When Rayyan was about 1 year old, we sent him for Gymboree classes. He participated in the different activities, sat quietly during circle time... No doubt, sometimes he was cranky and didn't want to do certain activities during his 'off' days but generally, the classes were pretty fun. But due to distance, we dropped him from Gymboree, a decision we regretted till now.
Rayyan having fun at one of the Gymboree classes back then..
When Rayyan was about 2+ years old, we went for a trial class at MyGym. It was a HARROWING experience... At first, he was excited when he saw the different obstacles.. he was climbing up the ladder, going down the slides, playing in the ball pool...
Then it was Circle Time and it was complete mayhem! He was trying to run away from the circle, tugging our hands and crying at the top of his lungs!! We coaxed him, even brought him to a corner, gave him his favourite toy but nothing worked.. He cried and cried! We didn't know what to do. He tugged us towards the door and as soon as we stepped out, he stopped crying!
We were totally vexed! And we knew that it was going to be the same every week. Actually, we didn't mind going through the sessions with Rayyan crying, we could take it but we just felt so guilty because his loud crying and tantrums disrupted the session. I was sure the other parents wouldn't be happy if it happened every week so we apologised to the kind lady in-charge and never stepped into the place again...
Till now, Rayyan seems 'traumatised' by Circle Time. But knowing the importance of social skills, I rounded up a good friend of mine, Sherie, and we started our own sessions two weeks ago. Sherie has two boys, Amirul who is about 3.5 years old and Saif, 2.5 years old. Saif is also under the red flag for autism and Sherie is as worried about Saif's social skills as I am about Rayyan's. So we decided to try and get the boys together and help them. Even though we are not trained to do these sessions, I am sure we can brush up on our skills. Furthermore, we can save up a lot because these sessions cost a bomb outside and the most important thing is, we understand the boys' conditions. So if Saif or Rayyan throws a big tantrum, we do not get embarrased and just coaxed the boys into joining the group.
First session was held at Sherie's place. When we came, we let the boys play together. As usual, Rayyan played alongside but never with them. Then we took out a mat and attempted to sit in a circle. And that was when Rayyan started to cry at the top of his lungs. The Daddy coaxed him and tried to make him sit but nothing worked. He just cried and cried!! Finally, we decided that maybe it was too soon to do this. Since the boys were not really familiar with each other, why not let them play on their own first and get used to each other.. So we did that and they were happily playing on their own again. Then Sherie's hubby tried to get Amirul and Rayyan to be involved in his drum-beating session. He managed to get Rayyan's attention and when asked to beat the drums together, Rayyan complied. We were pretty happy... No doubt we didn't get to do the circle time but well, that's a start...
Second session was held at my place. After the previous session, I decided not to do Circle Time yet. The most important thing is to get them to socialise, Circle Time can come later. So the kids played on the slide and went through a tunnel. Rayyan didn't seem happy. Maybe he didn't like the company, maybe he didn't like the fact that others were playing with his stuffs. He was pretty cranky but he did play with the slide and tunnel.
Then the kids played Play-Doh together. Rayyan was pretty excited, he started 'tearing' the Play-Doh. I was surprised because he usually squeeze and make different shapes with the Play-Doh but this time round, he just wanted to 'tear' them. Arrggh!! But I will handle that later. I was more anxious of the fact that the kids were playing on their own, no communication between them. That was when I made Rayyan pass things to Amirul and I gave him reinforcers to encourage him to do that. He did that a couple of times. Not too bad...
Next, we played with bubbles. This was the last activity. Again, Rayyan was pretty cranky. Didn't want to play with the bubbles but after a while, he warmed up and started chasing the bubbles. But again, no communication between them.
After going through two sessions, I feel that we must really think of activities that will make them play together. But on a more positive note, this is a good start. Let's hope Rayyan and Saif will show improvement as we go along.... U go boys!
