All About Autism

[Couragemom]

Hi Scang,


I beg your pardon for my poor Maths skill! I was offered 6hrs eipic on a weekly basis, not monthly. Yes, $150+/hr is the going rate for private therapy session.

[totalstranger]

Hi tyeogh.


Are you going to withdraw you child from the EIPIC program of AWWA? Have you contacted other EIPIC centers e.g. Rainbow to see if they can offer an early intervention program at a more affordable price?

Is you child a high functioned ASD? Is he/she verbal? Does he/she have behavioral problem? If without early intervention, can he/she adapt to the mainstream school life when he/she reaches 6 years old?

[belachanbabe]

Totalstranger, it’s not so easy to switch EIPIC programs because all Govt subsidised ones have year long waiting lists. Parents really have no choice but to go private and kena ker tok $$$. Also logistics wise, these EIPIC programs only run 2-3 times a week for a couple of hours. For the dual income family, means your child also has to go to a kindy for the rest of the time, double whammy. Less intervention means more parental involvement which from personal experience, puts mental strain the marital and family relationships.


Poor Tyeogh. Heart really goes out to you and the frustration you must feel. All parents want the best for their kids wor.

40% increase is criminal but not unheard of unfortunately. My boy’s schoolbus fees increased from $270 to $320 this year but bo pian as that is only bus plying the desired route. With his PL fees of $420 per mth plus after school care with intervention of $950 (no subsidy as it is private). That’s $1.690 just to go to school not counting enrichment or tuition. Here I thought going to primary school would be cheaper than his early intervention years.

This is only for one boy. And before you all ask, there are not many after school programs for primary school years and above with learning intervention in Singapore. That’s why they dare to charge such fees. (Business idea though)

There has been many articles recently on Singaporeans sense of entitlement. However, this area certainly warrants more examination to help ease the financial burdens of the middle class sandwich generation who is not poor enough to get assistance and not rich enough to provide necessary support

[tyeogh]

Belachanbabe,

Is there a button I can triple Like your post?

[tyeogh]

Hi totalstranger,

I withdrew him from AWWA EIPIC. We are serving 1 month notice so DS is still going. I did not contact any other EIPIC centres for reasons belachanbabe mentioned. I also chose to heed DoubleE’s advice to replace it with other academic classes.

My child is high functioning (I hate this term because what does it make a child who is low functioning?! Ridiculous)

He was only verbal at 3.5 y.o. He does not have major behavioural problems but is not perfectly normal either. He has a very strong will. Too intensely focused on anything he sets his mind to. That is all I can sum up when I compare him to normal kids. His other behaviours seem normal. Just maybe a little more childish too?

A month ago, I brought him for his 2nd ASD test at NUH. The assessing child psychiatrist also opined he is an odd one. Neither here nor there. I will get her formal diagnosis in Feb.

"If without early intervention, can he/she adapt to the mainstream school life when he/she reaches 6 years old?"

I don’t know. I am gambling.

[pinkamoon]

Hi all! I guess sonrise does not interest anyone. It's okay.


Back to the 砍菜头issue. My story is :

When my son got into EIPIC Centre, the centre manager was kind to offer me the contacts of a bus company as I was working. The bus company 狮子大开口, quoted me $400 for 2 way communication 3x a week!!!! When I turned down the offer, he countered off $300! :yikes:

Anyway, I ended up giving my mil $30 taxi fare per week, only $5 per trip. Taking buses cost even lower, just that my mil could not control my son then.

[seoulover]

Hi tyeogh


My DD is due to enter EIPIC. Agree on the long waiting list of the various VWOs. As AWWA has a shorter waiting time, I’ve opted for AWWA. Didn’t know about the price increase (since I’m new), but I did a quick calculation of the costs of the various centres I’m keen on n realized that AWWA has the highest per hourly cost, in fact, higher than some private centres. Now I know why.

Mind sharing with me your opinion on AWWA’s EIPIC? Did u feel EIPIC is helpful for your DS? Did the teachers n therapists there help him to talk eventually? Or did u go for some private speech therapy? My DD is 2.5 years old n still not really talking.

And btw, if u live in the east, you may consider kids cove. I’m not sure if there’s vacancy but do call and ask. The monthly cost is cheaper (after subsidy) but they do not have in-house therapists all the time. And u have to top up for 1 to 1 therapy.

TIA!

[tyeogh]

Hi seoulover,

Thanks for sharing on AWWA cost.

My son joined AWWA at 2.5 y.o. Before that, he was at KitsforKids, a private EIPIC for a few months. I saw children being abused there. When an untrained indian-nationale teacher dropped my young son, I wanted out immediately. So my opinions are based on my experience with only 2 EIPIC centres.

Compared to KitsforKids, AWWA is a more established centre. It has a large facility to conduct proper lessons, concerts and is even equipped with a swimming pool for swim therapy. Its teachers are well trained and professional. They discussed targets and child progress sufficiently enough.....communication book, report book etc. AWWA provides OT and ST in their program. The teacher student ratio is a healthy 1-4.

I remember year end assessment is a session where 6 ladies sit on children chairs in a tight semi circle to surround me. Nerve wrecking because I am a man. Felt like a panel interview! Two teachers, OT, ST, child psychiatrist, social worker. That sums up their ability in a nutshell.

It is THE place to go if you can accept their fees, imho. I am happy with what they provided and grateful for what they accomplished.

Yes, EIPIC is helpful for my DS. However, I caution that it works on a case by case basis. What worked for me may not work for you so please keep the expectation in check, ya?

As to how he eventually spoke, a large part of me believe it is our prayers but it is useless information to say in a forum so I will just put it down as a combination of EIPIC, ST, family involvement and prayers.

DS attended a once a week private ST in addition to the AWWA ST.

I can understand your anxiety when your precious 2.5 y.o. is not talking. You have done the right thing by sending him to EIPIC.

I will share more on how my son spoke for your benefit. One of the first thing is to do is to find something of interest to the child and get him to want it. Like a toy. Make him show interest and refuse to give it to him. This is to force the child to articulate his wants. It is a long painful process done in class and at home. You will learn more about it in your journey.

While at it, DS's teachers did pretend play with my son with the ultimate aim of getting him to imitate. Initially, I was sceptical as to why I had to pay so much for adults to play with my son. There is a strategy to it.

Once the child can mimic your mouth movement and sound, and he has a desire to communicate, the basic ingredient for speech is there. His intonation may not be accurate but thats fine. The ST will work on getting it right. That was when I searched out a private ST with Tactile qualifications. Go google PROMPT. By tactile, or touch it means using her fingers to shape his mouth so that the correct tone can come out.

(This reminds of me of his young pretty German blonde ST teacher crawling in her tight dress to play cars with him. Damn, my son had it good! LoL. Not sure if that helped pique his interest too. Haha!)

So when my son could finally imitate, weeks later, he spoke. He was 3.5 y.o. then. From there, he never looked back. Because he was so encouraged to talk, he talks non stop now which is kinda irritating but it is a good problem to have.

Free free to ask more if you have any questions.

[tyeogh]

Oh seoulover, I forgot to mention. Did you get your daughter assessed for hearing? Sometimes, it is just a case where the child cannot hear, hence she cannot mimic. I think you may want to just get that out of the way.

[Autumnleaf]

Hello parents,


I am looking for a recommendation of a child physcoligist who is able able to assess / diagnose autism, on older child, age 10.

Currently I am on waitlist with NUH, but the wait is indefinite and with my DS already in P4, I am getting quite anxious to get done with formal assessment.

I had originally opened up my concerns of my son through his school councillor at p2, and they linked us to NUH, but till now the progression is crazily slow. I am looking to apply for MT exemption if he is diagnosed to have ASD as it will seriously pull down his marks in PSLE.
He had done quite alright for p1 and P2 but since p3, his Chinese is quickly coming down, and I believe the oral component is one of the Areas he is struggling. He lost 10 marks for oral alone, while his peers usually score full marks still, so once can imagine how his MT grades are gonna look like as he gets to p5 & p6.

Can I ask if the mummies with ASD children struggle with meal times with their ASD child? This is one area that is the biggest struggle for us, ever since my 10 yr old started weaning.

Do share some contacts if you have any to recommend. Greatly appreciate all the help.