All About Autism

[Michelle_Lim75]

Wow DesertWind! I am really very happy that your boy has made such improvements! I hope that my boy will be able to be as independent as well..


My husband and I are suspecting that our second child might have some learning difficulties. Since we heard from our friend that there is a free workshop at the Olive Tree Educentre and I think we will head down to listen to the talk. Anyone else who is interested can head down for the talk as well!

I visited Olive Tree's Facebook page and found the details of the workshop,

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Date: Thur 5 February 7-9pm
Refreshments and Sharing
Venue : Olive Tree EduCentre (OTEC)
1 Goldhill Plaza #03-27 Podium Block
(Next to United Square)

Register : Contact [email protected] 96783211 / 62525200. (Free Registration)
Website: http://www.olive-tree.sg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/olivetreedevelopmentcenter

Topic: Understanding Learning Difficulties - How to help your child to cope with learning challenges

Synopsis of Talk

Does your child struggle to cope with reading, writing, comprehension or tackling a math concept? If problems are consistently, it might indicate a learning difficulty or disorder. Getting to understand their condition is the first step towards helping them to cope with their learning challenges.

This talk provides an overview of what Learning Difficulties encompasses and its indicators/signs. It is important to understanding on how the brain is wired differently for children with learning difficulties and the implication on learning processes. The talk also includes some useful strategies that can be beneficial for a child to cope with learning difficulties.
As we plan for an interactive discussion, we will limit the group size to only 12-15 parents @ OTEC.

I hope that all parents who are facing the same difficulties as us will be able to overcome all challenges eventually

[DesertWind]

tyeogh:

Mai di di wink at me lah. I tell my wife ah.....LoL

You go sister!

Hi bro tyeogh,

Tell lor...you and your wifey are so romantic I gathered from your sharing that she must be quite a sweet and pretty little thing! (wink..wink..wink) :evil:

Yes, and I also proclaim \"Restoration!\"

Happy to hear that your boy has improved so much as well, tyeogh!
But is it because he is your youngest boy that's why you do not want to delay his P1 at all?

[DesertWind]

Nebbermind:

Great news!

:celebrate:

Thanks, Nebbermind!

[DesertWind]

Double E:

Desertwind,

Good to hear that your son is gradually settling down in mainstream. Hope you can 'ditch' the shadow teacher by next term.
Just curious, if you boy can sort of settle down in mainstream, what is Pathlight's reason for not accepting your boy?

Hi Double E!

My boy went for the Pathlight assessment (2 hours) and he cried and yelled \"don't want\" for 45 mins. In the classroom he did not want to sit still and cooperate at all. When he started getting fussy, one assistant offered him a squeezy ball and blu-tag which he refused to take. They could not get him to do anything and the assessor wrote down \"no pen to paper work attempted\".

In the first place, my boy did not go through the ARC-EIPIC route and he has never been to Pathlight before. That was the first time but it was deemed as no excuse as well.

I also submitted a whole bag of his sped/kindergarten workbooks which he wrote very nicely for their consideration. The verdict is that this does not mean anything to them, it only showed that he needed one-to-one attention. :scared: :yikes: :mad:

So I took back the bag and went my way.

What I want to say is that IF you choose to believe everything that everybody else says about your boy and let them get you down, then the game is over...for your boy! You must look at all the good points of your boy and then cling tenaciously to the belief that he can do it! If we don't believe in our own kid, nobody else will.

Having said that, it really is \"no joke\" starting mainstream P1. The boy must really be able to be independent to go around on his own. Since my boy's school shorts got stuck, I had scrambled to change all his school-shorts buttons into hooks and rubberized both sides so that it is more flexible and easier for him to handle. Thank God he did not fuss at having to wear the school uniform (shirt) and we did not have to deal with any sensory issues be it sight or sound. He also has no problem with eating so we need not visit during recess at all.

I have more to share but will leave it to the next time, gotta go!

[tyeogh]

DesertWind:

tyeogh:

Mai di di wink at me lah. I tell my wife ah.....LoL

You go sister!

Hi bro tyeogh,

Tell lor...you and your wifey are so romantic I gathered from your sharing that she must be quite a sweet and pretty little thing! (wink..wink..wink) :evil:

Yes, and I also proclaim \"Restoration!\"

Happy to hear that your boy has improved so much as well, tyeogh!
But is it because he is your youngest boy that's why you do not want to delay his P1 at all?

Hi DesertWind,
I told my wife about you and your son. She told me to talk to you more. Alamak! :slapshead:

She was inspired by your sharing.

Restoration!!

Huh? Don't understand the link between youngest boy and delaying P1. I have had so many favourable reports from people who worked with him so I just put him back at his age appropriate level, and let our boss figure the rest.

The same teacher who downgraded him recommended the upgrade. Its her principal that objected mainly because she has no slots. We received a call recently from his current K2 form teacher saying that he is doing fine in class. Told us not to worry.

[Double E]

DesertWind:

Double E:

Desertwind,

Good to hear that your son is gradually settling down in mainstream. Hope you can 'ditch' the shadow teacher by next term.
Just curious, if you boy can sort of settle down in mainstream, what is Pathlight's reason for not accepting your boy?

Hi Double E!

My boy went for the Pathlight assessment (2 hours) and he cried and yelled \"don't want\" for 45 mins. In the classroom he did not want to sit still and cooperate at all. When he started getting fussy, one assistant offered him a squeezy ball and blu-tag which he refused to take. They could not get him to do anything and the assessor wrote down \"no pen to paper work attempted\".

In the first place, my boy did not go through the ARC-EIPIC route and he has never been to Pathlight before. That was the first time but it was deemed as no excuse as well.

I also submitted a whole bag of his sped/kindergarten workbooks which he wrote very nicely for their consideration. The verdict is that this does not mean anything to them, it only showed that he needed one-to-one attention. :scared: :yikes: :mad:

So I took back the bag and went my way.

What I want to say is that IF you choose to believe everything that everybody else says about your boy and let them get you down, then the game is over...for your boy! You must look at all the good points of your boy and then cling tenaciously to the belief that he can do it! If we don't believe in our own kid, nobody else will.

Having said that, it really is \"no joke\" starting mainstream P1. The boy must really be able to be independent to go around on his own. Since my boy's school shorts got stuck, I had scrambled to change all his school-shorts buttons into hooks and rubberized both sides so that it is more flexible and easier for him to handle. Thank God he did not fuss at having to wear the school uniform (shirt) and we did not have to deal with any sensory issues be it sight or sound. He also has no problem with eating so we need not visit during recess at all.

I have more to share but will leave it to the next time, gotta go!

Totally agree with you on this that if we believe everything that others say abt our kids, then we are doomed. We know our kids best, so even if what the others say is true, we have to find ways to overcome them and not let their judgement be the final verdict for our special kids.

[Cool Cool]

Hi tyeogh,


Thanks for your explanation.

I know I can google all these acronym. But just that a little bit confused cos the early intervention program of the school i visited has 1/2 day and full day program (5 days a week). So I think it’s like a school.

And I feel more depressed after viewing the school, the school is very run down and the rooms are stuffy and a little dark. And the students are mixed. I saw one down syndrome boy also. The teachers are aunties and relax type. Anyway, the lady who was showing around the school said my son is not ready for class room setting and suggested to take combined therapy (OT and ST) first. I had high hope in this school cos it’s in the west. Can take bus (about 15 stops) and cheapest in private school (15k per year). But now… I need to look for another school.

For applying PR, I applied and was rejected even though we have been PR for 10 years. Nowadays gov doesn’t grant PR for children of PRs. I think it’s the policy. Any way, i will keep applying.

[Couragemom]

Hi Cool Cool,


Oh dear! Don’t despair! Perhaps in the meantime while searching for a suitable special needs school near your vicinity, let your son continue in his playgroup but you supplement with intervention therapy such as OT, ST and Sped/ABA.

Ok, let me explain abit more (hope you understand what I mean) -

In a special needs school or early intervention program (both govt and private), the teachers are trained in special needs and their teaching methods are also different from normal kindergarten or childcare. They use methods such as pecs for non-verbal students and also know how to handle the student during a meltdown. The point of going for such a school or program is to ensure some form of learning (both academic and non-academic) can take place by deploying techniques to gain a child’s joint attention and focus.

For therapies such as OT and ST, it is usually one-to-one session to help the child in his specific weaknesses.

For ABA lesson, I believed the basic belief is for it to work well, we must commit at least 30 hours (parents, please help to correct if wrong) per week. Thus you can either bring your son to a ABA centre for intervention or there are some home-based program where the ABA therapist come to your house to coach your son. I believe another mommy in this thread, fluttershy, brings her son for ABA class everyday. Perhaps you can check with her for more details?

[Couragemom]

Hi Dessertwind,


Thanks for sharing! All victories both big and small are celebrated by us all as we know they don’t come easy and the tons of blood and tears to get our little ones to where they are now is no small feat! I believe it is the only thread where we can safely ‘brag’ about our little one and nobody will think we are those ‘cannot lose’ type of parents! Hahaha…

[tyeogh]

Looks like forum crashed. This is all they retrieved. Do we have to repost everything we said before