In the first nine months of his life, Edgar Chan (陳駕樺) was as active as any other toddler his age. He loved to laugh and loved to play. He learned to crawl at four months, learned to sit straight at six months, and took his first steps at nine months. Parents Sunny Chan (陳錦鴻) and Ada To (杜雯惠) raised their son with love and care. Edgar was strong-willed and independent. When he struggled to walk, he preferred to pick himself up back to his feet rather than have his parents help him. When Edgar was born, a fengshui geomancer examined Edgar’s birth time and said he had the attributes of overconfidence and arrogance. Sunny therefore gave Edgar the Chinese name “Ka Wah” (駕樺) – controlling the strength of birch wood. Edgar’s Delayed Development Sunny and Ada found Edgar easy to care, until he turned a year old, when Edgar showed symptoms of impaired social interaction. Edgar refused to socialize with other toddlers his age and did not learn how to talk until much later. Sunny and Ada took Edgar to a reputable day care center, but a few months later, Edgar’s teacher informed Ada of Edgar’s refusal to interact with other kids and follow orders. The teacher implied to Ada that the school did not want Edgar as a student anymore. “They are a reputable school, yet discriminated against my son,” said Ada. “When kids don’t follow orders, isn’t it the school’s job to teach them?” Fortunately for the Chan family, Edgar stayed in school, but his conditions worsened. Unable to speak, Edgar was often frustrated and had uncontrollable temper tantrums. At two years old, Edgar still did not know how to say “mom” and “dad”. The only thing he could do was sing and yell in nonsense words. To not trouble their neighbors with Edgar’s screaming, Sunny decided to move away from the city to the suburbs in Sai Kung. It never occurred to Sunny and Ada that Edgar had a developmental disorder until the school released a psychological assessment of Edgar – he was diagnosed with autism, a disorder that severely impairs social interaction and verbal communication. A Bright Student When Edgar turned three, he left regular preschool to attend Heep Hong Society, a school that trains children with special needs. Edgar noticeably improved in the next two months – he was beginning to learn how to speak, and even learned to call out mom and dad. Edgar still has trouble speaking properly, but his vast improvement in the next year and a half was praised by Edgar’s teachers. Sunny said, “He now recognizes a lot of [Chinese characters]. His grammar and vocabulary is good. For example, he recognizes basic words ‘street sign’, ‘book’, and ‘newspaper’. He only has trouble understanding [others]. Maybe his way of understanding is different from our way of understanding.” After shooting the TVB drama Curse of the Royal Harem <萬凰之王>, Sunny took a year off of work to spend more time with his son. Sunny hoped to establish a closer connection with his son, who had trouble learning the feelings of trust and empathy. “I told him to climb trees. The higher he went, the more scared he got, and whenever he lost balance, I would be there to help him. Slowly, he learned to trust me.” Sunny traveled around the city to educate Edgar. When learning the word ‘supermarket’, Sunny took Edgar to a supermarket. To learn the word ‘swim’, Sunny and Edgar spent a day at a recreational pool. To learn the word ‘ferry’, Sunny and Edgar took ferry rides at the bay. Attending a regular public school, Sunny and Ada feared that Edgar would not be able to keep up with the rest of his classmates. Sunny hired a “shadow teacher” for Edgar, who accompanied Edgar to class. “The teacher told us that learning a new word a day may be too much for Edgar to handle,” said Sunny, “He advised Edgar to learn a new word every week instead.” Sunny even spent the time to teach some new vocabulary to Edgar himself at home. “He has great memory,” Sunny said proudly. “He memorized over a 100 words in a short time. He’s learning the Tang poems and the Thousand Word Classics right now. He even has the multiplication table memorized.” Edgar is currently learning how to formulate sentences on paper. Both he and Edgar would each write in their diaries every night for practice. Stressing the importance of education, Sunny said that both he and Ada are working on getting Edgar into a mainstream school, in hopes to have his son get the best education he needs. “I want our son able to be a part of society. School comes first in this society. In the past, it was home, but now it’s the school. That’s why we’re looking for a mainstream school so he’ll be able to adapt to our community easier.” In September, Edgar entered his first year of primary school. Hitting the first milestone of his education, Sunny had lessened his workload to help Edgar prepare for school. “There are a lot of stuff to consider once you enter primary school. There are rules that students must follow, especially for boys! This is what my son doesn’t understand – why does he have to be obedient? Why does he have to follow the rules? He still doesn’t understand many things, and the teachers will not spend time to explain the rules to him. He has to rely on himself, to slowly accept and handle his own emotions. I will spend more time with him this month to look after him, to see if anything has changed for him. That way, I can better explain his situation to his teacher the next day.” Edgar is an intelligent boy and studying is not a problem for him. An obstacle that he still has not overcome is interaction with others. Ada said, “He will not initiate conversations with other classmates. He doesn’t interact with them, but he’s learning his classmates’ names. He knows all the students that line up before him or after. It’s not bad. It takes time.” To be able to see Edgar enjoy school and embrace others is really all what Sunny and Ada hope for, but they realize that there is still a long road ahead for Edgar and themselves as parents. Creds: ihktv
