Bryan Lim

You asked me about Autism

Hi there, you are reading this because you asked me about autistics or express interest in helping out with this group of people.

This article is written because I spend a considerable amount of time repeating myself about my experience.

If you are here for the links, click here to skip the introduction.

What is Autism?


I am hardly an autistic expert and also have no kids who are autistic. 

Most of the things I write here, is based on my research, my interaction with the children and my personal observation.

Autism is a range of neuro-developmental disorder. It is a range because some children have badly affected while the others are mildly affected.

These disorder manifests itself in the form of impairment in social interaction, communication, restrictive behaviour and repetitive behaviour. This disorder is a life-long illness.

The full name of autism is Autism Spectrum Disorder (aka ASD)

Also, there are other groups of disorder like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Global Delay (GD). But I am not going to write about them here.

While these children have a certain characteristic, I would say deep down, they are the same. They are children.

Now

I am currently serving at a Christian ministry dedicated to autistics and special needs children under Faith Methodist Church at ACJC. The worship session usually takes 1 - 2 hours every Sunday.

While I am there, I am a befriender, a caregiver, a teacher. So I usually spend time to talk to them about their week for older kids. For younger kids, I act as a teacher or a big brother.

Every two weeks, I also spend time to prepare homework/lessons for them to take home.

Other than the big three roles, I think most of my work revolve around being a coordinator and also their ambassador to raise awareness of their presence.

Why volunteer?

I think the answer lies with yourself because everyone serve and volunteer for a different reason.

For me, I discover that these children gave me more than I ever put in. The number of life lessons, simple realisation, the joy of giving are things that are difficult to quantify.

But more importantly, anyone who wish to volunteer, should have a heart to serve first. A heart to serve starts with giving and continue on with a joy of giving.

If you wish to start, check out the links below to find out more.

Note about the links: The videos serve as an introduction. Autism is a spectrum. You will observe children with different severity of the disorder.

Hence, do not generalise autistic children to a certain severity based on the video you watched above.

Questions

Can I contact you to ask more questions?

Yes

If you wish to donate, where can I go to?

Does vaccination cause autism?

No.