2015menma:

Dear All


My son is in Pathlight and I am proud to say that having gone thru all the trouble, today he is taking his O level Examinations.

CHEERS LS:

Dear Desertwind,


There are pros and cons putting your child in Pathlight and mainstream.

For Pathlight, the pros are that your child gets specialised attention. There are 2 teachers in a classroom of 8-12 students (Primary track). Your child will also feel relatively secured as the school is well-run with a supportive system, good teachers and clear structure. The cons are that you child may miss out of the 'real' social setting in the mainstream school and finds it difficult to integrate with other children. To counter this, PL has a collaborative approach with Townsville Pri and other primary schools. The children meet during one of their lunch period per week to have lunch or play games together.

For Mainstream school, a usual comment is that there are cases of bullying as your child is different in the way he/she interact with others. For children with mild autism, this is not a big issue. They will still be able to adapt over the years despite the initial years of adjustment. For many of them, as they grow older, their issues gets less pronounced and they integrate better in the society. In terms of curriculum, Literature or English essay writing may be a struggle for them as they find it difficult to take perspective. You will have to liaise closely with the school counsellor or allied educator through the years.

CHEERS LS
<<Mod's Note - URL removed>>

Muaji:

Which country are you residing now? If you do not mind to share and hows the school is taking it for special needs kids?

slmkhoo:

Muaji:

...but then another worry is that if he could adapt to the mainstream after he leaves PL? ...His OT therapist told me that PL is a structured and setup environment but it’s not the real world...which I do agree... but the main purpose is for him to be able to enjoy learning and go school happily Everyday.. I am really in dilemma....

If you think he will do better at PL now, then I think you should send him there. Some of the other skills and getting adjusted to mainstream will be easier when he is more mature and has higher cognitive abilities. You can use social stories to help him at that point, and when he is older, he will be able to understand them better. I believe PL will also help with social understanding.

My daughter has Aspergers and grew up overseas. She was in a small mainstream school with understanding teachers and peers, and I did a lot of work with her at home. I'm not sure if a Singapore mainstream environment would be as kind. Anyway, such kids use their cognitive abilities to learn social \"rules\", and they learn them more easily when they are more mature. Not that you shouldn't teach the rules now, but you can give him more growing-up time if he is PL.

slmkhoo:[quote=\"slmkhoo\"] Dear Simkhoo, thank you for replying to my thread....yes, that is what is i am seriously considering now as i have a deadline to get back to Pathlight and I know if i give up this seat then I will not be able to get in so easily thereafter as their waitlist is very very long. The mainstream i enrolled him in is a very good sch and it is just a pedestrian away from my current place, there is a devil and angel in me now, devil says goes to mainstream, it will help my boy in long run coz it is a good sch and even if he is just average, as long as he graduate from the sch, it would not be too bad and he should be able cope it no matter how, kids have higher adapting abilities anyway, mostly imptly is that he will be label as special need kid when ppl know that he graduate from PL, not normal sch... and if he can adapt to mainstream (normal/real world setting) after he leaves PL?.... then the angel will tell me that PL is more suitable and he can learn according to his pace, rather than he doesn't unstd what teacher is teaching in the 1 teacher to 30 students class and he will be left unseen if he is not extremely notty that would caught teachers' attention... with only 1-2 AEDs resources in each mainstream, the AEDs are not able to cope with all the special need kids in the whole sch... with that, he might as well spend the school hours and PL and really learn something there.... >.<... damn stressed over these, over the past few days

Which country are you residing now? If you do not mind to share and hows the school is taking it for special needs kids?
sorry for the long post...>.<....

Muaji:

...but then another worry is that if he could adapt to the mainstream after he leaves PL? ...His OT therapist told me that PL is a structured and setup environment but it’s not the real world...which I do agree... but the main purpose is for him to be able to enjoy learning and go school happily Everyday.. I am really in dilemma....

pinkamoon:

Snow24:

Hi


What kind of support for ASD child require if he goes mainstream? What are the issues that any of you have faced in mainstream primary school?

Hi Snow24!
My ds is in mainstream this year. From my experience, you do not get a lot of support in school. He gets only 6 sessions with the AED and counsellor together with other children from the same level. Other than that, I had 1 meeting with the counsellor, 1 with the principal (who hinted that he is very protective of his teachers and social skills is important for his students) and 2 meet the teachers session (school wide).

Basically, teachers have a lot to deal with, thus if our child can follow instructions and not make trouble, teachers do not 'complain' that much. I have friends whose children are in PL and they also get complaints from teachers when their children have meltdowns.

Although my ds was not recommended for mainstream by the psychologist (at age 5), I deferred him for 1 year in the hope that he would not appear too childish. So far, I have received 2-3 phone calls from his form teacher since the beginning of the year but he has gotten used to Primary school life and the last I spoke to the teacher, things are quite alright.

I cannot really tell you what problems your child may face because every child is unique. My ds gets complaints because he is the only one to answer 'Maybe later' when teacher wants him to do work and he wants his names to be at the top during group work. There was once he cried because he could not find his eraser and the whole class had to find it for him. So things like that happened to him. To me, these do not sound terrible. Every child has their own issues in school and they have their moments. It depends on how the teachers tackle such issues. Each time I receive complaints, I will explain the consequences to him and he is receptive to change. So generally, the teacher is happy with his progress since start of school because he does not pose a challenge to classroom teaching.

Frankly speaking, I am very pleased with his progress because I had to beg his childcare principal to keep him (3 hours half day 3 times a week because he was at EIPIC centre on 2 other days). My helper had to shadow him everyday for 2 years. It was really a lot of sweat and tears for me. :frustrated:

Snow24:

Hi


What kind of support for ASD child require if he goes mainstream? What are the issues that any of you have faced in mainstream primary school?

jlim:

I also like to share to the super mums here:) my ds survived 6 years of education in mainstream school. He was diagnosed with Selective Mutism in Pr 1 and ASD last Nov.

Throughout the 6 years, there's adjustments and stress/anxieties to iron out. But we were lucky to have good and supportive teachers to accommodate and help him. As parents, we have to step in as and when to liaise with teachers on his behalf.
Even now he's in Sec 1 and still in mainstream school, I still have to liaise with his teachers, giving him the support that he's lacking.
Looking at my ds, I realised that although there are many difficulties and situtations for him to learn and adjusts, he's able to cope and survived in his own way. That's pretty amazing!

ImMeeMee:

Hi Tamama and Desertwind

Sorry to hear that you did not manage to get an offer from school of choice. When one door closes, another opens. Hang in there. :hugs:

Tamama:

Desertwind,

Like you, my boy didn't get an offer by pathlight....Really sad... But like my hubby said, he is still my lovely smart boy, no matter what.
Next yr he will therefore join my daughter's mainstream school. Will your boy go to mainstream school? I'm expecting lots of liaison with the school now... Really hard... But still hv to move on. You take care too.

DesertWind:

Dear all,


Thought to let you know that after agonising for so long and tons of money to get the paperwork done, my boy did not clear the Pathlight assessment.

On the day of the assessment, the minute he reached the classroom with about 6 kids there with him, he cried and scream \"don't want\"! Can hear him all the way down at the canteen. Din stop for at least half-an-hour. At the end he calmed down and was one of the first to be returned to the auditorium where the parents were waiting.

So at the end of the day, we don't have much choice at all. Indeed those kids who managed to get an offer from Pathlight School are really blessed. Because it means they are in a safe environment with maximum support and small class size. Not least because they have cleared the stringent assessment by the PL committee and deemed to be suitable for mainstream education.

For those kids who did not get an offer from Pathlight (like my kid), well, we just have to move on and no looking back. Just like we did not take \"no\" for an answer in the past, be it from the kindergarten/principals/teachers/PD etc., likewise this \"set back\" will not get us down.

My boy has come through a long way and he will continue to make it.

Take care all!