All About Autism

[Couragemom]

Hi mommies,


May I know when do you all decide to stop/reduce SLT lessons? What deciding factors? My 27 months old son is starting to have functional speech (started about 5 weeks ago). Every week, he learns new words and short 2-3 words sentences. The new sentence he learnt last week was ‘I don’t want!’, and he said it like almost 50x a day!!! I think he feels this sentence is very empowering??!!??

He is currently going to SLT 2x a week. I am thinking to reduce to 1x a week. Any advice?

[sharonkhoo]

Couragemom:

Hi mommies,


May I know when do you all decide to stop/reduce SLT lessons? What deciding factors? My 27 months old son is starting to have functional speech (started about 5 weeks ago). Every week, he learns new words and short 2-3 words sentences. The new sentence he learnt last week was 'I don't want!', and he said it like almost 50x a day!!! I think he feels this sentence is very empowering??!!??

He is currently going to SLT 2x a week. I am thinking to reduce to 1x a week. Any advice?

Keeping up the practice and encouragement at home is probably more important than SLT. (Disclaimer - I am speaking as someone who didn't send my daughter to any therapies at all.)

[ImMeeMee]

belachanbabe:

His penmanship still needs a lot of work. You would think that this day and age of computers and tablets that this skill is a throwaway. However, since most assessments and work are still handwritten, they need to be legible and fast too. Don’t want them to be marked down coz the handwriting annoys the reader. Teacher also pointed out that without good handwriting, the kid will lose confidence and motivation in his work especially compared to his peers. No wonder my other boy in PL has penmanship classes in his foundation year. It is really that important ah, dun play play.

belachanbabe, agree with the penmenship. I view penmenship as a functional skill to be able to communicate what one knows to the reader or the audience. Spacing and staying on line are therefore important aspects to make sure that the reader is able to understand what one is writing.

I am not sure what is the scope of penmenship, but I do consider drawing lines with a ruler as one of the required skills as well. I have always taken this for granted cos it seemed to come naturally to my two NT gals, but with my ASD doter, I had to spend efforts to teach her how to draw lines with a rule.

Until such time when we progress to an era where young children no longer have to write but everything goes by typing, then maybe penmenship might take a back seat. But as it is now, it is here to stay for a while.

[ImMeeMee]

Couragemom:

Hi mommies,


May I know when do you all decide to stop/reduce SLT lessons? What deciding factors? My 27 months old son is starting to have functional speech (started about 5 weeks ago). Every week, he learns new words and short 2-3 words sentences. The new sentence he learnt last week was 'I don't want!', and he said it like almost 50x a day!!! I think he feels this sentence is very empowering??!!??

He is currently going to SLT 2x a week. I am thinking to reduce to 1x a week. Any advice?

Couragemom

Good to hear that your child is starting to have functional speech. As to whether to keep to once or twice, there may not be a magic formula. I think the progress of the child and how the child is coping may be some deciding factors. The frequency should be optimal enough for the child to learn things on a continual basis, but there must be sufficient space so that you could practise things at home.

For me, we have always spaced out our therapy the most once a week, and based on experience, I personally find that this is quite a good pace. In fact, if there are OT and SLT together, there were times where I find that it may get quite packed.

Hope it gives you some bearing. Sorry cannot answer your question.

[Wassant]

Hi mummies need some suggestions from u all…I had a friend who recommend me amway supplements as she felt that it’s helping her son to talk n now even more words in a sentence to me…but today check with kkh PD she told me no scientific known results but ask me to offer fish oil to my boy…

[Wassant]

oh yes today after my 2nd appointment at kkh,the nurse handed me a list of private schools that accept special needs kids n ask me to place my boy in it....should I do as what she says or after some time in eipic ,got progress then place him in pre-school?advice needed thanks mummies!!on a side note,those private schools are ex....dunno able to afford or not

[mashy]

Wassant:

Hi mummies need some suggestions from u all....I had a friend who recommend me amway supplements as she felt that it's helping her son to talk n now even more words in a sentence to me....but today check with kkh PD she told me no scientific known results but ask me to offer fish oil to my boy......

I gave fish oil for my boy since the time he was a young toddler. Don't think it has direct effects on autism but probably more for brain development.

[mashy]

Wassant:

oh yes today after my 2nd appointment at kkh,the nurse handed me a list of private schools that accept special needs kids n ask me to place my boy in it....should I do as what she says or after some time in eipic ,got progress then place him in pre-school?advice needed thanks mummies!!on a side note,those private schools are ex....dunno able to afford or not

I think enrolling him in a school as well as epic is good for him. Anyway, not so easy to get into one too. There's a waiting list. So it's good to check up on them now and start placement. U may need to wait for a while to get in. And even if the time should come sooner, it is beneficial for him to start earlier. No need to wait until he is totally ready coz he will also need time to adjust there.

[Couragemom]

Hi Wassant,


If I didn’t remember wrongly, you said your son’s psychologist assessment is next week right?

Whether to go to a private pre-school anot depends on the eipic centre that you have in mind. Some eipic offers daily programs, some 3x weekly, some 2X weekly. You need to see if you can juggle everything together I.e. Normal pre-school and eipic. Why don’t you call the pre-schools up and ask about vacancies 1st? Sometimes you need to be on wait list also.

As for supplements, I also give fish oil to both my kids since young. My personal opinion as to whether giving health supplements to a child can improve speech anot, my answer is - I am not convinced. If a child has an obvious speech delay issue, specific targeted intervention like speech therapy is needed rather than a general vitamin. Well-meaning friends used to tell me to let my son spends more time with his sister and he will pick up speech, but the speech therapist says this scenario only applies to a child with no obvious speech delay. If a child has some oral motor weakness or other neuro issues, surrounding him/her with many verbal children also doesn’t help his speech.

[Couragemom]

Hi Wassant,


If I didn’t remember wrongly, you said your son’s psychologist assessment is next week right?

Whether to go to a private pre-school anot depends on the eipic centre that you have in mind. Some eipic offers daily programs, some 3x weekly, some 2X weekly. You need to see if you can juggle everything together I.e. Normal pre-school and eipic. Why don’t you call the pre-schools up and ask about vacancies 1st? Sometimes you need to be on wait list also.

As for supplements, I also give fish oil to both my kids since young. My personal opinion as to whether giving health supplements to a child can improve speech anot, my answer is - I am not convinced. If a child has an obvious speech delay issue, specific targeted intervention like speech therapy is needed rather than a general vitamin. Well-meaning friends used to tell me to let my son spends more time with his sister and he will pick up speech, but the speech therapist says this scenario only applies to a child with no obvious speech delay. If a child has some oral motor weakness or other neuro issues, surrounding him/her with many verbal children also doesn’t help his speech.