Special needs first wk in pri 1
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Hi Mummy Rosy, has your child been properly assessed for why he is "slow", and in what ways is he considered "slow"? Having more information to this label can greatly help your child in getting the right kind of support in the school.
My boy, now in P1, was also "slow" and very "blur". Gets lost while moving to and from class with his classmates (goodness knows how this happens!), don’t know how to buy food from the canteen (despite having been shown many times), and had the class teacher out looking for him because he didn’t return to class after the recess bell has gone! Our first month was a nightmare, as we listened to the endless complaints the teachers had of him. We still get it now and then, but I have learned to pretend I didn’t her it! The latest, he fell asleep in his Chinese class! He also has poor attention and focus, and that impedes learning as well.
It was frustrating for us. We had sent him for assessment, and the psychologist told us, he is NOT Autistic, NOT ADHD, NOT ADD, NOT Dyslexic, … So what was it, and how to help him?
Much later (recently in fact) we realised that he had immature development, that is hindering his ability to learn and understand from his environment. We’ve been put on a home therapy for him, where we try to build up the areas where he is still developmentally immature - his left/right co-ordination, his visual skills (required for reading), auditory skills (for listening), and general gross and fine motor skills.
We’ve only started for about 2 weeks (daily programme), and I see some improvements in his co-ordination and we could stretch his attention span a wee-bit longer. As for the others, I guess it may have to take some time. But we’re working on them. -
Mummy rosy
How slow is slow? They should be able to tell u what is delayed and how delayed. As for recess. Don’t worry, u can always pack food for him. I pack food for mine. Mine also blur blur, so he will be herded like sheep around. When he forgets to go to the hall after recess, his classmate will go to the canteen to pick him up. -
My son has autism and we have decided to put him in P1. He seems rather happy in school, but he is not quite understanding and catching up with what’s being taught in school. Poor attention, poor comprehension etc… Any of you out there have some contacts for learning support? I have been sending him for enrichment classess, but I don’t think they really cater to his needs. It’s a hit and miss. I have been coaching him myself but am finding it very stressful
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Hi sssim, is your child receiving learning support in the school? You can request for additional support from the LSP and AED(LBS) to help your child.
slmkhoo, your daughter is lucky to be in an international school that caters to her needs. Unfortunately, mainstream schools are unable to do likewise, and many of us are unable to afford the cost of sending our kids to international schools. Does the school your daughter goes to have a special needs teacher to support her? -
My son who has SPD (Sensory processing disorder) also struggled and is still not managing as well as his classmates but I have come to accept that. Minimally he’s happy and can cope with the routine. He has attention issues and doesn’t pick up as much as his peers so i supplement with home support and tuition to help him cope w academics.
A year ago, I also asked myself whether i shd defer him another year. My key consideration was whether or not the teachers in his previous school was able to support him else to me, it’d be another wasted year. I decided not to defer in any case and was more diligent with home practice and the OTs.
There’s no right or wrong answer but if you choose to defer him, it’s best to have a plan how you intend to spend it to help him cope better in P1. -
windie:
My son who has SPD (Sensory processing disorder) also struggled and is still not managing as well as his classmates but I have come to accept that. Minimally he's happy and can cope with the routine. He has attention issues and doesn't pick up as much as his peers so i supplement with home support and tuition to help him cope w academics.
A year ago, I also asked myself whether i shd defer him another year. My key consideration was whether or not the teachers in his previous school was able to support him else to me, it'd be another wasted year. I decided not to defer in any case and was more diligent with home practice and the OTs.
There's no right or wrong answer but if you choose to defer him, it's best to have a plan how you intend to spend it to help him cope better in P1.
Truly agree....my son has been deferred for a year after much much struggle...as he is behind in far too many areas and I'm praying hard that this extra year granted to him can help him in levelling up to his deficiency.
I've enrolled him to a lot of intervention programme and therapists req, whatever the cost, end of the day what I can deduced is that parental conscientious involvement still outweighs all programmes outside who are either incompetent to address your child's issues or do not have the patience to understand the special needs that he/she requires.
I've drawn up a timetable on what I will be doing with him each day. I really hope to see tremendous improvement in him, else moving on to the mainstream education will be extremely difficult and daunting for him looking at the amount of workload, speed of learning and demands from the primary school. -
Hi mummies,
I have a child with GDD born in yr 2007, currently studying kindergarten 1, next year he will need to register for pri. 1 for year 2014. Started to look out for school nowsaday. My child is studying in a more academic kindergarten (private school) and is given support from me at home in his school work. I coach him in advance ahead what teacher will teach, and hence his academic in eng and math got no problem. (except Chinese, cos I am at loss with this subject too) He can recognise lot of Chinese word and know some Han you pin yin too, all these are teach by his school. However we don’t speak Chinese to him, so he couldn’t converse in Chinese.
He can read a whole book (at his preschool level) by himself even thought he got pronouncation prob. Currently having intervention in the morning and speech therapy at spd once every 2 week. he is shy and have prob in communication (speed delayed)
Despite his good academic, teacher feedback that his attention is short, alway need teacher close supervisor on him. He couldn’t do his show and tell due to his speech delay, which teacher say it effect him as pri 1 got show and tell, oral n etc…
I was thinking whether to put him in a more academic pri school or just a normal pri school. My concern is if I put him in a more academic pri school, will it be too stressful for him, dealing with academic as well as how ppl will see him as special. Or just put him in a normal environment, normal primary, so that he can cope better? -
to all the parents who are in need of some advice, i dun mind sharing my point of view…
firstly, u have to weigh the pros and cons of why does he/she needs to be retained… in other words, if he is very very slow in learning, retaining may be a solution… but if he is just a little slower, just move on with it, he will get better somehow…
secondly, if to retain another yr, u got to make sure he will get his due results by the end of next yr… so if he is very very slow, u may want to enrol him in another sch who can specialise in teaching him slowly and repeatedly to improve… going back to the same sch does not actually help at all if they are still doing the same thing… he will still be slower than the others if he is weak…
thirdly, if he has common friends in the cc where they knew each other, of cos they will also ask why he didnt go to p1. so changing a sch will be alot better in terms of these aspects so as not to make him think he is abnormal…
just my two cents worth… -
joanne_ang07:
Hi JoanneHi mummies,
I have a child with GDD born in yr 2007, currently studying kindergarten 1, next year he will need to register for pri. 1 for year 2014. Started to look out for school nowsaday. My child is studying in a more academic kindergarten (private school) and is given support from me at home in his school work. I coach him in advance ahead what teacher will teach, and hence his academic in eng and math got no problem. (except Chinese, cos I am at loss with this subject too) He can recognise lot of Chinese word and know some Han you pin yin too, all these are teach by his school. However we don't speak Chinese to him, so he couldn't converse in Chinese.
He can read a whole book (at his preschool level) by himself even thought he got pronouncation prob. Currently having intervention in the morning and speech therapy at spd once every 2 week. he is shy and have prob in communication (speed delayed)
Despite his good academic, teacher feedback that his attention is short, alway need teacher close supervisor on him. He couldn't do his show and tell due to his speech delay, which teacher say it effect him as pri 1 got show and tell, oral n etc...
I was thinking whether to put him in a more academic pri school or just a normal pri school. My concern is if I put him in a more academic pri school, will it be too stressful for him, dealing with academic as well as how ppl will see him as special. Or just put him in a normal environment, normal primary, so that he can cope better?
It's still more than 1 yr before he starts primary school. So he will have time to catch up. My son's speech is also delayed and he had poor articulation. He's now in P1, we did show and tell in chinese and english and he's fine. Of course, we wrote the scripts and got him to practise many times. Also used visual charts to help him remember.
Having difficulties in k1 doesn't mean will have difficulties in p1. My son's handwriting was also at least a year delayed. I believe the initial part will be hard but it will even out as they grow older. When he was in nursery, I was contemplating whether to delay his sch by a year. His teachers also said he's slow, can't write, won't talk etc. But when I checked his progress in k1 again, I realise that he managed to be at the level his classmates were by the end of nursery. So judging by that, I deduced that he would achieve k1 handwriting skills by k2 which is sufficient for pri sch level. And indeed he had.
now he has k2 handwriting which is acceptable.
My boy also has a short attention span and will do work only if there is 1-1 attn. According to his pri sch teacher, he has improved and is participative in school work.
We put him in a popular but non acad primary school. I like it that it's not so stressful and allows him to catch up in areas that he's slower. Acad driven schs will not allow that. He's enjoying school and learning. Lately he started heuristics and he loved it very much. -
delaying 1 yr is not depriving him of his education or capability… its just about making a better preparation to p1…
similarly, proceeding to p1 doesnt mean he has no problems, he will still need to work extra hard to achieve the average if not better than the others…
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