Parenting Made Special

Our Singapore local talent, Awi Rafael who is currently based in KL shared with us on his journey of finding his calling in giving back to the inclusive community through music. He combined his talent in music and his learnings in psychology to create a music program exclusively for individuals who are under the spectrum. Starting from running the program for free in solo to an expansion of collaboration with UITM (a university-based in Malaysia) and still growing. Listen to our interview with Awi and do-follow #musicspectrumAR and his Facebook. Awi will be back to Singapore soon to expand the music program to our beautiful hometown. Stay tune for more information on the release of his new adventure and announcement coming up pretty soon! Meantime, tune in to our episode 16 with our humble and shining star talent!

Fel & Shahidah parents of three amazing special boys share with us their journey raising their children in the most purest and sincere hearts. It was a conversation full of true emotions about how parents would feel about raising special needs children. The emotional rollercoaster rides and the true meaning of grieving. As they reminisce their love journey and how they stood strong together to go through the challenges in life. The sentence which was still lingering in our ear is when Shahidah shares her experience on her lowest moment when she found out her last child was special in his own ways and she took the blame upon herself and that breaks our heart. Thank you fel and shahidah for being brave in sharing your experience with the world and reminding us that our feelings are valid. 

Liyana and Nafisah the founders of Rautism.sg shares with us on their successful launch of the first book A for Autism. Written personally by Liyana, a mum who has a son with autism and in collaboration with Nafisah the individual behind the scene that illustrate the beautiful story creation into a colourful printed book. What was the motivation in the book creation and how did the journey kickstarts? As we understand the dynamic duo individual inspirations, we are so proud to share that their first book was that sold over 200 pieces upon release. What a wonderful success! Listen to this episode on be inspired, everything is possible when you put your heart and soul to it. 

Joyce the owner of back2basic cafe have always been passionate about sustainability. She turns her passion from sharing her love language through food for her son to running a commercial eco-friendly cafe to keep her drive. She shares her personal story on how she brave through the rollercoaster journey of life in finding her own individual identity. How does that impact her circle of friends and how she learn to develop her communication skills with other. 

Through these phases, she managed to helped her son who was struggling with depression back then and solved the mystery on why she have always felt that she was different from others. It was a great experience having an opportunity to speak with Joyce where she shares her view as an individual under the Autism spectrum. How does it feels like? What was her personal struggles? How does this helps her to guide her son as he grew up upon officially diagnosed with Asperger? It has always been a blessing in disguise for her as through the storm of finding her answers. 

Connect with Joyce via our next episode and be amazed on the facts which you will learn through the recording!

Jacklyn a passionate individual who have been educating and supporting the inclusive community for more than 8 years and still counting. Many parents have questions on the choices of education route and alternatives which they may consider if they choose other option aside from the mainstream setting. Some wonder what's the ongoing activities which they can expect if SPED school would be their prefered choice for their child. As we walk through the memory lane with Jacklyn, she shares on her memories and 'crisis' moment during her teaching experience. It was a mixture of heartwarming and funny moments in a whole. Despite she have left the SPED school setting to venture into a new environment, her passion remains the same. 'To always support the inclusive community.' Tune in with us this week with Jacklyn!

Cynthia is a psycholinguist who is passionate about sharing informative writings via her personal blog about autism advocacy. Having previously volunteered and interned at intervention centers, she now spends her spare time doing research about neurodiversity-affirming parenting tips, educational practices, and therapy approaches. As an ally, she believes in supporting neurodivergent individuals with a standpoint of inclusivity by listening to self-advocates’ thoughts, wants, and needs. We see a different angle and perspective on what was discovered in the research, which can be applied to give a refreshing approach in moving forward towards a new mindset change. Read Cynthia’s personal blog  and connect with her via Instagram if you have any questions or thoughts you have in mind for sharing. Meantime enjoy episode 10!

We invited Huda the founder of The Batter Room who have spend years volunteering for the inclusive community before moving towards becoming an allied educator. The Batter Room was set up to support the inclusion community and continuous support to advocate this movement. We spoke about the importancy of sex education as part of creating awareness to our child despite their challenges. Chances are high for the vulnerable ones but how do we as parent plays our part in ensuring that they understand the personal space and boundaries? Is there really sexual abuse ongoing within the inclusive community? Should this conversation and sharing only take place after our children reaches puberty or should we even start it from young? Join us on the episode for the take away on the important highlights. Give your support to The Batter Room for your sweet savory indulgence and 20% of all sales will be contributed to SPD.

Rohaidah shares her personal journey on how she brave through the heartbreaks of facing several miscarriages during her pregnancy which leads her to only one option left, an IVF procedure in order to conceive. Having the light of hope for a smooth transition but yet again having to face other sets of different challenges in her new journey. How does this tough fight changes her perspective as an individual? Does IVF pregnancy ties up with high chances of having a child with Autism? A very personal story which gets us choke up with emotions just by listening through her pain behind the words spoken. For those who are keen to join the support group of Fertility Support SG or have questions in regards to IVF procedures, you may follow and connect with them via instagram or via website . Our respect for all the mothers who have went through an IVF journey!

Such a wonderful experience being given an opportunity to have a conversation with Kah Ying the founder of A Mother's Wish who have vast amount of experience in providing support, workshops and sharing sessions for the inclusive community. She have spoke on many platforms to create awareness and acceptance for Autism and a wonderful writer of the book 'Where Does My Autistic Son Belongs' where she shares her personal story of raising her son. We are blown away with the adventure and experience which she brought us through in this episode on finding happiness and peace for her son Sebastian in Bali, Indonesia. How it makes her view things on a different perspective and how fate puts everything together at the right place and on the right time when you least expected it. Was it easy for a mother to be separated from her son in a different country and under the care of caretakers who are not your family members? Click the play button to hear her heartwarming story and show some support to A Mother's Wish.