All About Autism

[specialboymum]

Gifts from Heaven:

specialboymum:

[quote=\"Gifts from Heaven\"]Thanks Blokus and Double E.


Double E:
Do you hv any experience with Weecare - Tanglin?
Do you kn what they do in their lessons?
If not convenient to share here, plse PM me.
Thanks

My boy attended social skill class at weecare, which he stopped end of last year because of busier schedule with him entering primary 1. They have 2 types of social class (if there isn't changes), 1) social skill class at Tanglin 2) kidz club held at everton park.
The difference is, for kidz club, you are suppose to bring a typical developing kid to be your special kid's buddy. My boy attended both (progress from social skill to kidz club).

Thanks for the info, specialboymum.
How long were you with them?
How do you find their classes? Effective? For the topics covered, are they something which we can do at home on your own ?
Really appreciate if you could share your experiences with me.
If it is not convenient to share here, pls PM me.

thanks a lot![/quote]My boy was with them for social classes for a year.. The improvement he made was that he was no longer resistant in participating in group activity but they didn't manage to make him build the awareness or make him feel that he wants to join the group activity. It is only this year, when he is older, and I make him expose to 'real life' group setting like the mainstream school and afterschool care, then he starts to open up.

I felt that the group play, particularly the social skill classes are little bit too 'orchestrated' - I remembered I feed back to Weecare before, so not sure if they did anything to address on that already. My boy and other kids were held like 'rag dolly' when doing the tasks like turn taking ball fetching game. Once the game is over, you can see my boy and rest of the kids, repel off like like-pole magnet, ran off to different corners and back to their own world.
Not sure if this is good or bad, maybe it is a 'must go through' phase, as he eventually learn not to reject group activity.

[Double E]

Gifts from Heaven


My boy attended two terms. The effects are not obvious yet but like what Specialboymum mentioned, he no longer resist in group activity and through the lessons, managed to learn a bit about asking questions such as What’s this? What are you doing?

The social skills part as in playing peers and communicating with peers is still not there yet. I have pulled him out after 2 terms because I am starting him at Leapfrog for a one-to-one special ed therapy which includes social skills and speech. Leapfrog also has group sessions and once my boy is better at dealing wtih one-to-one, the therapist will recommend if he is ready to proceed to group.

[Gifts from Heaven]

Thanks, Double E and specialboymum for sharing your experience.

May I also know what makes u all choose weecare in the first place?

specialboymum,
do they also use the "rag doll approach" in Kidz club?

[Double E]

Gifts from Heaven

I have heard good reviews of Weecare and my boy’s psychologist recommended it to me

[Blokus]

Hi mums


How do your kids react after being reprimanded? Mine will keep quiet but gets over it in the next second & maybe say things like ‘can I play now?’ almost immediately after being scolded. So I’m often unsure if he truly understands my anger. But when asked why mummy is angry, he can say why. Punishment or withdrawal of privileges might get him upset for awhile but he gets over it very quickly & moves on which then nullifies any punishment. What or how do you discipline your kids? Is caning effective?

[Blokus]

And oh, do you get extremely frustrated with your children? I do & sometimes I feel like & worried I’m hurting his esteem with my anger. Yet i cant help it. I feel like im hitting a wall each time despite telling him over & over again. But he appears to be unaffected. Not sure. Cause as I said, he gets over scolding very quickly. I can’t tell if he’s hurting inside. Outwardly, everything is unchanged.

[ImMeeMee]

Blokus:

Hi mums


How do your kids react after being reprimanded? Mine will keep quiet but gets over it in the next second & maybe say things like 'can I play now?' almost immediately after being scolded. So I'm often unsure if he truly understands my anger. But when asked why mummy is angry, he can say why. Punishment or withdrawal of privileges might get him upset for awhile but he gets over it very quickly & moves on which then nullifies any punishment. What or how do you discipline your kids? Is caning effective?

When dd3 misbehaves, I will tell her that I am angry and there are times I smack her hand. Sometimes she understands and subsequently will talk about it with me, sometimes she doesnt and repeat the behavior.

In fact, its my NT dd1 who has the behavior like your son above, and that really drives me :stupid:

I have been feeling quite frustrated coaching dd3, as recently she fluctuates quite a lot. Certain times when she is motivated she can be very responsive, and certain times its vice versa. Its on her terms as to when she is motivated and when not, so on occasions when I expect her to know certain things she turns out otherwise, and that freaks me out. :stompfeet:

I have been teaching myself not to have expectations when coaching her, cos its the expectations that drives the frustration. I keep telling myself that I just need to teach her repeatedly until one day she gets it on a consistent basis, but sometimes it can be quite hard to unlearn what we have all learnt.

:frustrated:

[Blokus]

Simkhoo: Haiyo, after scolding him he can still go lalala :imcool: but like you, my hub's reaction to that is 'good what'. The thing is, I don't know if any of my scolding & punishment has any effect on him. To him it's like nothing lor, have then have, don't have then don't have. :stupid: So I'm questioning how effective are punishment on him. And if I should use a different approach.


Immeemee: hahaha cannot help but feel tickled by the similes you used. I think you are right. Expectations can kill. Adjusting our expectations according to their abilities may help to reduce frustrations.

Mummies: His autism test is coming up, I'm nervy. What should I be expecting? My son's not very expressive and may say 'I don't know' as the easy way out even though he actually knows the answer. I'm worried the result may do injustice to what he knows & can do.

[Gifts from Heaven]

Blokus,

To me, the assessmt result just confirms if my suspicions abt my child is true or not…puts my mind at ease, else I will be wondering everytime when I hit a roadblock with my child if he is normal. Also, it gives me an idea what I can do to help the child in his weak areas, n where are his strong areas. And finally, the result fr the assessmt can be used as a shield for my child when he gets into "sticky" situations outside the home, where people are less forgiving.
I’m not sure if the autism test which u mention is the IQ test. If it is, then the test will cover both verbal and non-verbal aspects. There are questions whereby the child just need to manipulate blocks, dun need to talk.
Anyway, whether you want to believe in the result or not is all up to you. If u think that the result is not reflective of what he knows, then u can choose not to take up the recommendations proposed. So dun need to be overly worried.

[mashy]

Blokus:

Hi mums


How do your kids react after being reprimanded? Mine will keep quiet but gets over it in the next second & maybe say things like 'can I play now?' almost immediately after being scolded. So I'm often unsure if he truly understands my anger. But when asked why mummy is angry, he can say why. Punishment or withdrawal of privileges might get him upset for awhile but he gets over it very quickly & moves on which then nullifies any punishment. What or how do you discipline your kids? Is caning effective?

Mine is like that too. Caning helps to make him do things that he doesn't want to do. So for me it's effective. I have done rewards and punishment and they all aren't very meaningful to him. Like I said I will give him iPad time (which he likes very much) if he does it and caning/hold book up if he doesn't, end up still didn't do and had to punish.