When a boy with autism and severe intellectual disability was 3 (part 1)
My memories are vague, so I looked back at the parent-teacher notebooks to introduce to you what he could do, what he was still challenging, how I felt, and how he was at his nursery.
▼ When he was 3 yrs and 0 mo.
Takeru loved tagging since this time.
But, he didn’t chase anybody, so he was always tagged.
He didn’t play with his friends that much, but he had so much fun with us and nursery teachers like this.
▼ When he was 3 yrs and 1 mo.
Since around this time, he started saying words.
He had already loved numbers so much, so he learned how to count from 1 to 20 in English at this age.
Also, he became able to count down from 10 to 0.
He was getting better at understanding our words, and his nursery teacher told me “He is starting to figure out how to have communication with us!”
Takeru started having an interest in other people around this period, so when teachers and friends were dancing, he sometimes watched them and copied their dancing.
When his friend was crying, he came over to her and stared.
Thanks to YouTube, he started saying “ears”, “eyes”, “nose”, “mouth”, “hand”, “fingers”, “feet”, and “toes”.
When I asked him “Where is your hand?”, he touched his hand.
▼ When he was 3 yrs and 2 mo.
At this time, he often had tantrums because of “the terrible twos” and he wanted to cuddle with me who was busy taking care of his little brother.
Fortunately, he never hit or bit his friends, but he was crazy at home and bit and threw things.
So off we went to Tokyo Disney Land on that day, only Takeru and me.
I was worried if he could be a good boy, but as it turned out, he could!
Takeru loved Tom Sawyer Island and Swiss Family Tree House very very much, so we spent lots of time there.
On the other hand, he was not into other attractions.
Also, he could sit very nicely during the parade, and watched the first parade in his life.
I couldn’t have imagined he could be so nice. Very impressive!
▼ When he was 3 yrs and 3 mo.
He started singing for the first time around this period.
When he was 1 or 2, I wondered “Will he ever be able to sing?” but the day has finally come.
Now Takeru is in the 1st grade, and he sings his favorite songs loudly every day. lol
The song he is singing on this video is from Mickey Mouse Club House.
His concentration while he is watching his favorite anime and videos is just unbelievable, even when he was 1, he could keep watching for an hour.
▼ When he was 3 yrs and 4 mo.
He didn’t want to sit on a swing on his own.
But he was in love with this diaper-shaped swing, so it’s his “first sitting on a swing by himself” anniversary.
I put him down, down, and down, but he went on, on, and on.
And finally, he was able to sit on a normal swing on his own.
He doesn’t move the swing even now, but a swing is always Takeru’s most favorite playground toy.
He sometimes sits on a swing for more than an hour.
He wasn’t interested in a bike to my surprise.
Doing 2 things at the same time like kicking the ground and handling is a bit hard for him.
▼ When he was 3 yrs and 5 mo.
His tantrum was terrible at this time, he sometimes kept crying for more than an hour.
I was devastated because everything I tried didn’t work. But on second thought, I realized that he had a tantrum a while after I was only holding his younger brother, or when I was not beside him.
Since then, I started “Let’s give Takeru a cuddle strategy” and faced his needs, had a bunch of physical contact. Then happy Takeru came back.
During a tantrum, I had hard time understanding his feelings, and that made him look very sad.
I should have realized his feelings much earlier. I reflected on myself sincerely.
Please check out part 2!