'I like you mummy!': an autistic Hong Kong boy's simple message that means the world to his mum

Mrs Wong was overjoyed to hear her six-year-old son, Yan Yan, repeat after her: "I like you, mummy!"

It might seem like a minor achievement for kids his age, but it's a marked improvement for Yan Yan, who was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and developmental delay at the age of two and has autistic tendencies.

This means Yan Yan has trouble grasping and following a combination of instructions, and has difficulty communicating in the way that most children do. A year ago he could barely string two words together. His attention span lasted five minutes, and he would throw nightly tantrums.

Now, with the help of weekly therapy sessions, he is able to construct simple sentences and sleep soundly through the night.

"He's not the same as other six-year-olds, but seeing the progress he's made, it's really rewarding," says Mrs Wong, who has been taking her son for occupational and speech therapy at the Rainbow Project Learning Centre, a school that provides specialised education and therapy for autistic children.

At least 8,000 children have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder since 2010, according to the child assessment service of the Department of Health.

Last year's figures show one in 683 children have autism in Hong Kong. By comparison, one in 68 children in the United States were diagnosed in 2010, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.