All About Autism

[Double E]

slmkhoo:

ruru cat:

You are right, if socially our sons cannot make it, then we try to bring them academically on par as much as possible right?

I agree with this as a broad-brush idea - that we do not neglect our child's strengths and try to bring them along the 'normal' schedule as far as possible. However, do beware of the possibility of trying too hard with the academic at the expense of the social. Frankly, a 3yo should not be required to write at all, in my opinion. If he wants to, well and good, but I would not coach writing at this age. If you read the literature, most NT kids are not expected to write this early, and I would feel that this precious time should be spent talking to and interacting with your child over games and stories rather than writing, especially as our ASD kids need much more help with interaction than NT kids. There will be time to pick up the academics at the appropriate age, no need to do it extra-early. Just my opinon.

Agree but I think there should be a balance of both. For my boy's case, he gains confidence when he can write. Also, in Singapore, getting a 3 1/2 year old to practice writing is not too early especially ASD kids take a longer time to learn. My girl just turned 3 and she can write numbers 1-9 after a few rounds of coaching but it took my boy much longer. My point is, our ASD kids learn things slower than others especially if they have fine motor skills issue (like my son). So by starting him on writing at 3.5 years old, by the time he can write properly, he is on par with kids his age. But of course, the sessions with him is not just write and write, it includes other things like showing him pictures and get him to talk about it, read to him, colouring, cutting with scissors, painting etc.

[Blokus]

slmkhoo:

ruru cat:

You are right, if socially our sons cannot make it, then we try to bring them academically on par as much as possible right?

I agree with this as a broad-brush idea - that we do not neglect our child's strengths and try to bring them along the 'normal' schedule as far as possible. However, do beware of the possibility of trying too hard with the academic at the expense of the social. Frankly, a 3yo should not be required to write at all, in my opinion. If he wants to, well and good, but I would not coach writing at this age. If you read the literature, most NT kids are not expected to write this early, and I would feel that this precious time should be spent talking to and interacting with your child over games and stories rather than writing, especially as our ASD kids need much more help with interaction than NT kids. There will be time to pick up the academics at the appropriate age, no need to do it extra-early. Just my opinon.

I think 30 mins of writing a day or a week won't eat too much time into interaction & playing time with the kids. Moreover , teaching involves interaction too.

[ruru cat]

Hi everyone,


I have finally finished reading all the 480 pages! Have jotted down the useful info for future reference. Thank you all for sharing.

Feeling very depressed and yo-yo-ing between denial/grief and acceptance. My mom who stays with me is not helping the situation as she feels it is perfectly fine for my son to play happily with his toys alone.

Now contempting to do a private assessment (so expensive!!!) but it seems to be the only way for the whole family to move on emotionally? It has been a week since the psychologist mentioned the word ‘suspected autism’ and I had not slept/eat well all these while. Sometimes when my 21mths old son comes and hug me (without prompting) or take turns playing peek-a-boo with the family, I felt he is ok but once he plays with his toys he seem to be in a world of his own. Haiz…

Will be visiting a private child developmental specialist (not a pyschologist) to get a 2nd opinion as she was referred by my PD. I told my HB and mother that if she also thinks Ds has suspected autism then we all MUST accept the hard truth and move on with it.

[Maple leaf]

Hi,


Many people including relatives friends and preschool teachers told me that my child has ASD. He has no eye contact with people, no gesture. People would stare at us when we brought him to the playground as he could not play freely by himself. We had a hard time raising him since he could not tell when he wails. I would try to find out whether he is hungry ,tired etc by guessiing.

He could speak only at 4 but he can read by 3. Meaning he can recognize words and pronounce them but he could not communicate as in answering simple questions such as "how old are you?" or "Are you hungry?"

Today,without any interventions, he is doing fine. Only problem is his verbal skills, he still have difficulty expressing himself which makes us wonder if we should have send him to a speech therapist. Besides that he is picking up social skills.(after 8 years old)

I would say autistic kids are late boomers in social or verbal skills. I know we parents of ASD kids need a lot of patience and encouragement for the kids. 10x or 100x more effort.

I share my experience here as I hope parents who has kids who have just diagnosed not to be too worried. It is not easy to parent them but be positive. Don’t panic. They are special. Try to explore their other talents , be it sports,music,art or any other, and groom. Look at what they are good at, you will feel better. Nurture their hidden talents or interest.

[Nebbermind]

Maple leaf:

Hi,


Many people including relatives friends and preschool teachers told me that my child has ASD. He has no eye contact with people, no gesture. People would stare at us when we brought him to the playground as he could not play freely by himself. We had a hard time raising him since he could not tell when he wails. I would try to find out whether he is hungry ,tired etc by guessiing.

He could speak only at 4 but he can read by 3. Meaning he can recognize words and pronounce them but he could not communicate as in answering simple questions such as \"how old are you?\" or \"Are you hungry?\"

Today,without any interventions, he is doing fine. Only problem is his verbal skills, he still have difficulty expressing himself which makes us wonder if we should have send him to a speech therapist. Besides that he is picking up social skills.(after 8 years old)

I would say autistic kids are late boomers in social or verbal skills. I know we parents of ASD kids need a lot of patience and encouragement for the kids. 10x or 100x more effort.

I share my experience here as I hope parents who has kids who have just diagnosed not to be too worried. It is not easy to parent them but be positive. Don't panic. They are special. Try to explore their other talents , be it sports,music,art or any other, and groom. Look at what they are good at, you will feel better. Nurture their hidden talents or interest.

Maple Leaf

Good to hear that your kid is progressing reasonably and your advice.

While I do not have any ASD kids, but I did encounter some and I would say that their behaviour or response varies from individual to individual, perhaps depending on which part of the spectrum their are classified in. Therefore, I believe that it is always good to consider possible intervention which will help the kids to become more independent.

Another point to note is that some kids may not be exposed to professional intervention and yet there are all these improvement over time. We should not forget that sometimes it's because we are doing similar things dispense by the pro. It's just like many claim that their kids donch have tuition but actually the amount of inhouse coaching, the amount of worksheet given by parents can be even more intensive than outsourced tuition. Not saying that parents lied but rather, they just didn't see their effort as a replacement of professional help.

Anyway, I believe you have put in tremendous effort in your ASD kid and really thankful for your encouraging words to the parents here. Every ASD is so diff and so any sharing is always helpful to parents who are trying to find ways to handle the challenges.

[Summer tan]

Hi all


I’m thinking of trying out homeopathy for my child. Has anyone tried and do u recommend it?

[Nebbermind]

Summer tan:

Hi all


I'm thinking of trying out homeopathy for my child. Has anyone tried and do u recommend it?

We have tried homoepathy but for sinus/sensitive nose issues. After about 4~5 visit, there wasn't any improvement so we stopped.

But we also tried osteopathy for ADHD related issues. You may wanna explore more in this area.

[Summer tan]

Nebbermind:

Summer tan:

Hi all


I'm thinking of trying out homeopathy for my child. Has anyone tried and do u recommend it?

We have tried homoepathy but for sinus/sensitive nose issues. After about 4~5 visit, there wasn't any improvement so we stopped.

But we also tried osteopathy for ADHD related issues. You may wanna explore more in this area.

My boy also hyper. I googled osteopathy after u mentioned but seems like it's more for bone related issues?

[Maple leaf]

I share my experience here as I hope parents who has kids who have just diagnosed not to be too worried. It is not easy to parent them but be positive. Don’t panic. They are special. Try to explore their other talents , be it sports,music,art or any other, and groom. Look at what they are good at, you will feel better. Nurture their hidden talents or interest.[/quote]


Maple Leaf

Good to hear that your kid is progressing reasonably and your advice.

While I do not have any ASD kids, but I did encounter some and I would say that their behaviour or response varies from individual to individual, perhaps depending on which part of the spectrum their are classified in. Therefore, I believe that it is always good to consider possible intervention which will help the kids to become more independent.

Another point to note is that some kids may not be exposed to professional intervention and yet there are all these improvement over time. We should not forget that sometimes it’s because we are doing similar things dispense by the pro. It’s just like many claim that their kids donch have tuition but actually the amount of inhouse coaching, the amount of worksheet given by parents can be even more intensive than outsourced tuition. Not saying that parents lied but rather, they just didn’t see their effort as a replacement of professional help.

Anyway, I believe you have put in tremendous effort in your ASD kid and really thankful for your encouraging words to the parents here. Every ASD is so diff and so any sharing is always helpful to parents who are trying to find ways to handle the challenges.[/quote]


Hi, Nebermind,

You are right. I forgot to mention that each ASD kids differ. I think each of the parents response is different ,too. I was shocked to hear that a parent who cried because her ASD son would not eat in public places and that is consider a sign. Also, walking tip-toe?

BTW, I think my kiddy is considered what they called 2es?

[Nebbermind]

Summer tan:

My boy also hyper. I googled osteopathy after u mentioned but seems like it's more for bone related issues?

You try to google osteopathy and adhd/autism.
Somehow they believe that when our body structure is not balanced, it will affect our behaviour. Something like if your skull is pressing against some part of the brain, you may act oddly. It seems quite probable as we have heard of people with brain/head tumour suddenly have behavioural change, sometimes turning aggressive etc.

We tried this path coz my kid was diagnosed ADHD but not the running/jumping type. His mind just float away from the surrounding and was not conforming socially. We didn't want him to be a liability or a social pest and so we would try anything to make him more 'ordinary'. Thank God he grew out of it!