Movie still from《A Fool in Love, Love Like a Fool》 (The photo is used with parent consent)
My son Jiahong has Down’s Syndrome. He was born with a low muscle tone and poor oral coordination. He has been working at the restaurant of Xihane’er Foundation for almost 3 years. However, Jiahong was having difficulty being able to respond to his supervisor’s instructions within the workplace. Each day that he came home, he was either unable to clearly convey to me what his supervisor had instructed him to do or he didn’t bother mentioning to me any instruction handed down by his instructor. This bothered me a lot.
Ms. Tsay was Jiahong’s speech therapist at The Association of Down Syndrome. In addition to opening Jiahong to communicating verbally, she also discovered that one of the strengths of children with Down’s Syndrome, as a visual leaner, is to recognize Chinese characters. She then started to train a group of parents like me to help their children with basic reading skills, along with other aspects of language development.
Movie still from《A Fool in Love, Love Like a Fool》 (The photo is used with parent consent)
I have known Ms. Tsay for over 20 years, both as a friend as well as a teacher and mentor. Even though Ms. Tsay has lived in Canada for many years, many parents like myselfkeep in touch and express concern for the issues of our children. A year ago when I informed Ms. Tsay about any given situation concerning Jiahong’s language and communication issues at the workplace, she enthusiastically provides an online class once a week to enhance his understanding of the complex spoken language he experiences at work. She is also taking the weaknesses for a person of Down’s Syndrome into the program that includes increasing memory length, practicing the tones of the Chinese language, advanced reading skills, interpretation skills with reasoning etc...
Ms. Tsay’s weekly classes include training to enhance articulation, reading, writing, oral and written sentence construction, pictures description, telling stories, listening comprehension, situational dialogue, oral expression, and other communication skills. Since the class began one year ago, Jiahong always looked forward to every Wednesday online class.I at first was needed to participate with Jiahong during the online sessions, yet, this is no longer the situation. Not only Jiahong can follow the online class all by himself but do all the after- class exercises, quickly and accurately, without requiring my support.Ms. Tsay’s teaching method always integrates games, fun activities and lively interactions which made it interesting for my son that leads to continued progresses in many aspects.
Four years ago, Jiahong had the opportunity for a part in the filming of the movie “Love You silly, Love Me Silly”. To land a role in the film, he had to work very hard and memorize his lines. At times, he would have difficulty completely understanding the disputes episodes were part of the plot but not his fault. This led to him falling into an upset mood. But just recently, the movie’s director invited Jiahong to play another role. The director added some extra lines verbally to Jiahong and I was so surprised that Jiahong could remember all the lines that the director asked him to say and act out immediately. Jiahong even knew when his opponent actor had finished their lines and when his parts took into place. Jiahong even satisfied the director with a sudden improvisation added to the emotional impact of the scene, which made for a more effective transition in responding to the plot.
When the director introduced Jiahong to another director, Jiahong showed a new confidence that I had never seen before. During this introduction, he took the initiative to go forward, say hello, and extend his hand for a handshake; a gesture that surprised me. I am equally surprised that Jiahong is capable of immediately remembering the director’s spoken lines and that he can accept immediate requests from the director as well. This includes his newly formed confidence while communicating with other first-meet people. Ms. Tsay’s instruction improved Jiahong’s communication skills which enabled him to pursue his passion for acting. Therefore, I am very happy to share how Jiahong’s success was a result of Ms. Tsay’s involvement.
Thank you Ms. Tsay for your great help, and I hope the pursuits of the AITEC team can continue!
Jiahong works at Enjoy Taipei restaurant of Children Are Us Foundation (The photo is used with parent consent)
Ms. Tsay went to the restaurant to understand Jiahong’s communication situations at the workplace in order to integrate into weekly online class.
This is the group photo with Jiahong, Jiahong's mother, Yuhuan, Yuhuan's mother and Teacher Jiayeh at Enjoy Taipei restaurant of Children Are Us Foundation (The photo is used with parent consent)
Menu of Enjoy Taipei restaurant, the drinks are made by Jiahong.
Menu of Enjoy Taipei restaurant
Olive Oil Fried Vegetable Pasta Set
Matsusaka Pork Rice Set
Milkfish Rice Set
Pan-fried Chicken with Pasta
Enjoy Taipei restaurant of Children Are Us Foundation
ENJOY Taipei Restaurant is located in the corridor of the South District on the first floor of the Taipei City Government. There are a total of 58 seats in the store. The comfortable and leisurely dining environment, accompanied by the sincere and warm service of Han'er, will help you to relax your busy steps. Indulge in hand-crafted baked goods, commercial lunches, and fragrant fair trade coffees and teas for a relaxing time in a packed itinerary.
Included: commercial lunch, fair trade organic coffee/tea, hand-baked bread, desserts, cakes and mooncakes, festive gift boxes, souvenirs, lunch box tea party, etc.
Store information
Store Address: South District, 1st Floor, No. 1, Shifu Road, Xinyi District, Taipei City
Contact number: (02)2720-5208
Store seats: 58 (reservation available)
Business hours: Monday to Friday 08:00~18:00