Ho-sang's Story
Tsang Ho-sang displays typical symptoms of autism and temper tantrums and has easily worn her mum down. On the first day he was admitted to a special child care centre of Heep Hong Society, the 4-year-old boy acted up on the floor. It seemed that a chaotic scene was inevitable. At this time, Ms Chan, the teacher, came up to his mum and set her mind at rest, ‘Don’t worry. I will take care of that.’ The problem was solved magically. Mrs Tsang believed she had found the right teacher for Ho-sang and became much relieved.
Ho-sang is sensitive to music, words, numbers and has a good memory. Whenever his fingers touched the keyboard, he would sit down and play the piano quietly. Whatever music he heard, he could play the whole piece again shortly afterwards. In view of Ho-sang’s strength in word recognition, Ms Chan taught him to make sentences to improve his ability in communication. She also applied DIR Floortime skills and emotional cue cards to teach him to express his emotions. Taking advantage of Ho-sang’s affection for numbers, Ms Chan successfully taught him to do arithmetic at the age of five, which enhanced his self-confidence. She set ‘the chance to study the calendar’ as the reward for training, and this worked fantastically for the boy!
‘Witnessing his improvement, I feel so happy and it reinforces my motivation to help him all the more,’ said Mrs Tsang, who felt that Ho-sang has given her many surprises during his developmental years. One day, when Mrs Tsang was exhausted, Ho-sang massaged her and said sincerely, ‘Is there any other thing I can help?’ On the spur of the moment, Mrs Tsang burst into tears out of joy. She is grateful to Ms Chan, who not only taught his son knowledge but also a loving heart for others. As Ho-sang progressed to a mainstream primary school this year, there may be many challenges ahead. ‘Yet, I am more confident in overcoming them now,’ she smiled.
