We have been severely behind on writing this recently as things have just been so manic!
Hector started a new Montessori school in January. We have been very pleased as there is a perception that there are no schools for children with additional needs here. However, we can say nothing but good things about them. They have been incredibly proactive and have even helped us to find a therapist in Hangzhou. Hector has already been going twice a week so we will see how that goes. Their approach also made us face up to the reality that Hector may be ASD which in all honesty has been more helpful than pretending everything was ok. Hector has a wonderful teacher who understands his needs and due to a more inclusive curriculum more focus can be put on trying to integrate him. His classmates are very welcoming too. He hasn’t had his normal teachers for 2 weeks due to CNY so we will be very happy for normal school to resume!
Over the break we have had some real development too. Somewhat out of the blue, Hector has become much more independent in using the toilet. Up until two weeks ago he had never taken the initiative with this but now he have to remind him less than half of the time. He also walked nearly a mile up a hill/mountain when we went to see a temple (Tom carried him down as he’s still not too safe when going down stairs!). He is also starting to listen, particularly when he is told not to do something or when you ask him to come to you. Waiting for Didis has become a lot less stressful too as he is capable of waiting for cars while you hold his hand. I have to remind myself sometimes of how far he has come in the last 6 months. When he started school we could not even get him to walk anywhere (he prefers to run) and going to Disney could be very stressful if we were standing in queues. So I am so proud of how far he has come.
We have also started a programme called Gemiini which is an online course that supports children who can’t access traditional speech therapy (or as an addition to this). We really felt that we were getting nowhere with speech therapy, mainly as we just couldn’t go very often. This programme consists of watching the same video 42 times across the week with particular words being modeled. Since he started, we do seem to have seen improvements in behaviour, although of course it’s difficult to know what the causal link for this is. In our view, it certainly can’t hurt and it’s not so expensive to be bothered by the price. There does seem to be a lot more speech pattern babble from Hector recently so we will keep our fingers crossed!
In other news, we have now officially announced that we are expecting another addition! It’s nice to be able to be honest about it as I started showing very early with this one. I feel pretty chilled out about it given that it’s the second one. There is the Chinese medical system to navigate but as we’re going to a private hospital that’s ok. I’ve continued to run except for about a month when we had some complications and other than feeling tired it all seems good!
By Katy
The Hopkins of Hangzhou 