All About Autism

[phoenix]

MelodyMelody:

phtthp:

[quote=\"MelodyMelody\"]
Without the shadow teacher, my gal cannot gain entry to the school.

Did you find out what are the requirements of a shadow teacher?
If requirements not too stringent, have you considered training yourself to be a qualified shadow teacher instead, for the sake of your own child? This way, no need to pAy $3k to $5k per month, to hire an external outsider shadow teacher. Sometimes, parent is the best teacher to own child.

The parents cannot be the shadow teacher, I understand from almost all the preschool. You mummies have all hit the right point - the cost is high from $3300 pm (min for 4 hours, and applied throughout the months inclusive of the school holiday) .

I cannot afford the fees so will drop the idea of letting her go to the church kindergarten which MOE preschool division have helped to contact them. The minimum therapy we are engaging services for is already quite a sum. I cannot be putting every cent into the therapy or shadow teachers (and forgetting our parents who aged and the daily expenses) . Many thanks to mummy who pm the contact of shadow teachers.

My child was in a CC with no shadow teacher previously, she's quite happy for 1 or 2 months (so is the young teacher) until the school suddenly change manager and lots of teacher. We then withdrawn from the cc following an incident. Discrimation has been always around - from therapy centers, doctors, teachers etc, but there are kind and understanding souls too. Few will take time to understand that my child and I are not beggars for charity, nor favour.

It's true my child need accomodation to some extent as she is borned with a lacking of certain substance, yet she is capable if a different learning method is used or a different route be attempt. It is the invisible wall of lack of understanding and my child's invisible handicap that I find it difficult to break and get people to understand her. It is also pretty hard for people without the handicap to understand it over a long period of time, even for the therapist and myself as a parent at times. The only thing I am sure of everyday my child is trying her best, and she knows she is different but is still trying...she try to hold her head up when being laugh, but end up looking silly most times..she is trying....I will also keep on trying on the private service provider for preschool. The MOE has helped, so the rest is really up to me.[/quote]
Hi,

You may wish to check out Chiltern House which has a Learning Support team that works with the child and teachers.

[sharonkhoo]

octoberbaby:

Let's say in a working environment, how do I know whether that person is an ASD patient? does it show in adulthood?

ASD isn't a sickness, so an ASD person isn't a 'patient'. And yes, the traits will continue through life but the person can learn to accommodate the normal world, just as the NT people around will (hopefully) learn to accommodate him. If you are familiar with the traits, you can probably guess who are ASD, and remember, the traits are on a continuum, so some people will be borderline and whether or not they are labelled ASD will depend on whether they have been diagnosed. There are many high-functioning ASD in the older age groups who were never diagnosed, and probably still many younger ones too. The more marked ones will probably be diagnosed.

[braverymom]

So far, many cases of discriminate special needs child are church kindergarten.. I faced some problem too when I was looking for kindergarten for my ASD son. And I gave up the idea and go for childcare instead. To my surprise, they can handle my son very well. On and off will have little problem, like hitting the teacher Etc. ( feel very sorry and thankful to the teacher.) But the school still show good support not only to my son, but to me also.

[Gifts from Heaven]

My Aspie boy is in a church kindergarten. We have not experienced any form of discrimination. In fact, the teachers have been v patient and understanding towards his condition. As far as I know, some classes have more than 1 SN kid. We are thankful for their accomodation of my boy.

[MelodyMelody]

Dear ImMeeMee,


Thank you for your kind words, and sharing your experience with me.
My personal view is it’s never easy to belong the "minority" and yet trying to stand up for yourself.

Dear Phoenix,
Chiltern house is never easy to get in, there is a super long queue…
It’s out of my reach, but thanks for the idea.

Experiences leads me to believe Kiddy or CC or private or PCF provider are not the issue, it is the people that matters.

I get a better feel of "reality" after this search for shadow teacher, and this may change my mind to let my child go to mainstream school in a year’s time. Cost, discrimation, bullying, and developing the child’s potential all have to be consider carefully…thanks again for the pms and the kind msgs.

[Double E]

braverymom

I think is not always true that most discrimination happens at church kindy. Like Melody said, alot depends on the teachers in the kindy or CC. At least, i have not experienced discrimination. I praise the Lord for his blessings and favour on my son. I had met helpful teachers, and no-so-helpful ones. Even the not-so-helpful ones were not that bad afterall, just a bit cold in responding to my questions, other than that, no major issue.

[Double E]

ImMeeMee

You have enrolled your doter in Pathlight right? how was it? was the registration successful?

[helplessmum3]

Do u mummies feel very hard or knife cut into the heart whenever u see your ASD child’s peers talk n communicate ?

[Double E]

helplessmum

What’s wrong with you again? of course, we will feel upset that our child can’t communicate as well as NT kids but this is not something we can change. We can only continue to help them right? At least most of the kids here on this thread are HF ASD and are verbal, imagine the lower functioning ones who are non-verbal, the pain that their parents experience is many times more than us.

And while I feel sorry for my boy for his lack of comms skills, I am proud of his super memory and his ability to spell, read and do worksheets that are meant for higher levels. Not all NT kids can do that, so I am thankful for his special gifts. Sometimes I think, all thanks to his ASD condition that he can have such good reading and spelling skills which made it easier for me to teach him academics. And believe it or not, I vomit more blood trying to teach my NT girl academics but she is good in comms and fine motor skills which my boy lacks. So I always thank God for giving me the best of both worlds.

Helplessmum, remember, no one is perfect. Even NT kids have their own set of problems.

[braverymom]

Double E:

braverymom

I think is not always true that most discrimination happens at church kindy. Like Melody said, alot depends on the teachers in the kindy or CC. At least, i have not experienced discrimination. I praise the Lord for his blessings and favour on my son. I had met helpful teachers, and no-so-helpful ones. Even the not-so-helpful ones were not that bad afterall, just a bit cold in responding to my questions, other than that, no major issue.

Double E,

True.. In fact, melody's teacher/ school is trying to offer another form of help instead of just tell her off ya. I should have be more positive. Sorry if I cause any mommy distress. Coming to this forum should be helping each other to cope better. I am a Christian too. In fact I feel ok towards my son's condition all the time. Is the world around us that make us stress up. If we don't use the standard that set by other people to judge, our children are actually adorable and still my treasure and my germs. We as mummy just have to learn to adjust our thought ya! Thanks for your 'reminder'. God Bless!