All About Autism

[ImMeeMee]

octoberbaby:

Does autism carry on till old age? or it will stop at certain age group?

ASD is a life long condition. There are studies that show that with intervention, ASD individuals are able to overcome some of their traits, especially the high-functioning ones. But the condition stays with the individual.

[octoberbaby]

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

[MelodyMelody]

phtthp:

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 We then withdrawn from the cc following an incident.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.

[ImMeeMee]

Melody :hugs:


Its never easy to walk the journey with a special needs child. We all need a lot of patience and courage and its a life long journey.

You sound lonely, and I hope that you get to overcome that soon, cos take heart, there are a lot of other parents like yourself who are bringing up special needs children. We all face the same issues of limited resources, lack of understanding, physical and mental exhaustion, lack of knowledge, frustration, anxiety and so on. But we also face the same joy of seeing our special needs child grow and flourish, their courage to keep trying and to never give up, their sometimes out-of-syn conversations and jokes, and their achievements day in day out with our guiding hands.

For myself, cos I send my ASD doter to an EIPIC school in the morning, I get to interact with the other parents whose kids are special needs too, and exchange news and information face-to-face. That helps in some way to help me overcome the lonely feeling. Its not a support group per se, but at least I know I am not in this alone.

Coming to this forum to rant and exchange information helps too. Mummies here are supportive and strong, and we try our best to help where we can. Kudos of course to CKS and his team for maintaining this forum to provide for this exchange.

I also have a few close friends who know my situation, and its heartening for me to be able to share with them on what's happening in this alternative world of mine. They may not understand fully, but saying things out sometimes is better than keeping everything inside. It clears my mind too when thinking through issues.

I hope you will find your own support network too.

[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.