All About Autism
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Hi Humpty,
I think you need a hug!! "Tight squeeze sending out to you virtually"
Ok, first and foremost, in your first posting, you mentioned that your son is suspected of being on the spectrum. Who made this statement? Is it his pre-school teacher? Or his regular PD? Or did you visit a developmental PD or psychologist? This ‘suspected ASD’ label is not just for anyone to give to your son and NOBODY can say your son is or is not on the spectrum except for the experts, and in Singapore context, that would be either the developmental PD or a child psychologist.
Like for my son’s case, I brought him to see a child psychologist when he was less than 2 years old and she was the one who said he has ‘suspected ASD’ and wanted him to do the full ADOS assessment but I refused! The general protocol in KKH and NUH CDU will be to assess the child after 3 years old and above, unless in cases where the symptoms are too "obvious" and thus there isn’t any need to wait until the child turns 3 of age. -
Hi Humpty! To tell you the truth, I did not want to send my son for diagnosis when he was younger because I was afraid of the same thing.
However, you must understand the purpose of a diagnosis is to help the child, not to label him. It does not take a psychologist or a doctor to know if a child is on the spectrum. Anyone who is familiar with this condition can tell if your child is neurotypical. As your child grows up, more of the ASD traits will be visible and there is no hiding. The reason you are in here is clear that your child has issues. In this case, if your child gets a diagnosis of ASD, you know it is true. If he gets anything less like PDD-NOS, that's a bonus, I am sure the psychologist is definitely not out to con your $$.
To me, the psychological report serves as a means to help my child get into EIPIC centre, to delay entry into P1 and for teachers to know his conditions better. Even if you delay his diagnosis, when school teachers cannot manage his behaviour, they will still send for MOE's psychologist. Nowadays, I care less about labelling as I know that as long as he does not improve, there is no way the society will accept him, so whether labelling or not, it is not important anymore.
Everyone will tell you that ASD is a life long condition. Depending on how you think, you can accept it and live with it, or try means and ways to 'fix' him up. I belong to the latter group.
GAPS diet is something I tried for more than 18 months. If you ask me if it works, I say YES! He was on full GAPS and it really calm him down a lot. Before that, I would lose him in public and he ran like Forest Gump.
Now, my son eats rice and I still monitor his diet closely. However, GAPS only improved his behaviour but did not reverse his ASD as I only took him for the diagnosis after 18 months on the diet. He still met the criteria for ASD at 5 yr 7 months.
The next thing I tried was Neurofeedback for him and that gave him speech and the ability to communicate. He was able to regulate himself better and for the first time able to watch movies without getting off the chairs and started to be interested in playing with his sisters. This is something I am thankful for.
I realise that my son responses best to my voice. I am also the regulator of his behaviour, as in when I am around, he behaves better. He does not go to social classes, OT, ST but spends most of his time playing and talking to me.
Acknowledging that my child has a problem, then zooming in to his weakest area helped him improve. When he had dark circles, I took him for tests and removed all allergens and implemented GAPS diet. His psychomotor skill was weak, so we went to playgrounds very often. He only learnt cycling at age 6 and had problems catching balls, so we played bolster catching game at home. As parents, I think we have many opportunities to help them and are the best persons to help them.
All I can say is there are many parents here in the forum who have been on the journey for a longer period of time. I believe the reason they are still contributing on this forum is to share their wealth of knowledge with us. To help them, we really have to get our butt off the chair and PLAY with them. Removing TV, Ipad, computer games free up more time for social interaction with them.
The psychologist gave a poor diagnosis of my son and that is what third party observed (see attached). This report is very useful for me to know where he stands amongst his peers. Looking back at this report ( he is 7 yr 5 mth), I can definitely say that he has made marvellous improvements over the year. There is nothing shameful about his condition and my child is only 7. I do not see the report as a death sentence, instead it is his progress report. -
Hi Pinkamoon
What test you sent your son to take when he had dark circles, to remove all allergen?
Beside GAPS diet/NAET treatment anyone tried gluten free diet ? Is both diet similar? -
Snow24:
Hi Snow 24,Hi Pinkamoon
What test you sent your son to take when he had dark circles, to remove all allergen?
Beside GAPS diet/NAET treatment anyone tried gluten free diet ? Is both diet similar?
There are many tests to take for allergies. I took him to Thomson Hospital. You can call to enquire about the allergy tests.
Gluten free is not as thorough as GAPS. I tried GFCF diet on my son for half a year without results. All the GFCF cookies and food allow cane sugar, maize starch, corn, soy etc which are not good for our children. After implementing GAPS diet for 3 months, I saw a change in my son. He responded to my call and came back looking for me when I called him.
Healing their body is a long process, it takes many years for their leaky gut to heal. -
Hi Good Monday morning to all.
Did anyone attend the Pathlight open house last week? I went and boy, was I blown away! I was so touched that I was sobbing non-stop throughout the presentation by the principal. I can really feel the effort and love that the teaching staff have for the students.
On curriculum, I am sure many of u know that Pathlight provides both academic (same as main stream) and live skills training to their students. All their students have to go through the same PSLE , N and O levels exam as their peers in mainstream. They do have a vocational track but this track is not open to public, it is for their existing students whom, half way through their years in Pathlight, it is deemed that they may not be suitable for mainstream academic after all.
For class size, students are put in classes of 8, 10, 12 depending on their adaptability and each class has 2 teachers (one form teacher and one assistant). Apart from the usual academic, they also have compulsory computer skills training for all their students.
One thing I am impressed about is their curriculum for the Sec students. Apparently, all their secondary school students attend lessons at 4 of their partner schools (mainstream sec such as Chong Boon Sec, Yio Chu Kang, Bishan park sec). They only go back to Pathlight for lessons if the timetable does not permit them to stay in the mainstream schools. This provides chances of integration. But I am not sure how the Pathlight students will be supported in these 4 partner schools, they did not elaborate on them.
On the environment, they have 2 campuses. The main one is for lower primary and vocational track while the other campus is for upper primary and secondary. The main campus is nice and clean and have open spaces for students who need to calm and regulate themselves. They also have a cafe that modeled after starbucks to train students.
We had the chance to gate crash one of the lower primary classes while they are having their lessons. The boys (yes, mainly boys in the school) seem to enjoy themselves and they behave no different from the kids in mainstream. But along the way, I happen to see some other older students, they looked like they are in their teenage years so I think they are from the vocational track. Their condition seem more severe, and I was sad to see one of them picking up food to eat from the plates where they placed dirty dishes.
The principal also shared many great testimonials with us, some moving on to JC, poly, or have found proper professional jobs. One of the students is now a staff there teaching PE and we happened to meet him. A fine young malay man, you will have no idea that he is in the spectrum. He was like a big brother to all the kids there.
After the opening house, my husband and I are really impressed and stared to ask ourselves again if we should send our boy to Pathlight instead. We don’t have the answer now, but we will proceed to submit our application to Pathlight after he is done with his IQ test. We will also apply for mainstream. We will make a final decision when the time comes, see where God leads us.
Oh, one more thing. Pathlight usually enrols about 100 kids each year and the u can submit your application anytime. -
Double E:
Hi Good Monday morning to all.
Did anyone attend the Pathlight open house last week? I went and boy, was I blown away! I was so touched that I was sobbing non-stop throughout the presentation by the principal. I can really feel the effort and love that the teaching staff have for the students.
On curriculum, I am sure many of u know that Pathlight provides both academic (same as main stream) and live skills training to their students. All their students have to go through the same PSLE , N and O levels exam as their peers in mainstream. They do have a vocational track but this track is not open to public, it is for their existing students whom, half way through their years in Pathlight, it is deemed that they may not be suitable for mainstream academic after all.
For class size, students are put in classes of 8, 10, 12 depending on their adaptability and each class has 2 teachers (one form teacher and one assistant). Apart from the usual academic, they also have compulsory computer skills training for all their students.
One thing I am impressed about is their curriculum for the Sec students. Apparently, all their secondary school students attend lessons at 4 of their partner schools (mainstream sec such as Chong Boon Sec, Yio Chu Kang, Bishan park sec). They only go back to Pathlight for lessons if the timetable does not permit them to stay in the mainstream schools. This provides chances of integration. But I am not sure how the Pathlight students will be supported in these 4 partner schools, they did not elaborate on them.
On the environment, they have 2 campuses. The main one is for lower primary and vocational track while the other campus is for upper primary and secondary. The main campus is nice and clean and have open spaces for students who need to calm and regulate themselves. They also have a cafe that modeled after starbucks to train students.
We had the chance to gate crash one of the lower primary classes while they are having their lessons. The boys (yes, mainly boys in the school) seem to enjoy themselves and they behave no different from the kids in mainstream. But along the way, I happen to see some other older students, they looked like they are in their teenage years so I think they are from the vocational track. Their condition seem more severe, and I was sad to see one of them picking up food to eat from the plates where they placed dirty dishes.
The principal also shared many great testimonials with us, some moving on to JC, poly, or have found proper professional jobs. One of the students is now a staff there teaching PE and we happened to meet him. A fine young malay man, you will have no idea that he is in the spectrum. He was like a big brother to all the kids there.
After the opening house, my husband and I are really impressed and stared to ask ourselves again if we should send our boy to Pathlight instead. We don't have the answer now, but we will proceed to submit our application to Pathlight after he is done with his IQ test. We will also apply for mainstream. We will make a final decision when the time comes, see where God leads us.
Oh, one more thing. Pathlight usually enrols about 100 kids each year and the u can submit your application anytime.
Hi double E,
Your DS is in k2 next year right? Can share with me why you intend to send him in Pathlight?
Thanks! -
HI
yes, my boy will be K2 next year. I have not decided on Pathlight but I won’t rule out the option simply because I know he will be very well supported in Pathlight and I am likely to have a greater peace of mind.
However, like I said, I have not decided, that’s why I will register him in both Pathlight and mainstream to secure a place first. Meanwhile, I will have to continue to get feedback from his kindy teachers and therapists to get a sense of his ability and see if they will recommend mainstream or Pathlight for him. If all suggest Pathlight then, Pathlight it shall be. But so far, from the feedback I gathered, they think cognitive wise, he is suitable for mainstream but will encounter problems when it comes to social skills. Then I also need to check if the mainstream school that I am targeting has good support for special needs. I have 6mths to think. -
pinkamoon:
Is your boy in P1 mainstream? how is he coping?Hi Humpty! To tell you the truth, I did not want to send my son for diagnosis when he was younger because I was afraid of the same thing.
However, you must understand the purpose of a diagnosis is to help the child, not to label him. It does not take a psychologist or a doctor to know if a child is on the spectrum. Anyone who is familiar with this condition can tell if your child is neurotypical. As your child grows up, more of the ASD traits will be visible and there is no hiding. The reason you are in here is clear that your child has issues. In this case, if your child gets a diagnosis of ASD, you know it is true. If he gets anything less like PDD-NOS, that's a bonus, I am sure the psychologist is definitely not out to con your $$.
To me, the psychological report serves as a means to help my child get into EIPIC centre, to delay entry into P1 and for teachers to know his conditions better. Even if you delay his diagnosis, when school teachers cannot manage his behaviour, they will still send for MOE's psychologist. Nowadays, I care less about labelling as I know that as long as he does not improve, there is no way the society will accept him, so whether labelling or not, it is not important anymore.
Everyone will tell you that ASD is a life long condition. Depending on how you think, you can accept it and live with it, or try means and ways to 'fix' him up. I belong to the latter group.
GAPS diet is something I tried for more than 18 months. If you ask me if it works, I say YES! He was on full GAPS and it really calm him down a lot. Before that, I would lose him in public and he ran like Forest Gump.
Now, my son eats rice and I still monitor his diet closely. However, GAPS only improved his behaviour but did not reverse his ASD as I only took him for the diagnosis after 18 months on the diet. He still met the criteria for ASD at 5 yr 7 months.
The next thing I tried was Neurofeedback for him and that gave him speech and the ability to communicate. He was able to regulate himself better and for the first time able to watch movies without getting off the chairs and started to be interested in playing with his sisters. This is something I am thankful for.
I realise that my son responses best to my voice. I am also the regulator of his behaviour, as in when I am around, he behaves better. He does not go to social classes, OT, ST but spends most of his time playing and talking to me.
Acknowledging that my child has a problem, then zooming in to his weakest area helped him improve. When he had dark circles, I took him for tests and removed all allergens and implemented GAPS diet. His psychomotor skill was weak, so we went to playgrounds very often. He only learnt cycling at age 6 and had problems catching balls, so we played bolster catching game at home. As parents, I think we have many opportunities to help them and are the best persons to help them.
All I can say is there are many parents here in the forum who have been on the journey for a longer period of time. I believe the reason they are still contributing on this forum is to share their wealth of knowledge with us. To help them, we really have to get our butt off the chair and PLAY with them. Removing TV, Ipad, computer games free up more time for social interaction with them.
The psychologist gave a poor diagnosis of my son and that is what third party observed (see attached). This report is very useful for me to know where he stands amongst his peers. Looking back at this report ( he is 7 yr 5 mth), I can definitely say that he has made marvellous improvements over the year. There is nothing shameful about his condition and my child is only 7. I do not see the report as a death sentence, instead it is his progress report. -
Hi Double E,
My son is 7 this yr but only going to mainstream next year. So, more updates from me next year.
Anyway, I have spoken to the principal and emailed him to remind about my son's condition so that they can allocate a teacher trained in special needs for his class.
In the meanwhile, I try to cover P1 syllabus with him at home so that he will be able to complete his school work. This mummy here is ready to shadow him. -
It’s his pre-school teachers who are insisting on sending him for a full diagnosis. Their main complaints are that he doesn’t take naps and he doesn’t sit still in class, therefore disrupting it. Though I’m sure that there are other issues, just that these two raise the biggest red flags for them.
We sent him to his PD for a check up. We asked if he should be referred to a psychologist and he said that there is nothing wrong with my boy and to consider changing schools. It’s just so subjective…
We are trying GFCF and it seems to help. Well, he has an allergy to milk so CF is a must. But GF is soooo difficult! However, we noticed that if he has taken gluten, the monkey in him comes back. When he is off gluten, the monkey appears to be more tame.
GAPS is even harder to do… where do you get your supply of bones for the broth?Does anyone know where to find organic grass fed beef bones in Singapore?
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