All About Autism

[mashy]

Nugget


U don't need to tell the sch anything before enrollment. That's the beauty of Singapore edu system in the sense that everyone is entitled to enrol in mainstream. Even DS children did that. But whether they can survive in the sch is another issue.

It's important that the sch support special needs children. Altho MOE has given AED to the schs, a lot also depends on the principal and the teachers themselves.

My boy is now in P1. He's lucky that he has a supportive teacher and a good bunch of classmates. They 'mother' him around. Lol. There are two autistic kid in the class, so the form teacher got an allied teacher in the class to help. I met the other autistic kid. Both him and mine are so different even though they are both autistic.

So far my child has been coping well with sch work. Can't expect to be top of the class but he understands what is taught so I guess it's ok. We also need to put in some effort at home and closely monitor his stuff. Will have to check his bag everyday coz he doesn't tell me anything. It's important for u to have a close rapport with the teacher. When the teacher has a prob with my boy's behaviour in sch, I talked to him at home and also think of solutions. I don't just leave it to the teacher to think how to handle him. After all she still has to teach the rest of the children. So even when she has to ignore him for the sake of the class, I understand. Sometimes my boy will sit on his own and do his own stuff instead of participating. I also understand her limitations. I'm thankful that his classmates have been very protective and forgiving towards him. All very loving children.

He had a minor bullying case in school but his classmates all surrounded the bully.

[nugget]

Hi Mashy,


Thanks for your assurance. So you only declare to the school after your son have already been admitted? Cos I am visiting the schools right now and seriously dunno which one to choose. I am so worry my son will be outcast and left alone.

I did read up a bit and have shortlisted some schools that currently have ASD kids. So at least the school and teachers have the awareness and know how to handle these children.

One step at a time I guess. My kid has short attention span, how you manage to get him to complete his homework? He also likes to walk around in his class now in kindergarden when the teachers is conducting lessons.

[mashy]

nugget:

Hi Mashy,


Thanks for your assurance. So you only declare to the school after your son have already been admitted? Cos I am visiting the schools right now and seriously dunno which one to choose. I am so worry my son will be outcast and left alone.

I did read up a bit and have shortlisted some schools that currently have ASD kids. So at least the school and teachers have the awareness and know how to handle these children.

One step at a time I guess. My kid has short attention span, how you manage to get him to complete his homework? He also likes to walk around in his class now in kindergarden when the teachers is conducting lessons.

Yes. I managed to meet the form teacher and the AED about 2 weeks after school started. I sent an email to the AED during the sch hols to let her know of my son's case and to arrange for a mtg with her and the teacher. So during the meeting, I told her what issues my son faces and what she would expect to happen. She also told me her observation of him in class.

Same prob. He also walked around in class and refused to do sch work. Once he even ran out of the classroom. I gave him a watch to carry with him. Coz he ie very particular about time, so I would tell him when he needs to complete his work by. It helped him a lot. The teacher ignored him when he walked around sometimes. So far the issue in p1 is not as serious as in k2. Think he gathered that he has to sit down. But all autistic kids are different, so u need to see what works on your kid. We also went for the sch readiness Prog organized by kkh rehab. The OT was able to tell me where he needs help and gave us some sugg on what we can do. If he has social issues, also sign up for those. We also did handwriting class coz my boy couldn't write properly.

Another issue I faced was that he kept loosing his stuff. So we practised at home what to pack into his pencil case etc. he still loses them but at least now not so bad. On art days, I gotta label all his materials so that he remembers to bring them back. Once he lost the entire drawing block. Dun know how he can lose such a big item.

All his classmates also know me as his mom, so they will report to me at the end of the day. I PV in sch so I see them sometimes too. And during the first two weeks, I took up canteen duty. Try to be involved as much as possible so that u can keep a close track of what's happening. If not, u won't know what is happening in sch.

I pack his recess food. Dun trust him with money and he takes too long to eat. Now he remembers to bring his lunch bag for recess and back to class.

[specialboymum]

nugget:

Hi Mashy,


Thanks for your assurance. So you only declare to the school after your son have already been admitted? Cos I am visiting the schools right now and seriously dunno which one to choose. I am so worry my son will be outcast and left alone.

I did read up a bit and have shortlisted some schools that currently have ASD kids. So at least the school and teachers have the awareness and know how to handle these children.

One step at a time I guess. My kid has short attention span, how you manage to get him to complete his homework? He also likes to walk around in his class now in kindergarden when the teachers is conducting lessons.

Hi Nugget,

My kid is also in primary 1. For me I informed the school about his condition before I register him - this is so that I can find out the experience and support the schools have.

The first couple of weeks are tough so much so that I almost want to give up, but glad that I have support from the school principal and encouragements from folks in this forum to hang on.

The school assign an AED to guide him during the core subjects classes so as to keep up with the school work, but will slowly wean him off. I also gave the 'greenlight' to his teachers to be open about his condition to the rest of his classmates. I'm not sure how much the kids understand but they are willing to accept him and always ready to help and cheers for him. I'm really thankful to these little kids as their acceptance is important factor to help him to integrate into the mainstream - this is something we can't get from all the therapy we send him to.

It is also important to keep in constant contact with the school to find out how he is doing and the weakness which we need to pay attention to. Sometimes, I also share his behavior with his therapists so that they can suggest what the school could do to handle him better.

Now he settled in well, though he still have problem in focussing, especially if too much verbal instruction is given. His academic isn't that great too but at least he still do his work in school and will take the initiative to inform us on the homework he needs to complete and show us his work which required our signature. Also the good thing is unlike other NT kids, he isn't stressed out when he failed his test- He will still announce loudly that he got 7 out of 10 wrong for his chinese spelling.

For short attention issue, I guess the only way is to slowly build up. First, we need to apply sensory diet to 'start his engine and calm him down' before engaging in any work. Also use reward system to encourage him to sit and complete a task- start with 5-10 minutes and slowly increase the duration

[specialboymum]

Hi parents,


does any of your kids do therapeutic listening? I’m trying to look for cheaper source of headphones and other supplies.

thanks

[mashy]

What’s therapeutic listening?

[nugget]

Hi specialboymum,


Thanks for sharing. Glad that your boy is well taken care of.
Ok I will start to look around too.

Yes I would definitely get very involved in the school and with teachers involved.

Regarding special diet, I tried the GFCF before and it doesn’t really work for my kid. And he loves pastries and sweets, so I use them to motivate and bribe him instead and it works well. lolz.

But I do keep all the processed food away from him and my other kids. I do believe processed food are not so good.

[chibi]

My daughter is also in p1 this year.i was actually expecting this year to be a very tough year but luckily so far it has been alright. Even better than she was in Kindergarten. Same as a lot of other parents,I also informed the school before the school starts. I gave the go ahead for KK to release the information to the school so that my daughter can get all the support she needs in school. She was actually quite ok, the teacher did laugh and feedback to my mum when she picked my gal up during dismissal that she is quite cheeky at times , will reply the teacher with some funny answers . Previously my daughter wasn’t very keen to go on field trips during her kindergarten times, so I actually only let her go once to the zoo. But she actually willing ( actually she got no choice also, haha cause it is mandatory to go) went on her school fieldtrip yesterday to the pasir ris farm. She brought home some fishes from the farm and call them her little pet fish. I have to go and buy air pump and fish food yesterday * tsk tsk …hehe but I was quite happy that she enjoyed the field trip. It is really a big difference from last time. She had two buddies that I believed help her a lot in class too. My daughter actually had to go to her school dentist for dental checkup last Friday. Her form teacher and the allied educator weren’t informed prior to it, she was actually attending her Chinese lesson with her mother tongue teacher when she was called in to the dentist. Her form teacher told my mum that she was crying at the dentist, but luckily the dentist and her buddy who went for the checkup too calmed her down and hold her hand when they were checking her teeth. I had a talk with her when I got home on Friday after work about her dental check up and she told me it hurts abit , but she will try to be braver for the next check up. I think every day , we might encounter abit of ups and downs in their school lives, but it will only get better as they grow up. I think encouraging them and giving them a lot of support will help them a lot. My daughter thrives on praises from us, when I tell her , u did a good job when u went on the field trip, she will giggle and I can tell that she wanted to show to us that she is braver in primary school than last time.

[mashy]

Chibi


my boy also got the same 'cheeky' feedback from his teacher. He has also become more outspoken than before in kindy.

[chibi]

hehe mashy i take it as a compliment from the teacher . :evil:

my gal too, has become more outspoken.
i actually think pri school seems to be doing them good :rahrah: