All About Autism
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Nebbermind:
But isn't the intention is to have an honest assessment of your child?nugget:
Double E,
I think children encyclopedia might be too much to absorb? Its more like general knowledge questions. They also noted the speed you answer the questions. Those questions I post to my 3 year old, he can answer all leh.
Yes, my son hates animals and she kept asking animals questions. Haha. He didnt answer the cow gives milk question cos he don't care.
Why would one wanna mug for this? :scratchhead:
How truthful and reliable IQ test is , I really don't know. Does that mean if you score super high marks means you are a gifted???
Some people might totally not be interested in animals but very good in maths or music can be considered gifted as well.
IQ test conducted is just a gauge roughly where the IQ is. I am sure if they don't ask any questions on animals, my son will definitely score better. But I am happy despite not answer all answers correctly, his IQ still average. At least he is not intellectually handicapped.
I think the preparation is more of exposing the kids to different things, which areas etc. Not really mugging the test. No one is born with knowledge, everything need be taught, purposeful or incidental learning.
Last time I didn't know I need to talk to a baby when I am alone with him. Cos being a first time mum that time, I feel its so weird to talk to a baby who doesn't understand anything at all.Later stage then I know its important cos baby learn by listening, then slowly they try to mimick.. etc. If we don't teach, they wont learn. -
slmkhoo:
slmkhoo,
Just read widely, talk a lot, point out things as you move around. The things tested should be 'general knowledge' for that age of kid. If you intentionally study or prepare, you will not get a true assessment, and since you are paying good money, I think you owe it to yourself and your child to get a true assessment.Double E:
Nugget
Do you think it helps to get a children encyclopedia book? Haha.
I actually think it is as the areas that they test on is so wide.
I agreed with you. I am guilty of not talking, explaning and pointing as we go out etc.. Cos I think I am also an introvert by nature. Sigh..
But I am happy cos I think my assessment is pretty true cos I don't have time to prep my boy at all. -
one thing that I have learnt through my ASD doter is that actually the things expected of them are pretty much the same as that for NT kids. If you look at the numerous enrichment books and assessment books for pre-schoolers, you will notice that the topics are very much similar. For literacy - myself, my family, my emotions, animals, places, occupations, etc, and for numeracy - patterns, comparison like bigger/smaller, more/less, knowing the numbers and words 1-10 etc.
So if at all, preparation is along these lines cos this seems the basics of what is required at that milestone. Professionals advise that there is no need to mug to create a negative baseline, but we should point out things to the ASD child as much as possible along the above lines for literacy and numeracy, cos what is obvious and natural to NT kids in learning the above stuff may not be as intuitive to the ASD child at all. What is inferential learning for NT kids is also not present in the systems of ASD children, so this guiding is necessary.
Hope I am not being defensive, but I do find that there are flaws in our current system when it comes to assessing the cognitive capability of the child, like what nugget says, if the child is not interested in animals, then he/she may be disadvantaged though the child may be strong in certain areas. So my advice based on my personal experience is that while mugging is not required, no harm getting the child exposed to literacy and numeracy 6 to even 12 months ahead of the assessment. -
nugget:
Thanks! Starting end June but will be ongoing for the whole of the second half of the year. So biting nail while waiting.ImMeeMee,
Pathlight will have a open house in May. Think I should attend one of the open house and see how it is like, learn how is their environment different. So prep my son's mainstream primary school on how to help him.
Your dd screening wont start until end June. Good luck to you!
http://www.pathlight.org.sg/admissions/application.php
PL open house is pretty much an introduction to their school environment, teaching philosophies etc. But it may not provide a lot of prepping tips for mainstream school. Just giving a heads-up in case you cant find what you are looking for at the open house. Nonetheless, its a good trip to have a feel of the environment that supports ASD kids. -
ImMeeMee:
Hope I am not being defensive, but I do find that there are flaws in our current system when it comes to assessing the cognitive capability of the child, like what nugget says, if the child is not interested in animals, then he/she may be disadvantaged though the child may be strong in certain areas. So my advice based on my personal experience is that while mugging is not required, no harm getting the child exposed to literacy and numeracy 6 to even 12 months ahead of the assessment.
That's something every test taker has to live with, and there will be NT kids who aren't interested in animals too. There should be a good spread of questions on a variety of topics in the rest of the test. Exposing the child to knowledge of various types should be a given for any child, ASD or NT, so I don't see that there is a need to do anything special for an ASD child vs an NT child. Except for the areas where my ASD child needed extra help due to her deficits, she absorbed other info in the same way as my NT child. Another thing to note is that while it can be tempting to advance a child mainly in his areas of strength, there is still a core of general knowledge that he should know just so that he is not too narrow. -
nugget:
I think it depends on the definition you use. When I had my daughter tested (at 14yo, so it may be different for young kids), her IQ test results came in 4 categories. She came out above average in 2 areas and below average in 2 areas, and so the test was not able to give a single IQ score which is the normal result. So is she smart or not? It really depends on how you look at it, and whether you consider the individual sections or the whole. For us, it helped clarify our understanding of her, and we aren't bothered about getting a score.How truthful and reliable IQ test is , I really don't know. Does that mean if you score super high marks means you are a gifted???
Some people might totally not be interested in animals but very good in maths or music can be considered gifted as well. -
slmkhoo:
That's something every test taker has to live with, and there will be NT kids who aren't interested in animals too. There should be a good spread of questions on a variety of topics in the rest of the test. Exposing the child to knowledge of various types should be a given for any child, ASD or NT, so I don't see that there is a need to do anything special for an ASD child vs an NT child. Except for the areas where my ASD child needed extra help due to her deficits, she absorbed other info in the same way as my NT child. Another thing to note is that while it can be tempting to advance a child mainly in his areas of strength, there is still a core of general knowledge that he should know just so that he is not too narrow.
agree, slimkhoo, but one thing worth noting is that NT kids are not subject to the kind of assessment and judgement that our kids are subject to, at such a young age. And the assessments determine the education pathway for our child, again at such a young age. We can always opt not to go for the assessment and place the child into mainstream school, but ultimately the mainstream school framework may turn out not being able to accommodate all our children. And that remains a fact.
To me its no longer an argument of fair or unfair. We exist within systems, and we have then to manage within systems to try to help our children as much as possible. Actually I agree with your advocacy to place adaptive skills above academic skills as the life long development plan for our children, but sometimes we have to run with certain things due to system constraints.
That's not to say forget about adaptive skills or social skills. Its multi-prong, and everything runs concurrently. But sometimes when opportunity costs set in, there are times where I find it becomes a struggle. But I take heart that this is a life-long thingy and everything has its place. -
ImMeeMee:
Thanks ImMeeMee,
Thanks! Starting end June but will be ongoing for the whole of the second half of the year. So biting nail while waiting.nugget:
ImMeeMee,
Pathlight will have a open house in May. Think I should attend one of the open house and see how it is like, learn how is their environment different. So prep my son's mainstream primary school on how to help him.
Your dd screening wont start until end June. Good luck to you!
http://www.pathlight.org.sg/admissions/application.php
PL open house is pretty much an introduction to their school environment, teaching philosophies etc. But it may not provide a lot of prepping tips for mainstream school. Just giving a heads-up in case you cant find what you are looking for at the open house. Nonetheless, its a good trip to have a feel of the environment that supports ASD kids.
I just hope my boy can adapt to mainstream. If he is really struggling very very hard, we definitely will enrol him into pathlight. -
slmkhoo:
Yup, There are different bands. My son score below average for other areas. They did warn me he will struggle a bit when he goes mainstream. Anyway, I hope his new mainstream school will be able to help him.
I think it depends on the definition you use. When I had my daughter tested (at 14yo, so it may be different for young kids), her IQ test results came in 4 categories. She came out above average in 2 areas and below average in 2 areas, and so the test was not able to give a single IQ score which is the normal result. So is she smart or not? It really depends on how you look at it, and whether you consider the individual sections or the whole. For us, it helped clarify our understanding of her, and we aren't bothered about getting a score.nugget:
How truthful and reliable IQ test is , I really don't know. Does that mean if you score super high marks means you are a gifted???
Some people might totally not be interested in animals but very good in maths or music can be considered gifted as well.
You are right that the test is more of finding their area of weakness. I am more know or less know which area which I should focus on. And I am glad that he is just not intellectually disable so he has more options. -
ImMeeMee:
I actually agree with ImMeemee. While I don't mean to mug my son through an encyclopedia book, I see it as a teaching material for me to expose my son to general knowledge which I may not have the opportunity to touch on. For example, what animals have feathers? if we go by talking more and learn on the go, I will still need to show him an example of a bird and the feathers right? So with the book, I can actually show it to him.slmkhoo:
That's something every test taker has to live with, and there will be NT kids who aren't interested in animals too. There should be a good spread of questions on a variety of topics in the rest of the test. Exposing the child to knowledge of various types should be a given for any child, ASD or NT, so I don't see that there is a need to do anything special for an ASD child vs an NT child. Except for the areas where my ASD child needed extra help due to her deficits, she absorbed other info in the same way as my NT child. Another thing to note is that while it can be tempting to advance a child mainly in his areas of strength, there is still a core of general knowledge that he should know just so that he is not too narrow.
agree, slimkhoo, but one thing worth noting is that NT kids are not subject to the kind of assessment and judgement that our kids are subject to, at such a young age. And the assessments determine the education pathway for our child, again at such a young age. We can always opt not to go for the assessment and place the child into mainstream school, but ultimately the mainstream school framework may turn out not being able to accommodate all our children. And that remains a fact.
To me its no longer an argument of fair or unfair. We exist within systems, and we have then to manage within systems to try to help our children as much as possible. Actually I agree with your advocacy to place adaptive skills above academic skills as the life long development plan for our children, but sometimes we have to run with certain things due to system constraints.
That's not to say forget about adaptive skills or social skills. Its multi-prong, and everything runs concurrently. But sometimes when opportunity costs set in, there are times where I find it becomes a struggle. But I take heart that this is a life-long thingy and everything has its place.
And like what ImMeemee said, like it or not, our kids are subject to the kind of judgement and assessment that are not cast upon other NT kids. If a NT kid cannot answer those questions but can talk well and sociable, pple might not associate him with being intellectually handicapped and just brush off as saying he is not interested in studies so he does not know. But for our ASD kids, if they can't answer, they will be given a below average IQ (for example).
What we all are doing now, sending the kids to ST, OT, Eipic, teaching them academics etc is part and parcel of learning. Not just for them to be adaptive but also to prepare them to pass Pathlight's assessment or mainstream school exams. Hence, in my own opinion, I see no harm in preparing them for these assessments, be it IQ or whatsoever if it helps to pave a smoother path for the kids future.
I am glad we have this conversation though, always good to hear others' opinions and learn the different schools of thought.
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