All About Autism

[nugget]

concern2:

phtthp:

Signpost KK hospital


http://www.kkh.com.sg/AboutUs/Newsroom/Pages/01-03-2011.aspx

Commendable! Glad to know KK has this.

This course is a total of 6-8 weeks. One lesson per week. And its subsidized (think I paid abt 100++ only) but you need to participate in a lengthy written survey before , during and after the course.

I find it useful as a course and you get to meet parents with other kids who have problems as well. Every parents have their own challenges and we will break out into small groups, brainstorm and see how to change our kids behavior.

[ImMeeMee]

nugget:

Have you all attended this session conducted by KKH called \"Signpost\"? Its about managing difficult behaviour in children. It can be applied to special needs / NT children.

I think somehow my kid is better behave after I went through this course. It teaches us how not to give in to the kid when they are behaving badly, only rewarding them on good behaviour, preempting family activities and watch out for ques when they are going to flare tantrums.

Last time, for a while, we dare not even dare to dine out cos my son will just walk out of the restaurant after finishes his meal or will hide under the table. :imdrowning:

These few weeks we managed to dine out successful *phew* without him throwing any tantrums. I am still learning the process. Its not a foolproof method but it somehow helps to minimize the occurrence.

helplessmum3:

ImMeeMee.
Oh nO. What happen? Is she unwell? What did her OT advise in such situation how shd u handle her?

If she shout or yell, u try to ignore her then once she cool down . U try to tell her firmly n calmly of what u want her to do again.

we have attended the signpost program before, and agree with nugget that it teaches good techniques on positive reinforcement, prepping the child and so on. good for you nugget, the technique is working for you

our challenge is that we do not know what are the triggers to dd3's outbursts, and the onset can be quite haphazzard and abrupt. where she was ok to go to the shopping centre to take her kiddy rides last week, she can throw a big tantrum when we go into the same shopping centre this week, at the same entrance some more. :?

i have tried all sorts of things ... telling her firmly that her behavior is not right, coaxing her with singing and counting upwards or downwards, hugging her when she is upset, using her 'friends' to tell her to behave properly (she seems to have imaginery friends that she calls out to when she is upset) ... but sometimes they work and sometimes they dont ... :?

therapists tell me that as she becomes more aware of her environment she could be coming out of her 'shell' and going through the 'terrible twos' period (at 4 yo plus ) that NT go through.

so i try to look at the glass half full ... but then ... still haiz when there are days of numerous tantrums and have to deal with them. :sad:

[ImMeeMee]

helplessmum3:

Nugget, at rainbow center they use pecs for both verbal n non verbal.

my private ex-SLT started off with PECS on dd3. it was intended as a form of communication. it has quite a few modules, and the first few modules focused on exchanging a picture card with what the child wants, starting from across the table, and then progressing to a distance. it also focused on using the picture card to prompt the child to say the object and then exchanging for the object. i think after that the focus was on sentence formation and it adds on.

after the first 2 modules or so we told the SLT to drop PECS as dd3's verbal language was emerging and we did not want to rely PECS as a form of communication. the SLT understood and she changed her technique to picture cards to support communication, rather than PECS as the main form of communication. the same picture cards were used, but for different purposes.

picture cards can be used to help in verbal communication through story boards. it could also help to lend structure by preparing the child on schedules and planned activities. This approach is slightly different from PECS. Up to today I am still using picture cards, or sometimes I improvise by drawing on the board when I cannot find the right pictures.

From our experience, PECS was good to 'force' speech out of the child, but once the child was verbal, we found that we wanted to change our strategies.

also, every child at the EIPIC centre will have a IEP (individual education plan) that is reviewed every 6 months. If you assess that your child does not need PECS, do raise it with the team of teachers and therapists at the EIPIC centre. they are usually accomodating and willing to work with parents on individual needs.

hope this helps.

[helplessmum3]

ImMeeMee,


At times we did say my son is verbal but they still think this is helpful.

So we may not know what exactly is good for my son hiaz

[nugget]

helplessmum3:

ImMeeMee,


At times we did say my son is verbal but they still think this is helpful.

So we may not know what exactly is good for my son hiaz

Helplessmum,

Like ImMeeMee mentioned, the EIPIC will have a IEP which will be revised every 6 months. In that IEP review, there will be a series of questions and what areas you want your child to improved in.

From there the EIPIC teachers and yourself will align and prioritize areas to focus for your son and work towards to goals. Then after 6 months, they will measure the results and see if he have shown improvement etc.

Maybe because your kid is still young, so maybe they thought of PECS is beneficial for your kid to communicate?
If you really feel PECS doesn't help your kid at all, you can also tell them. No matter what, we know our kids better than those therapist.

If he is not attending EIPIC now, has he started any other therapy yet?

[nugget]

ImMeeMee,


I think I am just lucky. He seemed to be a bit better these few weeks. We caught the ques and realized that every time he is acting out its either due to too noisy, hungry, tired or want to go toilet. These are usually his triggers.

And we always ask him if he wants to go with us or want to stay at home. And he will say want to go with us, then we will strike a deal and do all the prep talk.

My son is also 1-1.5 years slower than his peers. Sometimes I find that he act and behave the same as his 2 years old brother (faint). But at least he is progressing somewhere. Most importantly is we don't give up on him.

The signpost course is just a guideline. We just mix with whatever method that works for the child can already. I still whipped out the cane when the kids fight at home. No excuse! Even though signpost say dun hit the child. But sometimes dun hit also cannot. Be it ASD or not. Naughty means naughty, got to be punished especially when you know you shouldnt do something and yet purposely did it to spite us.

[ImMeeMee]

helplessmum3:

ImMeeMee,


At times we did say my son is verbal but they still think this is helpful.

So we may not know what exactly is good for my son hiaz

when we first started, we also did not know better. so we went along with the recommendation by my SLT to do PECS, and then monitor and observe for ourselves.

after about 2 modules which i think took a couple of months, we were confident by then what PECS entails, and what we need or dont need. so we came to the decision to drop it.

that was my experience and hope its helpful for your reference. I can understand your anguish of not knowing what is good or not, cos this is pretty much a new thing altogether and we all really dont know better.

:hugs:

[ImMeeMee]

nugget:

ImMeeMee,


I think I am just lucky. He seemed to be a bit better these few weeks. We caught the ques and realized that every time he is acting out its either due to too noisy, hungry, tired or want to go toilet. These are usually his triggers.

And we always ask him if he wants to go with us or want to stay at home. And he will say want to go with us, then we will strike a deal and do all the prep talk.

My son is also 1-1.5 years slower than his peers. Sometimes I find that he act and behave the same as his 2 years old brother (faint). But at least he is progressing somewhere. Most importantly is we don't give up on him.

The signpost course is just a guideline. We just mix with whatever method that works for the child can already. I still whipped out the cane when the kids fight at home. No excuse! Even though signpost say dun hit the child. But sometimes dun hit also cannot. Be it ASD or not. Naughty means naughty, got to be punished especially when you know you shouldnt do something and yet purposely did it to spite us.

good for you nugget. i guess once you know the triggers and the technique it would be a lot easier to work with. but i think that period before you discovered how to manage must have been tough too ...

agree, actually I think what we are doing is a bit of ABA and PECS all rojak together ... most therapists have also modified these techniques while keeping to certain original principles to suit current needs. at one stage I was also equally confused, but after that gave up on labeling what technique to what name, just use it to our advantage ...

i am currently trying to enrol dd3 in a toddler class for some enrichment program meant for 3+ years old. nevermind that she is coming to 5yo. the teacher recommended that I place her in a 5yo class, but there is really no point if she is delayed and not able to catch up. all I want is to expose her to new things like what NTs do, and let her have fun and decide for herself if she likes this.

:love:

[nugget]

ImMeeMee,


Will you consider deferring your girl for P1 when its time for enrollment next year?

Kiasu as I am, I am already planning for my son P1. He is also turning 5 this year. But I am not sure if he will be ready or not.

[ImMeeMee]

nugget:

ImMeeMee,


Will you consider deferring your girl for P1 when its time for enrollment next year?

Kiasu as I am, I am already planning for my son P1. He is also turning 5 this year. But I am not sure if he will be ready or not.

haha, was about to ask you what is your game plan.

my current game plan is as follows.
psychological assessment end of 2012 when she is 5 and half yo. if they recommend pathlight, then we may apply for pathlight prep program, which is a one-year program to prepare the child for P1. whether she continues in pathlight or mainstream pri after the one-year prep program we have to then assess again.

if she indeed goes to mainstream pri my intention is not to put her with dd1 and dd2 cos the current school would be too stressful for her. so am also looking into pri schools now. in fact, i am going for a school open house end of May (sorry, kiasu kiasu).

so I am prepared to defer her by 1 year for P1 syllabus. Truth be told, I am not confident that she is ready for P1 by 7yo.

actually our kids are quite similar, both are 5 yo and attending EIPIC. the only difference I think is that you supplement with mainstream cc while currently i dont. this question has been bothering me for quite some time, but I have rationalized that i may put her into mainstream cc next year at K1 level (though she will be K2 by age) if there is a need to build her peer interactions with NTs.

so my current strategy is to pace ourselves and not get killed over the timing issue where she needs to attain P1 milestone by 7yo.