All About Autism

[ImMeeMee]

twinstar3393:

Hi, i have a question - my 5 yrs boy has been going through EPIC, ST, OT & 1-1 tuition by special needs teacher on top of his mainstream. While all of them always tell me he is quite smart, the learning is very slow as he has task avoidance and high personal agenda behaviour. Till now, they are repeating him the basics of numbers, alphapets etc which he knows very well. No transition to simple addition, subtractions etc. Reason they quoted was they know that he has all the fundamental knowlege but he is not willing to cooperate and display. Can't write too as he is not willing to even hold on to a pencil. Any ideas what should i do? Very worrying as he is turning 6 nx year. Though we already planned to defer him by 1 year at least but i am beginning to wonder if he will make it to PL or mainstream. Sigh.....

Agree with slmkhoo to expose your child to interesting experiences other than the 'lesson' setting. Parents can always take the initiative at the home setting by doing something simple, eg. you can start simple addition with adding one biscuit to one biscuit, one toy to two toys, etc. and similarly with subtraction by eating away one cookie from three cookies etc. Our children work best with visuals and manipulatives, esp if these are items that they can relate to in everyday life. May not have to wait for the therapists.

I too use the home setting to coach my doter on math concepts, eg. splitting up Pretz sticks equally among her and her two sisters to reinforce division, lining up her fav toy cars to teach about positioning etc. Sometimes I read ahead of the Math syllabus and embed the learning into home setting, cos she needs a lot of drills to get concepts into her head, and every opportunity helps. Back then while I was trying to teach her the multiplication tables, I used the opportunity of brushing teeth everyday to reinforce. Instead of counting 1,2,3 on her brush strokes, I chanted the multiplication tables to her. Now, she is proud of her skip counting and multiplication is her fav topic.

Hope this helps.

[ImMeeMee]

Parents


Do you have contacts of optometrists/opticians who are experienced in handling our children? I brought my doter to our family optician but I realize that he is not able to handle her well.

Am also not sure if HPB would entertain. They gave her an appointment for consultation and prescription when she was in P1 but told me that they do not do prescriptions for children who are P2 onwards.

[Couragemom]

Hi ImMeeMee,


This is the contact passed to me by my son's PT. But I don't think it is exactly what you are looking for? I did called to ask b4 if they do eye screening for special needs children and the staff said yes. But I didn't go in the end as my son wasn't very verbal last year and I was afraid his eye check result will be distorted due to it. Perhaps you can call and ask? It is also quite expensive.

http://www.drleoeyespecialist.com/mobile/index.html

[ImMeeMee]

Couragemom


Thanks for the contact, albeit it's an ophthalmologist. Yah think it's not easy to find optometrists who are experienced in this area.

Will call HPB and see if they have recommendations. :xedfingers:

[Snow24]

Hi


Anyone got good speech therapist to recommend to work on mild language delay and functional communication.

Thank you

[pinkamoon]

twinstar3393:

Hi, i have a question - my 5 yrs boy has been going through EPIC, ST, OT & 1-1 tuition by special needs teacher on top of his mainstream. While all of them always tell me he is quite smart, the learning is very slow as he has task avoidance and high personal agenda behaviour. Till now, they are repeating him the basics of numbers, alphapets etc which he knows very well. No transition to simple addition, subtractions etc.

Hi Twinstar3393!
It has been a long time since I last visited this forum as I was busy my son's P1. He is attending mainstream (1 year deferment) this year and it has not been smooth sailing but I am glad to say that he has managed to adapt to school life.

My son was not recommended for mainstream and I did not bring him for any school readiness test. He was not very verbal at 6 years old and it was this reason I decided to defer him. He was very hyperactive and had low attention span.

He had little interest in what teachers taught him so most of the syllabus was taught by me at home. He had low muscle tone too and could neither catch a ball nor could he ride a tricycle. Like your son, when it was something of his interest, he could jump and run like no one's business.

To start my son on work, I designed learning around his interest. He liked numbers, so he did a lot of dot to dot exercises, puzzles with numbers etc. Because he liked alphabets, I bought phonics fridge magnets for him to learn phonics and spelling. So all learning through play was fun and engaging for him.

My son has come a long way. He used to hit his head against the sofa everyday and had difficulties with speech. He could not stop running when he was outside. I did GAPS diet for 3.5 years with him, giving his body only true organic food. When his body started to heal, he started to be able to sit down and listen to instructions. I spent half a year on full Sonrise programme while doing neuro feedback with him daily. Everything contributed to his improvements that I see now.

So, my message to mummies and daddies is to never give up on our children. They are what they are now because their body is loaded with toxins affecting their behaviour and learning. Playing and real interactions make them understand social skills. Neuro feedback speeds up the brain's ability to rewire and improving the desired brainwaves.

I always feel that teachers and therapists can only do that much. Everything else has to be done by parents. Loving them and spending time with them is the most important thing. For me, learning can always come later. Speech and sociability was priority.

[Snow24]

Hi


How do we get our kids to be more ‘regulated’ when outside so that he can listen and follow instructions, not running around.

[sharonkhoo]

Is he very different at home? If he is, then compare what triggers the less-regulated behaviour and see what you can do to minimise it. At the same time, you can give him limited, controlled exposure to those triggers and slowly get him used to them. For my daughter, when she was young, we had to limit the time she spent in crowded, noisy, highly-stimulating environments. Usually, we would only plan to be there for short periods and then leave. If errands needed to be run, we would take turns or do them when she wasn’t with us. We also taught her to cover her ears when things were too noisy, wear a cap when lights were too bright, and we would find quieter spaces for her to recover if necessary. If we needed to deliver instructions, we would find a quiet place, get her calmed down, make eye contact, and speak slowly and clearly. It also helps if the same standards of behaviour are expected at home as outside, and the instructions are given with the same words. She got much better as she got older but still avoids noisy and crowded places if she can. Hope this helps.

[pinkamoon]

Snow24:

Hi


How do we get our kids to be more 'regulated' when outside so that he can listen and follow instructions, not running around.

I agree with Slmkhoo. The environment outside bombards their senses too much and they find it overwhelming, thus they regulate themselves by running around. They are trying so hard to make themselves feel much better and has no time to listen to our instructions.

So, as a sonrise mum, spending less time outside and more time playing at home will be better for your son.

Next, I would change his diet. My son was able to calm down better and walk beside me when I started to give him real food. I boiled soup, cooked organic food and meat for him and used salt and pepper to season his food. He was on no carbohydrates diet for more than 1.5 years (after which I introduced potatoes and rice)and everywhere I went, I had to bring homecooked food. After that, I started to ferment vegetables for him. The change in his diet made him understand instructions better. Within 3 months of GAPS diet, he started to come back looking for me after running away to look at lifts. In the past, he was like Forest Gum and I had to use Ipad to control him. Do google GAPS diet and you can buy a book at amazon. GAPS diet lays a good foundation for his body to expel the toxins and for his gut to heal. I saw improvements but it takes a long time for our children's body to heal. I always believe that because of food interventions, my son's body is able to heal, so by the time I implemented sonrise and Neurofeedback, he was able to make tremendous improvement in his speech and behaviour.

Just sharing my son's journey. :rahrah:

[scang]

Nice sharing.


Found the GAPS diet book.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1603585613/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1603585613&linkCode=as2&tag=g0eb1-20&linkId=D2CL2TFRQUP26EHE

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ElEeajRpL._SL110_.jpg\">