All About Autism

[belachanbabe]

Nugget, glad to hear your son is settling down well. Jan was crazy for me too with all the logistical/routine changes and meltdown management. Thankfully the episodes have since lessened as time passes. The support from school is more than we were expected (i.e. he sits up front in class) with his form teacher already special needs trained and attentive towards him. Overall he does look forward to school and even has a pal to go recess with.


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.

Academically it has been slow going which could be partially attributed to his penmanship. He has to practice writing everyday on top of the homework so he gets cranky in the evenings. Unfortunately he flunked his first 听写, think I was more upset than him though hopefully it taught him to pull his socks up from now on.

Phtthp, my son’s school also calls them remedial lessons even though pri1/2 not supposed to have counted assessments. Anyway potato-potahto to me, more important that the school gives extra support to his weaker subjects as he doesn’t have any outside enrichment classes at the moment. This was advised by the AED officer not to overload him for the first half of year.

[Double E]

Nugget and Mashy

So glad to hear that your boys are doing well in Primary school.

My boy also seems to have opened up a bit socially. During CNY, he actually enjoyed playing with other kids and will look for them to play. Although they are mainly catching and some silly games and there’s hardly any conversation going on, I am still very glad to see this improvement in him. At least he doesn’t just indulge in parallel play or keep playing with his trains and ignore other children. I hope this is off for a good start and perhaps very soon, he will be able to have simple conversation with other kids.

[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.