心願單

我第一次接觸「言語治療」這個專業是在中學二年級的時候。當時社會對特殊教育需要的認知並不如現在普遍，人們對言語治療師這行業更是少有聽聞。因為我媽媽是中學老師的緣故，當時負責教導有特殊教育需要的學生，她跟我提起有學生要接受言語治療，並說了一些關於言語治療的事情。當時我就知道，這是我長大後想要做到的。

由那時開始到大學畢業，我一直為這目標做準備。中學的時候去不同的治療中心做義工學習，而在加拿大就讀大學學士學位的時候，一邊修讀心理學和語言學，一邊兼職作言語治療師助手和行為治療師，希望可以擴闊自己對不同特殊需要的知識和如何可以幫助各家庭找到合適的治療方法。終於在2012年完成了兩年的碩士課程，正式成為一位言語病理學家。畢業後，我在溫哥華一間私人言語治療診所工作了兩年，然後在2014決定回流香港工作。剛回來的時侯因對香港的言語治療服務架構還未熟悉，所以先去接觸公營及私人機構，了解不同服務單位，最後決定在一間非牟利國際特殊教育中心開始我在香港的言語治療職涯。工作時因為跨團隊合作的緣故，認識了不同專業的治療師，亦為自己作為一位言語治療師而感到驕傲，不過慢慢地覺得制度和行政上有不少限制，而我想做到的還有很多。

所以在兩年後的2016年，在家人的支持和鼓勵下，我在沙田創立了欣培發展及治療中心（Brighten Development & Therapy Centre)，旨在為有特殊學習需要的兒童提供多種語言及多方面的評估和治療服務。「欣培」這個名字概念是：欣然同行，以愛培育 － 希望我和我的專業團隊能與家庭一起同行，並以包容和愛去培育有特殊教育需要的學生。開始的時候，基於我的教育背景及相關工作經驗，欣培的服務對象主要是就讀國際學校的學生，但同時我亦很想協助低收入家庭，因自閉症兒童輪候政府提供的復康服務時間長，但私人機構的學費卻難以負擔，所以我很明白家長們的焦急與無助。雖然欣培是私人中心，沒有政府資助或私人捐款，但如家庭有經濟困難，我們都會提供費用減免，不過當時能受惠的人不算多。

真的很幸運，中心創立不久就在機緣巧合下，認識了LoveXpress的創辦人Kitty！在言談間，大家分享了對自閉症兒童及其家庭要面對的困難的看法，並一起籌劃了「星兒早療計劃」。「星兒早療計劃」的概念就是為來自低收入家庭的自閉症兒童及其家庭，提供全方位的整全支援。本人覺得此計劃非常有意義，並衷心了解早期療育的重要性，所以很榮幸能為這計劃出一分力，為自閉症孩子提供專業的評估與治療，回饋社會。本人確信，只要不同的有心人及機構同心協力，並堅持信念，必能幫助更多自閉症孩子與其家庭，以及促進社會更認識、理解及接納自閉症孩子。

The first time I came in contact with Speech Therapy was when I was in second grade of secondary school. At the time, society's awareness of special educational needs was not as common as it is now, and people rarely heard of the profession of speech therapists. As my mum was a secondary school teacher, she was responsible for teaching students with special educational needs. She mentioned that a student needed to receive speech therapy and introduced me to speech therapy. I know then that this was what I wanted to do when I grew up.

From then on until university I have been preparing for this. I studied as a volunteer in different treatment centres during middle school. When I studied for a bachelor's degree in Canada, I studied Psychology and Linguistics while working part time as a speech therapist's assistant and behavioural therapist. I completed the two year master's program in 2012 and officially became a speech-language pathologist. After graduating, I worked in a private speech therapy clinic for two years, and then decided to return to Hong Kong in 2014. I was not familiar with the speech therapy service structure in Hong Kong, so I first contacted public and private organisations to understand the different services. Finally, I decided to start my own therapy career in Hong Kong at a non-profit specical educational centre. I was proud of myself as a speech therapist, but gradually felt the many restrictions in the system and adminstration, and that I wanted do more for the SEN community.

So two years later, with the support and encouragement of my family, I founded the Brighten Development and Therapy Centre in Shatin, aiming to provide children with special learning needs with multi-lingual and multi-faceted assessment and treatment services. The concept of Brighten is to walk with joy and nurture with love -- I hope that my team and I can walk alongside families and nurture their children with love and patience. At the beginning, Brighten targeted students from international schools, however, I wanted to extend my help to low-income families as their children are waiting for rehabilitation provided by the government. The service hours are long, tuition fees unaffordable, so the parents often feel extreme anxiousness and helplessness. While Brighten doesn't receive government funding or private donations, we provide fee reductions if families have financial difficulties, though regretably, the number of benefitee weren't plentiful.

Luck was on my side however when I met Kitty, the founder of LoveXpress by chance! During our conversation, we had views on the difficulties faced by families with autism and jointly planned LoveXpress' Early Intervention Program. I think this project is particularly meaningful, and I sincerely understand the importance of early treatment, so I am honoured to contribute to the project, and give back to society. I am convinced with as long as people and organisations work together and persist in their beliefs, they will be able to help more families with autism, and promote our society to better understand and accept individuals with ASD.

I am a registered midwife, a mother of two children of the stars, and a moderator of a blog called 迷路的媽媽-愛自閉兒的路. My eldest son was born in 2013 and has severe autism, global development delay, sensory integration disorder (diagnosed at 2 years 9 months), apraxia of speech (diagnosed at 4 years 6 months) and moderate intellectual ability (diagnosed at 6 years); and my younger son, born in 2016, has autism (diagnosed at 2 years 6 months), and attention disorder (diagnosed at 6 years). My eldest son started to have developmental regression at 18 months old, from speaking a few words to suddenly becoming non-verbal, unresponsive to being called, etc. I was actually unable to accept that my son was autistic at the time, and always wanted to undergo different evaluations. Sometimes, someone may say, "The child is just a little developmentally delayed," but the truth is always cruel.

Realising that my older son is different, my husband and I have started arranging intensive training for him in playgroups, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and more. We have been training in different private institutions for almost a year and a half, and the monthly training fee is as high as 20-27k, but the condition has not improved. Just when we were considering whether I should resign as a midwife, we learned about LoveXpress' Early Intervention Program, so we decided to resign properly and work hard for our children and family! I still remember thinking that the Program was our only hope. I remember crying so much when I thought I had missed the program's notification, only to find out the next day that we were selected. I thought those 24 hours were like riding a roller coaster! After participating in the program, we practised home training every day, created. a home sensory integration room, systemised the child's training, and made it a daily routine. I also worked hard to equip myself to be a therapist for my children by taking different courses and consulting various professional therapists. One day, after training for more than half a year, my eldest son started to talk! Until now, every one of my relatives and friends are surprised at the progress both of my children made. The progress of my children made me more certain that persistance is the most effective training, since children with autism may be slower than other children, it is crucial to be patient with their growth. This is one of the deepest insights I have gained from being with my sons for 4 and a half years.

Renita has designed over hundreds of teaching aids well received by the SEN industry and parents since 2014. She has a son with special educational needs (autism, hyperactivity disorder and Tourette syndrome). Due to long-term parenting pressure, she once suffered from anxiety and panic attacks, and deeply understands the importance of mental health. Now she is committed to promote parent education, integrated education, and mental health to the public.

I have once worked as a counselor and center director in an NGO, providing in-kind social welfare assistance and counseling services to ethnic minority people and families. During my tenure, in addition to being responsible for center management, I was also responsible for social welfare application and approval procedures, home visits, emotional support and therapeutic counseling services, assessing the need for professional referrals.

In recent years, I have become a freelance worker, serving as a mindfulness instructor and organizing mindfulness workshops for school parents and students. I used to be a play therapy instructor at Heep Hong Society, and now serve as a mindfulness instructor and play therapy instructor for LoveXpress. After self-studying "Child-centered play therapy" and "Child-centered communication and parent-child play therapy" courses, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work in children's play therapy. I gained professional knowledge from my work experience and learned how to listen to children during play. By helping them express their inner voice, and at the same time provide appropriate and therapeutic responses to express deep care, I help children resolve their inner depression, relieve emotional disorders, and help children regain a healthy psychological and emotional foundation.

During the service, we observed that play therapy can help children improve their behavior, build self-esteem and self-confidence, and strengthen their minds. We firmly believe that if children can continue to have special therapeutic play time with their parents at home, it will definitely help them grow up healthily. Therefore, parents are strongly encouraged to learn "Parent-Child Play Therapy", master the principles and techniques of this therapy, and understand how to improve their children's emotional behaviour through accurate listening and appropriate responses in games and daily life, thus effectively promoting parent-child relationships. , and provide more effective discipline.

I am grateful for the opportunity to be exposed to mindfulness in recent years. I have started to practice mindfulness when I studied mindfulness stress reduction course (MBSR) and mindfulness cognitive therapy course (MBCT), and it has become a part of my life. I have experienced that practicing mindfulness can consciously be aware of one's own thoughts and emotions. and body reactions, and accept all your "now" experiences as they really are with a loving heart.

In addition, I have studied teacher training courses that combine mindfulness and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) (MBSEL), two major Western positive emotional education courses, and engaged in school services to promote this teaching aid program to primary and secondary schools, kindergarten schools support students, parents and teachers so that they can be aware of their own emotions, behaviors, obstacles and potentials from the inside out through mindfulness and emotional social learning from the outside in, and learn to be aware of and respect the feelings and needs of others. Master effective and healthy communication methods to make responsible decisions.

What is deeply encouraging is the observation that service users can relieve stress through practicing meditation, open up space for positive growth for themselves, and comprehensively promote their autonomy in emotions, behavior, social interaction, and learning motivation.

曾任職非政府組織機構輔導員及中心主任，提供實物社會福利援助及輔導服務予小數族裔人士及家庭。任職期間除專責中心管理外，亦負責社會福利申請及審批程序、家訪、情緒支援及治療性輔導服務，同時亦進行評估專業轉介的需要。

近年轉為自由工作者，以靜觀導師身份舉辦到校家長及學生靜觀工作坊。曾任協康會的遊戲治療導師，現為愛傳遞擔任靜觀導師及遊戲治療導師。 自修讀［兒童為本遊戲治療］及［兒童為本溝通及親子遊戲治療］課程後，幸運地有機會從事兒童遊戲治療的工作，從工作經驗中實踐專業知識，認識如何聆聽兒童在遊戲中表達的心聲，同時給予適切及具治療效用的回應，以表達深度的關懷，從而輔助兒童化解內心鬱結、減除情緒障礙，讓兒童重拾健康的心理情緒基礎。

在服務的過程中觀察到遊戲治療能幫助兒童改善行為、建立自尊自信及強化心靈，深信若可讓兒童持續在家中與父母進行具治療效用的特別遊戲時間，定能幫助他們健康成長。因此，極力鼓勵家長學習「親子遊戲治療」，掌握這治療法的原則技巧，懂得如何能在遊戲及生活中，藉著準確聆聽及適切回應，改善子女的情緒行為，有助效促進親子關係，並作更有效的管教。

感恩近年有機緣接觸靜觀，由學習靜觀減壓課程(MBSR)及靜觀認知治療課程(MBCT) 時已開始修習靜觀，成為生活的一部分，體驗修習靜觀能有意識地覺察自身的思想、情緒和身體反應，以一顆慈心如實地接納自己「當下」的所有經驗。

另外，曾學習結合正念 (Mindfulness)和情緒社交學習 (Social Emotional Learning, SEL)(MBSEL)兩大西方正向情感教育的導師培訓課程，並從事到校服務，推廣這套教輔方案至中、小、幼學校支援學生、家長和老師，讓他們能藉着正念由內而外，以及情緒社交學習由外至內地覺察自己的情緒、行為、障礙與潛能，學會覺察和尊重他人的感受和需要，掌握有效和健康的溝通方法，從而作出負責任的決定。

深感鼓舞的是觀察到服務使用者透過修習靜心能舒緩壓力，並將壓力轉化為動力，為自己開拓正向成長的空間，全面促進他們在情緒、行為、社交、學習動機上的自主提升，達至身、心、靈的健康發展。

我是註冊助產士，也是兩個星孩的媽媽，同時也是迷路的媽媽-愛自閉兒的路的版主。大兒子2013年出生﹐有嚴重自閉症+整體發展遲緩+感統失調(2歲9個月確診)﹑言語失用症(4歲半確診)﹑中度智力障礙(6歲確診)；小兒子2016年出生﹐有自閉症(2歲半確診)+專注力失調(6歲確診)。由於大兒子18個月開始有發展倒退﹐由有幾粒單字突然變為無語言﹑對叫名無反應等等﹐其實我當時是未能接受兒子有自閉症的﹐總希望去做不同評估時有人可以對我說「孩子只是小小發展遲緩」﹐可是事實總是殘酷的。意識大兒旳與眾不同﹐他2歲2個月我和迷路爸已經開始安排他上密集的playgroup﹑言語治療和職業治療等等的訓練。讓人絕望的是﹐我們在不同的私營機構做了差不多一年半的訓練，每個月的訓練費用高達20-27k，但是大兒子的情況毫無起色，因此2017年年中我和迷路爸考慮是否辭去助產士一職時我們經一位同路人得知愛傳遞的星兒早療計劃，於是便決心辭職﹐全力為孩子﹑為這個家努力一把！我還記得我當時是覺得星療是我們的唯一希望﹐那時記錯通告時間﹐以為自己未能入選時崩潰地哭到眼腫﹑臉腫﹐但是當第二日我收到入選的通知信息時開心到哭﹐體會到甚麼是喜極而泣！那24小時的心情就好像坐過山車一樣！參加星療後﹐我們每日都實踐家居訓練、打造家居感統室，把孩子的訓練系統化、生活化、把時間安排具體化。星療計劃結束後，我通過進修不同的課程和請教專業的治療師﹐努力裝備自己成為孩子的治療師，在家中打造感統室﹑不停改善家居訓練訓練了大半年後，大兒子竟然由無語言變為有語言！直至目前﹐每一位親友看見兩個兒子都感嘆孩子的進步非常明顯。因此起跑線真的不算甚麼﹐孩子的進步讓我更加肯定堅持才是最有效的訓練模式。因為星兒自身的局限性令他們的進步比普通小朋友慢﹐所以計劃任何訓練目標都不能操之過急﹐這是我訓練兩個兒子4年半以來其中一個很深的體會。

2014至今設計過百款教具，作品深受業界及家長歡迎. 育有一名SEN兒子 （自閉症， 過度活躍症及妥瑞症）. 因長期背負育兒壓力， 自己一度患有焦慮症及恐慌症， 深切體會精神健康的重要性.現致力推廣家長教育，融合教育及精神健康等.