Travelling Hiccups 4

After 8 days of smooth travelling, we assumed Calder has learned how to travel to and from work, so we stopped monitoring his journey. Imagine our surprise when we found he's still at Buangkok mrt two hours after his Dad departed from him there. It was nearing 1.30pm, and we got concerned because he would usually have sent Mommy his selfie by this time. WhatsApp live location (we have started sharing his location this way with his job coaches, in case he arrives late) showed he was at Buangkok when he should be at Siglap. Daddy went to look for him and put him on the train. Thank God he managed to follow the routine of changing train at Outram, and alighting at Siglap. 

In the evening, I watched the footage of his visual tracker to ascertain the cause of this hiccup. Oh, it's because trains at both platforms arrived at the same time. Since Calder was small, I've noticed his reluctance to board a train when the train opposite has not moved off. He would wait for buses to move off too, before walking away. In the footage, the trains kept arriving simultaneously. His video would show him looking at the side he's supposed to board, then turning to see the train arriving or leaving at the opposite platform. He would continue to watch the opposite side until its train had fully left. By this time, his side of the train would also have left, or be blinking the warning that the train door was about to close. I stopped counting at the 13th pair of trains. In this way, Calder got stuck for 2 hours waiting for a train that never arrived alone. Thank God he was able to leave his "post" when prompted by the Dad. But I don't know how to prevent such a hiccup from happening again, short of herding him into the train. (He's already been trained to leave from home. When he was discovered playing at the HDB lifts, I took to sending him to the bus stop. Would I now need to send him to the mrt station?)

Travelling Preparation

Instead of releasing Calder from the doorstep, I've taken to sending him to the bus stop. Well, not exactly. I let him climb the overhead bridge himself and watch him from the opposite bus stop. This is to discourage him from going to the lifts instead of waiting patiently at the bus stop. (We saw from his visual tracker that he'd missed a few buses before while he was "visiting" the lifts.) In case he gets lost (and I need to use his picture to ask people if they've seen him), I take a quick picture of him in his current dressing. 

When I did that 2 days ago. I didn't realize that he was without his bus card again (2nd time this happens since he started travelling to work independently). So I was surprised to see him giving up the bus that had stopped in front of him, and crossing the bridge over to my side. Ah, then I noticed what's missing, and followed him home to retrieve his bus card. I must have interrupted his preparation routine somehow to have distracted him from putting on his lanyard. On my side, it's so easy to forget things these days. (Today I forgot to share his WhatsApp location with his job coach.) So I decided to use a checklist, which includes steps like checking for train disruption on 

https://www.sgtrains.com/guide-status .

On Monday night, I noticed that instead of coming straight home, he allowed the train to bring him to Punggol Coast and back to Hougang. So I took the hard copy MRT map that I got from the control station, and used an erasable pen to trace his correct journey. Told him he's not supposed to go one round. When he was typing his journal, I also got him to insert the sentence "I must alight after Kovan station". 

The other thing that might have helped was the reassurance that he can remove his watch after sending me his selfie upon reaching St Andrew's. I'm assuming the watch reminds him that he should be heading for St Andrew's Autism Centre.

In this way, he has been travelling smoothly to and from work, for the past 3 days. Thank Lord!

Travelling Hiccups 3

This is Week 4 since Calder started travelling independently to and from work (Hougang to Siglap). 

On Monday, he arrived at work late for 10 min. Before that, we had lunch at Hougang Mall foodcourt and then took the lift. He got off at Level 1 while I proceeded to the basement for grocery shopping at the supermarket. It was 11.50am. Setting off at this time should give him more than ample time to arrive by 1.30pm. But he lingered at Hougang mrt. Later I saw a missed call from a church friend who told me she saw him at Hougang mrt. She had asked him if he was lost. He didn't answer her but went into the train. When we checked his visual tracker video clip, we saw that he spent 40 mins watching the trains of the opposite platform, until my church friend talked to him. Thank God for sending her. His aversion to conversation was probably more powerful than his fascination with trains. If not for the interruption, I don't know how long he would have lingered at the train station. 

This brought to mind a Facebook friend's suggestion to set up a platform allowing the public to track autistic kids, so they can render help if one is near them. I must admit there have been many times I wish I could WhatsApp SMRT to activate a staff to look for Calder at a certain station to guide him to the right platform, or to alert a bus driver that Calder is lost on his or her bus. But I have misgivings about letting the public know his whereabouts. For one, there are predators out there who might take advantage of his simplicity. There might also be well meaning people who try to talk to him, who ask him questions which would make him uncomfortable or even trigger him. A fellow parent questioned whether it's wise to let our kids wear lanyards that identify them as having special needs. Would they be targeted? I told him the chance of bullying taking place on public transport probably isn't high. If you ask me, I think the proportion of Singaporeans being bo-chap is the highest, followed by the kind ones and then the mean ones. So if Calder is apparently lost or apparently has lost control, I'm hoping whoever sees my message behind his bus card would help him by contacting me. The message ("I have autism. Please text my Mom at... if I'm lost. ") would hopefully also shield him from retaliation should he unwittingly cause offence. Because there are good people and bad people out there, I'm not sure it's entirely a bad thing that not more people recognize the hidden disability sunflower lanyard that he wears. But it's definitely necessary for transport crew to know.

Yesterday (Thursday), Calder arrived at work two hours late. According to Find Hub, instead of alighting at Outram Park, he went to HarbourFront and was there for quite a while (the video clip confirmed it to be more than 30 min). When I WhatsApp video-called him, I saw that he was still at the purple line and there was a train ready for boarding right behind him. I told him to get on the train but he just stared at me. I had to teach at SIT in the afternoon but tried to track him intermittently before the start of lesson. When I video-called him again, I saw that he was on a train. But he didn't alight at Outram Park to change to brown line. Find Hub showed he was at Boon Keng. Was he heading home? I sent him a text telling him that no one was home; he had to go to work. He went all the way to Punggol Coast and back again to Outram Park, and finally reached Siglap. He arrived at work at 3.30pm. Did he think that having gotten one step wrong, he had to do it all over again? But if so, shouldn't he have alighted at Hougang which is the first mrt stop in his journey? Was it inertia that made him sit on until the train crew made them get out (so I saw on the video clip) at HarbourFront? And inertia that made him sit all the way to the other end of the purple line? He lingered at Hougang mrt on Monday. Now he lingered in HarbourFront. In a way, it's a good thing he looked more stunned than cheerful when I video-called him. If he thinks it's play time, I wouldn't know how to get him to go to work directly every weekday. This possibility troubled me a little - what if he thinks it's better to hang out at mrt stations than go to work? God, will you guide the situation? Then I thought - perhaps it's because he had no concept of time. Perhaps I should let him wear a watch and impress upon him that he must reach his workplace by 1.30pm. I tried letting him wear the Healthy 365 watch before. But he took it off and returned it to its charging place a short while later. Perhaps he thinks it belongs there. If so, I wouldn't have to worry about him discarding it - he would want to bring it home to its "rightful" place. 

This morning, I put on his watch for him and instructed him to check the time, then take a selfie to send to me, along with the message: "I am at home. It is 8.20." I told him that when he reached his workplace, he should likewise send me his time of arrival together with his selfie. Knowing he doesn't like to wear watches, I assured him he can keep the watch (in the front pocket of his haversack - I have to be exact) after reporting his time of arrival.

So Calder went to work wearing a watch. I was hoping the watch would remind him he's supposed to go to work, and that the earlier he arrives, the earlier he can take it off. His job coach had agreed to help me remind him to send me his time of arrival. Thank God, he travelled there smoothly. He sent me his selfie but not the time. According to the job coach, he wasn't wearing any watch. I asked her to check the front pocket of his haversack. Sure enough, it was there. She helped him put it on, note the time, report the time and send it together with his selfie. And then keep it.

We also took the precaution of going through the steps of his journey both to and from work.

He returned home smoothly today. Phew!

And returned the watch to its charging pad.

Travelling Hiccups 2

Calder got lost again while travelling on his own. It happened last Tuesday. I saw on Find Hub that he was travelling towards Outram Park so didn't track him closely thereafter. But then I saw that he was in Bishan. I looked at his visual tracker and saw that he was walking around the station. He seemed to be taking the circle line when he should be on the brown line. I video-called him and asked him to take the purple line. No words from him as usual. Near 1.30pm which is when his work shift starts, he was back at Bishan. His Dad sent him a WhatsApp to come home, then "play sound" on Find Hub to alert him to the message. I informed his job coach that he's unlikely to go to work that day. But I had a class of 22 to teach at SIT that afternoon. By the time I set up my laptop in the classroom, I saw that I could not access data to track Calder anymore. Calder's visual tracker had also run out of battery. I sent a text to Calder's Dad and told him: Over to you. And tried to concentrate on teaching. Knowing I could only do treasure hunting after my lesson had ended, I prayed: Lord, please take care of Calder. When the lesson ended and I was able to check my handphone again, I saw the update that Calder had returned home. Piecing his journey together through Find Hub and the visual tracker, we surmised that he missed the Outram stop and alighted at HarbourFront. Perhaps thinking the brown line was just a walk away like in Outram, he walked to the other side and got on the train. But the train never brought him to Siglap. He was on the Circle line to and back until he somehow made his way home in Hougang. He had travelled for 3 hours. 

That evening, I downloaded a soft copy of the mrt map to show Calder the journey he should have taken. 

Me: (Pointing to Outram on the map) Calder, which lines does Outram have? 

Calder: Green line. Purple line. Brown line. 

Me: (Pointing to HarbourFront) Which lines does HarbourFront have? 

Calder: Yellow line. Purple line.

Me: What line goes to Siglap?

Calder: Brown line

Me: Can you take the brown line at HarbourFront?

Calder: No!

Wondering if there is an mrt map worksheet where Calder can fill in station names. That should be useful and interesting for not just Calder.