All About Autism

[Double E]

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.

[Double E]

pinkamoon:

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.

Is your boy in P1 mainstream? how is he coping?

[pinkamoon]

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.

[humpty]

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?

[humpty]

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?

Hi Snow 24,
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.

About GAPS, did you try making the sauerkraut? I’m wondering if it is safe to do it in Singapore’s hot, humid weather. Won’t the cabbage go bad in the kitchen?

[sharonkhoo]

humpty:

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...

I think the teachers may be over-reacting. Many just want easy-to-control kids and will flag any kid that makes things harder for them and have low tolerance for kids who are more active. That said, your child is probably quite a bit more active than most, and where the line is drawn is very subjective, as you say. I totally sympathise with the naps part - my child did not nap from about 3yo onwards, but she was at home for those times so it was OK with me. There was just 1 semester that she was in a childcare-type place (I was taking a course) and she would not nap when the others did. Luckily, she is the quiet type and would just lie there and make up her own stories in her head (I had to tell her not to talk to herself!), and she was already 6yo, so was able to obey. If your son disturbs the others, you may have to find some alternative - either get them to put him somewhere to play quietly so as not to disturb the others, or find an alternative childcare place that can cope.

For the not sitting still in class, I can't remember how old your son is, but the teachers should be able to find things for him to do, either by himself or as 'teacher's errand boy'. Unless he is throwing tantrums or attacking the others, as teachers, they should have ways to handle him, I think. My daughter was fortunate that she isn't really the walking-around type, she just daydreams! Teachers complained, but they didn't get so worked up as she didn't disrupt the class. Again, if they can't cope, you may need to find somewhere else.

[pinkamoon]

Hi Humpty!

My son did not nap and walked around in class. He was not good at using words to express himself. He attended a church kindergarten, my first skool and another CC. Only teachers at my first skool did not 'kick' him out. It was a new branch and the intake was low. However, when I shifted, I had no choice but to transfer him to another school. The last CC has a learning support teacher but she was overloaded and only came down 2x a week. The principal insisted that they could only accept mild autism n that my son could not stay in the school. In the end, I sent him to CC for half a day with my helper. Just imagine that he was at EIPIC centre on 2 days and in CC for only 3 mornings. I am not as lucky as slmkoo :). My son had self regulation problems.

GAPS insists that all vegetables are organic. For meat, if we cannot get org grass fed, it is okay to get non organic. I buy Sakura cordycep chicken, Salmon Greek natural pork from Sanhe under frozen pork (宏记) in NTUC finest. I get org grass fed beef in NTUC finest in Thomson and buy marrow bone (non org) from NTUC too. Even wild caught fish under the brand \"Food for Friends\" can be found in NTUC Finest. If not, I used to order from theorganicgrocer.com.

I used to stay at West Coast Walk and it was very breezy, so all my sauerkraut turned out well. Now that I have shifted, I have failed to make even the simplest beet kvass. I think putting it into a fridge (not too cold) should be fine although it will take a longer time. One thing abt these fermented food is mold. The other day I ate an expired Kimchi thinking that it was alright since it is fermented but it gave me diarrhea n my whole body ached so much that I had problems sleeping. I suffered for abt 2 nights before turning to my essential oils. Luckily I had Melissa essential oil and I took 3~4 drops in 2 days. It gave me instantaneous relief from the discomfort. It was a scary experience for me. Also, not everyone can handle ferments well, so maybe you can try probiotics and enzymes first. My son took the probiotics from Dr Campbell as well as from Garden of Life. He takes Digest Right Enzymes and Enzymedica enzymes.

[lavendery]

Can anyone recommend a psychologist and the price for IQ test , as well as autism assessment?


Another question, is it true that once a child is diagnosed by KKH as ASD, even if the subsequent re assessment shows that the kid may no be longer on the spectrum, KKH will not remove the ASD label on the child?

[yap_susan]

lavendery:

Can anyone recommend a psychologist and the price for IQ test , as well as autism assessment?


Another question, is it true that once a child is diagnosed by KKH as ASD, even if the subsequent re assessment shows that the kid may no be longer on the spectrum, KKH will not remove the ASD label on the child?

That was what I heard. But I felt no running away from the label. If you apply sgenable or go special schools site will be \"detected\", army too. It is just a matter of time.
I prefer private route so diagnosis and therapies are available more readily.

[Couragemom]

Hi Lavendry,


You have PM.