All the while, I never thought there was anything wrong with my 2 years old until she went for her routine checkup and was referred by the paediatrician to see a Development specialist and speech therapist. It took me a while to sink into the words “possible mild autism”. I then realised that it is true that she was lagging behind her peers in terms of speech as she wasn’t even calling “daddy” and “mummy”.

Anxiety set in and I spent sleepless nights praying and wondering what could I do. Googling late into the nights to see what are signs of autism and ways to reverse autism wasn’t helping. I finally shared my worry with my friends and was informed by a friend who was having same problem to approach the Programme Manager, Liyuan. That night, despite it was over 10pm, I messaged Liyuan and he was kind enough to talk to me over the phone and came over to assess my girl the following day. Liyuan was able to observe my girl in ways I could not do so as a layman and gave me immediate guidance on what to do to improve her conditions. I signed the therapy package on the same day in Jul 2017.

The Case Manager came and I took leaves to see how he worked with my girl. Amazing! He has the patience to teach my girl and that was the first time I saw my girl so complying which never took place before. I also did electronic fasting for 30 days (zero I-pad and curtain over the television set) during that period. After a few sessions with him, my girl went for follow up with the speech therapist and development specialist in NUH and I was informed that my girl improved so much in speech and eye contact and the therapist asked me what have I done to help my girl to improve so much.
Now, my girl can express a lot in words, but because she said “make milk” instead of “I want milk” and “carry me” instead of “daddy carry me”, she has to go through last check up with the therapist at NUH in two months time. NUH therapist told me she is no longer that concern about my child’s developement anymore as my child is reaching her milestones very soon.

I wouldn’t say the therapy session is cheap, but I would say my girl’s development is priceless to me. Family members and friends keep telling me that my girl is doing well and the fact that she is deemed “normal” is the greatest comfort to me. Thank you Liyuan for helping my precious girl to reach her milestones. You are doing a wonderful job! And Liyuan, yes, you have kept your promise in helping my girl!

Mrs Guo

Age of child when intervention started is 2

Length of Intervention is 6 months