Author: system

Highly intelligent autistic children. Smart use of storybooks

Post author By system
Post date 01/02/2024

Parenting Tips

system

Written by: Educational Psychologist Team of the Heep Hong Society

Highly intelligent children with autism, i.e., those with intellectual and verbal abilities, are 5 to 6 years old. What kinds of books can parents let their children read? What are some tips for parents to read to their children?

Highly intelligent autistic children should be able to understand simple moral stories. Parents can refer to “social stories” to help their autistic children understand the content effectively. Once the child is familiar with the story, parents can change the main characters to other real people or to the child himself/herself, so that the child can gradually put himself/herself into the moral story. If the characters can be changed, then the storyline can also be changed a little bit: for example, “Grandma’s house” can be changed to “Auntie’s house”, so that the child can utilize what he/she has learned flexibly. Of course, it is important to change the characters and plots before children develop a stubbornness towards the details of the story. As for fables, fairy tales, and myths, which often use abstract metaphors, they can only be used when the autistic child can generalize his/her knowledge.

On the cognitive side, when the child has reached a certain level of comprehension, parents can emphasize emotional words in the story, e.g. “When she saw the dog, Mei Mei was scared. When it is appropriate for children to learn the concept of sequence, parents can emphasize the description of time, e.g., “Mei-mei did something wrong, and afterward, she said she was sorry. Depending on the level of the child, parents can make good use of each page of the storybook by adding or emphasizing appropriate words in the tone of voice.

In the aspect of parent-child communication, higher-ability children with autism can take turns with their parents to tell stories, which not only trains the child’s ability to follow the story and listen attentively but also deepens the child’s impression of the story. Flexible use of storybooks by parents can meet the developmental needs of children and promote parent-child communication. Children with autism often lack imagination. Storybooks with accompanying dolls can be very useful: Initially, the story is told, then the dolls are added, and gradually the use of the storybook is reduced until only the dolls are used to tell the story, using a “you say a sentence, I say a sentence” method, leading the child out of the storybook and into the world of imaginative play.

In terms of social cognitive development, parents who use comics can use correction fluid to paint over the “speech bubbles” of the characters, and then create new dialogues with their children. Initially, they can start by altering certain words, and as both parties become familiar with the method, they can alter more parts until all the dialogues are original. Parents who are willing to try can also create storybooks tailored to their children and design different storytelling methods to attract the social concepts needed for their children’s learning.

Parenting Tips

Parent-child creative art creation

Post author By system
Post date 01/02/2024

Parenting Tips

system

Written by: Director of Pario Arts, Lee Sou Jing

Everyone has creativity and artistic potential. If properly nurtured, it can enhance one’s moral sentiments and make life more perfect. In the artistic atmosphere, diverse activities inspire individuals’ creativity, aesthetic sense, and diverse abilities, promoting holistic development. ‘Love’ is the driving force of creation. In a free, democratic, safe, and harmonious environment and atmosphere, it is the expression of ‘love,’ emphasizing mutual tolerance, acceptance of different opinions, and respect for and acceptance of others. So, how can parent-child creative art creation express ‘love’? Here, the author shares his views with all parents.

The significance of parent-child creative art creation:

Art education starts with individuals. Parents try to engage in artistic creation to cultivate their children’s artistic accomplishments.
The first lesson of art education begins with ‘listening’ and ‘acceptance.’ Parents learn to accept the diverse ways in which children express their creativity.
Through the joint participation and experience of parent-child art creation, parents can get closer to and understand their children’s hearts.
Parent-child art creation helps children to understand themselves and release emotions and stress.
By integrating an atmosphere of mutual appreciation and respect, it reduces parental stress and anxiety, thereby enhancing parent-child relationships.
Making parent-child fall in love with creation, integrating art into life, and enhancing the quality of life.

Artistic Cultivation Tips

Cultivate a kind of knowledge in being human and enhance the ability to share, that is, ’empathy.’
According to the research of psychologist Hoffman on the development of human empathy, ’empathy’ is the ability to understand the feelings of others and to put oneself in their shoes.
The three steps of ’empathy’: (1) Imagine standing in the other person’s position (2) Identify the other person’s true feelings (3) Convey understanding and feelings to the other person.
Empathy’ is an important ability in interpersonal relationships. Only those with ’empathy’ can establish good interpersonal relationships, self-discipline, and a sense of responsibility.
Children at the age of 2 to 3 can already understand the feelings of others. In order for children to be compassionate, possess ’empathy,’ and understand love and care for others, it is very important for parents to lead by example.

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2023 Hong Kong Volunteer Award – JC Volunteer Together Caring School

Post author By system
Post date 31/01/2024
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2023 Hong Kong Volunteer Award – JC Volunteer Together Caring School

2023 Hong Kong Volunteer Award - JC Volunteer Together Caring School

Parenting Tips

How to cultivate a positive learning attitude in young children from an early age?

Post author By system
Post date 01/01/2024

Parenting Tips

system

Written by: Director of Pario Arts, Lee Sou Jing

The significance of parent-child creative art creation:

Art education starts with individuals. Parents try to engage in artistic creation to cultivate their children’s artistic accomplishments.
The first lesson of art education begins with ‘listening’ and ‘acceptance.’ Parents learn to accept the diverse ways in which children express their creativity.
Through the joint participation and experience of parent-child art creation, parents can get closer to and understand their children’s hearts.
Parent-child art creation helps children to understand themselves and release emotions and stress.
By integrating an atmosphere of mutual appreciation and respect, it reduces parental stress and anxiety, thereby enhancing parent-child relationships.
Making parent-child fall in love with creation, integrating art into life, and enhancing the quality of life.

Artistic Cultivation Tips

Cultivate a kind of knowledge in being human and enhance the ability to share, that is, ’empathy.’
According to the research of psychologist Hoffman on the development of human empathy, ’empathy’ is the ability to understand the feelings of others and to put oneself in their shoes.
The three steps of ’empathy’: (1) Imagine standing in the other person’s position (2) Identify the other person’s true feelings (3) Convey understanding and feelings to the other person.
Empathy’ is an important ability in interpersonal relationships. Only those with ’empathy’ can establish good interpersonal relationships, self-discipline, and a sense of responsibility.
Children at the age of 2 to 3 can already understand the feelings of others. In order for children to be compassionate, possess ’empathy,’ and understand love and care for others, it is very important for parents to lead by example.

Parenting Tips

Apart from good grades and getting into a good school, what else does a child need?

Post author By system
Post date 01/01/2024

Parenting Tips

system

Written by: Ms Carmen Leung (Teacher Car Car)

Many parents often ask, “What is holistic education?” If we look at the profound wisdom of the Chinese people spanning thousands of years, it is about cultivating a child’s “virtue, intelligence, physical fitness, social skills, and aesthetics.” From the perspective of psychologists, it involves developing a child’s multiple intelligences. From an educational standpoint, it goes beyond the pursuit of knowledge; we also need to nurture a child’s values, attitudes, appreciation for art and culture, interpersonal skills, problem-solving abilities, and critical thinking. In simpler terms, from a commoner’s perspective, holistic education means enabling children to excel in academics, have many friends, possess positive thinking, and excel in various aspects such as music, sports, and art. Do you want your children to experience holistic development?

Multiple intelligences are categorized into seven types, with innate and nurtured aspects each accounting for half.

In common discourse, the concept of multiple intelligences is frequently mentioned. Let’s explore holistic education from a psychological perspective. The theory of “multiple intelligences” was proposed by Professor Howard Gardner of Harvard University in 1983. He discovered that intelligence could be classified into at least seven types: linguistic intelligence, logical-mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence, musical intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence.

When we discuss “intelligence,” parents often associate it with genius or innate talents. Is intelligence something one is born with, or is it developed later in life? In reality, an individual’s intelligence is a combination of innate and nurtured factors. Each child has a range of innate intelligence, such as an IQ of 100-120. Regardless of the stimuli provided or efforts made, their IQ cannot exceed 120. So, do we still need to cultivate a child’s multiple intelligences? Absolutely! Because whether a child’s IQ stays at 100 or reaches 120, it depends on postnatal cultivation!

Each intelligence is equally important.

So, how should it be cultivated? Through practice? Classes? Exposure to the outside world? Engaging in sports or listening to music? In reality, different intelligences have different cultivation methods. Scholars propose multiple intelligences to remind everyone that when parents focus on cultivating their children’s academic subjects such as Chinese, English, and math, they should not forget that other intelligences are equally important, especially interpersonal communication skills and personal introspective intelligence. If a child lacks any of these, how can they navigate in society? Therefore, when choosing courses for our children, don’t just opt for academic classes, language classes, or literacy classes. We should pause and think, besides academic performance, in which areas does the child need improvement? How is their communication ability? Analytical skills? Personal introspective ability? If a child’s communication skills are lacking, should parents choose courses that provide sufficient space for communication with others, such as drama classes, to allow them more opportunities to express themselves?

Remember the underlying meaning behind what I said about “multiple intelligences.” Take a moment to pause and consider the child’s development in areas beyond academics!

Parenting Tips

Storytelling education, what can parents do?

Post author By system
Post date 01/01/2024

Parenting Tips

system

Written by: Senior Early Childhood Education Consultant, Miss Mok Loi Yan

Many parents have asked me about storytelling topics that are challenging to explain to young children, such as stories involving death, like “The Little Match Girl,” or stories with violence, like “Little Red Riding Hood.” Due to the detailed depiction of events in the storybooks and lifelike illustrations, children may experience significant fear of death after listening to or reading such stories. They might be unable to express their inner discomfort, and some children even burst into tears after hearing these stories. What was originally meant to be an enjoyable parent-child storytelling time ends up having the opposite effect, triggering a heavy psychological burden on the children and leaving parents feeling guilty and unsure of how to handle the aftermath.

Fewer Characters, Positive Plot

I advise parents to start by selecting stories that are deemed suitable for a child’s mental and comprehension level from the vast array available in libraries. These stories typically have fewer characters, and a positive plot, and are easy for parents to use during interactive storytelling to help children understand causality and emotions. Stories with fewer characters allow children to focus more on understanding the transformation of the characters’ inner selves, behavior, and values within the story context.

Choosing stories with a positive plot helps build qualities such as self-awareness, problem-solving skills, confidence, and analytical ability in children. These positive aspects counterbalance stories with negative themes, bad situations in stories, or the ability to face difficulties in reality. Therefore, unless parents are certain that their children have accumulated a sufficient foundation of resilience from such stories and mental experiences, they should avoid exposing children to stories with terrifying or negative themes until these prerequisites are met.

Inspiring Cognitive Growth and Positive Character Principles

Secondly, starting with the educational significance that stories bring to children, it is crucial to steadfastly adhere to the principles of inspiring children’s cognitive growth and fostering positive character development! Regardless of how convincingly the storyteller portrays evil and villains, don’t forget the original intention! Storytelling education is a process of interactive learning between the audience and the storyteller, stemming from the direct description of scenes, associated information, and the shared underlying meaning. These observations, descriptions, awareness, and interactive content arise from the mental and emotional states of the audience and storyteller at that moment, as well as their accumulated personal experiences.

The role of the storyteller in education is highly important. In addition to carefully preparing and reading the story content, emphasizing key points and conveying the underlying meaning clearly, the storyteller should also be prepared to trigger children’s thinking about people and events at certain points in the story. Providing opportunities for the exchange of values in description and atmosphere creation is essential. Most importantly, observe the audience’s reactions while listening to the story and engage in interactive parts that deepen thought and sustain curiosity.

Dramatization and interaction should be humanized

Thirdly, ensure that the dramatization and interaction by the storyteller have the invigorating effect of being humanized and appealing to innate goodness. Whether in stories or the real world, children face different psychological and situational challenges that provide them with important opportunities for development. These experiences make them happier and more resilient than children who grow up in a sheltered environment. As the guiding light for children, we should equip them with the abilities needed for their journeys in life. Therefore, gradually tailor stories to children’s life experiences and cognitive levels, providing narratives of different levels, encounters, or aspects of human nature for them to hear.

When the storyteller portrays negative characters or delves into psychological crossroads and choices involving human nature, it is even more crucial to vividly depict the inner dialogue of conscience. The storyteller, assuming a narrative role, should provide children with positive consequences as a reference and analyze the relationships between themselves, characters, and situations. When parents engage in storytelling education with children, any decisions made in response to presented scenarios must be voluntary. Allowing children to experiment, face challenges, or find solace in the virtual world is essential. Moreover, it is important to make children aware of the parents’ stance and understand that parents are open to discussion and can be approached for communication! If the interactions spark reflective thoughts on love in children, helping them find their position in these values, the storyteller has successfully illuminated an outstanding life for the child through the story.

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2022 Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence – Gold Award

Post author By system
Post date 19/12/2023
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2022 Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence – Gold Award

2022 Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence - Gold Award

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2023 ‘Opportunities for the Elderly Project’ Celebration of 25th Anniversary Short Video Competition-Champion

Post author By system
Post date 09/12/2023
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2023 ‘Opportunities for the Elderly Project’ Celebration of 25th Anniversary Short Video Competition-Champion

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Yan Chai Hospital Moral and Civic Education Fund – 2023-2024 Award Scheme

Post author By system
Post date 04/12/2023
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Yan Chai Hospital Moral and Civic Education Fund – 2023-2024 Award Scheme

Yan Chai Hospital Moral and Civic Education Fund - 2023-2024 Award Scheme

Parenting Tips

Willing to share – Parents set an example

Post author By system
Post date 01/12/2023

Parenting Tips

system

Written: Education expert, Cheung Wai Ching

The crow accidentally found a piece of soap. After washing its feathers in the basin, the crow became fragrant all over. Deciding to share this soap with other animals, the mouse, rabbit, little monkey, and big bear all took turns using it. Finally, it was the elephant’s turn. After the elephant finished bathing, the soap was nowhere to be found. The crow found it strange and anxious, thinking the elephant was playing a joke on it. The crow, with a kind heart, shared its good thing with its friends, but in the end, the item was gone. We all know that soap gets smaller as it is used, which is an inevitable fact. The crow didn’t expect that its well-intentioned sharing would result in losing what it originally possessed. Although the crow was a bit reluctant to part with its soap, when it smelled the soap fragrance emanating from its good friends, it felt happy and thought it didn’t matter.

With an increasing number of single-child families in society, coupled with busy parents compensating with material things, children tend to think that everything is for their exclusive enjoyment, and others are not allowed to touch. In such situations, what can parents do?

The joy of sharing is an abstract emotion that requires the accumulation of years along with the experiences of many life events. It is not something that can be achieved overnight. The most effective education on sharing comes from the example set by parents and educators. There is a lady who works as the chief editor in a publishing house. During her daughter’s summer vacation, she took her to the office. At that time, the company was handling a batch of books donated to children in remote areas, totaling a few hundred books.

The daughter asked her, “Mom, do you have to donate so many books? You could sell them for a lot of money! You might incur a huge loss this way. Can’t you donate fewer books?” The lady replied, “No one is telling me how much to donate, and no one is forcing me to do it. It’s my own choice. What are you worried about?” The little girl said, “I’m afraid you’ll donate all the books, and we’ll lose too much. Then we won’t have any money ourselves!” The lady teased, “Well then, I won’t donate at all. After all, those other kids aren’t my children. Why should I care if they have money to buy books?” Playing along, the mom intentionally teased her daughter. The girl clarified hastily, “I didn’t mean not to donate at all. I just meant you should donate fewer books! Keep some for later, and donate gradually!”

The mom, who works as an editor, told her, “Daughter, if I take these books to sell and make money, our family would certainly be happy. But now that I’ve donated the books, many children will be happy because they have books to read. I will also be happy because these books may give them some hope and dreams for life and the future. My happiness cannot be measured in terms of money.”

Parents are the best role models for children. In daily life, when parents show care and assistance to others, it naturally has a subtle influence on their children. Parents should set an example of sharing with others, regularly taking the initiative to care for and assist others. The place where the author lived during childhood was populated with many residents, resembling what Cantonese films call “one floor, fourteen households.” Although having many people naturally leads to friction, neighbors were accustomed to sharing delicious snacks they made with everyone. Additionally, in daily life, common items such as oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar were borrowed from one another. These small acts cultivated a sense of sharing in our generation.

The emphasis in “Willing to Share” is on the word “joy.” It is about feeling genuine happiness from being able to share with others. Only those who are truly tolerant, generous, and enthusiastic are willing to share with others. Similarly, only those who are genuinely confident, kind, and open-minded are happy to do so. In other words, if children can truly enjoy sharing, they possess all the valuable qualities mentioned above, which are more important than achieving good grades.