All About Autism

[helplessmum3]

Lower primary still ok once upper primary will be struggle

[helplessmum3]

Johnmom, even my fren also did not notice any thing wrong with her 4th kid…who diagnosed at asd at the age of 5…


Does yr son answer open question ? Like what he is doing ?

Can he request things from u? Does he point ?

did OT mentioned any sensory issue ?

[johmom]

helplessmum3:

Johnmom, even my fren also did not notice any thing wrong with her 4th kid...who diagnosed at asd at the age of 5..


Does yr son answer open question ? Like what he is doing ?

Can he request things from u? Does he point ?

did OT mentioned any sensory issue ?

He's sensitive but doesn't isn't at the level of having a sensory disorder.

Yes, he talks a lot. His problem is not knowing how to read the mood of the situation or ppl. And he talks without care or stopping.

I think to the \"untrained eye\" my child would just be seen as \"rude\" (sometimes), a little \"hyper\", easily distraction, can be in his own world, inflexible (presents itself as being spoilt) and he's just very literal.

Besides Chinese, I think academically he'll be okay. We've told him that all we want from him for going to primary school is to learn mandarin, make friends and listen to the teachers.

[helplessmum3]

I feel that our HFA are all teachable !!

All u need is $$$$ to input maximum numbers hours of therapist , coaching n teaching, and guiding....

N they learn best n faster with parents together w peers , sad to say we parents need to work .


Money n time !!

Hiaz .. How I wish I strike 1millions n be a full time mom n accompany son to all therapist ..

[ImMeeMee]

johmom:

Hi again!


Maybe I should give a brief background...

My child (DS) has been with me since day 1. I'm a SAHM. Since he's my first child, everything he did is \"normal\" - maybe a little more sensitive than others but generally normal.

He started school at age 4 and that was the first time when I heard anything about my child being different. Every single day, his school teachers would complain to me about him and told me that if he didn't change, he'd be ostracized. I kind of just figured it's the teachers who don't know how to engage him. (Mainly because I put him in a Chinese kindergarten and his teachers were mostly from mainland China...and we don't speak mandarin at home. I just thought it was a language thing. :))

At the end of term 3 when there was a parent-teacher meeting, his teacher was then a local teacher (he had new teachers every two months!) she told me that DS is a special child but she's trying to work with him.

Since she started teaching in the school, she noticed that every day, when he got to the classroom, he would just go straight to his corner and sit there to play, refusing to join the group. However, he would know what's going on in class and can answer all the questions and do the worksheets. She checked and found out that he had been like that since day one.

All I knew was by the third week of term 3, he could finally stand still at assembly and sing the goodbye song with the rest of the kids. Before that it was always a struggle...

Anyways, we just chalked it up to getting the right teacher and continued to let things go along as it was...except that we finally changed kindergarten when the principal of his first kindergarten also left!

Oct last year, a pd had the opportunity to be with him, in a group environment, during Bible class. She was just volunteering as a helper that one time. At the end of the class, she called me out and spoke to me. She told me that she thinks my child has Aspergers (that he's special and all that...) and strongly recommended that I get him diagnosed so that I can help him (that he can go for therapy and I can learn how to help him).

Since she recommended the polyclinic route (and not pte), I decided to take her a little more seriously. So we got a referral from the polyclinic and had an appt to see a Dr at KKH CDU in January this year. After the 2 hour session, she recommended that we look into Pathlight. I was shell shock cos I had thought that it was just an initial consult and she was not doing any assessment...she did order some assessments to be done for DS.

He was assessed by the speech and language therapist and was also assessed for autism (and IQ) by the psychologist. He was also assessed by a physiotherapist (that was my request a few months later).

The diagnosis (high functioning ASD) was only made in July this year and it was only yesterday (literally) when we had our follow up consult with the Dr at KKH. It was too late to register for Pathlight but we had already decided to put him in mainstream anyway...to try it out. It was nice that the psychologist (who interviewed his current school principal) recommended that he go for mainstream P1 as well...

Meanwhile, he had had a few SLT sessions and a few sessions with the psychologists. He also saw the OT once. His therapy was more like once with each person and that's about it. Not much. And it stopped completely in August because I was due to give birth.

Sometime July/August, the various therapists mentioned/offered the social skills class and I told them \"sure, we're interested\" (cos it was in preparation for kids going to mainstream P1).

So, yesterday, he went for his first social skills class where they learnt to greet each other, carry on a conversation (most couldn't do it, mine included) and say goodbye.

I've been observing him in his Sunday School and yes, he's a little different. In the social skills class, the six kids seem quite similar. They are all rather communicative but all have a tendency to go off on their different tangents. They all want to participate but sometimes do it the wrong way, or don't know the social rules and need to be taught...

I guess it's good for them that such \"hidden curriculum\" is made plain to them (and even for me as a parent) because I feel that it can sometimes be overwhelming to have to teach him every single social cue/rule that other children can get intuitively.

Not so brief afterall...

johmom

thanks for sharing. I have always been intrigued by how different each of our paths are in arriving. My doter is 6 yo too. She was diagnosed at 3yo and was considered moderate to severe then cos she was non verbal. Our path was quite carefully treaded since then and she will be enrolling into PL next year.

One thing for sure, our kids have improved along the years, if you compare how they were and how they are now. Things can only get better ... :celebrate:

[ImMeeMee]

helplessmum3:

I feel that our HFA are all teachable !!

All u need is $$$$ to input maximum numbers hours of therapist , coaching n teaching, and guiding....

N they learn best n faster with parents together w peers , sad to say we parents need to work .


Money n time !!

Hiaz .. How I wish I strike 1millions n be a full time mom n accompany son to all therapist ..

helplessmum

If I may, when you strike 1m and become a SAHM and can accompany your son for all therapy programs, you may eventually still find that its not sufficient ...

Rather than looking at the glass half empty, try looking at it being half full. You may find that you will feel happier this way.

JMHO.

[johmom]

helplessmum3:

I feel that our HFA are all teachable !!

All u need is $$$$ to input maximum numbers hours of therapist , coaching n teaching, and guiding....

N they learn best n faster with parents together w peers , sad to say we parents need to work .


Money n time !!

Hiaz .. How I wish I strike 1millions n be a full time mom n accompany son to all therapist ..

I'll be honest with you, I don't spend very much on therapy...it's all subsidized...I know compared to others, getting assessed was considered \"cheap\" also cos we went the public route.

I was rather \"traumatized\" during his first month at Nursery (4yo) when his teachers would tell me daily that my child will be ostracized, I actually put him on the wait list of some \"famous\" pte person (don't remember her name) - in January. The wait list was like 9 months long...when they finally called us in December to say they were ready to schedule us in January the following yr, I asked for the cost. It was going to be $4-5K and I finally said \"no\". Took the money and we went to Tokyo for 8 night. And we left it as that until a yr later when we were asked to go the public route.

Also, I don't think I would've spent any less time with him (I'm a SAHM) doing stuff. We never did anything academic (not my priority) but just enjoyed random learning and going out. I hope he'll have a love for learning and a passion for a few subjects, that's all. Best is if he can spend his life doing what he loves...

Therapy takes up time which I would've spent with him on something else. But I see that it's helpful, so we just do it. I actually learn something in the process as well...guess maybe I'm not so good with the \"hidden curriculum\" too.

True, people who don't know how to handle him find it hard to teach him. But on the upside, when a person knows how to handle him, they find him a \"joy to teach\" (his current kindy teacher's words). I think he's easy to teach...when he's paying attention. haha

There's an innocence about him that I enjoy too...and he makes me feel VERY special because he loves me so. He can adhere to rules (but he can get dogmatic about it) so life could be very easy when applied thoughtfully. hehehe

[belachanbabe]

Don’t believe in overloading them with too many therapy programs either. Other than private EIPIC kindergarten and maths tuition, my kids don’t attend any extra social/OT/ST classes and don’t think am a bad parent for doing so. Am always on the lookout for interesting activities for them to do but those are more on the creative/fun side not specific to ASD therapy.


Money good to have of course but as ImMeeMee said: it really isn’t everything. Time spend with your kids, even as simple as snuggling with them as they drift off to sleep are the priceless moments to cherish. :snuggles:

[johmom]

belachanbabe:

Don’t believe in overloading them with too many therapy programs either. Other than private EIPIC kindergarten and maths tuition, my kids don’t attend any extra social/OT/ST classes and don’t think am a bad parent for doing so. Am always on the lookout for interesting activities for them to do but those are more on the creative/fun side not specific to ASD therapy.

I agree. Think my K2 kid is the most free among his peers and that's including his social skills class (that's the only thing he has now in terms of \"therapy\"). The rest of the time it's free play.

[belachanbabe]

Reading the past posts, realize we sometimes get so caught up with helping our kids that we neglect our own mental wellbeing. It’s definitely an emotional rollercoaster from the time of diagnosis and yes we get traumatized and incensed time and again by people’s careless words and actions. Unfortunately, this is the world we have to live and function in and thus easy to wallow in the pessimism of the situation and kids’ future.


Do remember to take time off to rejuvenate and recharge, we aren’t energizer bunnies that can go on and on. :celebrate: