All About Autism

[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.

[seoulover]

Hi tyeogh


Thanks for your detailed sharing. Really appreciate it.

My DD had her hearing test done. Her hearing is fine. Thanks for your concern.

I’m glad to hear your positive review of AWWA. Hope I’ll experience something similar.

Now my only misgiving is will 2 to 3 days of EIPIC be enough for my DD? As the diagnosis given is GDD (though my initial suspicion was autism; anw it can’t be ruled out yet; I hope no one thinks that I’m gate crashing this thread), she’ll only qualify for 2 to 3 days of EIPIC. But I suppose I can put into practice strategies I’ve learnt on the other days. I’ve considered putting her into private EIPIC at Dynamics for about $300 more for a 5 day programme (the per hourly cost is actually lower than AWWA’s though there are other initial blood suckling charges) but the logistics will be crazy.

When your DS was 2.5 years old and attending EIPIC, did he attend any day care or play group / nursery programme? Wondering if I should cut that out to save money. Wanted to withdraw DD in Dec but KKH OT says interacting with other kids is good for her so I let her stay in daycare but cut it down to 3 days instead.

So u actually started engaging a private ST when your DS started to talk? I’ve made an appt to consult a private ST already cos I’m peeved with the super long waiting time at KKH. I hope my girl will be compliant enough otherwise it’s money going down the drain.

[scang]

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

belachanbabe, you have brought up good points above. Unfortunately, the govt don't think that way. Instead, they simply made the middle class and sandwich generation subsidize the lower income, so that explains why the middle class are paying so much more for EIPIC, and the lower income are having reduced fees.

I totally understand Tyeogh frustration and unhappiness.
But the fault isn't on AWWA, as they are given less subsidies like every EIPIC centres, forcing them to allocate more of the limited subsidy for the lower income, and very much less for the middle class.

At the end of the day, we are all forced to choose the best solution out of the given situation to give the most appropriate choice that we believe in based on the limited resources and time.

[tyeogh]

Hi seoulover,

Happy to have helped. Many kind parents helped me here years ago so I wish to pay it forward.

I cannot tell you what to do so I will tell you what I did.

My son started AWWA EIPIC with 2 days a week. Then, they did not have a 3 days program. I wrote in to ask for more days and I believe, with similar requests from other parents, they surveyed, found their demand and organized a 3 days program the next year.

You are right about keeping the other free days to do \"homework\" on her. You can't rush such things. The only other public EIPIC I am aware of that offers 4 days is ARC. It shares the same campus with Pathlight and offers direct access into Pathlight at Primary 1. By direct, it means ARC students need not go through Pathlight assessors again since they share assessors and therefore get priority. I did apply and was offered a place in ARC. I turned it down because they did not offer a transport solution.

When my son was 2.5 y.o., he attended mainstream kindergarten in the morning. Then he goes for AWWA in the afternoon with my helper. My wife and me work, so we can't send him there.

According to his mainstream kindy teachers, he was a nightmare. They called him \"opposition party\". He wouldn't comply. Likely because he could not communicate and he wanted things his way. So he will whine, cry, bang his head on the floor etc. We insisted on keeping him at a mainstream kindergarten for the same reason your KKH OT suggested - to let him interact with NT kids. We avoided his kindy teacher each time she wanted to complain. What to do? She and her principal eventually recommended DS to stay back 1 year in Nursery level else they will refuse us a place. I readily agreed. He is now back to his age appropriate class at K2 because of his rapid progress.

On your question of a private ST, being a bona fide kiasu parent, we got him private ST at 2.5 y.o. It was a tumultuous journey. We sent him to Olive Tree at United Square. They kept changing ST. ST kept resigning after targets were set and DS got acclimatized. By the 4th ST, I gave up. Looked up Dynamics. Found that pretty German blonde's CV. She was equipped with PROMPT qualification. She taught my son well. Then, she had to go back to Germany to get married. (More of industry high turnover norm than Murphy's Law). Her replacement was an Aussie woman. She set goals that sounded more like grammar than speech. By then, I realized DS was more or less talking enough and it was not worth paying ST rates to learn grammar so I stopped it. I think DS was 4 y.o. then.

I never considered Dynamics EIPIC because I didn't think it would match up to AWWA's.

Yes, compliance was an issue I had with my son. However it should not be an issue for an experienced ST. You are right in not getting the full mileage out of each session. That's how the cookie crumbles for people like us, unfortunately. Sigh

[sharonkhoo]

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.

What makes you suspect ASD? Your main description seems to be about his weak MT, which is not necessarily an ASD issue. My daughter, who has Asperger's, is actually quite OK with MT, but we had her exempted because we have been overseas for too many years for her to catch up, and she has other learning disabilities which have made Maths (more important than MT, in my opinion), a real struggle. Is his difficulty with oral because of social interaction difficulties or does he have other issues? I know my daughter would have difficulty with oral, but more because of her poor auditory processing.

What difficulties does your son have with food? My daughter had difficulty chewing and swallowing in the early years due to motor coordination issues, but by 10yo she was OK (she's just turned 18). Again, that's not necessarily an ASD issue. She still avoids sticky and mushy foods, avoids very cold foods like ice cream (both mushy and cold), and is quite unadventurous with food. But she does eat enough variety that she will always be able to find something to eat.

The psychologist that I brought my daughter to when she was 14yo is apparently very busy with long waiting lists. I hope someone else can recommend another one to you.

[sharonkhoo]

Has anyone watched "The Imitation Game"? I just watched it yesterday. It portrays Alan Turing as a man with Asperger’s (although in real life, he was only quirky, not as severe as portrayed). It was an interesting portrayal of what such a person can be as an adult, and also quite heart-wrenching for those of us who have kids like that. Very good acting by Cumberbatch.

[tyeogh]

Nope. Just Rainman and that was years ago. Why would I want to watch a movie to further break my heart?


My wife picked a korean drama about an autistic doctor. I questioned her why would she want to voluntarily watch something she knows she will cry to.

Maybe this is the difference between us. You Venus people are weird to us Martians.

Don't hammer me hor. Each of you have one at home

[pinkamoon]

Hi slmkhoo & tyeogh, I watched it and I like the movie too. Watching the movie did not further break my heart although I must admit that I did for a second suddenly thought of my son and what if bullying takes place in school too.


Not many movies give us a chance to peek into lives and futures of people in the spectrum. To me, these are opportunities to help me prepare and warn me of future challenges that my son may face. tyeogh, if you think your wife only likes to cry while watching dramas, there are plenty of titles to choose from. Have you not thought of y that particular one? It is for the hope it gives her (doctor) and challenges he may face as a doctor with ASD. In this aspect, you are no match to your wife. No matter how painful it gets, she is not afraid of opening the old wound. It is this courage that we parents need to help our children on this journey.

Maybe you can try to get a pair of tickets to the movie and watch it with your wife. Don't be afraid, you will be fine.


“Sometimes it’s the people no one imagines anything of who do the things no one can imagine\"