Summer's Journey

2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018... Fourth Thanksgiving post! I am thankful just for that alone. Reflecting this year, Summer's has experienced much and so have I...  On the Personal Front 2018 is another year of plenty of overseas travels, but the trips are personal trips, not just work trips. I have made eight personal trips and connected and reconnected with people whom I hold dearly in my heart. In February, I was in Yangon for a day to attend the wedding of one of the teachers at New World Therapuetic Center for Special Needs Children. It was my honour to be invited to share the joy. These teachers are more than 'only people whom I work with'. In March, Mag invited me to join her life group to visit Israel. Her life group makes up of people closest to her, who have walked through life with her for nearly twenty years. This Israel trip did not only bring the Bible to life, it also brought Mag and I closer. Bible sharing at the Sea of Galilee \ Mag a...

Finally back in Singapore after nearly three weeks in Myanmar! The word that came to mind when looking back at the last three weeks is 'connecting'. The first leg had me spending time with Danielle Ryan, the Angmo (Caucasian) version of me. We had met in 2012 when we were working in SPD. Since her return to Ireland in 2013, we kept in touch through infrequent text messages. However we made a point to visit each other every two years. This year, she came to Singapore where we retraced our favourite places and did our favourite activities, i.e. supervision over kaya toast and hanging out on The Bridge. Later we went on to Myanmar (Yangon and Taunggyi). It was awesome to show her Myanmar, a place I love.   Danielle and I having lunch at Inle Heirtage Centre! We had a great time looking at Burmese cats, not! Oh well, at least Danielle did! It was also in Taunggyi that I connected with Thiri Nwe, a Facebook friend. She is the founder of a therapuetic center in Taunggyi. It ...

Saturdays have been the 'golden days' since I started my private practice three and a half years ago. This is the day when children do not go to school and parents are off from work. For the first two years, I saw five children every Saturday, then four and now finally three. With the extra time now, I started scheduling 'screening' sessions. These are new referrals who needed to be screened, so that I know the child's needs, their parental concerns and which of my therapists will be able to meet those needs and concerns best. Last Saturday I had scheduled one of these screening sessions. Maybe due to my recent heavy workload of therapy sessions, supervision, travels for consultations and preparation for my upcoming long trip to Myanmar, I was feeling tired. I would love to finish my Saturday a couple of hours earlier. I would love to go home for a nice shower, rest and a change of clothes before my dinner appointment, rather than going in my work clothes like a...

Recently my niece, TT, is into 'Kaycee & Rachel in Wonderland'. Now, who is this Kaycee and Rachel? (Hint: Check out the Youtube video below) With this new interest, TT wants me to role play 'Kaycee & Rachel' with her; she is the younger sister, Rachel while I am the older sister Kaycee. Even though I know nuts about the two girls, being the coolest Aunt, I had to oblige. So from the moment I said 'yes', TT has been calling me 'Kaycee' . After hearing 'Kaycee', 'Kaycee', 'Kaycee' thousands of times, I started calling TT 'Kaycee' instead of 'Rachel' . And this does not sit well with TT. #coolauntfailed Suddenly I was reminded of the many children I work with... When asking for water... they say 'What do you want?' When asking for cookies... they say 'What must you say?' When asking for more cookies... they say 'You want more?' When asking for a toy car... they say ...

And the story of Henry continues... Now he has achieved the goal of 'intentional exhalation'; he can blow a horn. He was also starting to blow bubbles.  While I was celebrating this achievement, to his parents, Henry is still non-verbal. He is still NOT TALKING. He has more 'random' sounds than a year ago but they are unintentional. And of course, nowhere near speech for communication. So what's next? As much as I believe that Henry will talk one day (based on my past experience of two boys who started having functional speech at 10 years old), self-doubt started creeping in. Henry was already 7 years old. He spent a year learning to blow. How long more will he take to learn the other components needed for speech? Not long after, Mum popped the question... "Will Henry ever talk? What do you think we should do, now that his 'window of opportunity' is closing?" With some self-doubt but abundance blind faith, I told her that "Yes he...

It's unbelievable how fast the first six months of the year just flew past in a flash. I have been wanting to share this amazing story about Henry... Henry has been undergoing therapy with me since May 2015. He was six years old at that time. He has Autism and did not use speech to communicate, i.e. non-verbal. His parents had only one goal: SPEECH. Henry was one of the most silent child I have ever met in my then 7+ year career. He was referred to me by his Occupational Therapist (OT) who had been (and still is) working on his body awareness and motor planning.  After Initial Assessment, Henry was found to have very limited pre-verbal skills, i.e. visual tracking, auditory tracking, turn-taking, choice making, cause-and-effect, joint attention, and imitation skills. His play skill was at the very basic level of exploratory play. How can a child be verbal when he has limited PRE-verbal skills?? Not an easy 'case'! He was as silent as a mouse; I cannot even try...

This is the third year-end post of Summer's Journey! I am just thankful for another chance of thanksgiving. Going Places 2017 has brought me to places... Brunei... Jakarta... Kuala Lumpur... Myanmar... I am thankful for the many opportunities to do overseas training and consultation in these various countries. It allowed me to see the many needs in these countries, as well as forged several friendships. I am thankful to be able to connect with many people during these trips, especially in Myanmar. I have been going to Myanmar for training and consultation work on a quarterly basis. I have met veterans of the special needs field, and hear of their stories, of how they started decades ago when Myanmar had limited resources... and even up till today. My admiration goes to their perseverance, commitment and passion for people with special needs. Inspirational indeed! Group Work during one of the Trainings at New World The Team at New World Therapeutic Center for Spec...