All About Autism

[mamago]

crabbygal:

Hi all,


Any recommendation of dentist good in handling autistic kid? My son needs to see a dentist and he is oral sensitive. Tried googling but can't seem to find much information, except Smilefocus at Camden Medical Centre, Dr. Ong. Help?

Thanks!

Hi,
Yes, Dr Ong Yean Sze, she is really gifted when comes to handling her young patients; thou my child is not autistic, but I have seen her soothing many young ones when we were at the waiting area. My child actually \"enjoys\" his dental checkup with Dr Ong.
It's quite difficult to book a slot with her, you may have to call for appointment as early as 2 months in advance.

[Audvis]

Hi crabbygal, Dr Lim Swee Teck at Bt Timah Plaza, tel: 6466 8131. He is good at handling kids. He will pretend that the chair is some space ship and raise / lower the child. He has written books on dental issues (eg going for first dental visit) as well. The books are very colourful with many pictures. If his books are avail at NLB, u can borrow and prep your child for the dental visit. If not, u may buy from the clinic itself.

[Audvis]

Dear Karkar, my son did his psychological test at HPB. It cost around $360 at that time (subsidised).

[Karkar]

Audvis:

Dear Karkar, my son did his psychological test at HPB. It cost around $360 at that time (subsidised).

Hi Audvis, can you advise me on how to go to do this? HPB=health promotion board?
thanks

[Double E]

Kar kar, u need to go to the polyclinic to get referral in order to get a subsidize rate

[mashy]

Karkar:

mashy:

Karkar


He's not too bad. Can talk at 22 months. Mine started 2.5 yrs old, so that's about 30 mths.

Have u gotten his hearing checked? Sometimes ear infections can affect hearing and that's why he started ignoring u while he was not doing that when he was younger. Go have a check on that first. And boys can be really occupied with their toys. Try getting toys that promote interactive play instead.

Mashy,

Thank you. I dont even know if this is considered talking. to me, he's simply just reciting what he hears but he doesn't' understand what he's saying. as first time mum, i dont know if this is normal or abnormal for kids of this age or kids who's learning to talk.

We had his ears checked at 16 months, PD said he's okay. he reacts to sound / music so we know his hearing is fine. maybe he finds us uninteresting to listen to, or he doesn't understand what we talk and why we talk. do you know what are the toys that promote interactive play?

Karkar
Is it echololia? Like repeating phrases from tv, words immediately after u said it?

For games, I got from ELC and toys r us. They have lots of interactive games. I bought a game recently from ELC which is to tie a bumble bee on our forehead and we are supposed to fish out the balls with the bee. Quite hilarious and we had a good time playing it. There are also lots of other fun games to try out.

[mashy]

ImMeeMee:

Mummies


Just want to hear your experience with your child's handwriting.

Besides practising in school, I have been coaching my daughter on copying and tracing of the alphabet. She is now able to have 3-finger hold although cannot maintain very long. If she concentrates, half the time her letters are recognizable, albeit not fantastic looking and a lot of times not on the line. Not optimal yet but we are working on it.

Yesterday my therapist assessed that my daughter's handwriting is not proper and needs professional coaching. She cautioned that bad habits may form if we do not correct the handwriting soon. This came as a surprise to me as I have thought that as the child grows, her handwriting will improve along the way as long as we keep on practising. I suppose even NT kids may not have the proper handwriting strokes all the time - my #2 still writes 0 in the clockwise direction.

Would like to hear from mummies who did not send your child to formal handwriting classes, how do you change their bad handwriting habits if there are, and do they change their handwriting habits for the better as they grow.

Having the various priorities ref therapy, I am not that certain that handwriting is a key priority at this juncture though I reckon that it is important enought for me to keep practising with her day to day.

TIA.

My son started off with handwriting therapy actually before his formal diagnosis. We did lots of fine motor skills training like using chopsticks, kneading, stretching, finding small items in playdoh etc.

I agree that he just needed more time for his muscles to develop. After all we were not taught to write till pri sch last time. They seem to wanna speed up things so quickly now. Now his handwriting is still bad in comparison with his friends. But he can write well if he wants to. I've seen it myself. All grounded on the line and straight. He can even write the letter very small if he wants.

When he was in K1, the teacher was quite worried that he couldn't cope with writing in P1. What the kids started doing in the beginning of e year, he could only achieve it at the end of the year. I'm not so concerned about it coz so long as he can write legibly it should be fine. But since the teachers were so concerned, we just tried the therapy which led to speech and the diagnosis etc.

I think it's good to at least train muscles so that writing will not be an issue later. In pri sch, they start writing more and faster. If they can't write fast enough, they can't even copy down the homework details on the daily diary to bring home.

[mashy]

Karkar:

Audvis:

Dear Karkar, my son did his psychological test at HPB. It cost around $360 at that time (subsidised).

Hi Audvis, can you advise me on how to go to do this? HPB=health promotion board?
thanks

Mine was thru kkh, CDC. Coz we are already subsidized patients there, we just asked for referrals by the doctor.

[mashy]

Karkar:

ImMeeMee and Double E,


Thanks for your reply. I intend to check up the mentioned centres first to see if i get comfortable with the therapists and program managers there as well as if they can build good connection with my son.

My colleague recommends me isadd. not sure if it's the more expensive choice, but from what my colleague told me, it seems a good centre. first they will assess my son and let program manager to plan the therapy he needs, then they send different therapist to address those issues. my colleague uses them as home therapist, and has program manager to go to their home once a week, and senior therapist every other weekday and sat. 2 hr each day, for 6 times a week, roughly about 2.3k a month, which seems quite reasonable as i check other centre. found in http://www.cel.sg/uploads/PPIPServiceFeeMatrix1Mar2012.pdf.

is that sufficient for 2 hr daily intervention?

I think it depends on the severity of the condition. If its severe, yes, go for this. If its not and just a mild case, there is really no need for such freq intervention.

[mashy]

Karkar:

mashy:

Met a 3 yr old gal at kkh McDonald's today. She doesn't talk and I saw her pointing to tell her parents what she wants. Reminded me of my son when he was that age. We have come a long way and he is now so chatty.

Mashy,

Thats very good to hear that your son is chatty now..it must be a huge relief to you and your family. i feel happy for you too.

are you able to introduce me some interactive toys?
currently at home, we have blocks, rolling beads, lots of books, some matching puzzles, water bottles, bottles with beans, toy cars, electronic guitar, little music house, small football, flash cards, small drums, and many many household items and many many toys that i put away so as not to overwhelm him. i admit his room is filled with too many toys and like a indoor playground.

Ya, he's chatty but can be out of topic at times. His teacher recently said that he finally answered to the topic and I was almost in tears!

U have quite a variety there. U can get him to try new ways of playing them. Like lining up the blocks and rolling the balls on them. I remember my boy would line up all his toy animals and use them as bowling pins. Lol.