All About Autism

[tyeogh]

Hi Couragemom,

Advice? No lah. I green belt nia. Many other gurus here. LoL

I do think Double E should have number 3!! (read till there only…)

[Couragemom]

Hi Mashy and Slmkhoo,


Actually it is the Principal who has a lot of feedback to share with me about my son. Both the Chinese and English teacher are pretty ok with his behavior. Haiz… As I am planning to move to a new school soon, I won’t pick a ‘fight’ with the Principal as she is considered my son’s en1 ren2. Just that at this point of time when I am feeling nervous and vulnerable towards my son’s adaptability towards his new school, bad news like not coping in Chinese enrichment class and his "naughty" behavior in school made me feel sad and down.

Thanks for your positive words!

Btw, I finally understand why my son seem to be able to cope better initially at berries Chinese class! At first I thought it was due to the fact there were 4-5 teachers to help out during the settling down stage. Today I queried my son’s school principal and I realized that actually the chinese teacher had taught my son some Chinese words and he recognized them in berries! So during those lessons where he knew the word, he could follow!!! Then recently the 2 lessons, the new words are not taught in school before and he was lost! Finally the mystery unraveled! Hah!

[mashy]

Couragemom:

Hi Mashy and Slmkhoo,


Actually it is the Principal who has a lot of feedback to share with me about my son. Both the Chinese and English teacher are pretty ok with his behavior. Haiz... As I am planning to move to a new school soon, I won't pick a 'fight' with the Principal as she is considered my son's en1 ren2. Just that at this point of time when I am feeling nervous and vulnerable towards my son's adaptability towards his new school, bad news like not coping in Chinese enrichment class and his \"naughty\" behavior in school made me feel sad and down.

Thanks for your positive words!

Btw, I finally understand why my son seem to be able to cope better initially at berries Chinese class! At first I thought it was due to the fact there were 4-5 teachers to help out during the settling down stage. Today I queried my son's school principal and I realized that actually the chinese teacher had taught my son some Chinese words and he recognized them in berries! So during those lessons where he knew the word, he could follow!!!! Then recently the 2 lessons, the new words are not taught in school before and he was lost! Finally the mystery unraveled! Hah!

Sigh. Those behaviour aren't naughty at all.

Ah, mystery solved. So he is adopting a 'run away' attitude if he doesn't understand, or learning something new? How's his approach when learning other new stuff?

[mashy]

Couragemom:

Hi mommies,


Like to ask you all. My son loves circle time in his school as he loves counting, alphabets, sorting and matching. Whenever teacher asks the children to perform tasks (eg sort the eggs according to their colours or point which is the red car etc), he is always the 1st one to go! Principal said in her years of service, this is the first time she sees such an enthusiastic learner!

The good comment aside, I would like to ask if this impulsive behavior (always want to be the first one to do it! Now he knows the social expectation that he must take a turn but if too excited, may still need teacher to physically prompt him to sit down so that his friends can take a turn), is it an OT issue or an Sped/ eipic learning issue? Any similar experience to share?

Regarding taking turns, we do it with OT. Started off OT and ST as a combined social group, after that we moved to social skills with OT and speech, compo with ST. We ever did social skills with ST before too, so I guess it's not very clear cut. Now, his OT will try to arrange the session with another kid his age and they will play games together, introducing themselves, saying hello, practising turn taking and cooperation skills. He's getting very good at it already after so many sessions with different boys. Now when he goes to playgrounds, he will introduce himself and ask for the other boy's name. Then they will play together and at the end of it, he will go and way bye. If his sis is around, he will also introduce his sister to them. seriously, you will have no idea this is the same boy who didn't talk to any kids and don't recognize his classmates just a few years back.

I love KKH rehab. Hehehe. With their big number of kids coming in, that's why I think they can arrange such pairing sessions together.

Now the therapists are so satified with his progress, they are thinking how else they can help. He used to hand in a 2 sentence composition to the teacher for his test! Now he can write 3 pages long. Dunno if it's his form teacher's credit or the ST. But oh well. Guess they did manage to teach him some techniques. I just pushed the comprehension headache over to them coz he kept failing them. Hopefully will see some results by end of this year.

[Couragemom]

Hi Mashy,


I am not sure. I suspect it is berries teaching method. The teachers are very loud (in your face type) and hands-on and expect you to repeat the words after them a few times throughout the class. With my son’s poor articulation and poor understanding of Chinese, I think 1.5 hrs of such level is too much for him. His Chinese circle time is only 30mins every day and he sits through without an issue.

I think I was too optimistic about my son’s improvement in school and ‘projected’ hope he can do well in enrichment class as well.

[mashy]

Couragemom:

Hi Mashy,


I am not sure. I suspect it is berries teaching method. The teachers are very loud (in your face type) and hands-on and expect you to repeat the words after them a few times throughout the class. With my son's poor articulation and poor understanding of Chinese, I think 1.5 hrs of such level is too much for him. His Chinese circle time is only 30mins every day and he sits through without an issue.

I think I was too optimistic about my son's improvement in school and 'projected' hope he can do well in enrichment class as well.

Well, he's still so young. When my son was in berries nursery till k2, and there were feedback about him walking around etc, I basically just went orh ok. Hahaha. Think the teachers must be so frustrated with me. They also said he couldn't understand them. I doubt my son ever repeated those words after them in class. Take it slowly. Or if not, let him go for at least half a year and see if he makes any improvement. Sometimes they needed the familiarity of the routine and teachers before they will start improving.

[Couragemom]

Hi Mashy,


Actually I think you are right! The familiarity of the routine and the teachers does help! I guess that is why my son can learn Chinese in his current school.

Now that I know that my son actually do know some simple Chinese words in school, I will put this issue aside and focus on his changing school issue 1st. Actually with these recent episodes, my faith is very much shaken and I am not sure if he can make the transition smoothly. The principal will put him on trial so there is a chance he might be kicked out!

[Couragemom]

Hi Mashy,


So does your son actually learn any Chinese words while he was in berries? You know sometimes our kids may be moving around but they do listen!

[mashy]

Couragemom:

Hi Mashy,


So does your son actually learn any Chinese words while he was in berries? You know sometimes our kids may be moving around but they do listen!

Yes. He did pretty well for his P1 and P2 Chinese actually. He is still slower than others in Chinese but it is definitely better with the help of berries.

[Couragemom]

Hi Mashy,


Wah, that is good!!!