Of Park, PECS and GFCF

Yesterday was Faaeq's appoinment with his speech therapist at HUKM. We reached quite early, so my husband stopped at the park nearby, Tasik Permaisuri Cheras Playground. It is such a lovely place.. I was impressed with the extended version of the play area.. the swing, the climb, the hanging bridge... it's almost the same as Occupational Therapy's room, only larger! Much much bigger lah... best! Faaeq macam rambang mata nak main mana satu.. I especially love the swing.. Back when we were in Sydney, almost all parks there have this kind of swing... it covers 'around' the body instead of just a flat piece of rubber for the bum! hehe... I tried to put Faaeq in it.. he was hesitant at first.. macam takut je... and when i swing it, lagi ler dia takut.. he wanted to get out of it but i ignored. but after a while he seems to like it.. but still, he was not comfortable to have the strap all around his body... bila angkat dia keluar, dia mcm nak naik lagi.. tapi lari lari... ade budak lain nak naik, marah pulak... macam buai tu dia punye :P

Wei Li (Faaeq's speech therapist at HUKM) tried once again a technique called PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System). PECS is basically a way to communicate, or an aid to communicate thru pictures. A simple explaination would be Faaeq's case lah... Faaeq tak boleh cakap lagi kan.. xde speech.. so saya akan sediakan beberapa gambar (botol susu, mandi, air, dll).. bila dia nak minum susu, dia akan ambil gambar botol susu and bagi saya.. so saya faham lah yg dia nak susu :) Mmg macam simple, tp susah sebenarnya nak 'fahamkan' dia konsep yang 'dia kena bagi gambar baru dapat bende yg dia nak'.. tapi once dia tau, mcm2 gambar kita boleh sediakan, and dia tinggal pilih je gambar mana mengikut keperluan dia.. Kalau dia dapat konsep ni, at least dia takkan rase 'frustrated' kalau tak dapat ape yg dia nak.. thus reducing his tantrums and we can attend to his needs exactly as what he wants... My aim, nak toilet train Faaeq.. so once dia dah faham konsep ni, saya akan sediakan gambar toilet, so kalau dia nak kencing ke po-po ke, bagi je gambar pd saya... 

Mungkin ade yang rase cara ni akan membuatkan dia lagi 'taknak bercakap'... Sebenarnya tak.. in fact, ia akan menggalakkan lagi.. bukanlah kita main tukar2 gambar je.. masa dia hulur tu, kena juga kita cakap ape yg berkaitan... lama2 dia akan keluarkan juga words tu.. :)

Sebelum ni sebenarnya Faaeq dah di ajar.. tp dia tak faham... seingat sy ade 2 kali  sessi speech theraphy Wei Li buat untuk PECS ni.. tapi tak boleh jugak.. sy pun (masa tu) rase Faaeq masih belum bersedia... sekarang, yes, he's ready! In fact, session semalam berjalan dengan jayanya! Mula2 main bubbles.. kalau Faaeq nak Wei Li tiup bubbles, dia kena bagi gambar bubbles pd Wei Li.. mula2 dia tak faham.. tp selepas bebarapa kali ajar dia, terus dia faham dah! YAY!  Wei Li tunjuk toys, Faaeq nak toys, Faaeq bagi gambar toy, Wei Li bagi toys tu pd Faaeq! YAY!

So sekarang, nak kena sediakan gambar2 utk Faaeq... First 2 pictures would be his milk bottle and bathroom.. (sebab dia suke sgt nak mandi.. balik rumah je nak mandi.. ) Lepas ni, nak mandi je kena bagi card tu utk cakap 'nak mandi'.. then kena fikir lagi apa gambar2 yg sesuai.. gambar 'makan nasi' pun ok kot.. sekarang ni, kalau nak ape2 dia cuma buat bising.. atau tarik tangan ke tpt yg dia nak..  

Lately Faaeq mcm dah boleh dengar arahan.. saya ajar dia buang diaper dia dlm bakul sampah, sekarang dia dah boleh buat sendiri.. bila nak mandi, buka baju, seluar, buka diaper, then dia akan buang dlm tong sampah. YAY! (tapi kdg2 kena marah jugakla baru buang.. sambil meloncat loncat!) So.. i think he's ready for PECS. 

.. and i think he is more responsive because of the GFCF diet. Even his teachers noticed it and told me he listens to instructions and seems to understand what they're saying.. (compared to before.. buang dunno je...) It's been almost 2 months now... ade jugak yang 'terbabas'.. hari tu Faaeq 'ditangkap' sedang menjilat chocolate dlm fridge! hahaha... last week, dia sempat habiskan separuh RotiBoy sebelum abang dia perasan.. tapi lepas tu.. tergelak2 and terlompat2 non-stop.. bila tengok dia mcm tu, sy rasa kesian dan lagi kuat semangat nak teruskan diet ni.. banyak kali dah nak give up sebenarnyer... itu cerita entry lain lah!

  
Ok, till then, Salam Aidiladha.. Order ditutup rapat sampai lepas raya haji.. mlm ni banyak kena buat cupcks.. RV, DFCC and carrot cakes.. and tomorrow is Faaeq's birthday! Alhamdulillah... 

Thanks Shafina.. a surprise birthday gift for her friend Alin :)

♥edi