All About Autism

[pingsped]

bogcraze:

My frd told me these days teachers can't cope only anyhow asked parents to send for assessment is it true? Anyway l listened to the way they describe my son sound so alien to me. At home he got no prob sitting down and read a book for more than 30mins. He does run abt a lot, but he can sit down and complete a 48 pc jigsaw puzzle. He can do his writing( duration is abt 10-12min) while I watch my Korean show ( without being distracted, only slightly distracted during advertisement time). I even videoed it down. He can recognised Uppercase A-Z, row count 1-30 in both Eng and Ch. Recognised random lower case alphabets. Is he too slow that's y the teacher feel the need to assess him?

His teacher told me he run abt a lot, no eye contact when she's talking to him. Seems distracted most of the time, but can sit down and do his sch ( WIth interruption of movement, standing up to do other things). He can wait for his turn to play but was showing signs of implusivity.(As jumping up and down and keep saying I want I want.)Anyone here can tell me what is wrong? Or does my child only listen to me? I have been his primary caregiver since he was born, other than the 8 mths of childcare.

Pls let me knw how they assess the kids, do they do home visit? I knw that they do sch visit. As parents can we reject assessment? Pls help. Especially those parents who had gone the assessment or similar experience. Thank you in advance.

Hi bogcraze

I'm a educational therapist who has worked with children with autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, etc

Most responsible teachers do not ask parents to seek help or assessment unnecessarily. Experienced pre-school teachers have taught hundreds of children. When a child is very different from peers, they can tell immediately. Some teachers only provide feedback when the child is disruptive. It appears that 2nd school is genuinely concerned with your child's development as he is not showing signs of learning difficulties.

There may be some developmental issues as 2 schools have expressed concern about your child.

You can get a referral from polyclinics for assessment at NUH or KKH.
School visits are sometimes done for children who are receiving therapy, not assessment.

I have seen a number of children who were dyslexic but were mis-diagnosed as having ASD as they were unresponsive or very difficult and nonverbal when they were younger (below 3.5 yrs old). It is uncommon for a child to be mis-diagnosed after 5 or if they are verbal.

The label is not impt. Getting relevant help is more impt. I see lots of parents, esp fathers, who are unable to accept that their child has special needs until it is too late.

Just drop by the school for observation so that you can have a better idea of your child's behaviour outside home and his peers' behaviour.


Hope this helps.

[trijoy]

Hi Parents,


I need to know if there’s reasonable priced kindy in Tampines/ Pasir Ris/ Simei that will take in my son ? as I wanted him to attend mainstream kindy with teachers who are happened to be SN trained. Those special schools r too expensive for us. Thanks

[cnimed]

Hi Trijoy,


I don’t know kindergartens in the area you specified, but while my son was there, Maris Stella Church Kindergarten (near Botanic Gardens) did take high functioning autistic children, ADHD kids and kids with developmnental delays. They have a pullout programme for these kids called BrainGym which is an exercise programme that is supposed to help activate parts of the brain. While my son was there, there were two personnel trained to faciliate BrainGym and they would take the specific kids for that. Teachers will also explain to other kids and ask them to help. My son used to help a high functioning autistic child when he was there during his Nursery year. The fees are reasonable.

hth.

[pingsped]

trijoy:

Hi Parents,


I need to know if there's reasonable priced kindy in Tampines/ Pasir Ris/ Simei that will take in my son ? as I wanted him to attend mainstream kindy with teachers who are happened to be SN trained. Those special schools r too expensive for us. Thanks

PCF now has a special edn needs (SEN) team which supports its, urm, 246 kindergartens island-wide.

As I understand fr a friend, you need to put in a request to teacher/ctr principal before the SEN team can come in to assist. It may be helpful if you print out the page and ask the principal for clarification/assistance.

http://www.pcf.org.sg/viewarticle.aspx?wfc=HOMESEN

According to the webby, the SEN team consists of 5 individuals, so they are unable to provide help for kids who require close supervision on a long-term basis.

PCF's class size is LARGE; it is unrealistic to expect SN-trained teachers to teach 15-25 kids and attend to special needs kids who are unable to attend to instructions.

I have several clients who were in PCF kindies but the centre principals never referred them to HQ SEN team as teachers were able to manage. kids' profile : verbal, inattentive intermittently and have minimal disruptive tantrums.

I know of a few cases in (unnamed) kindies, whereby the kids were left to wander around the centres or kept with pantry aunties. So pls keep tabs on your child's school.

regards,
Ping

[trijoy]

Hi deminic, pingsped,


Thanks for all the info

[bogcraze]

pingsped:

bogcraze:

My frd told me these days teachers can't cope only anyhow asked parents to send for assessment is it true? Anyway l listened to the way they describe my son sound so alien to me. At home he got no prob sitting down and read a book for more than 30mins. He does run abt a lot, but he can sit down and complete a 48 pc jigsaw puzzle. He can do his writing( duration is abt 10-12min) while I watch my Korean show ( without being distracted, only slightly distracted during advertisement time). I even videoed it down. He can recognised Uppercase A-Z, row count 1-30 in both Eng and Ch. Recognised random lower case alphabets. Is he too slow that's y the teacher feel the need to assess him?

His teacher told me he run abt a lot, no eye contact when she's talking to him. Seems distracted most of the time, but can sit down and do his sch ( WIth interruption of movement, standing up to do other things). He can wait for his turn to play but was showing signs of implusivity.(As jumping up and down and keep saying I want I want.)Anyone here can tell me what is wrong? Or does my child only listen to me? I have been his primary caregiver since he was born, other than the 8 mths of childcare.

Pls let me knw how they assess the kids, do they do home visit? I knw that they do sch visit. As parents can we reject assessment? Pls help. Especially those parents who had gone the assessment or similar experience. Thank you in advance.

Hi bogcraze

I'm a educational therapist who has worked with children with autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, etc

Most responsible teachers do not ask parents to seek help or assessment unnecessarily. Experienced pre-school teachers have taught hundreds of children. When a child is very different from peers, they can tell immediately. Some teachers only provide feedback when the child is disruptive. It appears that 2nd school is genuinely concerned with your child's development as he is not showing signs of learning difficulties.

There may be some developmental issues as 2 schools have expressed concern about your child.

You can get a referral from polyclinics for assessment at NUH or KKH.
School visits are sometimes done for children who are receiving therapy, not assessment.

I have seen a number of children who were dyslexic but were mis-diagnosed as having ASD as they were unresponsive or very difficult and nonverbal when they were younger (below 3.5 yrs old). It is uncommon for a child to be mis-diagnosed after 5 or if they are verbal.

The label is not impt. Getting relevant help is more impt. I see lots of parents, esp fathers, who are unable to accept that their child has special needs until it is too late.

Just drop by the school for observation so that you can have a better idea of your child's behaviour outside home and his peers' behaviour.


Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot Pingsped, I will try to visit the school 1 of these days to observe how he behave.

[bogcraze]

funkymonkey:

bogcraze:

Hi I am new here. Pls let me know if I should start a new thread.


My son is 3plus turning 4. Last year he attended 8mths of childcare, one moment his sch wanted us to send him for ASD aka Autism assessment. After pulling him out from the childcare, I was at home with him for 2 mths, then we had a reno done. During the reno we sent him to another childcare for 2 weeks with no complaints from the teachers and sch. Then this yr, he is attending a 3hr nursery. This is only the 3rd week and the teacher asked us to him for ADHD assessment.

My frd told me these days teachers can't cope only anyhow asked parents to send for assessment is it true? Anyway l listened to the way they describe my son sound so alien to me. At home he got no prob sitting down and read a book for more than 30mins. He does run abt a lot, but he can sit down and complete a 48 pc jigsaw puzzle. He can do his writing( duration is abt 10-12min) while I watch my Korean show ( without being distracted, only slightly distracted during advertisement time). I even videoed it down. He can recognised Uppercase A-Z, row count 1-30 in both Eng and Ch. Recognised random lower case alphabets. Is he too slow that's y the teacher feel the need to assess him?

His teacher told me he run abt a lot, no eye contact when she's talking to him. Seems distracted most of the time, but can sit down and do his sch ( WIth interruption of movement, standing up to do other things). He can wait for his turn to play but was showing signs of implusivity.(As jumping up and down and keep saying I want I want.)Anyone here can tell me what is wrong? Or does my child only listen to me? I have been his primary caregiver since he was born, other than the 8 mths of childcare.

Pls let me knw how they assess the kids, do they do home visit? I knw that they do sch visit. As parents can we reject assessment? Pls help. Especially those parents who had gone the assessment or similar experience. Thank you in advance.

Hi bogcraze,
It must be a difficult stressful time for you now.
I'd say,go with your gut feeling.If u feel that there's nothing terribly wrong with your son than that should be the case.have u discuss this with your DH or parents?
In my case, I too thought that my gal was autistic.She didn't make eye contact,did not answer to her name,seem to be in her own world,but can sit and do her own thing without bothering me...
I went to the DOctor when she was two as she was not even making sounds or speaking...she has been diagnosed with Oral Dyspraxia and later at kindy,she was diagnosed with learning difficulties and Dyslexia.
My gal is now 8 and attends P1.
She is happy healthy and very positive.So,if you think something is \"off\" with your child dun be afraid to seek help.....meantime,keep on reading on books about Autism and do some research. Lastly,maybe can show the recording to the teacher...u've got prove that he's not that disruptive...
I'm no expert,just a mmmy with a special kid.
hope you'll find answers.Good Luck! :xedfingers: :xedfingers:

Hi Funky monkey,

Thanks a lot for the info and the advice. I am truly encouraged by your sharing. yah will try to read more abt ASD and ADHD. All the best to u too.

[trijoy]

Hi funkymonkey,


The term ‘dyspraxia’ was mentioned to me that my boy might be having this instead of being ASD. Do you know what is the major diffirence between the 2 ?

Thanks

[funkymonkey]

trijoy:

Hi funkymonkey,


The term 'dyspraxia' was mentioned to me that my boy might be having this instead of being ASD. Do you know what is the major diffirence between the 2 ?

Thanks

Hi trijoy,
There are 2 types of dyspraxia.One is oral and the other is gross motor.
Kids with with oral dyspraxia have difficulty making sounds.My DD was drooling till she was four and now at 8 she sometimes still forget to swallow her saliva,especially when she is engaged in something else. she had trouble chewing ,swallowing,blowing and only managed solid food at 4 years old.She only managed to bow her birthday candles at 5.
We had to learn specific ways to massage her gums and cheeks and do exercises so that she can speak.My gal has problem with sequencing her thoughts into sentences ,prounciation and diction affected too.
Gross motor skills is ok but she has oral dyspraxia.i think kids who have dyspraxia that affects their gross motor skills hav problems with motor planning so thing like catching a ball is super hard for them.they seem clumsy and always falling into things.
Autism,from what i know has a wide range.These kids usually have problems socialising,making eye contact.some kids with autism are super
smart but seem always in their own world.
Hey,I'm no expert just a mother with a special kid.
the best is for you to check it out on the web.they've got loads on info!
Good luck to u :celebrate:

[trijoy]

Hi Funkymonkey,


Thanks, I have a lot of 'research' to do