Homework

Watching Huân doing homework is just a wonderful sight.

The Age of Autism

A while back, when I was discussing the rate of autistic children increase with my sister, a PhD at UC Davis, and she pointed out that the result is fairly inconclusive due to the fact that the diagnosis for autism is getting better, thus able to identify more children diagnosed with autistic. Well, it was a reasonable argument.

On Jan 7th, 2009, UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute study shows California's autism increase not due to better counting, diagnosis, since 1990. So how can we answer to that? The study shows the increase is "seven- to eight-fold"! If this does not raise an alarm in our government, I do not know what else.

Wii

Bảo likes it, Thuỵ likes it, other autistic kids love it; but not Huân. Video games are so sophisticated and attractive even for adults; and I though Huân would like it, but it's not the case. Huân looks at it, watches his brothers play, but not participate. We have tried few times, Bảo & Thuỵ chose the appropriate or easy games for him to start, but he did not show any interest. He would hold the control if it was given to him, or asking him to hold; but after few try of pushing the buttons, he would let go, walk away and back to his Thomas trains.

But I am not giving up just yet, I have one more try: Wii fit! Yeah, the kind that you have to move or balance your whole body; not just the fingers. So, I am looking forward of getting the wii fit & the balance board for him to try. But before getting the game, I need to learn how to get him open up to try with anthusias, he must be the one who wants to play and not playing because we want him to.

Cold day

It's cold & raining today. That just make me want to stay home, curl up in bed, read a good book or watch a mindless movie. You know, the movie which you can take 5min break and still able to figure out what's going on; the kind of movies which does not requires viewer to think or pay close attention. When I have something to do, a book to read or need to think, I like to put that kind of movies on, and then do what I need to do. Over the time, I learn that I become more productive, and less stress. The movie acts like a background soothing environment for me, setting the backdrop for me to think. After an intense thinking session, all I have to do is glance over to the screen, that eases my mind, allowing me to get back to thinking or continue reading.

Got to work today, and my colleague's email caught my attention. It's a link to a web page, which shows pictures of frozen soap bubbles. Kind of neat. If it's cold this Friday or weekend, I will definitely try with my kids.