(Seoul = DPI News)Choi Bong-hyeok Columnist (AI·ESG·DX Convergence Expert, Workplace Disability Awareness Education Specialist) = Kang Seon-a's mother, Park Jeong-sook, 18 months after birth... Can you make up for the pain you received three times as much as the time you were born?~

Our family always lived with rainbow colors in our ordinary lives.

Mom was happy raising a newborn baby, with dad, mom, eldest daughter, and youngest Seon-a.

As time passed, Seon-a had more frequent illnesses than her older sister, who was born 17 months earlier, or other children of her age.

In everyday life, her language development was slow and her cognitive abilities were also delayed, so her mother, who was raising her, was busier, harder, and more tired than other mothers, and there were many days she slept.

But she was happy. We embraced the 'special meaning' that our clone and our youngest daughter gave us.

Once she started crying, it was no use comforting her, and she cried for over an hour, only stopping when she was exhausted from crying. Mom didn't know the reason, so she kept worrying about her crying child.

Every time, she wondered if there was something wrong with her child... She wanted to think that Seon-a was just slow in her normal development.

One day, while she was anxious, her younger sister suggested that she get a hospital check-up.

And at the doctor's opinion that there was a high possibility of autism, I looked for a doctor famous for autism since Seon-a was 18 months old and diligently visited him for almost two years.

There were only two questions I asked the doctor. First, I asked if my child was autistic, hoping that she wasn't.

Second, I asked if, assuming she was autistic, she could be cured if she was raised well. Since she was still young, the doctors did not readily make a diagnosis.

They simply said that her development was significantly delayed compared to other children of her age, so her mother should play with her diligently at home, and if she could send her to a playroom or kindergarten around the age of 3 or 4, she should do so.

At the time, I thought Seon-a's developmental delay was a mental illness caused entirely by my fault, so I felt sorry and guilty toward Seon-a.

So I held Seon-a tightly and said to her like I was making a promise, "Can you heal if I make up for the pain you received from the time you were born until 18 months, three times over?"

But the situation wasn't one where I could dedicate all my time to Seon-a.

Seon-a's older sister also needed a lot of attention, so it was difficult to take care of both children completely.

Her sister cried because she wanted to play outside, and Seon-a was sensitive to light, so she cried every time she went outside. Even in the middle of summer, I would carry her baby in my arms and cover her tightly with an adult's top, so she would be drenched in sweat, looking like a child who had just washed her hair.

People in the neighborhood didn't know what was going on and said, "It's been a while since you gave birth, why don't you show me your baby's face?" When I tried to take off her overly covered clothes, Seon-a would cry without fail.

While her sister was happily playing with her friends at the playground, Seon-a would immediately leave the playground and head for the parking lot. While I went to grab Seon-a, her sister couldn't find me and ended up reporting it to the police. My husband, who was at work, came, and we finally found her after a lot of twists and turns.

Things that seemed insignificant to others felt like walking on thin ice, with each moment being a heart-wrenching event for our family.

After giving birth to Seon-a, I wanted to raise my two daughters, who were born close together, like twins, beautifully, taking them to ballet and swimming pools. But it was just a dream for a moment. In fact, thinking about it now, it was too overwhelming to handle an autistic child at 18 months old.

Kang Seon-a, the artist, working on a painting
Seon-a's schedule at 18 months was really packed.

She had cognitive and language education in the morning, and in the afternoon, she played outside with her older sister who had come back from kindergarten.

In the evening, there was my own kind of education at home. It was education through play, such as playing in the water, playing with blocks, reading books, playing with clay, and playing in a ball pool.

My own kind of education was simple, repetitive play education where the child could remember with their body rather than their head, by seeing, hearing, and touching.

Even though I couldn't guarantee future growth potential, I lived with hope every time I saw a small change while repeating this routine and following the schedule for 365 days.

Over time, I saw small improvements, and one day when Seon-a was 3 or 4 years old, she read Korean alphabet cards, guessed the seven colors of the ball pool, ran to the bathroom on her own while playing in the living room, and used the toilet. As a mother, it was a miracle and a thankful event.

Every day, she used food coloring to make various colored dough and paint, and her finger muscles were strengthened by cutting and folding. After she turned 7, I never cut her fingernails or toenails.

She still enjoys eating nuts, and she's a master at shelling walnuts and even chestnuts, making the enjoyment of eating nuts a pleasure.

One day when she was 6 years old, she drew a drawing of Teletubbies, saying she was coloring on paper like construction paper, and it came out as a line drawing.

This series of miraculous changes on a certain day were actually continuous perceptual movements happening within Seon-a.

The time I spent struggling with Seon-a for three times the 18 months was like a cornerstone of hope that suddenly appeared one day.

At school, there was a morning worship service every Monday as a special mission activity at the Christian school. She attended school an hour early and enjoyed singing praise songs and motion songs with her teachers and friends for three years.

As a member of the art club, she participated in annual art exhibitions and her artwork is displayed in the Seoul City Hall Art Goods Corner.

Through pottery classes and handicraft classes, she made leather crafts and felt crafts, sold them in a gift shop set up in the school's practice room, received barista training at a cafe set up in the practice room, and obtained a certificate.

As a parent volunteer for barista classes, I also took an auxiliary class for three years and obtained a barista certification.

She received repeated education through external organization visits, experiential learning, and various job-related social adaptation training.

Through active participation in school life, such as performances that all students could show on stage, inline skating competitions held after continuous repetition training for physical fitness, and track and field competitions held outside the school, Seon-a's overall development improved in quality.

That's why Seon-a's paintings are drawings that contain stories she wants to share with her friends and people she misses, and things she wants to do with them.

When she was in kindergarten, she really liked the "Pa" sound of the handbell played by her boyfriend, maybe it was a crush. She also liked eating green onions and attached her favorite rabbit character to the "Pa" sound of the handbell, expressing her favorite actions clearly.

She said she would give the four Christmas wreaths she painted at her second solo exhibition to her friends and acquaintances she missed and wanted to see.
I'm actually very sad because it's difficult to meet her friends from elementary and middle school, and her acquaintances.

The fact that she now has a job as a painter because her hobby and special talent for drawing led to her artistic activities is a happy event, a wish that many people have.

My small steps are bearing fruitful results, and her award record is outstanding.

Artist Introduction
The drawing play, which started as part of therapeutic education, naturally led to a hobby and artistic activity. Most of her works are carefully drawn by reconstructing the experience of her enjoyable daily life through existing and original characters, using her unique sense of space, observation skills, and imagination. She remembers the fun memories of riding amusement park rides, scenes from fairy tales, school events, watching sporting events, family events, going for walks, etc., and recreates the movements and expressions of countless character protagonists in her reality and imagination.

Education
Graduated from Milar School, majoring in

Activities
Currently, she is an artist at Disabled.
2023. 12 : Summer Walk, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Art Bank Collection
2017 ~ 2021 : Participated in the cultural and arts education program 'Our Teacher Who Reads Books' for kindergartens
2021. 4 : Participated in the mural design for SK Hynix
2017. 4 : Mural work at Gangnam Disability Welfare Center
2016. 2 : O. Henry Storybook Illustrations, Mind Puzzle Matching Book Illustrations