All About Autism

[Double E]

keropi_81:

Hi all,


My son is 26mths now and is not speaking any word yet. We just seen the doc at kkh yesterday and the doc said he had symptoms of autism but can't diagnose yet due to his age. The doc recommend him to go for OT 1st while waiting to enter eipic and to go to normal Childcare.

I'm wondering just by going to OT at kkh will it hinder the early intervention since the waiting time for eipic is very long and the therapy session at kkh is far apart.

Any good OT to recommend? Hope to get some advice from here.

Thanks,
Keropi

Hi Keropi
I would suggest that you send your son to both OT and ST (for speech) while waiting to enter eipic and childcare. If you are concern about the lack of frequency in KKH, you can seek out private OT and ST. There are plenty out there like Kids OT at Tangling Shopping Centre, Leapfrog at Bukit Timah and many others. However, do note the fees from private ST and OT are high, on average $130 per session of 1hr. What I did for my son when he was suspected of Autism was that I sent him to both OT and ST, each therapy once a week. I also attended course from KKH's ENT session so that I can do some of the ST for him myself.

[keropi_81]

Hi Double E,


So which private centre did you send your son to? ENT mean? Btw Anyone here put their kids at kids cove or divinity at bishan?

Keropi

[Couragemom]

keropi_81:

Hi all,


My son is 26mths now and is not speaking any word yet. We just seen the doc at kkh yesterday and the doc said he had symptoms of autism but can't diagnose yet due to his age. The doc recommend him to go for OT 1st while waiting to enter eipic and to go to normal Childcare.

I'm wondering just by going to OT at kkh will it hinder the early intervention since the waiting time for eipic is very long and the therapy session at kkh is far apart.

Any good OT to recommend? Hope to get some advice from here.

Thanks,
Keropi

Hi Keropi,

Welcome to this thread. Why didn't KKH offer you ST (speech therapist) slots when your son cannot talk?

The few private OT centres that I am aware of are KidzPOTC and Hand-in-hand OTC. My son used to go to this private ST who is very good with oral motor exercises and articulation but now that he has spontaneous words and sentences, I moved him to Leapfrogs.

There are a few private pre-schools that offer integrated services for special needs children. St Gerard's, Zee House and Green Room but all are at the eastern part of Singapore.

Do drop by again if you have any question. This journey is long and sometimes lonely so having someone to talk and understand does ease our emotional pain somehow somewhat.

[keropi_81]

Hi couragemom,


The doctor say he have to go OT to improve on his social skill first before going for ST. I’m puzzle too.

[Double E]

Keropi

My son attends Kidz OT at Tangling Shopping centre for OT and Leapfrog for ST and social play.

KKH has a Ear-Nose-Throat department which also provides speech and OT therapy. But the strange thing is, KKH’s child development unit and its ENT unit don’t really share the same database and to me, don’t work hand in hand. Cos the courses provided by ENT is more useful than those by the child development unit. You may want to call KKH’s ENT unit or check with your son’s doc the next time and see if you can attend courses offered by ENT.

[Couragemom]

keropi_81:

Hi couragemom,


The doctor say he have to go OT to improve on his social skill first before going for ST. I'm puzzle too.

Hi Keropi,

I think I know what the PD means. The PD probably wants your son to go for OT to develop more joint attention before starting ST. It will be a waste of $ to go for ST session if the child just cry or run around during the 1-hr session, that is my guess.

[keropi_81]

Courage mom - I guess that’s the reason too.


I’m still thinking of going to leapfrog/kids potc/Edunamics/ olive tree? Any review on them???

Thanks in advance

[Couragemom]

Hi keropi,


My son goes to kidzpotc and my friend’s son goes to hand-in-hand OTC so I only know these 2 centres. Please call up the centres to check the available times slots available as afternoon slots are very popular. My son has to go for OT in the morning but it is disruptive as he attends N1 class in a normal pre-school.

I think you also need to see if the therapist is a good fit for your son as I had to change OT twice before finding a suitable one for my son. Good luck!

[Liyuan]

Hi all,


My son is 26mths now and is not speaking any word yet. We just seen the doc at kkh yesterday and the doc said he had symptoms of autism but can’t diagnose yet due to his age. The doc recommend him to go for OT 1st while waiting to enter eipic and to go to normal Childcare.

I’m wondering just by going to OT at kkh will it hinder the early intervention since the waiting time for eipic is very long and the therapy session at kkh is far apart.

Any good OT to recommend? Hope to get some advice from here.

Thanks,
Keropi

The usual practice of KKH is to recommend suspected case of autism to OT and speech therapy. I strongly encourage you to read up more on other interventions that are known to create positive change to children with autism. Some examples are floortime, ABA (applied behavioral analysis), RDI, Teach method. in many other countries, ABA is the recommendation by paed once suspected of autism. ABA is also the most researched on intervention for people with autism. Depending on the level of functioning of the child, ABA may or may not be the best form of intervention for your child. Again, i strongly encourage you to read up on the different interventions.

Early intervention is very important. The reason is that the plasticity of the brain has a clear age dependent determinant. It is much easily to "re wire" the neurons pathways in the brain at a younger age. Also, it is always easier to tackle any behavioral issue when the habit has yet to develop. So do not wait as you do not want to lose this window. The DSM5 (diagnostic statistical manual) of autism has change so as to make diagnosis earlier as they too recognize the importance of early intervention. Do not adopt a sit and see how it goes mentality. Start therapy as early as you can for your child. It is a much better news that if the end of the day, you realized that your child is perfectly normal but have you have wasted money for therapy as compared to losing the most crucial window for therapy to take place and thus not being able to walk your child out of the spectrum.

[fluttershy]

hi mummies,


have any of you heard about EIC kindergarten? a friend suggested for me to check it out there. It's around balestier area. The teacher student ratio is 2:5. Any input or info is greatly appreciated! they have one-on-one session too for the older kids.