All About Autism

[helplessmum3]

ImMeeMee:

My therapist mentioned before that I should teach my doter some 'lah' and 'leh' in her speech so that her speech becomes more 'real' in our context.


I suppose its a case of them not being able to appreciate the finer nuancing of language which is actually part of social interactions.

As long as she is communicative with a spoken language, never mind the slang or lack of, I am thankful. My FIL chides us quite often for not teaching her Chinese and Mandarin, and I always think to myself 'She is able to speak in one language, we should tao cheo liao ...'

ya lor ya lor... one languages already so difficult.

[Double E]

ImMeeMee:

tyeogh:

Parents,

Televsion: boon or bane? How much TV do you allow your child and do you think it contributed to their condition?

I certainly don't think it contributes to their condition.

Some age-appropriate TV is good cos it expands their vocab and knowledge, at least that applies to my doter. But too much of anything will not be healthy, and that applies to TV too, whether for NT or ASD children.

My assessment of 'too much' in not just TV, but all else, is when the child becomes so addicted that he/she keeps asking for it non-stop throughout the course of the day. That's when I will make changes to curb it.

I don't think is TV either. As compared to my friend's children, my kids watch the least TV.

My boy was developing well as a baby, he even walked at 11 mths and likes to make lots of noise like trying to talk to us. But of course, his words didn't come until he was 26 mths and he could read when he was around 2. Words like mouth, eye, ear, head.

[tyeogh]

Ok. So far 3 parents think the TV has no adverse effect on their child. Any more?


Let me re-phrase. Having been born with the condition, did the presence of the TV make it worse for your child?

My NUH doctor seems to think it does. We were advised to cut down. So my kids went from 3-8 hrs a day to 0 hrs. They went absolutely berserk. Then they adjusted. Their piano skills improved, they played more Lego, went to the playground more, quarrelled more, fought more (nothing else to do). The aspie boy had to string along.

I started out thinking Dora the Explorer helps my kids learn stuffs. Now, I hate it bec parts of me think it worsen my boy's condition. So to me, it's a bane. I was also less tired then when the tv was pertually switched on ........ :stupid:

[sharonkhoo]

tyeogh:

Let me re-phrase. Having been born with the condition, did the presence of the TV make it worse for your child?


My NUH doctor seems to think it does. We were advised to cut down. So my kids went from 3-8 hrs a day to 0 hrs. They went absolutely berserk. Then they adjusted. Their piano skills improved, they played more Lego, went to the playground more, quarrelled more, fought more (nothing else to do). The aspie boy had to string along.

I think too much TV affects all kids adversely, NT or ASD. We kept TV to a low amount because we knew that it was very passive, and we wanted our kids to be active in engaging with the environment, people and objects around them. We got them to play with toys that required actual engagement (not just pushing buttons) and I read to them and talked to them a lot. This was before we knew about ASD or that one of our kids had it, and yes, I'm sure it wouldn't have been good for her if we had let her watch a lot. Till today, my kids still watch quite little TV, and I have no regrets being so strict when they were young.

[phtthp]

Don’t let young kids watch too much tv.


There have been k1 and k2 kids wearing glasses so young -
after nurses from Singapore health promotion board go to various kindergarten & childcare centre(s), to check their eye sight.

[tyeogh]

slmkhoo,

Good parenting! I like the engaging the environment, people and objects part. You strict? Noooo. If you strict, then I am a megalomaniac. My kids have no access to TV, computers, iPads, smartphone, whatsoever. LoL. Bored? Go ride a bike or read a book.

phtthp,
Yes, eyesight is the other important consideration. Happy to report none of my kids wear specs…due in part to my megalomania. LoL

[sharonkhoo]

tyeogh:

slmkhoo,

Good parenting! I like the engaging the environment, people and objects part. You strict? Noooo. If you strict, then I am a megalomaniac. My kids have no access to TV, computers, iPads, smartphone, whatsoever. LoL. Bored? Go ride a bike or read a book.

phtthp,
Yes, eyesight is the other important consideration. Happy to report none of my kids wear specs.....due in part to my megalomania. LoL

When they were young, we were stricter. But as they grew older, around kindy age and older, we realised that they had fewer common conversation topics and common experiences when meeting other kids. This was especially important for my ASD girl. And since they were older and more able to understand and abide by rules, we decided that it was necessary to let them have some access to TV and computers (the other stuff didn't exist at the time as my kids are teens now).

Specs - my whole family wears/wore specs (husband was over 800 degrees before Lasik, I am around 400, kids are 400 and 600). We often get accused by optometrists of letting our kids watch too much TV, but when we tell them our house rules, they agree that it must be genes.

[wamin]

@slmkhoo, i just hate listening to doctor when they have nothing to blame they just blame genes.

I have 2 kids and both are on spectrum, when doctor was asking us about any of our relative or anyone in family history have issue and upon our answer no he said it is gene mutation.

I understand in US they give 5 day 1.5 hour early everyday home intervention at no cost, any one knows about it? I am paying around 800 for my two kids.

[sean wife]

slmkhoo:

tyeogh:

slmkhoo,

Good parenting! I like the engaging the environment, people and objects part. You strict? Noooo. If you strict, then I am a megalomaniac. My kids have no access to TV, computers, iPads, smartphone, whatsoever. LoL. Bored? Go ride a bike or read a book.

phtthp,
Yes, eyesight is the other important consideration. Happy to report none of my kids wear specs.....due in part to my megalomania. LoL

When they were young, we were stricter. But as they grew older, around kindy age and older, we realised that they had fewer common conversation topics and common experiences when meeting other kids. This was especially important for my ASD girl. And since they were older and more able to understand and abide by rules, we decided that it was necessary to let them have some access to TV and computers (the other stuff didn't exist at the time as my kids are teens now).

Specs - my whole family wears/wore specs (husband was over 800 degrees before Lasik, I am around 400, kids are 400 and 600). We often get accused by optometrists of letting our kids watch too much TV, but when we tell them our house rules, they agree that it must be genes.

Hi,

Sorry to intrude…I agree with the part about being accused by people around us (teachers, relatives, friends, strangers….) about letting our kids watching too much TV when they see our 6-years old wearing glasses since they were around 5 years old…Frankly speaking, it was quite hurting at first…it was almost like pointing to our negligence or ‘bo-chapness’ as parents…

Truth is they hardly watch any TV or play any IPad games since young….we purposely kept it that way…in fact since they were born, we adults also minimize much of our own TV time (TV hardly on during their waking hours…). At the point of diagnosis, their degree was already quite high….but we had never noticed that they squinted their eyes or look at things at close distance… Other than genes, we can only think of their ‘excessive’ reading as one of the possible contributing factors.

[nugget]

slmkhoo:

But as they grew older, around kindy age and older, we realised that they had fewer common conversation topics and common experiences when meeting other kids...

I feel my boy watches too much TV which worsen his condition when he was a baby (my mum just place him in front of TV and she went to do housework). Lesser chance of interaction. Everyday get stimulated by TV only. Now we seldom watch TV at home. Maybe only during Friday nights or weekends.

However what slmkhoo pointed out is true. The toys other kids are playing, the popular tv shows (Mr Maker or something, ninja turtles).. My kids are totally clueless.

Sometimes I just walk around the toy stall and see whats on sale. What other kids of the same age group are crazy about to get a sense of things. Don't want my kids to be too \"Sua ku\".