All About Autism

[nugget]

botakgundul,


Was it difficult to transfer into Pathlight?

My son was recommended pathlight as well but we decided to go for mainstream instead. But we are prepared to let son into pathlight if he is really unable to cope.

Thanks for all the pointers. I will discuss all these with AED when I see her during orientation.

If you don’t mind, can you share with me what kind of support will AED provided the ASD child during class? Will they help to draw up schedule? Assign a student to be the prompter? What other info/things do I need to ready myself to make this successful?

[tyeogh]

botakgundul:

Autistic children are good in art & computer science.

Mine is only good at ironman toys. Demands it from me every time I return home. \"Un Man toy!!\"

Yesterday, he said his longest sentence. \"Dar dee, where Un Man toy for xxx?!!\"

Potential Ironman Consultant.....

[belachanbabe]

botakgundul


Thanks so much for the insights in coping with primary school. You must have gone through a lot of agonising with your eventual decision to transfer your boy to PL. But you seem to have made the right decision.
Am in the same situation as nugget, what types of support are AED officers expected to or are able to provide given that they have to take care of so many students?

My boy’s school has 2 AEDs but that’s because there’s 330 students per level. That’s 1,980 students. Say there are 10% students that require more help: not only autistic but ADHD, dyslexia etc. still 99 to take care per AED teacher. Most schools have 1 AED but the ratio should be the same.

Practically, am not expecting any other help than to monitor my kid’s progress in the school with feedback from his teachers. Yeah, low expectations.

[belachanbabe]

tyeogh:

botakgundul:

Autistic children are good in art & computer science.

Mine is only good at ironman toys. Demands it from me every time I return home. \"Un Man toy!!\"

Yesterday, he said his longest sentence. \"Dar dee, where Un Man toy for xxx?!!\"

Potential Ironman Consultant.....

Such a cutie!

[helplessmum3]

tyeogh:

botakgundul:

Autistic children are good in art & computer science.

Mine is only good at ironman toys. Demands it from me every time I return home. \"Un Man toy!!\"

Yesterday, he said his longest sentence. \"Dar dee, where Un Man toy for xxx?!!\"

Potential Ironman Consultant.....

so cute, how old is your kid? the toy is keep by u?

[tyeogh]

helplessmum3:

so cute, how old is your kid? the toy is keep by u?

3.9 yo. Toy kept by Toys R Us. He saw it 1 month ago. I didn't buy it bec it's $40. He's been nagging since...

[tyeogh]

I am considering a pet to aid my DS connect socially. Perhaps he can relate to animals as a baby step. Read some articles on how pets help autistic children. Medically unsubstantiated though, as far as I know. Any one with any experience in this area?


Ps: no, I am not getting a pet bec of him only. My other kids want one too. I am prepared to "goalkeeper" the pet if my kids lose interest. Considering a netherland dwarf rabbit.

[Double E]

tyeogh:

I am considering a pet to aid my DS connect socially. Perhaps he can relate to animals as a baby step. Read some articles on how pets help autistic children. Medically unsubstantiated though, as far as I know. Any one with any experience in this area?


Ps: no, I am not getting a pet bec of him only. My other kids want one too. I am prepared to \"goalkeeper\" the pet if my kids lose interest. Considering a netherland dwarf rabbit.

I did thought of having a dog to help my boy too but I am no pet lover and my younger gal is petrified of animals, so I shelved the idea.

Your boy is so cute. My boy is train and train. And now that he can recognise the logos of all car brands, he will name them whenever we are on the road. He can do that through out the trip: \"Look mummy, is a Mini-cooper\", \"Look mummy, is a toyota\", \"Look mummy, is a Mercedes\", \"Look mummy, is a Honda\". \" Look mummy, is a Nissan\", and the list goes on and on and on. To be frank, sometimes I will ask him to keep quiet, cannot talk while daddy is driving because it can get really distracting.

[Double E]

botakgundul:

Double E:

Botakgundul
Are u willing to share with us why you decided to move your boy to Pathlight next year? Did he have a lot of difficulties in mainstream that's why u decided to make the switch? Your feedback will help some parents here like me to decide what we should do when is time for us to make that impt decision.

My boy is also mildly autistic, we always thought he could probably survive in mainstream since he is mild until I hear how good Pathlight is and am thinking if my insistence to put him in mainstream will do him any good. Or is it because I still could not accept the fact that he will eventually go to a special school, that's why I want to him to try it out at mainstream.

Hope to hear from you. Thanks

His difficulties are short attention span and social skills. He has behaviour issue where he needs more support in comparison with normal children. If he doesn't like the subject, he would play with his stationary or draw something on the paper. The mainstream teacher cannot provide sufficient support and guidance to my son due to the number of pupils that the teacher has to attend.

For P1/P2, there are 30 pupils in the class. However for P3 onwards, it becomes 40 pupils in the class. On the contrary, the class in Pathlight caters only 12 pupils with 2 teachers. This is our main consideration why we move our son to Pathlight.

My son ST (Speech Therapy) is very happy with our decision. She told me that all her Pathlight students are happier and they could experience leadership unlike mainstream school.

I also have a friend with mild autistic kid. He is in P4 mainstream school now and he copes very well.

If you intend to enroll your son into the mainstream school, please inform the school about your son condition so they could do proper arrangement such as getting AED (Allied Educator) teacher for your son and putting your son to the form teacher that is experience with learning disabilites children.

For my case, there are 2 mild autistic children in my son class and his P1 form teacher is a senior teacher. She's very experienced with learning disabilities children and she's very good. However, my son P2 form teacher is replaced with a younger teacher.

In my opinion, it's not harm to enroll your son into the mainstream school. However, please ensure that the school has sufficient AED teachers so they could support lower primary students. This is very important!

For my case, there is only 1 AED teacher when my son was in P1 so he could only get support when he is in P2.

You may take note in order to get AED teacher support in mainstream school, you require to produce psychologist report.

Hope my explanation above helps. Good luck!

Thanks very much for your sharing. Is really useful.
For your friend's son who is also mildly autistic but yet coping well in P4, was it due to the good support by AED in school or is just his ability?
And I have the same question as nugget, how easy or difficult is it for you to transfer to Pathlight mid way? And how long did you wait for the transfer to be approved? Do you have to send your boy for assessment at Pathlight? I am thinking, can the transfer be done during mid-term or must he complete a year in main-stream before he can transfer? Also, your boy will go to P3 in Pathlight next year or he has to start all over from P1?

Sorry for the many questions.

thanks

[tyeogh]

sitting around waiting for botakgundul reply too