Having an Autistic Brother

[Tamama]

Hi mummies,

I have my 9 yr old elder NT girl and 5 yr old autistic boy.
He is all the way a happy and smily kid, despite of those delays. My girl loves him very much, and have learnt how to deal with the time when he is getting the meltdowns, anxieties, sudden blowouts, etc. She knows deeply in her heart that my hubby and I love both of them very much, but cannot avoid facing my stern face together with my boy when he is not behaving well. She learns the word autism with my explanation. Then she went online to search more info for the topic. She tried to look into the behaviour of her classmates and tried to understand more if they are on the spectrum too. She helps those kids by volunteering in a special school during Saturday morning. She loves her volunteer experience so much that the therapists told me she is a very good role model for those special needs kids.
At home she is my boy’s best companion. Pillow fights, chasing around and taking turns to ask me to save him or her, learn to swim together, take turns to feed the dog, walk the dog together, arguing (yes, they argue almost everyday, you say yes I say no, you say up I say down, that kind of things.) I made my girl do her homework on the dining table so I can coach her and at the same time I can homeschool my boy with both of them sitting by my sides. My boy does not have long attention so one task is only last for a few minutes and then he goes off the table and come back after a short break. My girl is good to show him how he should be doing in future.
Both of my kids are precious gifts from God. They make my hubby and me proud everyday.

[Tamama]

Forgot the name sorry,

It’s far eastern kindergarten, 9a gilstead road.

[Phil4v8]

Hi Tamama, what curriculum do you use to homeschool your boy?

[Tamama]

He is still on kindergarten level. I created the curriculum based on what my girl has learnt before.


My girl learned the following before she got into p1:

For English:
Identifying and writing on memory all the alphabets, upper case and lower case
Identifying sight words
Correct use of prepositions
Diffentiating verbs and nouns
Writing simple sentence for journal
Knowing sounds of vowels and consonants, able to rhyme
Read DRL levelled books daily

For maths:
Tell the same and difference
Grouping objects, classifying object
Identifying opposites like long/short, big/small etc.
arranging objects according to order
Shapes 2D and a few 3D and colors
Numeracy 1-20, then 1-100
Concept of more/less
Count by 2, 5, 10
Count backwards
Pattern
The number zero
Addition up to 4, 5, 6, 8, 10
Subtraction within 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Addition of 3 numbers
Money
Month
Day of the week
Time reading

Topic she explored:
Farm and farm animals
Mothers day
Families and me
Fruits
Playground
Fathers day
Zoo
To the sea and the beach
Food
Human body
Animal homes
Nursery rhymes
Sports
Emotions/ feelings
Go camping
Birds and eggs
Space
Color mixing
Mid autumn festival
Getting cold (autumn and winter)
Human face
Five senses
Manners
Pond life
Insects and crawling things
Make music
Healthy habits
Thanksgiving
People helping in the community
Playing outside (safety)
Baby animals
Month and days
Tools and machines
Christmas
Chinese new year
Weather
Plants
Time
Volcanoes and dinosaurs
Superheroes
World traveling (countries and cities)
Valentines day
Getting warm: spring and summer
Measuring
Places to go (local attractions)
Nature (water and wind and air and rock)
Money
Neighborhood


She did not do Chinese before p1. But she caught up with the others in school, and did well in all the exams. Basically in the first few month of pri 1 they taught hanyupinyin again and the strokes as well. So allow my girl to pick up the totally new thing.
I don’t know much about how to teach Chinese as well and online resources are limited as well. So I send my boy for Chinese enrichment every week.
The above is FYI.

[Phil4v8]

Wow, thanks for the very detailed answer! My boy does not seem to understand the abstract. For example, I had the hardest time teaching him about germs, why he shouldn’t put his hand into his mouth or eat food that has fallen onto the floor. I am also thinking of how to teach him to answer "Why" questions so we could finally know what are causing his tantrums.

[Tamama]

Yes for most autistic kids they are having stronger visual learning skills. Germs can’t be seen with naked eyes so he may not understand the point only with our teaching which is more on auditory way. Did you try YouTube videos?

My boy seems understand germs, however. He watched intensely for a cartoon show called crawford’s corner on YouTube for a period and there is an episode called sneezer pleaser. He watched until he can cite every line. Together with a song clip that Elmo teaches kids to wash hands before eating then he understands more. He sings the song by himself when he washes his hands.

I also find it difficult to teach why-cause and effect to my boy. I made a book which is on this topic. I wrote the content based on our everyday life, like he drinks water with his cup carelessly and as a result his shirt is wet, I drew a pic with him on a wet shirt and unhappy face and water spilling out of his cup and even wet the floor. I wrote the cause and effect sentence and then I wrote the ‘why’ sentence and the ‘because’ sentence. Some how he is able to understand all those. I just started not long ago so I hope as time goes by he may grasp the concept more.

Tantrum is sometimes hard to understand by us NT person indeed. But I am trying hard to understand him and his world bit by bit and wish one day we can be more connected.

Add oil!

[Phil4v8]

I should do up a cause-effect book like yours. Thanks for the idea!

[Phil4v8]

Hi Tamama, can you find me on http://www.come-into-my-world.com? I want to ask you more about this cause-effect book of yours.

[ImMeeMee]

Tamama


Would you consider homeschooling your child when he is 7yo and beyond, and what would be the plans if so?

[luvmum]

ImMeeMee:

Tamama


Would you consider homeschooling your child when he is 7yo and beyond, and what would be the plans if so?

Hi mummies,
Would like to join in for this discussion too. My boy is due for registration this coming July for admission next year. Frankly speaking, he is still academically weak and his independence skill is still not convincing for me to feel at ease that he can look after himself. Coupled with his special needs, I guess the teachers will not have the patience, time and divert extra attention on him. Plus school bullying....the list just goes on and on.

I really thought about homeschooling him but when I talked to the MOE officer last week, I u/s that my child has to take the standard level for all 4 subjects by the time he reaches 12. At the back of my mind, I'm looking at exempting him MT and letting him take foundation level instead and all these can only be granted in school not homeschool based.

Really in a huge dilemma. Please help.