up with the speed and were able to shout out the name of the other buddies in time. However, our therapists would not let them win easily, they increased the difficulty of the game by not letting them to repeat the names which almost trapped them. Our therapists designed diversified activities or themes to do training with the buddies, hoping that they can learn happily and are happy to learn! 

【Learning food pyramid】

One day, our therapists were teaching the importance of balanced diet. Apart from using graphics to let the buddies understand different categories of food and the proper proportions of intakes, the therapists also arranged them to role play so as to learn the consequences of imbalanced diet from it. What is more important is that the memories of the buddies and their abilities of recall could be trained through the role-play. Our therapists had designed different topics and contents to repetitively train the same ability of the buddies until they reached a certain level. In this case, the buddies were exposed to broader knowledge and things which could maintain their interest in having lessons.

【Diversified topics and materials】

We provide ABA treatment with using diversified topics and materials for the little buddies, to create joyful learning. For example, our buddies painted palm flowers as Mother’s Day gifts for their mothers and made paper dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival. We also played role-play games related to different Chinese idiom stories. We cover a wide array of topics including festivals, stories, weather and food, and adopt various teaching methods such as games, music, role-play games, and arts and crafts. During these activities, we have applied ABA to enhance children’s social skills, language and communication skills, abilities to follow instructions and more, to prepare themselves for school.

Here are some training materials and the hard work of our little buddies -- pizzas, rainbows and beetles. To help children cut out circles with scissors, our therapists have planned different cutting exercises on various topics for the buddies to practice. Besides, to perform a role play, our therapists would prepare pictures based on their abilities to help them visualise and memorise the content.

【Learning ourselves】

One day, the little buddies closed their eyes while sitting in the classroom. They were having a lesson about learning themselves. They experienced a moment of blindness by closing their eyes. They later watched a video and paid attention to the story. They had learnt more about the five sense organs and other body parts as well. Therapists then guided the buddies to count their body parts and they all answered correctly!

【Throwing and catching game】

One day, our therapists arranged a throwing and catching game for the little bubbies. After introducing the game, the little buddies quickly formed two teams. The game required good hand-eye coordination, and more importantly, communication and team work. The two teams stood outside the floor mat and started throwing bottle caps at the same time. The team who caught more bottle caps would win the game. When the game had started, we heard sounds of dropping bottle caps on the ground one after another. The buddies quickly picked up the caps and throw them again. Our therapists often prepared different competitions for the buddies to learn about winning and losing, self-appreciation and acceptance of failure. After the game, they applauded the efforts of each other.

【Learning countries】

One day, the little buddies were discussing about countries enthusiastically. They could tell there are different cultures in different countries. Since our therapists set the theme as country for that week, they discussed the languages used, races, animals and geographical conditions of different countries with the buddies. Our therapists also helped the buddies develop their analytical thinking abilities by encouraging them to brainstorm and suggest ideas about country. After some discussions, the buddies had to work on various projects together, such as pairing up animals with the corresponding countries. All of them wanted to choose their own preferred assignment. Therefore, our therapists took this opportunity to teach them to express themselves appropriately, compromise with others and work together. On the last day of that week, the little buddies successfully created a mind map through making associations and sharing of ideas about countries that they had learnt over that week.

【Graduation】

The little buddies from the first intake of Learning Buddies had graduated! After a 6-month training, the little buddies have become friends and get along well with each other. On this day, we invited the parents of the buddies to attend graduation ceremony and witness the improvements of their children. The buddies put on graduation gowns and received certificates which affirmed their achievements in different areas. We were touched while looking at the photos of previous training and their smiley faces. The buddies felt a little sad about leaving APF after graduation. They took a lot of photos together and promised to meet with us again in our upcoming events. We would definitely miss them, but when we were looking at the backs of the buddies walking hand in hand, we believed that they would enjoy learning and have a happy school life in their kindergartens!

【Christmas】

Merry Christmas! Before Christmas, our therapists taught the little buddies on how to make a Santa Claus craft. The buddies cut out the Christmas cap nicely, pasted a paper tray to the cap, drew the eyes and finally put a red nose on Santa Claus’s face. An adorable Santa Claus was completed and the buddies were ready for Christmas! On Christmas Eve, the buddies and their parents, our therapists held a Christmas party at APF. The parents gave us a hand-made thank you frame. We were all surprised and grateful to receive this gift. We will continue to serve more families in need.

Hang Yu, Pak, Jason, Ming, Chun, Ho, Tung and Selin were invited to present their perspective as an educational opportunity for addressing the awareness of ASD and the importance of early-intervention. Hang Yu, Pak, Jason, Ming, Chun, Ho, Tung and Selin are past beneficiaries at Autism Partnership Foundation (operating in Hong Kong).