What We Do

“I hope the pandemic will pass quickly.”
Can you imagine the life of taking care of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) 24/7 during the Coronavirus Outbreak? Ting’s mother has been under a lot of pressure like having a “hedge-in fight” while taking care of Ting who has ASD. Trivial thing could be the final straw that triggers the child’s emotions. Ting’s mother lamented that caregivers need time and space to avoid burnout. Here is the interview with Ting’s mother:

What difficulties did you encounter when taking care of Ting?
“Ting often lost his temper over trivial things, such as being annoyed because of the hot weather and impatient while waiting for buses. He would cry and yell. It happens every day. I would give him time to calm down and express emotions, and then reason with him. He would also be rude to or command others. I don’t know how to manage his behaviours. Because of the pandemic, we have been staying at home and got into more conflicts and argument. It is driving me crazy.” 

Why did you apply for one-month intensive Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) treatment?
“I am worried about Ting’s social development. He would sometimes hit others and play pranks on people. Since he cannot differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate behaviours in different contexts, I am afraid that he may hurt others or even break the law without knowing it when he grows up. The On-site Pre-school Rehabilitation Services are not very helpful. I therefore arranged training outside school. I saw a parent introducing APF’s treatment services on the social media platform so I decided to give it a try.”

What do you think of the effectiveness of the treatment?
“Ting resisted receiving training at first. Fortunately, he quickly adapted to the environment and paid attention to the training as the therapist was nice and friendly. Ting has started to build up good behaviours. He has become politer and started to make requests by saying ’May I’ and ’Thank you’. He also behaves better when we go out. I feel more relaxed.”

What are your expectations towards Ting?
“I hope this pandemic will end soon so that Ting can go back to school normally. I also hope that he would have at least one to two friends to rely on in the future. The most important things  are to know how to define right and wrong and be a good person.”

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