Loki (Five-and-a-half old boy)

 

Loki is an adorable little boy who is almost six years old. He has big eyes and is very cute. Seeing his cute face, one would naturally want to approach him and play with him, talk with him and get to know more about him. But instead Loki would quickly slur : "I don't want to play and talk to you. I want to leave." He showed a sense of impatience and uneasiness.

 

Loki was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) when he was three-and-a-half years old. His learning, language, emotions, social interactions, behavior, concentration, motivation to participate, and small muscle development were all assessed and fell into the ranges of either “developmental delay” or “deficiency”.

 

When Loki came to our center, he was enrolled in the second semester of kindergarten K2. His teachers paid special attention to him at school and took good care of him. Given Loki’s delay in multiple areas, his kindergarten teacher recommended to his mother that she should enroll Loki in a special education program when he enters primary school.

 

Loki’s problems included:

 

Learning

Loki didn’t know how to count from 1 to 10 smoothly and sequentially. Loki did not know how to transcribe the 26 letters of the English alphabet either in upper or lower case. His mom needed to hold his hand when he tried to copy them. Chinese was also a great challenge. He could not write any characters on his own, not even the three characters comprising his name.

 

Language

Loki’s pronunciation and speech were very unclear. At home, only Jasmine (his seven-year-old sister) was able to understand what he wanted to say. Others could only guess. Loki’s father, mother, teacher, and the family maid, who has been taking care of his daily routine since he was a baby, would often guess wrong.

 

Emotion

Loki was prone to anger, tantrums, and outbursts showing signs of insecurity and a lack of self-confidence. For example, Loki was very afraid of going to unfamiliar places and always clung close to his mother or the maid when they went out.

 

Loki’s interests were also very narrow. For example, he repeatedly played with just a few specific toys showing no interest in other available choices.

 

Social

Except for his sister, Jasmine, Loki did not like to communicate with other children. He felt more comfortable being alone most of the time. He always treated others in an unfriendly or even hostile manner. For example, if other children touched or just looked at his toys or things for a bit longer than he liked, Loki’s reaction would be to explode scolding or pushing those children away. Because his speech and pronunciation were so unclear, with Loki severely slurring, other children could not understand what he said and did not like to play with him. This resulted in a vicious cycle with Loki having no friends in school.

 

Behavior

Loki’s behaviors were impulsive and he easily lost his temper. Because at school he often scolded or pushed other kids away from him, Loki’s mother often received complaints from his teachers and other parents.

 

Loki would easily get out of control and found it very difficult to adapt to change. One time when his mom could not get him a round donut because they were sold out, Loki immediately started crying hysterically with non-stop screaming in the street. His dad had to forcefully pick him up and hold him firmly while Loki continued to cry uncontrollably. His mom and dad were sometimes afraid to take him out.

 

Attention

Loki found it extremely difficult to sit quietly to read books or complete school assignments. Although he could not speak clearly, he always expressed to his mother that he did not want to do homework.

 

He was also easily distracted when sitting at the desk with his big eyes often moving from books or homework to toys or other places. Although his mother constantly reminded him to pay attention, Loki would still look around and procrastinate while constantly complaining and resisting. It would take him a long time to complete half a page of simple homework. It also became quite clear to his mom that Loki had no motivation to complete it.

 

Loki’s mom described what doing daily homework was like when she had to constantly fight and struggle with Loki. Doing homework was an exhausting daily exercise for the two of them. 

 

The problems Loki was facing were multiple-layered and complex. Before contacting us, his mother tried various treatments and trainings, but they did not have any significant effect on improving Loki’s condition. She felt helpless, scared, and worried that Loki would grow up in a special school setting. She did not dare to imagine what Loki’s life would be like. 

 

Understandably worried, Loki’s mom decided to bring him to our clinic hoping that neurofeedback training may be able to help resolve some of Loki’s developmental obstacles and difficulties. 

 

After half a year of neurofeedback training, Loki’s mother was excited and hopeful about his progress because of his many changes. She sent us a photo of Loki and told us he wanted her to dress him up as a superhero. He then struck a series of different poses and chose his favorite for her to share with us.

 

Loki is now in K3, and his speech and pronunciation are much clearer than before. He has learned to write and count from 1 to 100. He can also do simple math problems such as addition, subtraction, and reading clocks, as well as being able to identify different shapes and colors, etc. He knows how to write English letters in both upper and lower case. Although the font is not neat and tidy, Loki has been able to write both his surname and given name as well as other simple words in both Chinese and English such as the names of the twelve months. The development of Loki’s fine motor skills has now caught up with children of his age group. Unlike before, he will now cooperate and easily complete his daily homework assignments. Gone are the struggles with his mom over doing them.

 

Loki is much calmer now with his expression, emotional presentation, attitude, and voice having all became softer and gentler. Loki is able to take in more of his surrounding environment, understands more about the behavior and language of others, and his sense of security and self-confidence are greater than ever. He now takes the initiative to talk with others, for example, telling others how powerful his toy superhero is. He is willing to play with other children. In a complete change from the past, he now shares his toys with others by allowing them to look at and touch them. He no longer reacts in immediate anger or feels the need to push others. In general his personality is now more cheerful and relaxed. He talks much more often, and his communication skills are greatly improved. He even takes the initiative to make jokes with others!

 

Seeing the great progress in Loki, both his mom and teacher agree that Loki can be enrolled in primary one in a regular school after completing K3. They are confident that Loki will be able to adapt to the normal school life.

 

Loki, keep up the good work! Your jokes are funny, next time we meet, tell us another joke.

 

Loki has overcome many difficulties and surmounted many obstacles on his way to growth. In our eyes, Loki, you really are a superhero!!  Hats off to you, Loki!!!