All About Autism

[octoberbaby]

phtthp:

Besides integrate asd child into mainstream socially - at the end, all still got to sit for Psle. The pace may go faster in a mainstream environment than in pathlight school, although pathlight students also sit for Psle.


School fees at pathlight $500 per month may also pose a barrier to some parents facing financial constraint. For p1 class, how many pupils do one teacher handle? What is the ratio like? Since they charging $500, I believe ratio must be small (for better attention), unlike 1 class of ard 30 kids inside p1 mainstream class.

If I am not wrong 20 kids 2 teachers.

[Nebbermind]

Double E:

I don't mean failing is a sin but when the kid is at a mainstream environment, there is expectation for the kid to catch up with the pace. That is why we send our kids to IQ test to assess their suitability for either mainstream or special schools. If they hv ave or above IQ, it is deemed that they hv the ability to catch up with the demands of a mainstream sch.


Nebermind, how old is your kid? Do u intend to put him in mainstream ?

No, I donch have a ASD kid but I had a kid who was not able to conform to social norms and he was also diagnosed as ADHD.
After reading some of the earlier posts here (there were simply too many to go thru all), I was surprised that parents put academic ahead of life skills.
Personally, if one is academically weak, there is still hope although it is more expensive to make up for the lost time. But if one lacks maturity or life skills, one is likely to run into trouble coz may end up doing inappropriate things or being made use by unscrupulous people.
Can't expect parents to be there to hand-hold the kid throughout life coz not all will live to a ripe old age.
Sorry, I donch know how to put it. It's just that when they go into the real world, it's not about their qualifications but rather how they behave.

I hope what I said did not offend any one here.

[sharonkhoo]

Double E:

Nebbermind,

Not for mainstream sch, the kid has to catch up with the pace. That's is the reality of the mainstream environment.

I think a lot depends on the teacher and school. And 'catch up' or 'keep up' means different things to different people. If parents are happy that the child can just stay in the class and get some marks, even if at the bottom of the class, I think some teachers will be OK with it. It's often the parents who still have aspirations for the child to be at least average, which creates stress all round. I was like that too, and gradually learned that if the stress was at the expense of my daughter's well-being, I had to let go.

[Double E]

Nebermind,

If u hv time to go thru all the posts, u will know that none of the parents here put academic before life skills including myself. We try to provide a holistic learning environment for our kids where they will learn both academic n life skills. To me, both are equally impt, the kids need to know how to read n write to survive in the society. It is an impt life skill too as u put it, I can’t be there for my son forever to help him read instructions or write to communicate with others.

And my therapists told me that if a kid is strong in an area, we should put effort to develop it so that he will gain confidence and feel good about himself.

[Double E]

slmkhoo:

Double E:

Nebbermind,

Not for mainstream sch, the kid has to catch up with the pace. That's is the reality of the mainstream environment.

I think a lot depends on the teacher and school. And 'catch up' or 'keep up' means different things to different people. If parents are happy that the child can just stay in the class and get some marks, even if at the bottom of the class, I think some teachers will be OK with it. It's often the parents who still have aspirations for the child to be at least average, which creates stress all round. I was like that too, and gradually learned that if the stress was at the expense of my daughter's well-being, I had to let go.

Slmkhoo, u mentioned before that your girl is able to get by right? So I guess she is at least average?

For me, I will probably take the same approach like Nugget. If my boy does very badly academically in mainstream n cannot conform to the desired behavior required in that environment i.e not learning at all. I will transfer him to Pathlight where he can probably learn better under the guidance of the trained teachers and be happier.

[sharonkhoo]

Double E:

slmkhoo:

[quote=\"Double E\"]Nebbermind,

Not for mainstream sch, the kid has to catch up with the pace. That's is the reality of the mainstream environment.

I think a lot depends on the teacher and school. And 'catch up' or 'keep up' means different things to different people. If parents are happy that the child can just stay in the class and get some marks, even if at the bottom of the class, I think some teachers will be OK with it. It's often the parents who still have aspirations for the child to be at least average, which creates stress all round. I was like that too, and gradually learned that if the stress was at the expense of my daughter's well-being, I had to let go.

Slmkhoo, u mentioned before that your girl is able to get by right? So I guess she is at least average?

For me, I will probably take the same approach like Nugget. If my boy does very badly academically in mainstream n cannot conform to the desired behavior required in that environment i.e not learning at all. I will transfer him to Pathlight where he can probably learn better under the guidance of the trained teachers and be happier.[/quote]Yes, she's doing OK overall. I just feel that such kids need to be given more time and space, and if they need another year or so to mature, how they perform at or before P1 shouldn't be taken too seriously. When my daughter started grade 1, she was really lagging behind a lot, and we were concentrating on basics like getting her to follow instructions, take care of her stationery, remember to go to the toilet... We had to ask a lot of concessions from the teachers. If I had thought about it, I would have held her back a year. Actually, now we are going to do it in a way - I am trying to get her into a 3-yr 'A' level programme so she will be a year older when she applies for university (assuming her grades make that possible).

[ImMeeMee]

Double E:

Nugget

Did they test your son on fine motor skills like cutting straight lines from a paper, threading etc?

Double E, for my assessment in Feb, the psy did not test fine motor skills. But there is a segment where the psy interviewed the parents and asked about the daily functional skills of the child.

My ASD doter did not have a good outcome on adaptive skills at the assessment based on the interview. Coupled with her cognitive capability, that was the reason the first recommendation is PL so that she could have better support from the structured learning environment that the school provides while she accessess the mainstream curriculum. Our psy report also recommended that she could go mainstream, but it stated that parents would need to be vigilant to continue to provide the various therapy support for her.

[ImMeeMee]

ImMeeMee:

Double E, for my assessment in Feb, the psy did not test fine motor skills. But there is a segment where the psy interviewed the parents and asked about the daily functional skills of the child.

My ASD doter did not have a good outcome on adaptive skills at the assessment based on the interview. Coupled with her cognitive capability, that was the reason the first recommendation is PL so that she could have better support from the structured learning environment that the school provides while she accessess the mainstream curriculum. Our psy report also recommended that she could go mainstream, but it stated that parents would need to be vigilant to continue to provide the various therapy support for her.

So the crux is this - if we want to game the system, we could have got a good score for adaptive skills by not telling the truth. Afterall, the outcome is based on what we tell the psy. There is also certain subjectivity in an assessment like this - what is can-do for you may not be a full can-do for me. Like all systems, our system has flaws.

Parents to ASD children want to support our kids and give them an opportunity in life - academic, adaptive or social wise. Sometimes different parents focus on different things at different times due to their specific situations. But our ultimate aim is to let our ASD children have the necessary skills for a livelihood in future when parents are no longer around.

ASD is a big patch of grey. We struggle a lot because of this. But I believe there is a time and place for everything. Its never too late.

[ImMeeMee]

slmkhoo:

Yes, she's doing OK overall. I just feel that such kids need to be given more time and space, and if they need another year or so to mature, how they perform at or before P1 shouldn't be taken too seriously. When my daughter started grade 1, she was really lagging behind a lot, and we were concentrating on basics like getting her to follow instructions, take care of her stationery, remember to go to the toilet... We had to ask a lot of concessions from the teachers. If I had thought about it, I would have held her back a year. Actually, now we are going to do it in a way - I am trying to get her into a 3-yr 'A' level programme so she will be a year older when she applies for university (assuming her grades make that possible).

Agree with you, slmkhoo. I am hoping that my doter gets into PL P1 Foundation program which is a bridging program between K2 and P1. Thats an additional year for her to grow and mature before she goes into P1 standard.

She will be late by 1 year as compared to her peers, but one year out of a lifetime is not a major issue if this is going to help her in the long run, especially in building her self-esteem and confidence.

[nugget]

ImMeeMee:

Double E:

Nugget

Did they test your son on fine motor skills like cutting straight lines from a paper, threading etc?

Double E, for my assessment in Feb, the psy did not test fine motor skills. But there is a segment where the psy interviewed the parents and asked about the daily functional skills of the child.

My ASD doter did not have a good outcome on adaptive skills at the assessment based on the interview. Coupled with her cognitive capability, that was the reason the first recommendation is PL so that she could have better support from the structured learning environment that the school provides while she accessess the mainstream curriculum. Our psy report also recommended that she could go mainstream, but it stated that parents would need to be vigilant to continue to provide the various therapy support for her.

Double E,
No fine motor skills is tested for my case as well.

ImMeeMee,
Does pathlight provides additional therapy as well? Do they have SLT, OT etc? Or just an modified environment to provide them to study better?

Hb and I will sign up for pathlight open house. Really like to know how is their set up is like. I am sure your dd will be able to strive and she will like pathlight.