All About Autism

[djskye]

The WhatsApp group is open! Do PM me for the link!

[zac's mum]

https://www.littledayout.com/2018/12/28/quiet-hour-toys-r-us-youth-corps-singapore/?utm_source=Little+Day+Out+eNewsletter&utm_campaign=903e31f46b-eNewsletter_20180111_268_2018Activities_FamilyRuns&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f391a0af31-903e31f46b-44376061


‘Quiet Hour at Toys “R” Us: A Special Shopping Experience’ - Article published by Little Day Out (a parenting blog/newsletter)

I found the article a very good read, and it is an initiative worth applauding! Sharing some snippets from the article:

On Sunday, 16 December 2018, an hour before the store’s usual opening time of 10 am, some families got to shop at Toys “R” Us VivoCity before the crowds arrived as part of the Quiet Hour initiative.
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Quiet Hour was conceived as a way for children on the Autism Spectrum to explore Toys “R” Us on their own terms.
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During Quiet Hour, the store’s lights are dimmed, television screens which usually blare out loud advertisements are turned off and the music volume is kept to a minimum. These steps are taken to keep the environment as calm as possible and prevent children participating in Quiet Hour at Toys “R” Us from feeling being overwhelmed.
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Elaborating further, Samantha Lee, Marketing Manager for Singapore & Brunei, Toys “R” Us, said, “Quiet Hour happens twice a year, in the month of April, as well as in December. We have it in April in conjunction with Autism Awareness Month and December because it is Christmas and we hope to include everyone in the festivities.”

[swortionery]

Fantastic initiative! Glad the kids got the chance to experience this :). Toys R Us typically isn't the best place for kids on the spectrum to go to, especially during peak hours.

[Crossroads]

Dear Parents,

I am father of a 4 year boy who was assessed by KKH a year ago. The developmental paediatric doc there suggested he has ASD. he was exactly 3yrs 4 months at the time. When he was between 2 and 3 years old, we did notice odd signs but made the mistake of assuming those were normal delays - until we saw a doc who noticed some key behavioural issues. What we noticed were issues like: not answering to his name, keeping to himself, not responding to requests. At KKH at age 3.4 yrs, many other aspects were observed like very less eye contact, 1-2 word speech only, not understanding verbal cues, lining up cars, not being able to jump, not expressing himslef at all, not poinitng.
Fast fwd to now at 3 yr 11months, after interventions of 6 days a week (social,behavioral and kiddie gym), my son is able to talk 5-8 word sentences, responds 7-8/10 times to his name or to requests, expresses almost all his needs well, enjoys playing with peers/friends downstairs but does limit fully interacting with peers, has 70-80% eye contact, happy and cheerful most of the time (as always), comments while we read books, rarely lines up cars. At school however, his teacher mentions that he barely talks to peers- only sometimes. But he does respond to her questions and instructions. And is on par academically (its just Nursery1 though).
With his progress in 7months of intervention, we are now wondering if it’s truly ASD. Could anyone share their experiences if you have had improvements at similar pace? i would still continue with interventions no matter what, as we are still searching for ways to being him on par with NTs, but would like to hear your experiences.
Also, we have seen him improve in spurts every 2.5-3 months. In his last spurt when there were no interventions (due to 1.5 month holidays from mid Nov) was when we saw his best spurt where we saw him speak more and more and express more.
A long one sorry, hope to hear from you. Thanks for reading.

[swortionery]

Glad to hear your boy’s made good progress! Kids on the spectrum have different degrees of the typical traits of ASD. I would say the best gauge would be a couple of years from now when your boy’s maturing, to see how he copes with situations of different stress levels. Echolalia, stimming, etc, while common, may not apply to everyone who’s on the spectrum. I’ve had clients before who were diagnosed with ASD, but seemed almost neurotypical (until I noticed a couple of giveaways). I’ve had students with ASD who simply couldn’t make eye contact for more than 3 seconds, but could get humour, figurative language, etc. I’ve also had students who could maintain eye contact, but who had difficulty verbalising or expressing their thoughts in a conventional manner.


At the end of the day though, it shouldn’t really matter what the label is. I still believe it is important, at least for the purpose of better understanding the child’s needs, but post-intervention, when the child understands how to adhere to expectations, then the label doesn’t really matter anymore. In fact, there’s a cliche in my line of work that most neurotypical people, to some degree, have experienced traits from a learning difficulty at least once in their lives. Hard to ascertain its veracity, but it does make a point about how differently our minds work, even those under a label.

[chickamums]

https://i.postimg.cc/Gmzpjtjy/8-A8172-C7-CD27-4827-9-DF0-184-FFF71617-E.jpg\">

[bsk]

Hi

My Daughter is 10 year old(In P5) now. Her school teacher mentioned she might have mild autism and asked us to get it assessed. Actually her academic is good and normal routine everything is perfect… the only abnormality that I see is her eye contact is slightly bad when talking… my husband got so mad on the teachers remark and wasn’t willing to take her to doctor, now that she is in P5, I want to get it assessed., but not sure where to get it checked for mild auto.she is a perfectly normal person otherwise . Appreciate if someone can recommend some doctors here…

[phtthp]

bsk:

Hi


My Daughter is 10 year old (In P5) now.

Her school teacher mentioned she might have mild autism and asked us to get it assessed. Actually her academic is good and normal routine everything is perfect.. the only abnormality that I see is her eye contact is slightly bad when talking.. my husband got so mad on the teachers remark and wasn’t willing to take her to doctor, now that she is in P5, I want to get it assessed., but not sure where to get it checked for mild auto.she is a perfectly normal person otherwise . Appreciate if someone can recommend some doctors here..

Are you in a hurry, to see the doctors ?

if not in a hurry, go via Polyclinic get a referal letter to KK Hospital, tell them u want to see a doctor who are familiar with autism cases. This way, is cheaper, with a referal letter. The doctor will ask u, why u suspect your daughter of autism. So, u just tell the doctor, what her Form Tr and subject Tr in school, had observed her.

But if u are in a hurry, then maybe someone here can recommend u a private doctor

[bsk]

Thanks for the reply. Would like to hear from private doctors

[bookshopper]

Hi Parents,


any recommendation private early EPIC with PPIP near yishun or woodland? My boy with 2yr just diagnosed last week and i m new here. Will need to seek advice or any parent support group that can join?