All About Autism
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I am an outsider. I agree, good to get a professional opinion. May I just point out my third party observation? If your child is an only child without similar age cousins, he may simply be naive of how to interact with: (i) same age peers and (ii) group lesson type of setting. These are naturally picked up by kids who have siblings. My son was an only child, so I had to coach him specifically in such things.
If you have not been actively coaching your child in this, you can try this (while waiting for the assessment outcome) and see if he is able to catch it. For example at playgrounds suggest ways for him to chitchat about toys or sharing snacks etc…invite 1-2 classmates for play dates…bring him to some accompanied classes or workshops (eg a fun parent-child baking class) where an instructor gives instructions to a big group of students. Every time the teacher talks, stress to him the need to LISTEN to the teacher. Shhhh listen carefully, she is saying sthg important. I recall I had to coach that specifically to my DS. At home us caregivers talk to our only child 1-1 directly by name, so they dunno about group instructions. -
selective mutism
https://www.parents.com/health/mental/children-and-selective-mutism/
https://singaporemotherhood.com/articles/2017/01/selective-mutism-child-quiet-speech/
NUH level 4 Clinic handle sm cases (by appointment)
https://www.nuh.com.sg/umc/patients-and-visitors/diseases-and-conditions/mind/selective-mutism.html
https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?p=445365 -
Hi Tyeogh,
:goodpost:
Thank you very much for sharing and glad to hear that your kid is doing well!
Point taken, parental support is very important on a consistent basis and it is a 3-way relationship with the teacher, parent and child! This is so that the child can reach his full potential.... ( now such talk make sense to me....). Am now exploring home-schooling materials and doing finely graded reading with my boy. I like those materials that are simple and straight-forward, teaching concepts step-by-step and bit-by-bit so that my boy can handle with minimum stress.
Surely there is a way and we don't give up. Take care and God Bless!
:celebrate: -
Gekko:
Hi Gekko,Hi all parents
I have been reading this forum and finds it very encouraging and supportive. Also a lot of knowledge is learnt. I would appreciate if anyone could advise me. I have a five years and ten months old son and now in his K2 class at MS preschool since he was in PG. The findings with my son are below:
- need to give 1-1 instructions to get tasks done at school. not following group instructions
- poor social skills ( he wants friends but he keeps quiet at school despite very talkative at home)
- he keeps conversation on-going with parents, FDW, and some relative but not at school.
when I showed a video clip of his conversation with me and my hubby to his teachers, they commented that they are seeing two different person.
- he loves to go out, enjoy at playground but not communicate with other kids unless they initiated.
His K2 teachers advised me to go check up his development at KK. Then KK may advise for speech therapy and/or other necessary therapy for social skill. Else my son will have difficulty in P1 next year. I will surely go to polyclinic and get referral letter for KK appointment. I would like to know if I should start therapy while waiting for KK appointment. Which therapy or early intervention centre will be recommended? The issues my sons have means ASD? I took some online tools to check ASD, Aspergers and PDD-NOS and showing no/a little symptoms. I have no idea how this tools are reliable.
Thank you so much.
How about social skill classes? I have heard about them. But I don't have any personal experience. -
Hi
What are the ways to help our children to improve social communication skill? -
Snow24:
You've asked questions like this several times over the years and received replies from several people. Have any of the things suggested been of any help?Hi
What are the ways to help our children to improve social communication skill?
As I've said before, the main thing that helps is constant exposure, repetition, practice, explanation. Role playing and social stories are better than just giving instructions in the early years. How exactly you do it depends on your child's communication level at the time. I'm still working on my 21-yr-old daughter who has Asperger's. Although still awkward and not very natural, she has made it through 1 year of university and is on Day 3 of a temp job (we had to arrange it through a friend as she didn't make it past interviews). It can seem extremely slow and fruitless, but it pays off over time. -
Gekko:
I've been busy, and just saw your post. I would say that if your son is fine at home but doesn't talk in school, it may not be ASD. It could be that he's shy, or finds kids his own age intimidating. It seems that he doesn't have issues communicating with adults. But adults are usually very nice to kids - they let them direct the conversation, they listen, they don't interrupt, they are rarely rude or impatient. Your son, if he has no siblings, may not know how to adapt to other kids' conversation topics, cope with interruptions, other people's disinterest etc. In this case, you may want to be less \"nice\" to him at home, and ask the grandparents etc to be less \"nice\" too. You can try role-playing, and teach him how to initiate conversations, or how to respond and continue a conversation with another kid.Hi all parents
I have been reading this forum and finds it very encouraging and supportive. Also a lot of knowledge is learnt. I would appreciate if anyone could advise me. I have a five years and ten months old son and now in his K2 class at MS preschool since he was in PG. The findings with my son are below:
- need to give 1-1 instructions to get tasks done at school. not following group instructions
- poor social skills ( he wants friends but he keeps quiet at school despite very talkative at home)
- he keeps conversation on-going with parents, FDW, and some relative but not at school.
when I showed a video clip of his conversation with me and my hubby to his teachers, they commented that they are seeing two different person.
- he loves to go out, enjoy at playground but not communicate with other kids unless they initiated.
His K2 teachers advised me to go check up his development at KK. Then KK may advise for speech therapy and/or other necessary therapy for social skill. Else my son will have difficulty in P1 next year. I will surely go to polyclinic and get referral letter for KK appointment. I would like to know if I should start therapy while waiting for KK appointment. Which therapy or early intervention centre will be recommended? The issues my sons have means ASD? I took some online tools to check ASD, Aspergers and PDD-NOS and showing no/a little symptoms. I have no idea how this tools are reliable.
Thank you so much.
As for taking group instructions, again, if he is used to 1-to-1 interactions at home and being the centre of attention, he may not be used to being part of a group. More exposure and reminders (and maybe some punishments) may be all that is necessary. -
Snow24:
It depends on which stage your child is at?Hi
What are the ways to help our children to improve social communication skill?
Got eye contact with caregiver? If don’t have, need to start from there first.
Speaking yet? If not, gotta use communication cards first.
Can talk but only monologue instead of 2-way conversation? Gotta use toys to role play.
Primary/secondary school onwards: Can have conversation but cannot detect visual feedback (body language cues) from the other party? Or says frank but socially inappropriate comments? These 2 issues also can train to rectify.
Some articles which are useful:
https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/pages/Helping-Your-Child-Develop-Communication-Skills
https://www.parentingscience.com/social-skills-activities.html
https://www.autismspeaks.org/sites/default/files/documents/family-services/improve_social.pdf
https://childdevelopment.com.au/areas-of-concern/play-and-social-skills/social-skills/ -
Gekko,
Excellent input from Slmkhoo, do consider shyness and lack of social skills as well.
Some kids just need more social coaching, some kids need more confidence building, and some kids need some expert input.
Do consider the following:
1) if he shows an interest in other children eg at the playground, he hovers near them and watch them; or does he avoid them?
2) if he is interested, does he miss social cues when he can join in, or is he just too shy?
3) if he is not interested, is it because he finds other children irritating, noisy, annoying or just of no interest?
4) for group instructions, is he unable to understand the instructions, or is he unable to filter out other sensory input in the room to focus on the instructions? Or does he have no interest in the teacher and her instructions?
This is just some questions off the top of my head, of things I would look out for before deciding where the issue lies.
Within the home environment, everything is structured and familiar and the social setting is less complex (complexity increases with number of people). This makes it much easier for children to navigate, be it shy children, children with sensory issues, or children with social language difficulties. Rest assured that they can all function and develope well with appropriate coaching and encouragement. -
Gekko,
How is his general knowledge and early academics?
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