My little reporter

A long standing worry over my son is that he is can't tell us if something bad (or good, but the worry was over the bad events) had happened to him while he was not in our care. I was specifically thinking of him being bullied or being upset due to a fight with classmate for e.g.

Being disabled tends to be an obvious target for bullies. Schools in this country do not address the issue of bullying as seriously as they would in more developed countries, but that's fodder for another story. The level of awareness and acceptance of being disabled is also very low in this country, but again, that's another story.

Yes, I know that for some kids, even if they do not have a speech disorder disability, they might not tell their parents if they were bullied. To me, there are several steps that he needs to have progressed through before I can address whether he wants to tell or not.

1. He needs to be verbal. He wasn't verbal at age 2, but he is now.

2. He needs to have the vocabulary related to such incidents. For a long time, I've been giving him the words (i.e. labelling the emotions as and when it happens). E.g. angry, scared, hurt, pain. He has been able to use those words appropriately.

3. He has to be able to understand why he felt that way. For e.g. I'm scared because it's spooky. He is still learning to explain why he's angry/what made him angry.

4. He needs to be able to remember & 'report' back. For e.g. when asked who made him angry, he should be able to correctly identify the person. Then when asked why he's angry, he should be able to give the reason.

Over the past 2 days, I've been pleasantly surprised to hear that he's become a little "reporter". My helper didn't accompany us to Thursday's Titiwangsa Park outing, Friday's evening walk & Saturday's music class. Upon arriving home, she asked him what he did. His 'reports' to her were accurate!

Titiwangsa Park report:
He told her that we fed the fishes at Titiwangsa; that it was mama & not he who fed the fishes; that there were lots of fishes; that there was a fish stuck (that fish was either sleeping or full cos he didnt budge while the other fishes gobbled the bread around him).

Friday's evening walk report:
He told her that he played with his friend Aarvin; that Aarvin had his bicycle; that he was scared (he's scared of being chased by others); that he took a ride in their car (cos it started to rain & my car was further uphill).

Saturday's music class report:
He told her after music class mama went to buy lunch back.

I didn't brief him on or talk about what we did at the end of those activities. So, those reports are purely his.

In the past I had tried to develop his recollection skill, where while getting ready to sleep, I'd talk about what we did in the day. Perhaps, that helped him.

He still doesnt speak in sentences. The things he says are in phrases, but is enough for us to understand him. It would still be difficult for others to understand him.

For now, I'm happy enough as this is progress, although it is just a small bit of progress.