After having to rescue Calder over two consecutive days, I was getting discouraged. The next day, I decided to send Calder to the brown line before heading for work. This means taking the train with him from Hougang to Outram Park, before going the opposite direction to Punggol Coast to teach. I directed him to board at certain cabins so he would not be distracted by lifts. At Hougang, that's Cabin 17. (Although when we alighted, I saw that Cabin 18 might be nearer the escalator.) At Outram, it's Cabin 12. The train had already arrived when we reached the brown line of Outram. Ahead of me, Calder had quickened his steps too. I signalled for him to wait - I had decided that it's better to board at the "right" cabin than to catch the immediate train. So we waited for the next train. Meanwhile, I took pictures of the train door to help Calder differentiate between brown and green line. I highlighted to him that if he could find "Siglap" among the listed destinations at the top, then he's at the right platform. When the train arrived, I sent Calder into Cabin 12 and bid him farewell. Calder reached St Andrew's Autism Centre before his work started at 1.30pm. When he sent me his selfie, I decided to add a star to my response. Perhaps the stars can form a reward system to motivate him. When I reviewed the footage, I was gratified to see that Calder followed my instruction - taking escalator to Exit 2 instead of using the lift.
That evening, Calder returned home smoothly too. I used Life 360's report to congratulate Calder with another star. I told Calder that he would get a star when he arrives at St Andrew's before 1.30pm and a star when he makes it home before 6.30pm. When he has collected 6 stars, Mommy would buy him ijooz.
The next day, he reached his workplace early and earned another star. Perhaps the stars make a difference. I was about to pat myself on the back, but that evening, Calder didn't come home on time.
Instead of alighting at Hougang, he went all the way to Punggol Coast and stayed there for 40 min. His visual tracker was pointing downwards and I surmised that he was just sitting on a metal bench (instead of pressing lift buttons which I would have presumed). What was Calder doing at Punggol Coast, I wanted to ask him. But I decided not to sound accusatory, so I sent him a text to come back to eat chicken rice. There was a youngster sitting beside him on the next bench. The youngster (probably a SIT student) didn't seem to be in a hurry to board the train either. Could Calder be taking the cue from him? But then I saw that the youngster eventually departed, yet Calder remained sitting on his bench. From Life 360 report (I tagged St Andrew's and home locations so Life 360 would inform me every time Calder leaves or arrives at these locations), I had noticed that Calder left St Andrew's at 5.10pm instead of 5pm. By the time he was nearing Hougang, it was clear that he would not be able to reach home by 6.30pm. Might this be the reason why he gave up the urgency? Might he be lingering at Punggol Coast because he mistakenly thought that he could only take the train from the opposite platform? But the footage showed an open train on the opposite platform when Calder first arrived at Punggol Coast. Perhaps he thought that train was leaving soon, so he didn't attempt to board it? I called SMRT, asking if there's a staff at Punggol Coast who could help put Calder on the train. But then I checked the visual tracker and saw that Calder had gotten on a train. Fortunately, this time he alighted at Hougang. I decided to fetch him at the bus stop in case he misses his stop (it had happened before) and I have to find him at Changi airport.
Calder reached home at 7.40pm, more than an hour late. The sky had already turned dark. I let him eat his chicken rice and shower and then attend his Royal Kids online program. I was just in time for my own online fellowship.
St Andrew's Autism Centre was planning to release a video of Calder's independent travelling. I had asked them to release it at 6.30pm instead of 6pm, thinking Calder would have reached home by then. (I was concerned that public members with good intentions may try to chat Calder up, which could make him uncomfortable.)
While waiting for Calder to come home, a friend texted, asking me about his cough. I told her Calder had quite recovered and had in fact gone to work. But he seemed to have proceeded to Punggol Coast instead of alighting at Hougang. Her light-hearted response gave me pause:
"He must like SIT campus, I heard it’s nice there. You going there now?"
Could Calder have preferred to hang out at Punggol Coast instead of coming straight home? After all, it's quiet and spacious, a good place to watch trains. I told my friend I was hesitant to go find him in case he starts assuming his parent would always "fetch" him.
When you have a non-verbal child, there's so much speculations involved identifying causes for any deviation from the norm. I'm glad to have the visual tracker to help me investigate possible reasons behind Calder's choices. I'm also thankful that despite all the hiccups, God has brought him home safely time and again.
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