All About Autism

[mashy]

Blokus:

Kar kar


Try to ask lots of questions before deciding to book for the first appointment. Like what exactly is to expected from the first visit? Will they help you identify his areas of needs? How? Will they play with him? Or just talk to you? Will they Ask him a set of questions & tabulate scores to see where he stands? Etc? Or is it just to see him? Will there be a report or just verbal sharing? As I shared, I expected to emerge from my visit to wee care a little wiser about my son's needs. But I came out none the wiser & $75 poorer. Dr kelvin saw my son physically but he didn't share any of his observations with me. Don't wish that for you.

Actually, I'm wavering between believing my son is ok and not. Some days he shows he's typical some days not. Few days ago he actually played UNO with my niece & I could hear some verbal exchanges between them- much to my surprise. He also joined in to play with the rest of the cousins. I suspect my son is PDD. Cause he's at a level where he's mid way between being on spectrum & typical. Like I shared, he has some level of joint attention but not all. He has some level of interaction but not at the normal range. He's cognitive learning is above average even better than typical kids i'd say. He can tackle maths questions 2 levels up his age requirement & understand concepts almost instantly. Those teachers who have taught him one on one like his Montessori teachers always say he's a fast learner & intelligent. Yet when it comes to using words to match his thoughts, he has much difficulty. He can read & understand (he can answer all questions relating to the text) but cannot describe his own feelings. Many times he'd wake up crying from his nap but say 'I dont know' when I asked him why. So I'm very confused. Sigh.

U know, the psychologist assessing my kid said that somedays he will be better and like he is perfectly fine and on other days, he just had his off day and everything seemed upside down. I was nodding my head like crazy. Lol.

Your boy seems very intelligent and his emotions is still trying to catch up. It's probably overwhelming for him at this age.

[mashy]

ImMeeMee:

slmkhoo


Thanks for the in-depth sharing. Good to hear your perspectives.

I do agree that from long term perspective and given the many things to catch up on, professional coaching on handwriting may not be a burning issue. As long as the handwriting is legible and serves its function, this would be about as good as it can get.

Blokus

My daughter likes writing more than coloring. Coaching her coloring is :stupid: but she is showing more interest in writing. You have done well to coach your child to proper handwriting. My plan is to continue to practise with my daughter and I like to think that they will improve over time!

My boy hated colouring too! He would refused to do any colouring assignments in kindy. All his drawings are matchstick men with no details. He just draw machines and systems like solar system, digestive system etc. he hated writing too except for numbers.

But now in pri sch, perhaps there aren't a lot of colouring to be done, so he actually will try to colour his assignments.

[Karkar]

mashy:

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.

to some extent, it is. but he doesn't repeat many times...after a min or so, he stops and he doesn't repeat all the times.

i will try find the toys from ELC then..thanks.

[Karkar]

Double E:

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

then is the same as i got the referral to KKH and now waiting for assessment. Maybe i should be more patient, rather than going to private and get assessment done. although we know it earlier, but it's not too much earlier..since assessment in KK is in Nov.

[Blokus]

Karkar:

Double E:

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

then is the same as i got the referral to KKH and now waiting for assessment. Maybe i should be more patient, rather than going to private and get assessment done. although we know it earlier, but it's not too much earlier..since assessment in KK is in Nov.

I think it's the same? It's either you go private (cut short the waiting time & pay more) or public (but wait). I do need to caution you though. You might not get a definite answer on your first visit at kkh. Most likely the dr won't say whether he's on the spectrum or not, might even say he's too young to test. The dr will most likely get him to see a speech & occupational therapists. Both will test him to see if he has met his developmental milestones. And if he fall short, they will recommend follow up therapy. It might take many months before they give any definite assessment. My friend took almost a year to get the diagnosis- started around 2 plus also. I hope I've helped you manage your expectations? When I first went to see the dr at NUh- when son was around 2.5years old, I thought i would get a straight answer. But no. I was still in a limbo.

[Blokus]

Double E:

Blokus

How was your meeting with Denise from Weecare today?

Mummies
Are your little ones cheeky? My boy is getting cheekier now.

Thanks for asking. It was good. She's got good energy!

She talked through with me about how to help my son. And as I've promised her, I've to declare here all the grouses were all misunderstanding that went out of hand. Apparently we all had different expectations that went disarrayed. Anyway, at least I've gotten some of her thoughts on my son's condition. That's all important to me, I don't really care about the rest.

Yes, my son thinks it's funny to give me wrong or funny answers. For me, if I have a drastic reaction he would think it's funny and may do it again and again. You are right, they may not know when is the appropriate time to play or answer properly. I always have to juggle with this.

[mashy]

Blokus:

Karkar:

[quote=\"Double E\"]Kar kar, u need to go to the polyclinic to get referral in order to get a subsidize rate

then is the same as i got the referral to KKH and now waiting for assessment. Maybe i should be more patient, rather than going to private and get assessment done. although we know it earlier, but it's not too much earlier..since assessment in KK is in Nov.

I think it's the same? It's either you go private (cut short the waiting time & pay more) or public (but wait). I do need to caution you though. You might not get a definite answer on your first visit at kkh. Most likely the dr won't say whether he's on the spectrum or not, might even say he's too young to test. The dr will most likely get him to see a speech & occupational therapists. Both will test him to see if he has met his developmental milestones. And if he fall short, they will recommend follow up therapy. It might take many months before they give any definite assessment. My friend took almost a year to get the diagnosis- started around 2 plus also. I hope I've helped you manage your expectations? When I first went to see the dr at NUh- when son was around 2.5years old, I thought i would get a straight answer. But no. I was still in a limbo.[/quote]I asked the dr about the diagnosis and her take is that a diagnosis is just giving it a name. But it doesn't mean that it stops there just by knowing the diagnosis. U still need therapies.

[Blokus]

That’s true. Denise also say the diagnosis only helps as a documentation like if need to go special school or get exemption etc. coz I asked her if I should wait for the diagnosis or proceed with the therapy.

[Gifts from Heaven]

Hi Blokus,


So did Denise recommend their social skills playgroup or their individual therapy?
I’m curious to know 'cos I’ve also some encounters with the centre and got quite ‘confused’. Appreciate if you could share.

[Blokus]

Gifts from Heaven:

Hi Blokus,


So did Denise recommend their social skills playgroup or their individual therapy?
I'm curious to know 'cos I've also some encounters with the centre and got quite 'confused'. Appreciate if you could share.

Hi Gifts from heaven, no problem, I'm happy to share. She said I could do concurrently. Honestly, I'm unsure if it's service recovery or based on her observation leh. I think it's the latter. But like Dr Kelvin, she highly recommends that I back the social skills playgroup with individual therapy. Because the individual therapy is like erm, a tuition. They will teach the kid social skills. The social group is for the child to apply what he learnt from the private 'tuition'. That's why they prefer the kids to have 1-1 therapy first so that the child acquires the necessary know-how's in order to apply in the social group. I hope I've made it clearer?

Double E

Did you skip the 1-1 therapy? You mentioned you went straight for the social class?