All About Autism

[helplessmum3]

Rainbow has swimming once a week for my son

[Summer tan]

Hi all


I’ve been reading this thread for quite some time. My son is in k1 and is diagnosed with pddnos aka high functioning asd. He studies at PCF and goes for therapy twice a week since the start of this year.But the teachers are not special needs trained and cannot handle his misbehavior. The principal requested that he studies for two out of four hours which i feel it’s meaningless for my son. I intend to withdraw him from pcf and I’m sending him to an ICCP half day child care next month. Still big class of 20 students inclusive of my son and a speech delay boy. They have an aunty to help look after that boy currently.

I hope the special needs trained teacher can handle my son as I think he’s ADHD cum ASD. Have u mummies heard of cases where even the trained teacher also cannot cope and ask the child to withdraw?

[mashy]

Summer tan:

Hi all


I've been reading this thread for quite some time. My son is in k1 and is diagnosed with pddnos aka high functioning asd. He studies at PCF and goes for therapy twice a week since the start of this year.But the teachers are not special needs trained and cannot handle his misbehavior. The principal requested that he studies for two out of four hours. I'm sending him to an ICCP half day child care next month. Still big class of 20 students inclusive of my son and a speech delay boy. They have an aunty to help look after that boy currently.

I hope the special needs trained teacher can handle my son as I think he's ADHD cum ASD. Have u mummies heard of cases where even the trained teacher also cannot cope and ask the child to withdraw?

Well, pddnos isn't high functioning autism. It didn't fulfil all the criterias for autism and thus it's labelled as pddnos. High functioning autism fulfills all criterias and with a average to above average IQ.

IMO, a big class is never good for our kids. They need more attention and help in many ways. Even with a special needs trained teacher, there's only so much she can do when she also has to handle the rest of the 19 children. This is ESP so when they are still young. Btw, I'm not pro PCF type. I find that their classes are too big. They are ok for normal developing children with above average IQ. Those with special needs or slower development will lose out there.

I support your decision to change school because, when the principal says to attend only half the session, then it shows that they aren't committed to helping your child. My boy had a principal who wanted to demote him. Luckily I changed his school and altho he still didn't behave perfectly (as expected), he managed to thrive in that environment. We still keep in contact with one of his classmate and he looks forward to seeing her all the time. He even asked me to arrange for play dates with her.

[Summer tan]

Thank you mashy. I agree with you too that a class of 20 is also tough for a special needs trained teacher. Actually I’m at my wits end. I wanted my son to go to a mainstream kindergarten but other than this ICCP child care centre, I have no idea which other schools will accept him. I’m staying in the north and a sahm. Hence my finance is very tight too.

[phtthp]

Summer tan,


please do not send your son to PCF, because the class is too big, > 20 kids. It won’t help him. Mashy is right - PCF is ok for normal developing children, with above average IQ. Those with special need, it is advisable to go elsewhere.

Your son need lots of attention, preferably in a small kindergarten group setting. The smaller it is, the better! See whether is there any good, reliable Montessori kindergarten around your area, where school fees within your budget. Check out all the Montessori pre-school(s), in your vicinity in the north.

[ImMeeMee]

Summer tan:

Thank you mashy. I agree with you too that a class of 20 is also tough for a special needs trained teacher. Actually I'm at my wits end. I wanted my son to go to a mainstream kindergarten but other than this ICCP child care centre, I have no idea which other schools will accept him. I'm staying in the north and a sahm. Hence my finance is very tight too.

summer tan, ICCP sounds like quite a good common ground approach for you in this case based on your situation. There are teachers at ICCP who are trained in special needs that could help to watch out for your child's issues, and at the same time there is exposure to NT kids in this environment. Stay positive, as your child is HF, it would be easier for him to blend into a mainstream environment as compared to an ASD child with more severe issues.

You are also quite lucky to be able to get into ICCP. There are MCYS (sorry dont know the new name yet) stipulated guidelines on NT: special needs ratios for each ICCP center, and usually there is a long wait list.

I am based north too, and I have gone around some time ago to look for a mainstream cc for my child. Some of them are quite kind though I was not able to enrol my doter for one reason or another. Will pm you some contacts later when I pull them out.

[ImMeeMee]

Double E:

Mummies


I am contemplating to pull my boy out of his current CC and transfer him to a church kindy. We thought a kindy is closer to a mainstream primary setting and by sending him there, we can prepare him for P1. Another reason is that with the savings, we can send him to more activities like swimming and arts lesson.

What do you all think? But I worry if he can cope well in kindy as they have a larger teacher children ratio, usually 1 teacher to about 20 kids for K1 and K2. Also, he is currently doing fine in his CC, so far no unpleasant feedback on him from the teachers.

Will you make the move if you are in my shoe? the savings can be of $800 a mth which I can use to pay for extra lessons on swimming, social behavior classes.

Double E, its a more difficult decision in this case cos your child is well settled in his current CC.

These are the things that I would consider:

1. Whether the kindy is willing to accept him. I belong to the school of thought to be upfront to the school about my doter's condition before enrolment, cos I think both ends should not be blindsighted.

2. Whether there are new things happening to the family, eg. siblings starting new school, spouse changing job etc. As there would be some adapting to do with a new environment if you were to change, sometimes the other dynamics at home may cause an effect. I started this year with new swimming classes for my two elder gals, new school year with lots more homework, new mainstream cc for my asd doter etc. It was very tiring having to deal with too many things all at once.

3. Know what you mean on the savings. I am also being sucked dry with all these support programs. Maybe the question could then be whether swimming lessons etc are important priorities at this juncture and whether they are worth the change, or maybe they can wait?

My two cents worth and hope it helps.

[ImMeeMee]

helplessmum3:

Rainbow has swimming once a week for my son

Rainbow has this very big swimming pool in their premises. I think they conduct hydrotherapy that is proven to address some of the ASD issues. I know of one other SPED school that conducts swimming lessons, but most do not.

Good for you, helplessmum. we have to find our own lessons if we want to get our children to go for swimming.

[Summer tan]

phtthp:

Summer tan,


please do not send your son to PCF, because the class is too big, > 20 kids. It won't help him. Mashy is right - PCF is ok for normal developing children, with above average IQ. Those with special need, it is advisable to go elsewhere.

Your son need lots of attention, preferably in a small kindergarten group setting. The smaller it is, the better! See whether is there any good, reliable Montessori kindergarten around your area, where school fees within your budget. Check out all the Montessori pre-school(s), in your vicinity in the north.

Thank you, phtthp. So i guess our decision to pull him out from pcf is right after all. I briefly told him last night and he was very sad and crying.. so sad for me. :~~(

The ICCP kindergarten is actually a full class size of 20 too so i am also worried for my son. The only thing i can do now is to keep a positive mind that everything will be better. Actually just now on the bus i saw a Montessori at Canberra which is quite near to my place. But my husband is worried that my son is already so active and difficult to take instructions. If he's in Montessori, would it make it worse? But I am also thinking would Montessori build up his confident.. Mummies, do you know if they do accept special needs kid?

[mashy]

Summer tan:

phtthp:

Summer tan,


please do not send your son to PCF, because the class is too big, > 20 kids. It won't help him. Mashy is right - PCF is ok for normal developing children, with above average IQ. Those with special need, it is advisable to go elsewhere.

Your son need lots of attention, preferably in a small kindergarten group setting. The smaller it is, the better! See whether is there any good, reliable Montessori kindergarten around your area, where school fees within your budget. Check out all the Montessori pre-school(s), in your vicinity in the north.

Thank you, phtthp. So i guess our decision to pull him out from pcf is right after all. I briefly told him last night and he was very sad and crying.. so sad for me. :~~(

The ICCP kindergarten is actually a full class size of 20 too so i am also worried for my son. The only thing i can do now is to keep a positive mind that everything will be better. Actually just now on the bus i saw a Montessori at Canberra which is quite near to my place. But my husband is worried that my son is already so active and difficult to take instructions. If he's in Montessori, would it make it worse? But I am also thinking would Montessori build up his confident.. Mummies, do you know if they do accept special needs kid?

The real Montessori classes are meant to benefit special needs kids. However, in Singapore, many are semi Montessori. So u need to check if they are truly Montessori.