CHAPTER 7

Original (Published in "Lun's World"): 2003-05-05

Reposted: 2025-03-14

So far, Lun can't utter a long sentence, and rarely says: Dad, Mom.  I believe that he will never know how to speak in his life.

Of course, like other children, his method of communication is to cry.  Like any new parents, we slowly and step by step figured out the meaning of his crying, and learned what it means to be hungry, tired, and want to be hugged.

At seven months old, he started calling daddy and mommy.  We believe that in a few months, he will know more new words.  This wish did not come true.  After a few months, he stopped calling us dad and mom. He could only pronounce some single sounds, but he couldn't tell what they meant. The pronunciation was monotonous and repetitive, with no difference.

Of course we thought it was a little strange, but friends around us said that boys don't speak until they are relatively late. In some cases, they don't even speak until they are three years old, so we kept waiting.

At the same time, Lun has grown up and is in good health. In the eyes of his parents, he is certainly interesting and cute.  Looking back now, he grew up rather slowly and did not learn to walk upright until he was eighteen months old. In terms of proportions, since he was a baby, he has been shorter in stature and has a larger head.

Although he has no language, we are in contact with him every day and basically understand his needs and conditions very well, so there are no major communication difficulties. However, as he grows older, communication problems become more and more obvious.

It was not until the kindergarten and community nurses made an appointment with us that we were shocked to realize that Lunlun was slower than other children of the same age in all aspects. He was not yet three years old at that time.  We believe that Lunlun does have some learning difficulties. After it was confirmed that he has autism, we still hope that he will learn to speak sooner or later.

One of our family members in Hong Kong once asked a fortune teller or something, and he said that Lun could speak when he was six years old.  This stranger in Hong Kong has never even seen my son, so he makes rash judgments and talks nonsense.

About 6% of autistic children lack the ability to communicate verbally throughout their lives. We believe that Lun falls into this category. To this day, he still cannot call us dad or mom.

Once, he called me daddy.

He must have been about five or six years old at that time. We were having dinner in a restaurant and he was eating. Suddenly, food got stuck in his throat and he couldn't breathe. When he was in danger, he looked at me and called me daddy.  Fortunately, his throat was clear and he didn't suffocate.

We speak Cantonese at home, and the teacher speaks English at school. He understands everything about daily life and food, but we believe that he cannot grasp some abstract concepts. We can only use very simple explanations to reason with him.

He only speaks single words, most of which are related to food and fun, such as: eating noodles, eating rice, drinking soda, and eating fries (which means going to McDonald's to eat French fries). When he is not satisfied, he protests with "ummm".  In addition, he likes to sing very much. When he is nervous, he will sing urgently, fast and high-pitched.  What's more troublesome is that he sometimes likes to entertain himself by singing some songs in bed in the early morning, disturbing others' dreams.  At this time, we will miss the silence when he doesn't speak very much.