Little People

Passion Flower – one look & you love it, like little children…

Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder that affects one in every five hundred children. It is characterised by varying degrees of impairment in communication skills, social interactions, and restricted or repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour. In the pre-school that I teach in during the first half of the days, I’ve had the opportunity to interact with children with special needs. Somehow, the integration of these special children with normal children of differing learning abilities seem to work really well to raise the awareness of such need to accept special kids into society. On my first day at the school, I spent a lot of time playing with 2 – 6 year olds, noticing the very apparent characteristics differences in the two genders. The little boys would make toy guns out of Lego blocks while the little girls would play house & masak-masak! In the centre, English is the only medium of communication. Autistic children love backrubs. They would come to me for hugs, would stroke my hair sometimes but mostly my shirt or arm. Some don’t like contact at all.

I thought it would be good to learn about their abilities & development in my term break as the monsoon season approaches. My friend said to me, “Aha! You’re stealing kisses from toddlers again?” *sheepish grin* (Heheheh!) Where would I get to do that otherwise? To have little kids plonk themselves on your lap & get unlimited cuddles in the process is truly great! Having to read all the nursery rhymes & fairy tales to them while they listen to your voice & diction is something that is so nice. All my life as an adult, I’ve had kids who are total strangers, follow me or grab my leg. During one community project in Redang two years ago, two kids, one boy & girl about 3 – 4 years old, stumbled upon me as I was walking back to my chalet. They were crying in pain. One look at them & I could tell that they suffered severe sunburn. They were siblings. Their faces were as red as lobsters & their parents were nowhere to be seen. I took each one by the hand & led them to my room, stripped them down & watered them with cold water. By then they were screaming. Someone had alerted their mother to go to my room. When she arrived, I asked her to bring some clothes for them while I applied aloe vera gel on them. There was an instant silence when the gel cooled their burnt skin. The little boy began to talk to me, asking questions & constantly flashing a big smile at me for the pleasant treatment he had received. From that second onward, this little boy didn’t let go of my hand. My group of divers saw my new ”˜attachment’ & immediately commented that I should change jobs! This boy will undoubtedly grow up to be a big heartthrob. He looked me in the eye as he held my hand in the way that he liked to be held, flashing me that great, big smile again. So this 3 year old boy, became my boyfriend for the entire trip, warding off unwanted advances from males with raging hormones! Thank God for little children….I can’t wait for another day at the pre-school to play with little people & play a part in grooming them for the world.

Little Weed Flowers are beautiful except that they are often overlooked because they are insignificant to society like how autistic children are perceived….