All About Autism

[Blokus]

Double E


Planned well yOu have! Wah! I must really give more thoughts on our insurance coverage!

So wee care allowed you to do without the 1-1 lah. Did they assess if he was eligible? Or they just accede to your request?

Gifts from heaven
Actually, my hub & I are convinced we need to send my son for 1-1 therapy. So I may go ahead with wee care 'cause it seems they can meet my kid's social & life skills needs. I think. So are you still considering wee care or you've already chosen a center?

Mashy

thanks! You've allayEd my concerns!

Actually, my hub was asking if it is necessary to put our son for an assessment. As in, does it matter? So what he's got the diagnosis, he still needs help regardless. Now I'm confused what's the true purpose of the test? I was telling my hub at least I can get hold of medical records and use them to exempt my son from things like chinese oral or NS! Muahahahaha :evil: But I want to know how you guys view the test? What's the purpose?

[Double E]

Blukos

Weecare did not insist that my boy go thru the 1:1 it was also recommended. Another reason of us not taking one on one is the scheduling. I still want my boy to attend his normal montessori childcare to get used to a mainstream environment, they can’t give me a good slot.

Haha, the moment I get my pay increment this year, I get my hubby to ring up the agent for a meeting to review our policies cos I think if he can’t get a well-paying job next time, how is he going to buy all these insurance himself. And while they are young and premium is so much cheaper, better buy now.

Assessment
Yes, we had the same thoughts as your husband. In fact I want to delay his assessment as long as I can unless like you say, I need those documentations to get exemptions for him or to get him into Pathlight or special schools. My KKH doc also recommends that we delay his assessment till he is 5.5 years old since we are already doing what is needed for him so with or without an assessment, he still needs to go through the same therapies. 5.5 years old cos that will be a suitable time to test his IQ and suitability for mainstream school.

[mashy]

Blokus:

Double E


Planned well yOu have! Wah! I must really give more thoughts on our insurance coverage!

So wee care allowed you to do without the 1-1 lah. Did they assess if he was eligible? Or they just accede to your request?

Gifts from heaven
Actually, my hub & I are convinced we need to send my son for 1-1 therapy. So I may go ahead with wee care 'cause it seems they can meet my kid's social & life skills needs. I think. So are you still considering wee care or you've already chosen a center?

Mashy

thanks! You've allayEd my concerns!

Actually, my hub was asking if it is necessary to put our son for an assessment. As in, does it matter? So what he's got the diagnosis, he still needs help regardless. Now I'm confused what's the true purpose of the test? I was telling my hub at least I can get hold of medical records and use them to exempt my son from things like chinese oral or NS! Muahahahaha :evil: But I want to know how you guys view the test? What's the purpose?

He won't be exempted from NS if that's what u think. Hahaha. Still gotta go thru with it. Exempted from Chinese? yes. Totally. Not just oral. U can also make special arrangements for exams but it will be 'marked' as that in the psle cert. My son's Chinese is horrible. I think we will need to get it exempted eventually. And it will be just like those kids who return from overseas. They can also get exemption so even if pp ask why he could get exemption, he can decide if he wants to tell pp about it.

Purpose of the test? So that the teachers will understand and make special concessions during lesson time. They won't be upset and haul him for discipline if he runs out of the classroom (which he did and they had to chase after him). When he refused to do his work, they know that he isn't being noti and just had to be firm with him. And if he walks around in the classroom, they know what to do. We have a lot of probs like these and his teacher actually thought of ways to get him to do his work. Really appreciate her efforts. Also becoz there are 2 autistic kids in the class, she could get a teacher aide to help during lesson time.

[mashy]

Karkar:

Mashy, would you mind also sharing the insurance for your kid and cost

Mine is a little more complicated than all of u coz on top of autism, he has other medical conditions. We only managed to get him life insurance and hospitalization before all these happened. By then, all too late already even before his autism diagnosis.

[crabbygal]

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.

thanks for your kind reply, mamago! Yes, I tried calling, its not easy to get at appointment.

[crabbygal]

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.

thanks for the recommendation Audvis! Appreciate it.

[Blokus]

mashy:

He won't be exempted from NS if that's what u think. Hahaha. Still gotta go thru with it. Exempted from Chinese? yes. Totally. Not just oral. U can also make special arrangements for exams but it will be 'marked' as that in the psle cert. My son's Chinese is horrible. I think we will need to get it exempted eventually. And it will be just like those kids who return from overseas. They can also get exemption so even if pp ask why he could get exemption, he can decide if he wants to tell pp about it.

Oh bummer! No exemption from NS? What if he bombs his own platoon unknowingly?

My son mandarin is not too bad. Can read & understand. But just cannot speak in a string of sentences. Like that still can get exempted? Is it as long as he's on the spectrum he can be exempted or depends on his learning abilities?

[Karkar]

Double E:

Kar kar

I am not familiar with the details. But I think insurance covered things like total disability, lost of a limb, arm etc. Whereas for critical illness, mainly cancer and some others, at least 30 critical illness are covered. And if you do, get those that you can receive payout when cancer is at first stage. There are some that do not pay until you are at the final stage.

For therapy, if you are sending your boy to OT and ST at the centres, then I think no need to have another session at home. It will be similar, the key is for us parents to observe and get tips from therapist and practice it at home. Unless u want to send your kid to social/special ed class in the centre and have home-based OT and ST.

How old is your boy? not yet 3?

Thanks for tips. To clear my doubt, the first visit in Kkh must be not the formal assessment? If thats true, good that i can drag before getting other things sort out before diagnosis. My son is 22 months old. Everyone I shared this with said me too uptight. But my hubby n me know that something different in him that we can't ignore. Just called my insurance agent today, she's recommend it some policy tat cover critical illness on early stage. Will try yo fing out more from her as she's independent agent that sells multiple firms product. Hope she can get the better ones in the market for me.

For therapy. I was thinking of instead of getting home based for 6x a week for 2 hr, I can allocate half for centre based. It's just rough idea. It depends on their suggestion on how many sessions he needs.

[Double E]

Kar kar

Yes, you will not get a formal assessment at your first visit to KKH, in fact, the doc may not even recommend a formal one until your boy is 3. Cos at 22mths, they will say he is still very young, give him time to develop and send him to therapy first. At most, they will say he has Global Development Delay with suspected ASD which was what happen to my boy.

As for friends, when I suspected something’s not right about my boy everyone says that he is fine too, say I am paranoid. But I think mothers know best so I based on my motherly instinct and do the necessary. I am so glad that I did not adopt a wait and see approach if not, time would have been wasted.

[ImMeeMee]

Kar kar


ABA recommends about 40 hours a week of practice to see positive effects, so maybe that’s why they recommend intensive everyday coaching. Actually along the way I have found that a lot of practice can be done by parents and caregivers, so this can save some money. Also, if you split half half between home based and centre based, you may like to consider if this will get the child confused especially if the centres do not practise ABA. It may also tire the child out.

Generally speaking, we attend sessions at the centre usually once a week to understand the activities to follow up with the child at home. Then we go home and practise with the child until the next lesson. Personally I find that going to two different types of therapies once each per week is already quite taxing in terms of catching up with the assigned activities.

Just my two cents worth.