Son-Rise for typical kids

Ian is my 3rd child, he does not have special needs. However, everything I learned in The Son-Rise Program(r) to help children with Autism gain social skills, build relationships and be confident in life, I have applied to Ian.
As a result, Ian is not only a loving friend, a great comedian, a popular child (according to his teacher), Ian also excels academically.
When Ian was born, Nathan wasn’t walking yet and Amor was not talking yet. I feared that the twins would need so much of my time as a Mommy-Therapist and I might not be able to help Ian reach his potentials. I later found Son-Rise which made parenting so fun and easy with such amazing results. In the end there was nothing to fear and everything to be grateful for.
Ian woke me up this morning saying “Mama, I forgot to tell you, I got an award yesterday.” See photo. His award was not specific to one subject but excellence in all the work that he does!
Praise God for laying down the road ahead of us.
  

Don’t you think there are just days when you can hear God talking to you?

2015 was the year when I strengthened my faith and learned to surrender everything I cannot do to God!

This morning, while I was doing my prayers and reflections, a young man asked if he could share the poolside table. As he sat, stretched and looked around, I felt his discomfort so I gave him a big smile to reassure him that he was most welcome to join me.

We looked at each other’s books, he was holding a bible and I was holding Joseph Prince’s “Destined to Reign devotional.” We exchanged notes on who our favourite biblical characters/lessons were. He was well versed with the bible and very smart.

I asked him about his life. He was about to enter Sg Polytechnic in a field related to Energy and a career path towards Environmental Science. Talk about coincidence, that was my career before motherhood.

Before we parted he asked me if I had a prayer request and he would help me pray for it.  

I told him about Nathan and my deepest wants. That’s when he shared his personal story.

He had autism. He was a problem student in grade school, who couldn’t sit still and couldn’t learn in class. “What happened? What did your parents do?” I asked. “They prayed faithfully.” He answered and reassured me the power of faith and prayers as he prayed for Nathan.

What a blessing that Ryan decided to sit next to me this morning.

Today, I know that God spoke to me. 

Keep the faith!

In the photo is me and Ryan, my new found friend.

 

  

Nathan’s clear communication

Last week I was reading this book to Nathan. When I got to this page, I thought I would stretch his interactive attention span by getting Papa’s guitar.
I sang a song and started to strum away. I actually I cannot play the guitar…and Nathan knows it:

Nathan: bye-bye guitar.

Me: Do you want me to pack away the guitar?

Nathan: Pack away the guitar, please.
Ok fine, that game is only for Papa to play 😜

  

From challenges to strengths

You wouldn’t be able to know, from the way Amor sings with such beautiful melody, that as a toddler, she had a terrible hearing sensitivity. Electronic sounds made her scream and run to safety. Even sounds from an electric toothbrush caused heightened fear. With hearing issues, she couldn’t catch the melody of nursery rhymes and sing them.

You wouldn’t be able to tell, from how clearly Amor sings the lyrics (well, for most of the song), that she had a speech delay. For a long time “aweee” was her preferred word and she only uttered her first 2-word sentence when she was about 2 1/2years old.

You wouldn’t be able to tell, from how she glances to read the lyrics, that Amor has symptoms of dyslexia and only started to show interest in reading when she was about 7 years old.

Praise God for healing!

Praise God for a super supportive Papa. Amor has made leaps and bounds since you have dedicated your weekends running her Son-Rise Program!

Nathan my Mr. Incredible

There was a time when Nathan wouldn’t respond to his name. He wouldn’t even look at me. I didn’t even know if he knew that I was his mother. I used to sing songs about how much I loved him and it felt like it was falling on deaf ears. Nathan would hum his chants and look at all directions as I sang my songs to him.

Thanks to the Son-Rise Program(r), I can “reach” Nathan again. He can play with me for extended periods of time, even up to an hour, with strong interactive attention, looking at my eyes, smiling and laughing, with games that he initiates.

We have been blessed mightly!

Someone once objected my opinion about vaccinations. He said his has an autoimmune condition, so he need the herd to protect him. He admitted that the vaccines can kill him, yet he asks the rest of the population, including new born babies. Babies whom we don’t know the status of their immune systems, who might be born with the same auto immune condition as him, or babies whom might be allergic to eggs or peanuts or other ingredients used to make vaccines and could cause their immune system to fail.

Climbing a mountain 

These past few days, Nathan would play with me for a whole hour. He would look straight into my eyes, smile & laugh and ask me for his favourite games. Then in the following hour, he will disconnect and go back into his world of autism. I allow him his comfort while waiting for him to choose to engage with me again. After all, he just climbed a mountain and decided to take a break for the next trek.
I feel blessed that we have found a way to conquer this mountain! On we tread, step by step, knowing that in time we will get there.

In the photo is one of my favourite games to play with Nathan, giving him squeeze hugs with lots of laughter and kisses. 

  

Homeopathy

A few months into homeopathy, I celebrated that fact Nathan made more detailed sentences. Like, “Open the key door bathroom please.” That’s his short cut for “Open the bathroom door with a key please.” Or he would request “I want to listen to Jump Around (his Favourite song) on the brown iphone, blue speaker.”  
Today, about 6months into homeopathy, I realise how much more complex his sentences are becoming. He says, “Open the key door bathroom please. I want to wash my hands.” Two sentences! Yippee! 
I’ve also noticed he responds faster, he is more present and can handle 2 simultaneous events, like throw a banana peel while holding/eating the banana at the same time. Sounds simple, but not too long ago, the only way to get him to listen and follow, was if I waited for him to finish the banana first, then request to throw the peel. A simultaneous request would fall of deaf ears and nothing would get done. In fact, Nathan couldn’t even have 2 items in his hands. He would have to put down the second item so he could eat the banana on his other hand.
His homeopath and I have felt that Nathan has “seizures”. “Seizures” big to be seen as jerks followed by few seconds of feeling lost, but “small” such that neurologists saw spikes in his brain waves (EEG) but debated on whether or not to medicate. 
Through the years, those jerks became more frequent. The lost attention span became longer and longer. That coincided with Nathan’s regression into autism. It has always been at the back of my head.
Fast forward to today…This time we tried a homeopathic remedy that helps with seizures and I’m seeing these good results.
I’m so glad the homeopath has answers for me. When the experts dismissed my instinct about those seizure-like jerks and reinforced the conventional notion that nothing can be done about the life-long condition, autism….I just had to keep searching. I’m happy that the autism community led me to homeopathy.
I’m praying that God continues to guide our path towards healing and gives us the wisdom to identify the right remedies for Nathan.

Amor’s “Premonition”

I was listening to Raun Kaufman’s audio book when Amor walked in and listened.  
Amor: When I grow up, I want to be like Raun Kaufman!
(I was super excited about he idea! Raun, was the first Son-Rise(r) child, fully recovered from autism, went on to an Ivy League university and now helps thousands of parents and families with children with special needs, through the Autism Treatment Center of America. We are one of those families, who will forever be grateful for getting us on this road to recovery).

Me: Why?

Amor: So I can talk to parents.

Me: What will you talk to them about?

Amor: About being flexible.

(Flexibility is one of the major targets in the Son-Rise Program Social Developmental Model and something we have been working on with Amor. It’s amazing she picked that topic)

Amor: I can also be a talker in an audio book. 😄

What an exciting “premonition” Amor!

In the photo is the hard copy of the audio book I was listening to, which Raun has signed and dedicated to Amor. How awesome!