OUR SON, RON MICHAEL: a child with Special needs
 ("Every child is unique, admire their ability" -  from the portrait of B. K. Lawes
which inspired my husband and I to look for Ron's talent. This story was written for the Filipino-Canadian Autism Parent Support Group Newsletter, Fall/Winter 2001)
NEW! (May 2007, see below) Webmaster's personal notes:
By our son's special caregiver

Ron is a 9-year-old autistic boy. He was diagnosed at the age of 3 and from thereon started his journey into the world of autism. Ron is involved with the Hospital for Sick Children, specifically the Children Development Centre (CDC) which has made significant efforts in extending assistance to Ron's development program. CDC made recommendations to the Metropolitan Toronto Association for Community Living to send a resource person at home to assist us in creating an individualized training program for Ron. With the knowledge and support of CDC, the Hannen Program and Ron's participation in a Nursery School in Toronto, we saw improvement with Ron. We discovered that Ron has a strong desire to learn.

Ron went to Bond Street Nursery School in Toronto. A structured program was put in place for him. People involved with him worked as a team which was to our great advantage. CDC then referred us to the Geneva Centre for Autism. With their wide array of experience, their involvement has placed Ron's developmental needs in perspective and context. Unfortunately, the Metropolitan Toronto Association for Community Living, due to cut-backs, stopped their involvement when Ron was ready to enter the Catholic School Board system at age 4.
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Ron was enrolled at St. Michael Catholic School in a regular class. Ron adjusted easily in the mainstream setting. He was doing very well and when he was ready to enter Grade One the school told us that Ron would be transferred to another school, in a different placement-- in a special class. We were very afraid for Ron with this persuasion of transfer and we felt very rejected. We took our time making the big decision. We continued our search for other schools and found a different placement at the Holy Name Catholic School.

We went to visit the Holy Name Catholic School. We were given a chance to observe the special class at the new school. We felt good in what we saw. Sometimes change is for the better. We were very impressed with the special class teacher and the other 3 ERW who worked there. Ron had a very successful Grade One in the special class. Ron enjoyed his Grade One experience. There were many integration programs for social and academic purposes. Ron enjoyed the many field trips to the parks, beaches, the zoo, Centre Island and other fun places.

After Grade One, we moved from Toronto to Mississauga where we bought our first house. This meant for Ron to be moving to a new school again. At this point Ron had been to 4 schools already. Ron is now going to Fr. Daniel School in Mississauga near where we live. He has a wonderful ERW and with her support Ron is doing very well indeed in the mainstream program. He looks forward going to school everyday. He even likes studying French. We discovered along the way that Ron has an interest in music. We made him take piano lessons. It's sort of an experiment at first and much to our surprise became a huge success. Ron's piano teacher has no experience with autism but with her open-mindedness, understanding and need I say...Patience!... Ron progressed so fast learning to read and play music pieces.

We are amazed and very proud of Ron's ability to play the piano. We then, enrolled him to a summer school of Music Therapy. Music therapy is the use of music to achieve goals such as cognitive, social, emotional and physical functioning level through the use of the melody, dynamics and rhythm of music. Ron's music therapist utilized techniques such as singing, chanting, improvising, listening and exposing Ron to different musical instruments. The primary goal is to help Ron achieve a whole health of mind, body and spirit. It's such a fun and enjoyable challenge for him.

He attends  Music therapy at Express Yourself in Burlington. We believe every child is unique. One therapy may work wonderfully for one child or may have no effect to another. It's always been a trial and error type of thing. We find music therapy to be a very productive way to facilitate self-expression for Ron. It provides a structured multi-sensory experience, too. Besides there is the saying that Music is timeless and soothes the soul. It is simply impossible to predict what life will be for any child with autism when he or she becomes an adult.

One thing for sure, their progress depends largely on the commitment and hard work of their parents and professionals. Advocacy by parents, professionals and organizations is the only guarantee of a better future for all our special needs children. Meanwhile, let us think of positive things rather than negatives when raising our special needs children. Let us not mourn for them but instead let us truly rejoice, for too often we do forget in our day-to-day struggle and frustrations with them that more so than everything else, in raising a child with autism there is also HOPE beyond limitations.
by Lucy Adea

FIVE YEARS AFTER

God has been so good that Ron shows a tremendous improvement. Recently he just graduated from elementary at Fr. Daniel Zanon School in Mississauga.  He did very well in school, in spite of his handicap. Although there are still bad times beyond his control, he's still able to act appropriately most of the time. School staff were very supportive, they made it sure  Ron will  always be in his good behavior. They were very helpful and innovative in handling him. His school mates were all very understanding.

At the same time we keep him busy attending our own support group, Filipino-Canadian Autism Parent Support Group, which somehow filled some of the gap in his social life. The FCAPSG started when 2 parents who attended an autism symposium at the Metro Convention Center. That was in year 1996, both their families met and invited others to meet to form this alliance group. And from then on it grew bigger in number of families living with children with autism. The group's main objective is to help each other cope with  difficult situations, share whatever knowledge and experiences encountered in daily living, go places, like Ontario Place, Ontario Science Center, Canada's Wonderland, Cherry beach, parks and Niagara Falls to name a few. We celebrate Valentine's day, Easter Sunday, Halloween and Christmas Time with big parties. 

We let these special children feel that they belong, although they're often mistaken as hard headed individuals (which is the usual misconception), they are also part of the total community; that they too have the privilege of enjoying every season of the year that everyone of us are enjoying. We let them feel that they are also "normal" children, special children of God.

FCAPSG is supported by Kerry's Places (West Region), since most of the families live in west end, they let us use their centers for us parents to be able to connect to each other. Their utmost generosity has kept the group intact. Their understanding has been the driving force that made our group united.

We are also fortunate to receive funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, which we were able to use for our activities for children. We were granted funds to purchase instruments for our choir group. Parents, siblings and kids with autism formed a choral group to share their talents, and give entertainment to others. Ron, on the other hand, has represented the group to other social functions, sharing his talents by performing in various groups, community organizations, both locally and internationally. He performed in a fund raising event at the Autism Society of the Philippines, Laguna Chapter, at Los Baños, Laguna last year. 

Ron has been very close with other kids in the group. It made him more sociable and more aware of his being a kid with a special needs. In spite of the individual member's hectic and busy schedules, the group meets every week to plan for its activities, practice the choral group and sometimes, just for the sake of being reunited and having fun with the other families. With all these support from friends, families and organization, we feel very lucky.

Another source that we are currently receiving is the behavioral therapy from Behavioral Peel Region. They help us on techniques and approach whenever the tantrums and certain behavior occur. With the use of cue cards and some social stories, it brings improvement. We also give appreciation to Reach for the Rainbow,  who gives Ron's placement every summer camp. They provide one-on- one support for Ron, too. It was such a great experience for Ron to go on outdoor camp as well as indoor camp. 

He also attended  summer camp from the ASO (Autism Society of Ontario) Halton group. They give him a chance to meet other special needs individual from all walks of life.  He has the privilege too to  be one at the social group organized by the Geneva Center and Kerry's Place for Autism. This one-on-one social skills he attended made Ron a better person. Not only the children were taught "how-to" skills but the parents and caregivers, as well. We learned a lot form the workshops, seminar, symposiums sponsored by the Geneva Center for Autism and Kerry's Places.

Lastly, Ron has been lucky to have  cousins, uncles and aunties, grandparents and friends from both sides of our families, who are very understanding and caring and always think what is best for Ron.  He is such a very lovable son, always have a helping hand to anybody, and a very friendly guy. Though life is not always a bed of roses, there're still so much, never ending ups and downs in our daily lives but we do believe  and always think that we are the chosen parents to be the protector, the caregiver of these little angels sent from above.
Written by Romeo (Jun) & Lucy (Chie) Adea - From Ron's parents, thank you all so much!