All About Autism

[MummyOats]

Actually my son can button the shirt if is placed infront of him, the difficulty is when he is wearing it.

Double E

Maybe try letting him stand in front of a full length mirror while he is buttoning? So that he can see the button as he practise?

[sharonkhoo]

MummyOats:

Double E:

Actually my son can button the shirt if is placed infront of him, the difficulty is when he is wearing it.

Double E

Maybe try letting him stand in front of a full length mirror while he is buttoning? So that he can see the button as he practise?

I found that that confused my daughter even more, for some reason. And it didn't help her do the eventual task. Now I recall I did an intermediate step - hold the shirt on a hanger in front of her so she could practise doing the buttons in the same direction they would be if she were wearing the shirt. That way, it's slightly further away so she could see better, but the same orientation.

[Double E]

slmkhoo:

MummyOats:

[quote=\"Double E\"]Actually my son can button the shirt if is placed infront of him, the difficulty is when he is wearing it.

Double E

Maybe try letting him stand in front of a full length mirror while he is buttoning? So that he can see the button as he practise?

I found that that confused my daughter even more, for some reason. And it didn't help her do the eventual task. Now I recall I did an intermediate step - hold the shirt on a hanger in front of her so she could practise doing the buttons in the same direction they would be if she were wearing the shirt. That way, it's slightly further away so she could see better, but the same orientation.[/quote]Slmkhoo, can you explain more? but the button will still be facing her right? for that my boy has no issue. The problem is when he needs to button when he is wearing the shirt. And he gets frustrated when he can't do it, wants to give up easily. I have to be really patient and keep encouraging him. the moment he got one button in, can see his whole face lighted up with joy lor, smiling from ear to ear.

[Double E]

fluttershy:

Hi mommies & daddies,


Can I know at what age your son/daughter able to form complete sentences? My son is 2 years 7 months & I find him having a hard time combining words together.

He knows how to say, \"mama help (if he needs help)\" \"mama open (wants to open the door)\" \"mama pour (pour water into his cup)\" \"mama come (if he wants me to follow him)\", but he needs lots of prompting from me. Otherwise he'll just keep saying 1 word. I know every child is different, but I'm just curious to know

Is already quite an achievement for your boy. My boy only said his first word when he was 26 mths, then like your boy, combine two words when he is about 30 mths. I think he only spoke in full sentences when he is about 3 years old.

[sharonkhoo]

Double E:

slmkhoo:

Now I recall I did an intermediate step - hold the shirt on a hanger in front of her so she could practise doing the buttons in the same direction they would be if she were wearing the shirt. That way, it's slightly further away so she could see better, but the same orientation.

Slmkhoo, can you explain more? but the button will still be facing her right? for that my boy has no issue. The problem is when he needs to button when he is wearing the shirt. And he gets frustrated when he can't do it, wants to give up easily. I have to be really patient and keep encouraging him. the moment he got one button in, can see his whole face lighted up with joy lor, smiling from ear to ear.

I found that the difficulty was both not being able to see what her hands were doing, and the button being so close to the body that it was hard to manoeuvre. By hanging the shirt on a hanger in front of her, meaning the back facing her, the buttons would be at the same orientation as when she wore the shirt. We could make it easier by holding the hanger lower so she could kind of see, and further from her body so it was easier to manoeuvre, then gradually bring the shirt closer to the actual wearing position as she got better at handling the buttons. At first, when the shirt sways a lot because it's not resting on the body, we would put a chair back in front of her and place the shirt in front of that (hope you get what I mean!). The main thing is to make the situation as similar to the 'real' one as possible, but with modifications to make it easier. Then you can gradually increase the difficulty as the skill improves. I found that I couldn't expect my daughter to do automatic left-right or back-front reversals or even follow things in a mirror - that's just one of her weaknesses.

You may already do this, but we found that breaking down the skill into a few tiny steps really helped. My husband was the one who discovered this, and he would tell her where to place her fingers, how to manipulate the cloth and the button etc etc, broken into 3-4 steps. Every manipulation skill we taught her was done this way, and it's become quite normal for us to teach her that way. Even her younger sister shows her how to do new things that way - \"first, hold it like this, then twist, then...\".

[Double E]

Slmkhoo

Thanks for the tip. I will try.
Yes, my son learns better two if we explain the steps one by one. Then he himself will remember and start to mumble the steps to himself.

[Couragemom]

tabgha:

Couragemom:

Hmm... Both his sped teacher and his ST recommended me to look for a physiotherapist (but don't have 1 to recommend!) for my son's motor development issues.

Ok, like for example, I noticed long time ago that my son cannot nod on command or raise his head above a certain level and I told his OT and she recommended some exercise for me to do at home with him. Recently I asked my son to nod his head and he actually can do it although quite stiff his movement. (Coincidentally or not?) this is also the Eureka moment when he started to look up consistently at us while playing to show us his toys or when he does something right (like after completing a puzzle) and expect us to praise him. Before that, he just plays and hardly even look up.

That got me thinking about another of his motor development issues - standing still. Yes, standing still. Up to now my son cannot stand still on a spot for even 1 minute, he will sway or shuffle his feet to kind of stand still in a spot. Last time when he stands to watch tv, he will even move backwards! I spoken to my OT and she said it is a midline issue cum vestibular issue. She liked the idea of my son visiting a physiotherapist to work on his core muscles (especially his left side of the body) while she focuses on sensory integration and fine motor skills.

I went online just now and found one physiotherapy clinic. Have booked an appointment to do assessment. Will update all of you if such a service is different from an OT session and/or is at all useful.

A good OT is able to work on the child's core muscles and vestibular system too. If fact, that is the OT's job as she should be trained for that. Not necessarily to go to a PT, otherwise, both you and the poor child will be running all over the place; and not to mention :moneyflies: :moneyflies:

Hi there,

Actually my son has improved a lot under his current OT but just that I itchy backside and hope to speed up his body posture as he is entering N2 next year and there are even more challenges for him to face like HANDWRITING (I scared leh!!!!)

Thanks for your advice for swimming. I will let him join swimming lesson once he turns 5.

[Couragemom]

fluttershy:

Hi mommies & daddies,


Can I know at what age your son/daughter able to form complete sentences? My son is 2 years 7 months & I find him having a hard time combining words together.

He knows how to say, \"mama help (if he needs help)\" \"mama open (wants to open the door)\" \"mama pour (pour water into his cup)\" \"mama come (if he wants me to follow him)\", but he needs lots of prompting from me. Otherwise he'll just keep saying 1 word. I know every child is different, but I'm just curious to know

Hi Fluttershy,

Hmmm... If I don't recall wrongly, I think my son can say 2 words sentences like 'I want xxx' and 'help b' (he cannot pronounced 'me' last time) when he was 26 months but same like your son needed prompting. Then he was able to say 'yes' and 'don't want' when he was 2.5 years old so we were able to ask him questions and he answered them. Spontaneous speech where my son actively talk to request and comment (eg. He will say mama's car when he sees my car) without prompting was around 32 months. Now at 34 months+ he can say up to 5-7 words sentences spontaneously. The process of getting him to this stage isn't as easy as it seem. I did oral motor exercises with him consistently for the past 11 months and it helps a lot in his speech.

[sharonkhoo]

Couragemom:

Actually my son has improved a lot under his current OT but just that I itchy backside and hope to speed up his body posture as he is entering N2 next year and there are even more challenges for him to face like HANDWRITING (I scared leh!!!!)


Thanks for your advice for swimming. I will let him join swimming lesson once he turns 5.

I do understand your desire to get as many things 'fixed' as possible as quickly as possible, but there are quite a lot of developmental things that just take time and maturity (physical as well as mental). Doing more therapies may not accelerate his development. Conversely, doing too much can make the child tired and stressed, which could slow down his learning and development. We found that sometimes, if my daughter found something really tough, just waiting another year or so would make the process a lot easier the next time round. And in the meantime, we could focus on fewer things, and let her have more free time to play and have fun. Emotionally, it also made her happier as we weren't spending so much time on the things she found hard, and it was less demoralising for her when her days weren't filled with us telling her how to do things and correcting her. Just some thoughts.

[little doggie]

Hi Couragemom,


Saw your msg regarding oral motor exercises, can you share with me on this. I m doing oral motor exercises for past 9 months and seeing a speech therapist. Initially the progress is great but for the past 2 months + there has not been much progress.

Thanks in advance.