All About Autism

[Wassant]

slmkhoo:

Wassant:

My friend ask me to hold first wait for formal assessment then start all forms of therapy....private therapy are very ex....$150 per hr btw one week need go how many times?dont know can afford or not?

You can do some stuff yourself at home while waiting. There is a lot of info online and in books, and you can target your child's specific weaknesses without a diagnosis. Just work on one or 2 things at a time, whatever you feel is a priority at that moment. Professional therapists can only see your child once a week or whatever you pay for, but you can help your child daily or whenever that issue crops up. My daughter, now 16yo, has Asperger's, but we didn't take her for diagnosis until she was 14yo (for various reasons). We addressed her issues ourselves with what we learned through reading up. Her social skills are still rather weak, and she has some other learning issues, but she has coped with mainstream school and will be starting Pre-U soon.

Bravo!!!!Well done!! :celebrate:

[Wassant]

ImMeeMee:

Wassant:

My friend ask me to hold first wait for formal assessment then start all forms of therapy....private therapy are very ex....$150 per hr btw one week need go how many times?dont know can afford or not?

Wassant, I have come across parents who send their children for therapy every day. It is a personal choice and there is no hard and fast rule. At the beginning we did it once a week for SLT and OT each, and trust me, with the amount of homework and practice required, it was already hard to catch up. You also need to allow sufficient time for you and your child to practice what the therapists have taught, and yes, finance figures greatly here too.

Notwithstanding the diagnosis, if you are already certain that your child has some deficit areas in speech, personally I find no reason to wait. The best window for early intervention is when the child is around 3-6 years old, and early intervention is evidence-based to help the children improve in deficit areas such as speech. Bearing in mind that you have to provide for some time to see if your child takes to the therapist, and if for whatever reasons the child does not, then find another therapist. All these will take time.

greatly, and I sincerely hope it does yours too.

homework n practice?can brief me more on these?....are u doing private therapy as well as eipic ones?

[sharonkhoo]

Wassant:

homework n practice?can brief me more on these?....are u doing private therapy as well as eipic ones?

I haven't done these therapies, but I would guess that the therapists will ask parents to work with the child at home between sessions. From my experience, the exercises or remediation need to be done frequently, and especially when the issue in question crops up. A weekly therapy session alone cannot do all that much for the child.

[sharonkhoo]

Wassant:

slmkhoo:

[quote=\"Wassant\"]My friend ask me to hold first wait for formal assessment then start all forms of therapy....private therapy are very ex....$150 per hr btw one week need go how many times?dont know can afford or not?

You can do some stuff yourself at home while waiting. There is a lot of info online and in books, and you can target your child's specific weaknesses without a diagnosis. Just work on one or 2 things at a time, whatever you feel is a priority at that moment. Professional therapists can only see your child once a week or whatever you pay for, but you can help your child daily or whenever that issue crops up. My daughter, now 16yo, has Asperger's, but we didn't take her for diagnosis until she was 14yo (for various reasons). We addressed her issues ourselves with what we learned through reading up. Her social skills are still rather weak, and she has some other learning issues, but she has coped with mainstream school and will be starting Pre-U soon.

Bravo!!!!Well done!! :celebrate:[/quote]Thanks! It's been tough at times, and there is still a long way to go before we think she will be independent enough. We just received notification of her school placement and it's such a relief! We think she will really benefit from a larger school setting (she has been homeschooled for the past 6 mths, and was in a very small school before that).

[Couragemom]

Hi Simkhoo,


I have read thru the previous 500+ pages and I must say your postings gave me a lot of comfort, especially about the balancing of guilt in how much we can do for our child. Initially I was like ‘woah, I need to do this this this etc’ to make my son better, then after that I neglected my daughter with all the ferrying around of my son’s therapy sessions and then I got burnt out from all the worrying and the physical stress of rushing here and there.

Do you know the 1st person he can call spontaneously is ‘auntie (my maid)’? I was super sad for a week although still glad he has more spontaneous speech. I think in my 2 yrs old son’s eyes, his mother is not a nice person, as she kept bringing him to exercise (OT) and forcing him to make sounds (ST session and homework done at home). Auntie is the one who plays with him and don’t pressurize him.

Although my son’s speech ability has improved tremendously in the past 4 months, I think it is at a cost. I must learn how to step back and take things abit easier.

[woggles]

Today DS is attending P1... excited/anxious/worried/all emotions rolled up inside me. In front of DS trying to act cool but ended up sleeping little last night! hahaha... We've only started the journey so to speak since his first diagnosis at 2 years old, and starting primary education is but the start of a marathon. To be honest, DH & I have despaired so often and agonized over our choices and actions concerning son...


DS is likely to stand out a bit cos he's one year older than his classmates. Luckily he's not the tallest kid! We've tried our best to bolster his confidence and competency in his strengths, while explaining as best as we can in simple terms him being unique and different.

To all parents here, continue to jiayou! This thread has provided me with loads of info, encouragement & advice :thankyou:
Here's to a happy, smooth first day of school to the kids :rahrah:

[ImMeeMee]

Wassant:

homework n practice?can brief me more on these?....are u doing private therapy as well as eipic ones?

wassant, my doter was diagnosed about 3 plus years ago. At that time, we visited a private developmental pediatrician who gave her preliminary diagnosis but referred us to a psychologist to confirm. After seeing the pediatrician, we signed up for private SLT and OT weekly sessions while we awaited our appointment with the psychologist.

Upon confirmation of diagnosis with the psychologist, she referred us to EIPIC. We placed ourselves in the queue for the EIPIC center that we wanted, and we were lucky to be able to secure a place after a couple of months' wait. All this while private SLT and OT sessions were ongoing. After a few more months I dropped the OT but continued with weekly SLT even while my doter was in EIPIC. Along the way we added private literacy and handwriting sessions for her.

Then somewhere along the line we converted to KKH SLT and OT and eventually we stopped all private therapy. The sessions at KKH are about once every 3-4 weeks instead of once weekly, but now that my doter is more stable, we think the frequency is quite alright.

The therapist will usually go through some activities with the child during therapy, and will then tell the parents on what activities to do at home. Eg. when the therapist was trying to get my doter to kick start her speech by saying single words, she used her favorite food as positive reinforcement after every word my doter spoke. The strategy was to encourage the child to speak, and eventually the reinforcement would be faded off. After the activity with the therapist, we went home and practiced with our doter using the same method, and this has to be done daily - this is the so-called home practice.

Another example for OT was where the therapist recommended that we played dough with her to build up her fine motor skills. This then had to be practiced at home periodically so that she could build up her finger muscles which will eventually be important for writing or holding.

Hope this gives you a clearer picture. I agree with the other parents that the situation of each child is different and we all do different things depending on the situation of our child and ourselves. I hope my sharing can give you a reference for you own decision making.

All the best!

[ImMeeMee]

slmkhoo:

Thanks! It's been tough at times, and there is still a long way to go before we think she will be independent enough. We just received notification of her school placement and it's such a relief! We think she will really benefit from a larger school setting (she has been homeschooled for the past 6 mths, and was in a very small school before that).

slmkhoo, congrats!

Just out of curiosity, what would you mean by Pre-U in this case?

[Double E]

woggles:

Today DS is attending P1... excited/anxious/worried/all emotions rolled up inside me. In front of DS trying to act cool but ended up sleeping little last night! hahaha... We've only started the journey so to speak since his first diagnosis at 2 years old, and starting primary education is but the start of a marathon. To be honest, DH & I have despaired so often and agonized over our choices and actions concerning son...


DS is likely to stand out a bit cos he's one year older than his classmates. Luckily he's not the tallest kid! We've tried our best to bolster his confidence and competency in his strengths, while explaining as best as we can in simple terms him being unique and different.

To all parents here, continue to jiayou! This thread has provided me with loads of info, encouragement & advice :thankyou:
Here's to a happy, smooth first day of school to the kids :rahrah:

U must be very anxious! Is your boy in a mainstream school?Since today is his first day, did the school arrange for any allied teachers to guide him?

My boy also going to K1 today and I am so worried that he will walk around in class or day dream. Took a quick look at him and so far ok. Hope I don't hear complaints from his teachers when I send him to school tomorrow.

[Couragemom]

Hi Woggles,


You deserve a pat on the back for all the hard work done in the past 5 years. I really hope your darling can settle down quickly in pri school.