The World of Lun

Lun's desire for life is simple, that is, any change must be minor, not major. This can a headache for caregivers.

 

Lun's World is really simple. As all autistic teenagers, Lun focuses on one thing at a time and strives with all his might to make it happen.

 

I believe that all giants have this quality.

 

Mr. Sun Yat Sen, our national father, devoted  to overthrow the Qing government to build a republic. He dedicated his whole life to achieve his goal and succeeded. The world was stunned by his persistence and focus.

 

Because of the inborn disability, Lun would not become a giant. The critical difference is that all giants mind others’ business while Lun only minds his own.

 

It is unacceptable to have change for anything as expected by Lun. He was used to learning life skills in a centre with the assistance from a social worker serving special needs clients on Sunday in the afternoon. On Saturday night he started calling the name of that worker. He repeated on Sunday morning till he saw the worker.

 

Big problem could happen if there was change. We had to decide when to tell him. If too early his mood could be disturbed and it could last for a few days. If it's too late, he might not accept it. When our forgetfulness was the cause of failing his expectation he could murmur repeatedly to the point that appetite was lost and he didn't eat and drink for the whole day. We had to spoon feed him with blended nutrients milk. At night he would be awake repeating the narration.

 

Simply put, he chased to a dead end and could not return. His mind was totally occupied by that simple matter that was blown big unproportionally. It occupied the center of his life. Without resolution, he lost desire for everything. Life had no meaning and joy. 

 

This happens to people suffering from anxiety disorder. 

 

How Lun can be helped. Here are a few ways.

 

Firstly, to prevent focusing on one thing, arranging activities per day for Lun to look for and divert his focus onto different activities. 

 

Secondly, replacing the missing activity by another favorable activity of Lun. It could relieve Lun gradually from anxiety.

 

Thirdly, substituting the missing activity with thing he was afraid of. It could shake him off from the anxiety and convert his energy onto the new challenge. I named it “soul diversion”. Haircut was the most effective method. He absolutely hated hair cutting since young. Once it was over, he just deleted all the previous unhappy memories and enjoyed the absence of the trimmer cutting his hair. He would be served with a full bathtub of water for twenty minutes.

 

The problem is that this method cannot be used often. How much hair does Lun have to be cut?

 

Lun’s world is very simple, yet is quite challenging to people around him.